Hello everyone, thanks to all who have welcomed me in the past week. I love the forum! Anyhow, i was out this afternoon processing the two heaping truck fulls of red/swamp maple i scored this week (WOO HOO!) A couple of the rounds i split had punky heartwood centers with evidence of worm/grub/larva tunneling which got me to thinking (i do a lot of thinking when im alone cutting wood) What do FHC guys do when they encounter ants in a log? Your chopping away and suddenly your split is a pinata of ants, usually much to your surprise. I process most of my wood in the winter so when this happens the ants are frozen and motionless and ill just sweep them off the block, chop off the affected area, and toss the split aside separate from the others, sometimes pounding the logs several times to knock out as many as i can. In 50 degree weather they will be able to move slowly and ill take a break watching them try to get away. Hot weather they run everywhere. I will grab my little propane torch and send them off to ant heaven, or if i happen to have a can of Raid handy ill use that (wasp and hornet killer works well too) I wont take any wood with any evidence of ants. There was more wood at this score, had some good meat but it was either hollow or punky...i left it.
I do the "smack split on the splitter" trick. There's plenty more ants where those came from (I live in the woods), so I don't worry about 'em. Once the wood dries, they usually won't be there anymore. They really seem to like Oak, but I think they're pretty equal opportunity wood chewers.
Hi Connecticut! Them darn black carpenter ants poured out of a split right between my house and wood shed. They can move! I must have looked like I was doing the watoosee in my attempt to step on them before their escape. And I cringe to hear the crunch...yuck! The occasional ant/spider/weirdo bug that gets in is entertainment for my attack cat!
This sums it up pretty well. I don't worry about them. I split out the parts that are badly infested and pitch it. the rest goes home with me. They move out when the wood dries as they only like the mushy wet stuff.
The ants are not an issue. They need moisture to remain the wood. As your stacked wood becomes drier they will quickly vacate. Probably in a matter of days really. As long as you don’t immediately put that green wood indoors, you will be fine.
I wonder what the BTU chart shows for ants vs grubs, vs other bugs? I do the smack a split on the splitter or log pile.
I had some 24" ash rounds back i split back in Dec, split em and was amazed a the volume of ants. It was cold, they were frozen, scooped up a bunch, put there was pics recently of FHC folks doing that. Mebbe you were one. No chix to feed. An occasional mallard /heron in the river next to my processing area.
In the Winter they usually freeze to death if exposed to the weather and it is cold. If I see a big one that would be a Queen I smoosh it. I've tossed a round or two full of ants in a fire if there was one burning or just back in the woods if I was away from the house in the woods cutting. I've blasted them with hornet spray too. Works on ants the same way. except the ants don't try to defend themselves like hornets can.
It all goes on the split pile. Birds work it over until I get it stacked and never had a problem with the ants showing up elsewhere. Two places I do my best thinking, treestand and making firewood.
If I'm splitting at home they get the propane torch treatment.......nuff of the little bastages around here.
I hear lots of folks talk about "the birds get 'em", but I have never seen that happen when I come across the little bastages. So, my conclusion?........our birds are picky eaters.
Making firewood, another new term ive heard on FHC. Im gonna use it...ill give you the credit for it tho!
Bastages...havent heard that term in ages! I was splitting a big ash round couple months back and the log was laden with ants...all motionless frozen. I scooped a bunch off the chopping block onto a piece of bark, left it on the deck table for the birds. They did eventually eat them. These were free range, non GMO ants with extra fiber!
My chickens used to come running when I fired the splitter up. Need to get some more. I also for about 3 years had a mockingbird that would come and sit on the rollbar of the tractor and when I walked away would snack on whatever bugs were there. Haven't seen him this year.
I've told the story more than once about the time I was splitting and ran into a big bunch of the frozen critters. At the time we had turkeys crossing the back yard daily so I took some of the bird seed and spread it lightly, making a path from where the turkeys crossed right up to where the ants were. Bingo. No more ants. The only problem then was to stop the turkeys as they wanted to check the wood pile every day until I'd chased them a few times.
