Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Beekeeping 101 => Topic started by: ChiefBee on April 13, 2015, 08:24:41 pm
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Just installed my first two hives Sunday afternoon with two top hive feeders. Today when I got home from work one of the hives was covered in carpenter ants that were attracted to the sugar water. Once opened there were quite a few dead ants in the water. I spayed some ant killer several feet away in the grass. Any other ways to deal with the ants?
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Some say that you can sprinkle cinnamon around the hive and the bees won't cross it.
Also, if you look around, you can see different types of ant traps or moats which are supposed to keep them out of the boxes.
Good luck! :)
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Field ants are very similar to carpenter ants in appearance. I have them and it's fairly easy to track them back to their nest. Just set out bait and then get the general direction that they're traveling, they have several or more pencil sized holes in the ground.
I have really good luck with ortho home defense, saturate the ground at the site and they're gone for a while. It's tough to get completely wipe em out as the colonies can span acres.
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Some say that you can sprinkle cinnamon around the hive and the bees won't cross it.
Also, if you look around, you can see different types of ant traps or moats which are supposed to keep them out of the boxes.
Good luck! :)
I think you mean to say the ants won't cross it.
I have good luck with the cinnamon, even sprinkler it on the inner cover around the edges and on the ant trail on the hive stand.
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as said cinnamon is the ticket. Put it under the inner cover and your set
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Some say that you can sprinkle cinnamon around the hive and the bees won't cross it.
Also, if you look around, you can see different types of ant traps or moats which are supposed to keep them out of the boxes.
Good luck! :)
I think you mean to say the ants won't cross it.
I have good luck with the cinnamon, even sprinkler it on the inner cover around the edges and on the ant trail on the hive stand.
Yes, you're right! LOL The ANTS won't cross it.
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Track those carpenter ants back to their home and destroy them. They are as bad or worse than termites!
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I have my hives on these old tables. Cinnamon works well. If you don't want the cinnamon to blow away in the wind, you can put a one inch road of vaseline down all the way around the hive first, then sprinkle the cinnamon on liberally.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs4.postimg.cc%2Fu58qh4cqx%2FDSCF2148.jpg&hash=11406e6df9153859ffa752516b4c6bc06ee844f4) (http://postimg.cc/image/u58qh4cqx/)
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OOHH good idea there!!
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It works, keep in mind tho that weather and sun will weaken the cinnamon after 2-3 weeks, so just shake some more on the vaseline road :)
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I did not have any luck with cinnamon. They walk all over it. I put the wooden legs of my hive stand in plastic bags to keep the wood dry. I cut gallon milk jugs down and put the plastic covered legs of hive stand in these and fill with water. It works well. You can unwind fly paper and stick that down around the legs above the water for extra protection.
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These guys laugh at cinnamon. I caught this cow ant on video a while back. The honey bee clinging to his rear end went for quite a ride.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs1.postimg.cc%2Fkv5h7aabf%2Fcow_ant.jpg&hash=0f9a0290a4cb8881a6360a272623733cac36332c) (http://postimg.cc/image/kv5h7aabf/)
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Ant's nests can be reduced in size by slowly pouring boiling water down their entrances or on the area where they raise their brood (the pupae are very often put above ground in sheltered places to pick up the warmth of the sun and speed up development). Boiling water may seem cruel, but take my word for it, there's less suffering than by poisoning. Boiling water is a treatment that can be repeated as often as you like with no permanent detrimental environmental damage. Killing ants this way is not a perfect method and the ants will generally reappear, but it is effective in the short run and is not expensive nor does it leave poison in the environment.
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Good idea ef......I have been dealing with the little black and red ants here, I will try the boiling water. Ants in my experience are a very resilient little creature.
Good thread.