when i get the bees i will be moving the hive about a mile from where it sits now but still do i need to worry?
not exactly sure what you mean.....are ants living in the hive that is empty? do you have it outside? are they actually living there or just crawling on it? ants do roam all over looking for stuff...you'll find them everywhere...it isn;t a surprise to find them on a hive. and what do you mean do you still need to worry? I doubt the ants are going to travel a mile in search of the hive once you move it...so no....?
Are the ants living in the hive or do you have a feeder in the hive? And where are you located?
If there aren't any bees and the ants have set up house there - just pour some boiling hot water on them. Leaves no chemical residue ;)
Ants love being out of the rain. Those little ones that like to move their larvae around, like to move it where they get heat from the sunshine, but no rain (like between the cover and the top bars or between a cover and an inner cover). I would just brush them off. if they have a big nest inside the actual box, I would just flip it upside down and dump them out. A good medium strength slam to the ground should get almost all of them.
some grease on the legs helps before one gets ants or after they are killed out