The most common way to find Queen ants are during/after their nuptial flight. A nuptial flight is when the Queens (females) and Drones (males) that have been produced by a colony leave their nests to meet up and mate with other colonies. Queens with wings who have not yet been able to male aren't fertile, so they will not create a colony, so don't grab them if they have wings or have not yet mated!
Some ants perform their nuptial flights at night. They find their way around by using light from the moon and stars. A way you can manipulate this adaptation they have is to setup a blacklight that is facing a white bed sheet which will attract most nocturnal insects, including ants. When you find a queen ant that is attracted to your sheet that still has its wings you can leave it temporarily as it could’ve not have mated yet and then catch any drones (male ants) that may have flown to the sheet.
Another way you can attract them is filling a large container with water (pools also work), and you leave it in the open, which can attract queens because they think the reflection of the water at night is the moon light.
The easiest way to attract queen ants is the lay flat objects on the ground, which many queen ants will find suitable to hide under after their nuptial flights. You can use pavement slabs, rocks, wood, pretty much anything!
If you're having trouble identifying Queens or Drones, Check out my other blog post that goes into great detail about it.
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