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| Ant Hill |
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| Ants Pulling Bees from L2 |
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I checked on the bees this morning and L2 had fewer ants but still a problem. They do not seem to like the cinnamon but it did not get rid of them entirely. The ants seem to have no problem crossing the wood ash. I searched around the hive and found a two foot high ant hill in the wild roses about 20 feet from the hive. I removed the ant hill by shoveling it into a 30 gal garbage can. The hill contained brood but I do not know if I got the queen. There are still a lot of ants in the area and I will see what happens with their hill gone (and maybe their queen as well).
The wind was down today and I took the opportunity to fly my airplane and while I was gone Ellen observed ants pulling out bees from L2. I thought that they just liked the sugar syrup but it looks like they like the bees as well. Rain and snow in the forecast for tomorrow but temperatures may get to the high fifties on Saturday which will give us a chance for a closer inspection.
Jack
Hi Jack, we put a sheet of metal over the cinder blocks that our Langstroth hive sits on. The metal overlaps the block and bends downward toward the ground. On the underside of the metal, we applied car grease (the really thick stuff in the tube) all around. If an ant manages to climb the cinder black and manages to walk the underside of the metal (not likely), they can't get past the thick grease barrier without getting stuck. Another option would be double-sided tape under the metal.
ReplyDelete--Michele
Mobile, Alabama