How do you get rid of ants in a bluebird nest?
“Dave, we have a problem,” says our male bluebird. “Ants in the nestbox. Help!”
Okay, so you’ve got ants in your nestbox. What do you do? This question has come up a lot recently in your comments, so let’s go at it in length. We actually just dealt with the issue ourselves in our own nestbox last week. My son and I went to clean out the old bluebird nest, and YIKES…we had ants! Thankfully it was after the baby bluebirds had fledged, but this illustrates a good point: CLEAN OUT YOUR OLD NESTS QUICKLY. There were hundreds of tiny black ants going up and down the pole into our nestbox, and we probably could have avoided the whole mess by cleaning the nest out as soon as the birds had left. Lesson learned.
So, we promptly dumped the nest (far away from where the birds could find it again and reuse pieces) and flushed the nestbox with water. Probably we could have scrubbed it with soap and water, but we kept it pure and just saturated it. Then my son engineered a nice stick support to keep the box open and let it dry thoroughly over several hours. By the way, the other reason you clean out old bluebird nests is so they will nest again. Eastern bluebirds will typically do up to three broods over the spring and summer, and emptying the old nest makes it more likely that this will happen. They can, of course, re-use old nests, but then you may run into a problem of say, maybe, hypothetically, um, ANTS.
Ants are dangerous to baby bluebirds (or bird nestlings in general) because they can cause the parents to abandon the nest. This obviously can result in dead nestlings. The ants can also swarm the nestlings and kill them on their own (especially true of fire ants in the South). It’s possible the parents will continue to feed the nestlings until fledging if the ants have just recently invaded, but they will typically abandon the nest if there are only eggs. So, even though the ants may appear small and like they aren’t causing any real trouble, you do need to take action. Go to a local hardware store, Wal-Mart, or Home Depot/Lowe’s, and buy some Terro (pictured above). We love this stuff and use it in our house whenever ants appear. Ants love it, too! They will flock to it, tell their friends, and pretty soon MORE ants than ever are on your Terro. A few days later, though, everyone is gone. They all go back to where they first came from and die. It’s awesome!
Next, get some Q-tips, and dip them into the Terro. Now duct tape or staple them to the bottom of your nestbox and the fun will begin. Pretty soon your Q-tips are black with ants, but don’t worry. Laugh a sinister laugh as you welcome these tiny pests to their own death and out of your nestbox forever. Hear the sounds of your bluebirds thanking you in their songs from nearby trees as they rejoice that they are so blessed to have you as their knowledgeable caretaker. While you enjoy this proud parenting moment, tape a few to the pole as well. Now victory is yours. Well, it’s worked for us anyway.
We have also tried grease and Vaseline on a pole before to stop ants but with no success. What has worked in protecting our hummingbird feeder from ants is a little moat of water that the ants are unable to cross. The same idea can work on bluebird poles as well if you can engineer a way to keep the water or it’s container flush against the pole (and keep the water full) so the ants can’t cross it. I wrestled with this briefly and then went with the Terro. The Sialis website (which is a tremendous wealth of info on bluebirding) also suggests a small bundle of crushed sage or crushed peppermint leaves sprinkled under the nest to deter ants. Birds and Blooms Magazine has suggested sprinkling ginger around the base of the pole. I’m sure there are many other successful ideas…please feel free to comment on your successes or failures with any of these methods or to suggest something different that’s worked for you!
Now our bluebirds have built a fresh new nest (this photo above and the one previous), and the ants are gone. We’re ready for action! The only problem is they’ve been raiding one of the new plants we got for my wife for Mother’s Day (below). Mama blue thinks this hanging straw basket petunia is her personal nest supply store!
Last thing to show you today is this picture of me and our Carolina wren from earlier this week. It has built a nest into our neighbor’s grill and is desperate for mealworms! Gotta run…please leave your comments about the ants below! Dave
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Comments
Love your enthusiasm for gathering all the ant families together for a mass exit!! I don’t seem to have any ant problems with my nest boxes, so far, but I do with my hummer feeder. I’ll have to get the engineer/hubby to create that little moat!!
Hey, Dave! Thanks for the tip, I will have to get some of that and give it a try for the ants we have outside.
I am sincerely so envious of you. The first shot is so endearing. I would love to get them again. Do you have any tricks? I had them one year and then last year I had a nest until the bear found it and that was then end of it. I haven’t even seen them this year. Are they that smart?
Sorry I have only one thing that I would try but don’t know if it would work…apply Avon’s Skin So Soft at the base of the pole. Who knows?
Thanks Dave. So far, I have never seen any ants in or around our nestbox. BUT–I certainly will check…
Our babies are just so cute. They are still only about 2-3 days old… No feathers yet and they are just SO tiny.
Thanks again..
Hugs,
Betsy
Dave, you crack me up! “laugh a sinister laugh” at the greedy ants consuming their treat is too funny! Good advice about the ants.
Is that not bad for the eggs and babies to add some products under the nest? I’m just curious!!! Nice to feed the wren like that I thought they were shy!!!
Great post Dave.
