Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Nyleve on June 17, 2013, 05:06:52 pm

Title: Battling the ants
Post by: Nyleve on June 17, 2013, 05:06:52 pm: I have been seeing a LOT of small black ants on my hive, marching up one corner and going right in under the outer telescoping cover. The other day I also noticed them bringing their "stuff" with them (larvae, suitcases, etc.) and sneaking in under the metal covering that makes the roof of the outer cover - when I touch the top, I can tell there's a small space between the wood and the metal. So today I took action. I bought 4 lengths of PVC pipe, maybe 3 or 4 inches in diameter and 3 inches tall. I set those posts into shallow dishes which I filled with cooking oil. With the help of my husband, we lifted the hive up and placed these posts underneath the 4 corners of the hive on the stand, so that the hive is now up on stilts which, presumably, will keep the ants from climbing up from the ground. I also took some caulking and caulked around the metal roof so that the ants won't be able to get in or, unfortunately for them, get out.

There.

Hope this works. Very pesky those ants.
Title: Re: Battling the ants
Post by: Nico on June 17, 2013, 06:37:33 pm: Nyleve,
Good work, it will stop the ants. I have made a cover ( roof) above my oil container to
A. stop the bees from drowning.
B. stop the rain from filling the oil container and displacing the oil.
Nico
Title: Re: Battling the ants
Post by: thomas on June 18, 2013, 12:11:12 pm: You can put cinnamon in the hive cover and that will keep them out also.

Thomas
Title: Re: Battling the ants
Post by: mikecva on June 18, 2013, 12:23:17 pm: You can also use black pepper or grits. The ants will eat the grits then swell up and die, some will also take the grits back to their nest. -Mike
Title: Re: Battling the ants
Post by: Leather Jim on June 18, 2013, 02:54:49 pm: Just mixed petroleum jelly and cinnamon into a paste, smeared a three inch band on each leg of my topbar's. Seems to have stopped the invasion of very tiny ants. The occasional large tree ant runs right over the stuff but they aren't really a problem.
Title: Re: Battling the ants
Post by: Nyleve on June 18, 2013, 06:25:47 pm: Just came back from checking the hive and the ants are gone! This worked like magic. A little fiddly to set up but definitely recommended. I saw a few stragglers wandering around, but nothing like the armies that were on the march a couple of days ago.
Title: Re: Battling the ants
Post by: Better.to.Bee.than.not on June 19, 2013, 05:54:49 am: yep, this has been done for decades. a lot of people use other things besides oil, or pvc, but same concept really.