Anita, fire ants are a MAJOR problem and can destroy eggs and nestlings. Is your pole greased? I use AXLE GREASE and nothing gets past that plus one application (wear disposal gloves) will last an entire year. I grease from the ground to as far as I can reach up under the baffle. Also, if your pole is "open" at the top, no cap on it, put duct tape over that to keep ants from going up through the inside of the pole.

Now, if these are "regular" ants, I don't know what to tell you but I sure would want to get rid of them. I think you can NUKE the nest in the microwave for about a minute and that will kill any ants that are in the nest but you'll also need to be sure you've gotten rid of any left inside the nestbox and figured out a way to stop them from getting back in. Some people use Vasaline and that works for short periods of time (rain will wash it's effectiveness away) but axle grease will, w/o question, do the trick. Since the birds don't perch on the pole the grease won't come into contact with them.

Ok Janie so you know Anita is out running around trying to find axle grease in the rain right! LOL Thanks for the reminder, I forgot my new box does not have the Duct Tape on the top of the pole...nobody in there yet but first dry day Im out there tapeing! ;)

These are just ordinary black ants. I swept the ants I saw out of there. I will check again tomorrow. I have to work but i will go buy some grease after work, i've actually never seen ants in a nest before. Will black ants harm eggs or babies if I don't get them all? Will the birds clean them out themselves? In this box it may be difficult to remove the nest in one piece.

A

Anita, I don't know what to tell you about ordinary black ants except that I would not want them inside the nest box. Maybe they aren't harmful?????? I know that woodpeckers will eat ants and maybe other species do to.

Little black ants. Hmmm. I would not want them in a nestbox! They are often attracted by things like broken eggs, deceased birds, leftover insects or food items, etc. When competitors toss eggs or young from a nest, it is often those little black ants who do the cleanup, leaving behind a clean eggshell or little bones.
Once when cleaning out nestboxes for the winter, I've seen ants actually nesting in an abandoned HOWR nest. They were swarming to protect their own eggs. Not fun. And they will definitely bite! Especially when you are disturbing THEIR nest. And it HURTS!
As always, I refer to Bet's web page for solutions. Fortunately, fire ants are not a huge problem here, thank heavens! (At least not yet.)
Bluebars

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.sialis.org/predatorid.htm

Ok here is my plan. I'm going to remove the nest, wash out the box again and see if they rebuild. Janie, where do I buy axle grease?

A

Anita, I bought it at my local Ace Hardware in the automotive section. I just went to check the container to see exactly what it's called but realized I've loaned it out to a neighbor. One tub will last about 10 years! My stuff is blue.

I would think you could find it at any automotive retail store (Pep Boys, etc.), hardware store or even in most grocery stores that carry automotive supplies.

This was on our local news today about ant invasions, worse this year because of weather:

Here is a link that might be useful: http://wjz.com/local/ants.home.2.742614.html

Anita55,
I hope you don't mean remove the Blues nest and see if they(the blues rebuild)or do you mean see if the ants rebuild

I would not remove the nest,she maybe ready to lay any day now,She may not have enough time to rebuild before laying.If she lays without a nest chances of it being a successfull netsing are slim,besides it is not legal to remove a active nest.I would relax they are not Fire ants,I am sure Bluebirds and other birds have had black ants in their nest plenty of times.However I would grease the pole,You could use vasoline,I used it a year ago,And it is still there.

Matt

Hey Anita.......shake that nest out and then nuke it for a couple seconds. You can shape it and put it back easy! I think Matt is right , she may have done the swishey thing and needs a nest!

Hey Lisa, as I said in this box I could never remove the nest in one piece and the bird has been checking out the other box as well so i'm not even sure that they are going to use this one. They have been dawdling around for quite awhile now over this one. Not sure if it's because of the ants or because they are still considering the other box. As far as them being ready, have you ever seen how fast they can build a new nest when they are ready to lay eggs? I've been around long enough to know that this may not be the one they use. I will keep checking for ants - I didn't see any yesterday when I got home from work.

A

I have only ever seen them take their own sweet time, guess they have never been in the "urgent" situation, LOL no unplanned pregnancies here!