# Ants!!



## 2kidsdad (Sep 27, 2009)

Was out by the barn this evening and popped the side of the super up to take a peek. The good news is that the girls are in the super. The bad news is so are ants. I'm really new to bees. Will ant killer spread on the ground around the hive cause problems (I'm sure some of you are laughing right now)? Thoughts / suggestions?


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

I wouldn't use any pesticides around the hive. I sprinkle cheap (everything a $ store) cinnamon around the legs of the hive and even on the inner cover.. ants hate cinnamon!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I buy my cinnamon by the 5 pound jug at Gordon Food Service, some thing like 22.00. If you give your bee busniess a name they will give you a discount too.

I cover the inter cover rub it into all the cracks of the hive and stand, any place you see the ants, they leave.

I have also heard that borax works on the ground but have never tried it.

If your stand has legs put them in a container big enough to hold them and fill with used motor oil. a friend does that.

 Al


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

I asked at the bee keeping meeting and they told me the ants would not be a problem for a healthy hive, the bee's will keep them undercontrol and that fire ants near a hive seemed to help reduce small hive beetle issues.

I don't know thats true, but thats what they told me. So I"ve just been ignoring the ant hills near the bee hives.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Cheryl aka JM said:


> I asked at the bee keeping meeting and they told me the ants would not be a problem for a healthy hive, the bee's will keep them undercontrol and that fire ants near a hive seemed to help reduce small hive beetle issues.
> 
> I don't know thats true, but thats what they told me. So I"ve just been ignoring the ant hills near the bee hives.


Not just a healthy hive, but an established hive. Once the hive gets established the bees can do a fair job of protecting themselves. 

There are a couple things I do with new hives. One... put the hive on a stand with legs and set the legs in cans of used motor oil. Two.... coat the sides of the hive stand with grease. Personally, I prefer using the motor oil. It doesn't take much, but with a new hive, I'll take 4 small coffee cans and put a bit of used motor oil in each and then set the legs in it. This is the only time I have an elevated hive.

After the hive is established and strong, I remove the stand with legs and use my regular hive stands.

NEVER use any pesticides near a hive. If it will kill any insect, it will kill bees, too.


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

Are the ants actually IN the hive? Many times, they are in the cracks of the boxes and other outer perimeter areas of the hive, and then when you crack the boxes, they go scattering and it seems they are in the hive. But they normally are not.

Keeping only comb and boxes what the bees can defend is good advice, not just with ants, but other pests also. (SHB, wax moths, etc.)

I kind of chuckle when we as beekeepers need to defend for the hive against ants, and that we manage bees, that can not deal with them. Many suggest not using pesticides around the hive, as if using everywhere else is fine and dandy. Nature loves a void, and will fill it repeatedly over and over. So what normally happens is that we treat, and will always continue the need to treat, because we failed to come up with other mechanical and management options so the bees can deal with it themselves.

I sometimes see roaches, earwigs, ants, and many other pests around the hive, hiding in cracks, and using areas the bees can not access or defend. I wonder how those poor bees, without the guiding hand of a beekeeper, out in that feral colony tree, ever survive without cinnamon being spread around.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

BjornBee said:


> I sometimes see roaches, earwigs, ants, and many other pests around the hive, hiding in cracks, and using areas the bees can not access or defend. I wonder how those poor bees, without the guiding hand of a beekeeper, out in that feral colony tree, ever survive without cinnamon being spread around.


It's because bees weren't meant to be forced into residing merely inches off the ground. In Nature they build their combs high in the trees and away from those pests.

Martin


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I don't care for the ants around the hives. I work in the area and every time you stir them up it seems you get a bunch on ya biting.

 Al


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