Carpenter Ants from brushpiles?

Last summer we had carpenter ants a bit inside our home and out in garage and driveway.  We moved our smaller-sized woodpile which was stacked against wall of barn (barn is approx. 70 feet from house) INTO the barn with concrete floor.  We also sprinkled borax/sugar mix all around perimeter of house and the ants seemed to disappear...for awhile anyway and then, as I recall, we saw a few later in the fall.

We have alot of branch trimmings from pruning and I would like to build some brush piles around our property and am wondering if the brush piles will attract carpenter ants again?  If so, any recipes tried and true to get rid of them?

Thanks,
Beth

Brush piles not too close to the house might attract the ants away from the house and into the more attractive and easier to infest brush.  At least, that's what I like to believe! 

Carpenter ants are a symptom, not a disease. They live in rotting wood. Keep your wood piles away from structures and check your buildings for any design or maintenance problems that might be causing rot. Eliminate the rot and there won't be any ants.

Look for University publications on carpenter ant biology (often using the latin name of your local species is useful).  Our carpenter ants typically have a core nest that is moist wood with the queen, and then several satellite nests in dryer locations for brooding pupae. movement is on scent lines between nests, most active on warm dry evenings.  I am not convinced that a pile of small diameter brush would house either nest type in our setting.

Good point, Paul. Ants in different regions may be different species with different behavior. I'm familiar with carpenter ants in Massachusetts. I fix damage on lots of houses and see the relationship between rot and ants here.