Ants!

[Kyle]

Hello all! I'm new here and to beekeeping. O've started a hive in Buffalo, NY and things have been going great. My bees are buckfast bees and the hive is moving along smoothly in its third week as there are about 2 frames full of brood and pollen and such. I've seen them makeone swarm cell and from what i've read i should only be worried if there's a few more. The other problem is that there is a nest of black ants nearby, not a large one, but still. When I checked the hive today there was about 6 or so ants crawling over the hive and into the hive top feeder. The ants are about 5-8 mm in length and my hive sits atop of two cinder blocks. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how to solve this besides moving the hive, as the hive is in a rather nice place besides that. Also, I have heard of placing the legs of a table in cans of water to stop ants, but I don't think that would work with the cinder blocks. And also I'd like some feedback about the swarm cells. Thank you for your help!

Kyle

[size="1"][ May 09, 2006, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: Kyle ][/size]

[Michael Bush]

>I've seen them makeone swarm cell and from what i've read i should only be worried if there's a few more.

A package will seldom make swarm cells. Where are the queen cells? Are you sure they aren't drone cells?

> The other problem is that there is a nest of black ants nearby, not a large one, but still. When I checked the hive today there was about 6 or so ants crawling over the hive and into the hive top feeder.

I wouldn't worry about a hundred ants in the feeder. That's pretty normal. If the ants are running around in the hive in any numbers, you have a problem.

>The ants are about 5-8 mm in length and my hive sits atop of two cinder blocks. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how to solve this besides moving the hive, as the hive is in a rather nice place besides that. Also, I have heard of placing the legs of a table in cans of water to stop ants, but I don't think that would work with the cinder blocks.

Take cheap grape jelly and mix it half and half with borax and put it on the ant hill.

[Kyle]

thanks for the ant help, that sounds like a good idea. I was trying to think of something that would kill the ants but not the bees. The "queen cell" that I found was on the lower third of the frame. I don't know what the difference between the drone and queen cell are. The cell is a protrusion from the rest of the comb

[iddee]

Kyle, firdt let me say welcome to the forum...

Now, the little bullet shaped cells are drone cells. A queen cell looks like the two peanut looking cells in this photo.

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...nt=bees015.jpg

Amd no, I didn't place two peanuts on the frame, they are queen cells.

[Kyle]

hmmm, perhaps it was just some burr comb then. It kinda looked like the peanuts in the pic, but they have been making a lot of burr comb.

[Sandi]

On the subject of ants... We kept bees many years ago and will be getting a new hive Friday and get back into beekeeping. At the time we had hives before, fire ants were not yet a problem. Now, in Georgia these vicious little monsters are EVERYWHERE!! They are VERY agressive. Has anyone else had experience with them as far as bothering hives? I grow vegetables organically for a living, so do not use poisons of any kind. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Sandi

[Dave W]

Sandi . . .

My hive stand has 4 legs that sit in cans filled w/ mineral oil - no ants in hive [img]smile.gif[/img]

[RonS]

Sandi,

Fire ants have been resident in south Texas for many years. AMDRO and other commercial products will take them out. Sprinkle it around the hive on the ground, and if you can locate the hill, on it. Takes a few days but it will kill the queen and workers. Fire ants can destroy a hive of bees in a short time. We had one keeper with an ant hill under the hive supports. She never saw it. She opened her hive one day and it had absconded (moved out). The fire ants are extremely aggressive predators and will rip into sealed brood and unsealed alike, carrying off the then dead inhabitants. They will also attack the bees. I have my hives sitting on home-made pans of motor oil. True, some bees fall in it, but very few.

Ron S.

[3pepper]

hi
i'm new hear and new to bees , i got my first hive this march.
i live in south carolina and fire ants are a problem . i use a tea kettle full of boiling water and pour all of it into the center of the mound . i cuts an impressive hole straight to the bottom of the hive and steams most of the ants to death . i have not had one recover after this treatment . my orchard is 200 yards from the house , so i use a camp stove when i'm on an ant hunt .
thanks , i realy enjoy this forum
3pepper