Fire ants are social insects consisting of a queen, workers, eggs and larvae. The queen lives in a protected nest which may be several feet deep. There may be several satellite nests near the main nest and some nests may have more than one queen. Fire ants usually have two flying swarms each year. After mating the fertilized queen begins a new colony.
Baits work best when used in the spring and early summer.
When the weather gets hot and dry baits in general are ineffective for fire ant control. Two good baits for fire ant control are Ascend and Maxforce granular ant baits. This is definitely the quickest and most complete route to make your yard fire ant free. If you are using Deltagard Granulars each mound should be treated separately by opening the mound up with a spade or stick, inserting the granulars and then dissolving the granulars with a water hose. If using Sniper then about 1 gallon of diluted spray should be applied to each mound after the mound is opened.