I have identified at least three different ants a small brown, a winged brown and a large black ant. At least one and probably two are wood eaters. My question is, how do i get rid of them without killing my bees? I' thinking about diatomaceous earth.
Where are the ants? Are they bothering the bees? I get ants between inner and outer cover. Cinnamon sprinkled on the inner cover chases they ants away.
I'm in the process of building a hive stand on PVC pipes with inverted cups for putting high temp grease into to stop the ants.
Jim
Both great ideas, thanks! I need to get rid of the ants (termites) before my house has a
(ter)mite problem.
The bees are next to the house and the ants have been recently noticed on a wooden walkway.
I ended up having to put my hive stand legs in butter bowls filled with burnt motor oil. Nothing else worked.
Same here, we used mineral oil.....
There is a garden product here called "Tanglefoot" - used around the trunks of fruit trees and the like to stop ants getting at aphids and so controls the aphids. It's a grease that is very thick and tacky and lasts quite a while in the weather - I've just started using it on the hive stand legs
I tried axle grease around my hive stand legs but it wasn't long before the dust or something caked the outside of it and the ants were back at it.
Gary,
Did you have the grease in inverted cups or just on the poles?
By chance, did the grass grow up and create laters to bypass the grease?
Jim
Jim, I rubbed it on the legs. Yes to the ladders. I haven't sprayed under the hives yet and when a stalk of grass shoots up and makes a connection it takes about 5 seconds for a thousand ants to get wind of it.
People probably know this but it took me a while to put 2 and 2 together and work it out. We all know a spray of soapy water kills bees well I discovered by accident it also kills ants - especially in the honey extraction area or the kitchen around food stuff where it is not conducive to using chemical sprays.
I will keep that in mind. Thanks.
Last Sunday I used Windex to kill a bunch of 1" long horse flies that were on my garage door window. There were 2 many to try to kill them one of at a time because when one would fly across the window it would stir them all up. Then I used a paper towel to clean the window.
It killed every one of them.
Jim
Windex is also good for fleas and ants.
Quote from: Wombat2 on May 24, 2016, 10:35:24 PM
People probably know this but it took me a while to put 2 and 2 together and work it out. We all know a spray of soapy water kills bees well I discovered by accident it also kills ants - especially in the honey extraction area or the kitchen around food stuff where it is not conducive to using chemical sprays.
My wife likes it as well because when I wipe them up with a paper towel I clean the bench as well - she says it's the closest I get to housework!