# Ants in the Hive



## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

One of my hives has a trail of ants leading into it. I popped the top and the bees seem to be doing fine, but the ants are bothering me. The weather has been nasty here and I haven't had a chance to go deep inside that hive to see what's going on. 

Any idea what the ants could mean?


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## sellis (Apr 7, 2006)

the ants are trying to get to the honey , if you have your bees on a hivestand take 4 cans that the legs will fit into and pour oil in the cans , it will kill the ants before they can get to the hive .


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Ah, I don't have a hivestand. My hives just sit on a wooden pallet. 

I figured the ants were after the honey, but what normally keeps ants from getting the honey? When I see something like that, my first thought is that ants would ALWAYS get the honey if the bees didn't protect it. So is this colony weakened somehow and therefore isn't able to protect its food supply?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Well, bees are designed to nest in hollow trees, which are usually up much higher than a hive. When we give them nice wooden hives to use instead of wooden trees, I suppose there will be more problems.

I suppose.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

If your inner lid creates a 3/8 inch space between itself and the outer lid, the bees can get in there and take care of the ants. If the lid is flat against the outer lid or if the center hole is blocked, the ants will nest between the lids and kill a hive by robbing it, little by little. If a hive has more space than it can cover, the same thing will happen. A strong hive without hiding places will keep the ants at bay, except for fire ants. Those have to be dealt with.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Sprinkle cinnnamon all around and under the hive, also under the outer cover on the inter cover.
I buy mine at Gordon foods as they have the best price and biggest jug at 5 pounds. I am told Borax works too, never tried it myself.

 Al


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

very interesting. 

someday I want bees


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## w12code3 (Mar 28, 2008)

Ant problems are (at least in my limited experience) often associated with a leaky feeder. I don't know if that could be part of your problem or not but I thought it might be worth mentioning. 

Cheers,

Justin


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## stranger (Feb 24, 2008)

borax does kill ants, but to get them to eat it or carry it back to the nest, it has to mixed 50/50 sugar -borax and that mix is no good for the bees, they'll try to get the sugar.


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## KS wife (Jan 1, 2008)

Ditto on using the cinnamon. Works like a charm. Just make sure you cover the entire inner cover.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Today I watched the hive for a little while. The bees are carrying out dead ants. 

I didn't put down any poison or anything. They took care of it themselves once their population got going well. 

Now my next big bee concern is to get those supers on there before the clover blooms!


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