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Author Topic: Ants did it again.  (Read 2043 times)

Offline BeeMaster2

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Ants did it again.
« on: July 26, 2017, 01:07:44 pm »
I did a removal from a gas tank cover last week.  They seemed to bee doing pretty good the last couple of days. I checked on them a few minutes ago and saw more ants than bees at the entrance. I also saw brand new bees on the front of the hive. That was strange. I lifted the lid and most of the bees are gone. I pulled the frames and found more ants than live bees in the bottom of the box. Lots of dead bees. I checked in vane for the queen but no luck. I put some soapy water in a bucket and dumped the ants in it and killed every ant that I could find on the rack and the ground.
I checked the comb and there is no queen but did find empty queen cells. There is also no honey or pollen in this hive.
I will add these bees and comb to another hive later today.
I also cut the grass stems the ants were using to get on the bee rack.
It is a big shame loosing these bees. They were very gentle and they did have a queen.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Van, Arkansas, USA

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2017, 02:46:37 pm »
Fire ants? 

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2017, 07:43:20 am »
No, Carpenter Ants.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline tjc1

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2017, 09:44:22 am »
Wow - I never knew that ants could overpower a colony like that!

Van, Arkansas, USA

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2017, 09:57:51 am »
Seems I learn something new everyday from this site about bees.  Carpenter ants, I did not know either, I was thinking fire ants.  Sorry you lost your gentle bees but you probably save me and others some hives here in Arkansas and else where.  Thank you, Jim.

Offline GSF

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2017, 03:30:52 pm »
I had sugar ants wipe out 4 nucs last year.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Van, Arkansas, USA

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2017, 05:13:31 pm »
What is a sugar ant?  Are they the very small almost delicate ant?

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2017, 04:47:53 am »
Sugar ants are the small black ants we used to have that always ended up in the house. They are a little smaller than fire ants. I still have them in large numbers at my farm but where there are fire ants, I do not see very many sugar ants. They build the circular volcano shape cone entrance. They also make long paths of ants from mound to a food source.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline GSF

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2017, 08:09:15 am »
What we call sugar ants meets that description but are more likely to build a nest under something. Many a time I have laid something on the ground and went to retrieve it the next day only to find they have already started a nest.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline beebad

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2017, 09:41:05 am »
I am not sure I am following ...So you are saying this is a newly captured swarm that you introduced into your apiary last week, so they weren't really established. Am I following you correctly? Did you start feeding this new colony as soon as you got them in? Hard to imagine that they would just start bringing in nectar and pollen. Were you using drawn comb or foundation? I think the ants were a symptom of a very weak hive and not the cause.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2017, 01:04:17 am »
I am not sure I am following ...So you are saying this is a newly captured swarm that you introduced into your apiary last week, so they weren't really established. Am I following you correctly? Did you start feeding this new colony as soon as you got them in? Hard to imagine that they would just start bringing in nectar and pollen. Were you using drawn comb or foundation? I think the ants were a symptom of a very weak hive and not the cause.
This was a hive that my wife and I removed from a buried gas tank cover. We rubber-banded the brood comb in 3 foundation less frames,  and put them in a Nuc. I put a queen excluder over the entrance hole for 4 days. They looked good with lots of bees at the entrance so I removed the excluder. 2 days later I saw the carpenter ants at the entrance. They were not a real strong hive.
I have had carpenter ants kill very strong hives. That is why I built stands to try to stop the ants.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline tycrnp

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2017, 01:05:34 am »
Hard to imagine that they would just start bringing in nectar and pollen.

Why not?  We caught 3 swarms this year, I never fed them, and they got to work immediately.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2017, 01:07:25 am »
Hard to imagine that they would just start bringing in nectar and pollen.

Why not?  We caught 3 swarms this year, I never fed them, and they got to work immediately.
Same here. We usually have a flow on all summer depending on the weather.
We have a good flow on now.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline beehappy1950

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2017, 02:04:53 pm »
I had some big black ants attack one hive. Sure made them bees mad.  I made some small pans and put a block of wood in it . Set one under each corner of hive. Then poured in a bit of used oil. Stopped it.

Offline eltalia

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Re: Ants did it again.
« Reply #14 on: July 30, 2017, 10:27:25 am »
Just throwing this into the mix, it being an ant thread :-)

Not all ants come from under, believe that!
These guys are natural acrobats!
http://www.minibeastwildlife.com.au/resources/green-tree-ants/

At one time in a midsummer potato cropping I placed six midstarters
under a line of mango trees bordering the paddock. It was sheer luck
I put just one colony under each tree as breaking them up saved them all but one.
That one was attacked by greenants from above (I concluded) on finding it
completely stripped out with the next having four strings of ants hanging above it, all ready to launch.
We know about ants, bullants/jumping ants/greenants, enough to always
stop them coming up... but down?
Yet another reason to always place hives in full sun.

Cheers.

Bill

 

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