[MSbeekeeper]

I went out to feed today and noticed fire ants entering and exiting the hive. What can I do to get rid of them. I have borax I was going to spread around but that wont get get them out of the hive will it? Also do I need to do anything for the borax or just sprinkle it around the hive??

 

[ttemplin]

get some small rope and soak it in diesel lay it in a circle around the hive

 

[StevenG]

See if you can find the fire ant mound, and kill it. I generally spray for ants around the base of the hive (I keep my hives 9" off the ground, entrance another 3" above that) and am real careful about not getting the spray near the bees. Do a circle around the hive, and that has eliminated the ants for me. But fire ants are a different creature.

 

[Skinner Apiaries]

Diazanon used to be great... I've seen where in africa they have to put them on stands with cans of oil for the posts to set in to keep the ants down. I used a granual broadcast ant killer and it thinned em out pretty good.

 

[MSbeekeeper]

Can fire ants cause great stress on the hive or do I have time to react?

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Depends on many factors, they can do a lot of damage, fast, but they can also do a little damage at a time, over a long time. I've had them do it both ways. I use some granular bait, twice per year, and it has been keeping them under control, but not completely eliminated.

I've had them go after pollen sub patties, honey, and brood; sometimes all of the above. I've had strong healthy nucs, and sometimes full-size hives, abandon house when the fire ants raid them.

 

[pom51]

This is not a reply but a question what do you spray around your hives
thank

 

[Adam Foster Collins]

i've read that ants despise cinnamon. Anyone tried it?


Adam

 

[kc1985]

Need to stop the ants as soon as possible. Last fall I caught
a late season swarm. Put it in a hive body . It was doing good so I added
a frame of capped honey so they could be stronger going into winter.
The ants found the honey and messed up the frames enough that honey started to run out the front. I stoped the ants but the damage was already done. Being in the fall, my strong hives started robbing the honey.
Could not stop the robbing until they had killed the weak hive.
Fire ants are bad..

 

[Cactii]

Ants are a real pest.

Last year I tried using salt (because it's natural) to try and stop the ant problem that I had. I made a mound of salt all the way around the hive and the ants walked over it as if it wasn't even there.

After some study I noticed that the ants were more interested in the wax rather than the honey so they will be doing serious structural damage to the hive if you let them continue.

Winter came before I could get a real feel for my ant problem, I'm sure I'll have to face it again this year.

I was thinking of going down to a sheet metal place where they make heating ducts and making stands for my hives out of sheet metal. Forming it so that the metal has a steep, inverted ledge that the ants will not be able to get a grip on when they're walking upside down to get to the hive.

 

[Alex Cantacuzene]

I have been watching this question for a while and here are my two cents. I have made stands from old basketball court piping and welded an angle iron frame to it that fits the bottom/landing board with wood screws. The hives are 18" high off the ground. The bottom of the pipe has an eight by eight by three eighth steel plate with four anchor bolts welded to it. I poured concrete footings about ten to twelve inches deep with the anchor bolts hanging in a plywood panel the size of the plate and the bolt pattern the same as the steel plate. Once the concrete is cured take the nuts off the top, take the plywood panel off and mount the steel stand, using washers to level as needed. That single 4" dia pipe has a ring of paper coated with Tanglefoot and there are no more ants or other small critters getting into the hives. Take care and have fun

 

[ccar2000]

I don't/haven't had a fire ant problem but, we have a lot of various colors and sizes of ants in the high desert. I use diatomaceous earth as you have described the use of Borax in your post. I spread it around the vertical supports. I use it not only for my hive stand but in the chicken coop and around the dog food storage can... Typically once you stop the ants from going in to feed, the others left inside will eventually just leave and be gone. They like to go home after a day of work too!