Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Sniper338 on April 17, 2017, 09:51:59 pm

Title: Bee hives and ants?
Post by: Sniper338 on April 17, 2017, 09:51:59 pm
New hive, notices some ants on it today.  Didnt open it up, ant numbers werent that bad.  We put cinemon around the legs to help repel the ants, snd put vasceline/petrolium jelly on the legs on the hive stand...

Whats the real fix for ants???

They werent fire ants, just some other small kind of ant..
Title: Re: Bee hives and ants?
Post by: cao on April 18, 2017, 12:46:34 am
Ants in the hive with bees are a bad thing.  Ants on the hive is not a big deal.  If I don't keep the inner cover dusted with cinnamon, the ants will find shelter between inner and top cover.  I just brush them off. 
Title: Re: Bee hives and ants?
Post by: Acebird on April 18, 2017, 08:50:51 am
I have had huge colonies of ants on top of the inner cover.  They did not appear to do any harm to the bees.  I just shoveled them off with my hive tool every other day for a few days until they gave up.  The type of ant and where the hives are located makes all the difference.
Title: Re: Bee hives and ants?
Post by: GSF on April 18, 2017, 11:36:01 am
Whats the real fix for ants??? After trials and errors I ended up having my hive stand legs sitting in burnt motor oil in a container sitting on a cement block. This has been more of a permanent fix. Cooking oil evaporated to quick, and they built bridges over the water.
Title: Re: Bee hives and ants?
Post by: bwallace23350 on April 18, 2017, 11:42:40 am
Quote from: GSF on April 18, 2017, 11:36:01 am
Whats the real fix for ants??? After trials and errors I ended up having my hive stand legs sitting in burnt motor oil in a container sitting on a cement block. This has been more of a permanent fix. Cooking oil evaporated to quick, and they built bridges over the water.

Thanks for this. I don't have the problem at the moment but could in the future.
Title: Re: Bee hives and ants?
Post by: Captain776 on April 18, 2017, 10:23:07 pm
Vaseline on the bottom of the legs..........haven't seen one ant since