Ant problem. How to get rid of them.

[juzzerbee]

I have two hives. One of them has the wood inner cover and the other is a homemade plexiglass inner cover. The wooden inner is the hive having the issue with the ants hanging out inside of it about the hive and in the "dummy box" enclosing the top feeder. The pexiglass(see through for undisturbed viewing) does not have any ants in it. I assume this might be because the ants see the bees moving in the hive and this scares them from inside the "dummy box" housing my syrup feeder. For the past week, I have been putting dried and unused coffee grounds, cinnamon sticks and handfuls of grass in the "dummy box" and around the outside of the hive, hoping that this advice would get rid of the ants. It seems as the number of ants have been reduced but there are still enough in there to cause me concern and frustration. I think the dumb things are able to get under my feeder also and really use up the sugar syrup. What can I do to get rid of the ants? By the way, they are the type of black ants that make the large mounds of dirt/sand and then live inside of the mound. Thanks, juzzerbee.

[TonyGotaTruck]

http://picasaweb.google.com/MichaelJ...95046206986082

Just add water or oil in the cups.. problem gone...

[juzzerbee]

Tony- Sorry I think I am a bit "slow". Could you elaborate a bit for the newbee? What kind of cups, how big of cups, what kind of oil, place them in the dummy box? Thanks, juzzerbee
BTW, I just checked out your site, really awesome photography and images, great work!!!

[DonShackelford]

I took a tip from "the lazy beekeeper" by doing away with inner/outer covers and using treated plywood for a lid. The ants and SHB's are completely gone.

It took me a week to make 30 outer covers. Took 15 minutes to burn them. Education can be expensive.

I found an ant hill near one apiary, so I treated the ground and the ant hill with ant killer. Spent $7.00 total.

[TonyGotaTruck]

Did you see the picture from the website I sent on my last post? I,m not the expert but, you just have to separate the hive from the ground with water or oil. Add 4 legs to the hive bottom made from wood, or metal... Place cups, coffee can, tuna can etc under the feet of the legs and fill with the liquid you choose... Then fill with liquid... The ants drown trying to get to the hive...

Google this : How to keep ants out of bee hive and you can see pictures etc...

[StevenG]

Sprinkle cinnamon on the inner cover. Spray their trails on the ground with ant killer. Works for me every time.
Regards,
Steven

[mjtracy]

Agree with StevenG, sprinkle ground cinammon everywhere. Ants hate, bees don't care.

Cinnamon sticks will do nothing to deter ants.

[Littlestinger]

Ive tried ground cinnamon, but it never seems to deter the ants. Are these small colonies of ants really causing much trouble? I just brush them off onto the ground and step on them whenever I open the hives.

[LtlWilli]

I'd track the ants back to their nest , and kill them there with Amdro. That way , you can eradicate them and ease the problem.

[juzzerbee]

Thanks all. I checked yesterday and noticed that there were not as many ants as before. I hope they are getting frustrated and slowly giving up. I also replaced my plastic peanut container feeders with 1 gallon plastic bucket feeders. The bucket feeders have less holes in them than my home made feeders, so hopefully this will also help the ants lose interest in the feeders. Any other suggestions or opinions are welcomed. juzzerbee

[Coach B]

The cinnamon worked for me only when I put it in a complete circle around the top feeder. The best answer for me has been to not feed. No sugar syrup, no ants!