flying ants?

[tinkham masonry]

i was just outside and noticed up where the outside light is, there must of been a hundred black flying ants. crawling along the ground and up the foundation also. does anybody know anything about these ants? are they harmful to the house or just dame annoying

[AC2717]

Hi,
I might not be right, but this was the case with our place. They were the search and find ants for carpenter ants. They fly around find wood and make a trail for the ants without the wings. When we had to get our place treated for carpenter ants, in a couple of hours these guys came out and started to search, but obviously died, also even before we treated

When the people that came out to treat saw them and we asked them that is what they told us they were, but we already had a colony of carpenter ants traveling to our place (back in 2006)

Not saying they are with a carpenter ant colony but I would be cautious

[Kamper]

This is part of the Ant reproduction cycle. Once a year an ant colony produces many new drones and queens (males and females). These winged versions are called "Alletes" (sp?). They all leave the home nest at the same time. Find a mate and start new colonies.

If they land too close to an existing colony (even their parent colony) the workers drag them inside and kill them for food.

In some parts of the world they are considerred a delicacy. They have a lot of stored fat for their body weight to hold them over until they can be fed by their children. This allows them to be fried up nicely. I've heard they taste like roasted peanuts.

That's all I think I know about that!