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My Ant Proof Hive Stand Actually Works!

201K views 394 replies 69 participants last post by  soarwitheagles 
#1 ·
After losing two nucs to ants I came up with a solution for those darn Argentine ants that raid hives here in California. I made "T's" with 1" galvanized pipe. At the bottom of the T joint, I slipped on 2" white PVC end caps after drilling holes in them. I hung them upside down on the pipe and filled them with high temp bearing grease that doesn't run in the heat. The rain won't be a factor because they're upside down under hives.

I pounded the pipe legs into the ground 2 feet deep. I secured the 2x6 PT frame to the T joints with plumbing strap. The cross members are resting on the T joints to better handle hive weight. NO MORE ANT PROBLEMS! (Sorry about the finger in the first pic)
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#31 ·
Hi Charlie, Hey Thanks, what a great idea!

Argentine ants are a new invader to my country and have shown up at one of my mating yards after someone dumped a load of rocks nearby. Unlike the other ant species that are a nuisance but don't actually harm the bees, the argentine ants actually attack them and can throw a small nuc into chaos.

I've been so worried about spreading them through my whole outfit that I haven't taken any equipment out of this yard and it's a pain. Now, i'm in a slow and painful process of moving the bees, one frame at a time, into "clean" equipment, and from there they go to a holding yard where I can watch them for a time to make sure no ants came with them, and eventually they will go elsewhere, I'll be abandoning the argentine ant site.

The best device I've seen so far has been with legs sitting in bowls of water, but that's obviously not practicle larger scale, so your grease idea is awesome.

The spread of argentine ants in my country has been researched and is an interesting read. They are mainly spread by people. They fight running battles with other ants, and sometimes the other ants are able to roll them back from previously held territory. So wether they'll take over the whole country is not certain. But in any case, I feel a whole lot better now that I've seen your grease trap idea, I'll use it if I have to go into argentine ant territory at some future time.
 
#32 ·
Oldtimer,

I'm glad to help. It's extremely frustrating to lose nucs to Argentine ants. I'm working on another design that's less expensive that I'll post soon.
 
#36 ·
Thanks Charlie for the great idea! I have lost 3 weaker hives this year to these ants. I have tried everything including high temp bearing grease, but not in the caps. It does degrade when it is not covered and they come back with a vengeance. I will commence building these stands and look forward to not having this issue again!
mike
 
#38 ·
insane,

All of the materials used are common dimensional lumber sizes you can get at any Home Depot or Lowes including the white PVC end caps. I used 3" deck screws to fasten it all together.
 
#39 ·
Beezly,

You're very welcome. You're right, grease and tanglefoot degrade rapidly when you just smear it on hive stand legs. It also collects debris that forms bridges for the ants to march across. I chose the upside down cups to protect the grease from rain and debris. The white cups deflect heat so the grease doesn't run in hot weather. Enjoy your ant free beekeeping! :thumbsup:
 
#42 ·
I built two of them and with 3 full double deeps it does rock slightly so I do not think you will get enough strength, especially on the cross pieces. 3 hives with double deeps and 3 med. supers would be pushing 800-1000 lbs (~70 per deep and 50 per super). I would not recommend this.
 
#47 ·
Here ya go GM, Master Pro high temp disc brake and bearing grease. It keeps it's consistency in hot or cold weather. I like to rest the hives over my grease cups to protect them from excessive temperatures and rain.

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#51 ·
Very cool Charlie. I will have to modify my stand later. for now I used Ant Block under my pond liner. Knocked out 2 fire ant hives, bees can't get to the block.
 
#53 ·
The most vicious ants we have are small fire ants, they'll eat bees, larva and beekeepers too. I poisoned em with Amdro antblock, but under pondliner on hive area perimeter to keep bees out of it. Worked.

5 hives. The bee tree bunch were too hot, moved them to a 10-frame at the back of the lot, and I finally caught and killed the queen (cordovan colored) about august, I took out all the queen cells and replaced with vsh eggs and larva, decided they'd failed at queen making, bought them an italian queen, who I found on the front step a week later when their queen from a hidden cell hatched and threw her out. She didn't live long. In other words, I got a LOT of experience.

2 VSH hives from nucs, 1 VSH hive from the queen I bought for the hot hive when I couldn't find their queen, 1 VSH hive from the hot hive's requeen (my weakest right now) and 1 cutout hive that I never requeened because they have done quite well. I know where there are 2 cutouts sitting, have rebaited the empty beetree. Will put out some more bait hives but mainly around here. The ones I had at a distance didn't do so well for whatever reason. Probably I put them out too early last year and the LGO was gone by swarm time.
 
#54 ·
Nice Gypsi, sounds like you're on your way to a nice honey harvest. I hope you don't have another dry spell again this coming summer. Keep those entrances reduced to combat the robbers!
 
#55 ·
Oh Charlie, it's going to be dry, but thanks for your good wishes.

But with 5 hives and as much planting as I'm doing for them, I stand a chance at a small honey harvest. All entrances reduced. And I feed inside the hive now, no more Boardman Feeders. Half a bottle of HBH left over from 2011 - is it good for anything?
 
#57 ·
Charlie
I built two of the modified stands so far. 4 feet between the wooden dowl rods were too far for heavy hives. The 1x4 sagged in the middle. The next one's I build I will place them 3 foot apart and use 2x4's for the top plate. I have high hopes for these stands as I will have more nucs and hives to put on them. I battled ants all last summer. Big one's, little ones, and some in between.. The cost ended up beeing about $55.00 each for 8 footers.
 
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