Glad to read the suggestions about getting rid of ants. My problem is that we have 4 houses we put up this year but on a farm where we don’t live. So I can’t observe often. When I checked one box today it had what looked like an abandoned nest. Grass ,so could have been bluebirds. But the ants were in the bottom. So I removed the nest, and tried to scrape and squish as many ants as possible. This box is on a tree which makes it challenging. May try the Terro taped on the bottom : ) ScZ
Gee, Dave – I didn’t even realize that ants could be a problem in bluebird boxes. I’ve always thrown the nest out the minute the bb babies fledge….because of blowflies…not ants. But I know my sis in NC has lots of problems with ants – I’ll be sure to send her to your blog!
Good stuff!
How cute the photo with the Carolina wren and the mealworms!
Dave
Great tip on the ants. I’d seen that on Sialis’ site, but your photo is great. Thanks! We just had 5 baby bluebirds fledge yesterday, and we were thrilled, but when we took out the nest and cleaned out the house, we were upset to find what looked like ?beetles?–about 10 of them–beneath the nest in the house. (It seems early for beetles to me, in NC,) but I don’t know what else they could have been–that’s what they appeared to be. We used a diluted mixture of bleach/water and cleaned out the whole house, but we were wondering if we could do anything else to make sure they don’t appear again. I’ve never seen them before. Thankfully, babies were all fine and fledged, but we don’t want a reappearance. Any idea what to do for them?
Hmmm…I just read on a Google site that mealworms are darkling beetles in larvae stage! Maybe THAT makes sense how they got in there! But I still don’t know how to get rid of the beetles. I’ll have to read up on it.
Thanks everyone!
Brenda, hmmm… no tricks to tell you. I remember your post about the bear last year. You would think they would keep coming back to your yard as many birds as you seem to have and feed. My only suggestion would be putting your boxes up on poles out in the open rather than mounted on a tree. Bluebirds love open spaces…your front yard seems to be pretty open, so that may work better for you… About the Avon SSS, I’ve heard of that as a mosquito repellent and also for no-see-ums, so maybe that would work with ants, too! :-)
Chris, I think the Terro is mild enough (and also since it’s a liquid and not a spray) that it’s okay under the box. It certainly won’t leech through the thick wood of the nestbox. The only danger might be an adult bird discovering it underneath and trying to get at the Q-tip as food or a soft nesting addition. Haven’t heard of that happening though…
Sue, the beetles may indeed just have been mealworms that grew up, but that is an odd discovery! I’ve heard about the blowflies and ants invading but never have heard about beetles. Very peculiar!
Last year I picked up an ant moat at our local Walmart for the hummingbird feeder. $1 and it worked like a charm.
For bluebirds, tricky, our VBS(Virginia Bluebird Society) county coordinator suggest keeping abandoned bluebird nest in a ziploc bag. That way if you have a nest that is invaded you can replace the nest. She routinely gets calls to help with this problem. Just very gently replace eggs and babies in fresh nest. Make sure to clean nest box, a small paint brush works well. Addressing the problem at the pole, under the baffle. She normally greases the pole and this works.
Oh, and putting hardware cloth in the bottom of the nest boxes help with blowflies.
Here’s some useful info:
You know, Dave–I asked my biologist brother-in-law about the beetles, and he said they were scarab or dung beetles, and that they were probably beneficial, as they were helping to clean out the birdhouse! Go figure. Learn something new every day. I felt better knowing they weren’t doing harm.
Dave,
I have a bluebird box with eggs in it but no bluebirds around. Is that common? I think of eagles never leaving the eggs….Does the same hold true for bluebirds?
Dianna, that would not be common and definitely a sign for concern. How long have the eggs been there? Bluebirds do lay one egg a day and don’t start sitting on them until all eggs are laid. So, it’s possible that the female could still be laying eggs and leaving, and that’s why you’re not seeing them around. Still, my experience is that they stay close to the box to guard the eggs and check on them. They most likely are just abandoned (but be very sure before you remove them and the nest). Have you checked the box for ants or wasps? Here’s a good link for other ideas:
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts and looking at the pictures. I just love bluebirds and have hosted a family in my yard also but I haven’t been able to get any good photographs like yours.
What a horrible surprise to peak in the bluebird box and see ants swarming around the nest with the baby birds so vulnerable. Luckily they were left the nest before the ants could cause too much damage. As soon as I seen they were gone, I cleaned out the box with water and lef the door open for a few days for it to dry. They built another nest that is swarming with ants. They have not laid any eggs. I was looking for help on this and ran across your site. I am going to try the Terro and hope for the best…THANKS!
Lots of great information and such nice pictures. This is the second year bluebirds have used my box. Loving every minute of watching them. Had a little problem with blow worms or flies but took care of that and my babies are about to fly on their own.
Good comments. I was trying to find out if bluebirds ate ants in general, since they are insects. I have a bluebird who loves to sit on my bird feeder/ hummingbird feeder pole. Ants are all over the pole going for the hummingbird food. I was going to put up a mote, but wondered if the blues were just perched there to eat the ants? I also have a shallow dish nearby with water and a standing fountain with a “spray” nearby. They LOVE bathing in both. I have seen fledglings even bathing.
Erin, I don’t think they eat the ants, but I couldn’t say for sure. I’m betting they just enjoy the perch. That’s where ours like to sit, too!
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A lot of useful info.Ants are toublesome at our Humminbird feeders.Thanks.
Blessings,Ruth