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ants ants ants

4K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Juandefuca 
G
#1 ·
Hi; Just hived my first bees, and being a good mother I wanted to besure they had all they could eat. I put 2 Gal. sugar water in a top feeder and said good night. HO! what did I see when I went to check on my babys, ants ants ants all over the hive and in the top feeder. WHAT can I do, What should I do? Did not know so many ants where out there. Don not want to hurt my bees. Please Help!
Thanks

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Donna
 
#2 ·
The way I solved my ants problem is by placing my hive on a table and then placed small buckets filled with water under each table leg. Another way is to use GardStar that is used to drench the ground around the hive its effective in controlling ants. I hope the first works for you because I hate using chemicals near the hives.
 
#3 ·
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Toobock:
Hi; Just hived my first bees, and being a good mother I wanted to besure they had all they could eat. I put 2 Gal. sugar water in a top feeder and said good night. HO! what did I see when I went to check on my babys, ants ants ants all over the hive and in the top feeder. WHAT can I do, What should I do? Did not know so many ants where out there. Don not want to hurt my bees. Please Help!
Thanks
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hello Donna
Alabassi gave a good solution. I have done the same where ants found convenient food.
1 Gallon coffe cans do fine for the pupose , but it requires elevated stands. Instead of water , which is sometimes traversed by ants one can utilise a little used engine oil. The problem is, when it rains the level rises and eventually the oil overflows onto the ground.As a environmental more friendly method of treating ants, Aphis, mealy bugs is a mixture of IVORY SOAP ( NOT DETERGENT)at the ratio of 3 tablespoons per gallon of water. Of course you would NOT apply this mixture into the hive nor the bees !!!! But if you spot the nest , soak em. I have not tried this method on larger ants but had very positive results with these tiny buggers. which are very difficult to eradicate .
Hope you can fix it.
Catfish
 
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