Allotments 4 All

This morning I decided to have a look at my large compost bin after ignoring it for several weeks to see if we had any compost worth spreading.
What I found was a large ants nest with ants busily running around and carrying eggs etc. There were a few winged ants as well.
This presented me with a problem. Basically the ants are breaking down the stuff in the heap which is what I want to happen. However it make clearing the bin of compost awkward and I don't want to transfer the ants to my beds to set up yet another colony. I popped round to a local DIY store but all the ant killers around use permethrin which would also bump off the beneficial insects as well that help the breakdown process.
Any suggestions,advice or previous experience with this matter.

The ants will go forth and multiply whatever you do! Flying ants are off to procreate.
Personally, I would simply tip the bin onto a path, give it 24 hours, then proceed as if. Birds may well pick off the 'eggs'. Around here we get  terns that flock to get flying ants which they take in the air ,at 0-100 ft

So far as I now, ant colonies have a single queen, so you won't get myriad new colonies by disturbing the heap.

We are having ant flying days here.  All the nests fly on the same day.  It only takes two to start a new nest.  The starlings and blackbirds here have a field day.
Ants do seem to break things down well.   I had a huge one in one  bin.  I had put a bucket on top and they had filled the bucket with fine soil.   I do not think I had a huge ant problem the following year.  I have never had a huge ant problem on that plot so far. 
Boiling water was the way my grandmother dealt with ants.

This is an on going problem I have had for many years.  What I now do is lift the compost bin off the heap and just open up the mound a little bit.  The birds have a feast and the compost is then usable.  I am on very heavy clay. Hope this helps.
                       My regards to you and all at A4All, Taurus

Hi Ya, I get ants in cold frames and occasionally my compost. They say the reason for this is it's to dry. I have given the area a good soaking and this seems to persuade them to move. It's not immediate but works. Hope that helps.

Ants in the heap means that its cool and dry - so it's either finished rotting (so the ants won't add much benefit) or it's got too dry (so soaking it will start it up again and the ants will B off to somewhere better).

Too many ants can be a problem (eg. they protect aphids from ladybirds) - too many anything can be a problem - including us, but if you have the right balance of ants and ladybirds etc. then just wet it, if you're bemoaning the lack of ladybirds then scatter their eggs for the birds.

Cheers.

Never ever been troubled with these but once heard that pouring boiling water over them was the answer!

Which partially  fits in with those who say the area is too dry, or needs a good soaking!

I have the same problem. Not happy about it but they don't seem to do any harm and compost is fine enough for sowing seeds. I have covered it with black plastic until the winter when I will transfer compost to the beds. Keep us posted please.

We don't have them in our compost (we don't have any compost!) but we have them in a brick trough my partner built to grow flowers.  When I lived in Cyprus you could get something called "Ant Kill All" which had tiny egg-like granuals.  The container had little openings and the idea was you placed this where the ants were and the ants would go inside and take the granuals into their nest, thinking they were eggs, and this would kill them.  With everything being politically correct here, I've yet to find some but it was very good

Hi Ya, there was a product available for ants called Nippon, it came in a tube with an enclosed dish to put it in. You then put it in the ants run and they would take it away and deal with them. I don't know if it is still available but should be I think and it worked well. Hope that helps

I bought some Nippon last year when we had problems.   I have just looked on the Homebase site and it is still available - https://www.homebase.co.uk/search/products?q=nippon&redirectFrom=Any

Well I managed to get rid of them. I bought something called Antstop granules from Sainsburys. I sprinkled it on to the nest and shut he lid of the compost bin. Two weeks later they were all gone. There were lots of other insects alive in it so its not a general insecticide, Apparently it contains an insecticide produced by a bacterium.