Thank you both, Marysia and ruthiesbees for responding to my plea for help. You have no idea how happy I am to talk things out with someone who has some experience. Just finished my chicken chores this am and went up to check on bees this am. Still a weak trail of very small ants that can get in to anything climbing the legs. I know you said to keep peaking in the window of the hive to a minimum but as they are not inside yet I'd thought I'd peak. There are about 5 yellow jackets and a few honey bees fighting with them and I saw a fight on the ground as we'll. my cluster of bees on the outside are about the size of a Crenshaw melon. They are not giving up and I really want to help them as much as I can.
The reason I got rid of the dead bees is they really smelled bad and was worried it would draw more yellow jackets. And since no bees were in there I took my chances. So thanks to the two of you, the next time I open the hive I have a plan.
1. Since I don't have a feeder, I will lay down a ziplock of sugar water. (I was worried about doing this because I tried this with my first installation and I got confused which side was up and with my fumbling the bag opened and dumped contents everywhere which I felt started the whole ant problem even though I tried to clean it up as much as possible.) should this bag go on floor of hive or lay on top of bars? How does one replace feeders or Baggie in a top bar without opening hive and disturbing bees?
2. Not sure where to buy pure bees wax, I assume hardware store but I will drizzle it down the inside walls of my hive. I have some Boos wax I use on my cutting board, I wonder if that would work.
3. I will spray lightly some sugar water and add a few more drops of lemon oil to my Colton ball. (Hopefully the yellow jackets are gone by this time, if not I will shoo them off I guess.
4. I will switch around my follower boards to find the tightest fit, however these tiny ant could slip through anything. I think I should just leave 10 top bars in place for my size cluster and maybe rub wax on them as well.
5. I will buy a couple wasp traps in town and hang in nearby tree. And make the borax/ sugar traps for ants for under the hive.
6. Call around and see if someone will sell me some brood cells with queen cells or a queen? It may be easier to get another whole bee swarm from a guy I know who extracts bees; anyone know what would happen to the outside cluster if I install a whole new swarm inside?
Thanks again to all! See, answers open up tons more questions! Sorry! I am so happy I found this forum though! This has been all consuming new adventure! Can't do anything else. Really want a hive to winter over with and don't want to wait till spring! But maybe in Southern California it doesn't matter much?
Definitely put syrup feeder inside the bee area (either a Boardman feeder or slit baggy or whatever). However, the follower board closing off the bee area in the hive must be very snug so the ants can't invade from the other side of the board. One of my hives was besieged with ants of every size and the bees were spending all their time fighting them off. I got some shallow plastic deli containers with lids, filled with a mixture of half sugar and half Borax (laundry booster, available at Walmart); you can also use Boric Acid if you can find it. Shake the mixture in the container, then cut small triangles in the lids for access. Turn the containers *upside* down under the hives with a few small rocks propping up one side (bees can't/won't access). Try to put these on the ant trails. It takes about a week but the ants are gone and the bees could get down to bee business.
Spray the inside of the hive lightly with the sugar water (don't soak it!) and leave the lemon oil cotton ball in there too. Might need more than a "drop." As Ruthiesbees says, you have to resist opening the hive so often...they want a safe, quiet place and opening the hive is an "attack" as far as they're concerned. Make sure the glass/plastic of the viewing window is tightly fitted and don't keep opening the window. If you must, do it when that side of the hive is in shade or toward the evening when the sun is down. You either need to find the queen or get another one right away - as in immediately. Good luck!