Ants or termites in the hive

bwallace23350 · August 25, 2016, 01:23:54 PM

I thought I saw on the top board what looked liked termites but my mother thought they were baby ants. Only saw them where the cover touched the other boards though. Is this an issue. I tried to brush t hem away.

GSF · August 25, 2016, 03:47:03 PM

So far the body count is 4 nucs I lost to sugar ants. I put these in the shade, the sugar ants found them and made them abscond, laying queen and everything.

Dallasbeek · August 25, 2016, 07:39:49 PM

Quote from: bwallace23350 on August 25, 2016, 01:23:54 PM
I thought I saw on the top board what looked liked termites but my mother thought they were baby ants. Only saw them where the cover touched the other boards though. Is this an issue. I tried to brush t hem away.

http://cdn.orkin.com/images/termite-vs-flying-ant_350x240.jpg

Dallasbeek · August 25, 2016, 07:41:05 PM

Whether flying or not, note that the termite's shape is without the wasp-waist that the ant has.

bwallace23350 · August 26, 2016, 01:25:05 PM

It was a termite then. Will they hurt my bees?

GSF · August 26, 2016, 02:35:28 PM

Is there any barrier between your hive and the ground? If so it's probably not termites. To answer your question I'd say no.

Dallasbeek · August 26, 2016, 04:00:04 PM

Except to eat their house.

Look for a soil tube from soil to wood. They can't live long in open air. I have my hives on cinder blocks set on their ends,so about a foot from soil.

bwallace23350 · August 27, 2016, 09:07:07 AM

My hives are sitting on wooden pallets so they are off the ground but on wood. I will have to fix that in the winter.

rober · August 27, 2016, 11:32:34 AM

you might not want to wait. I worked on a house once that by the time the owners realized they had them the only thing left of the baseboard in a room addition was the paint.

Dallasbeek · August 27, 2016, 01:00:10 PM

Yep, those pallets make a great entrance way to the wood in your hives. I don't think they'll do anything to the bees. It's the wood they find tasty. Get them up higher. Raise them and make sure they don't have a way to the soil and the termites probably will die. They have to go into moist (relatively speaking) soil to survive. Exposed to the air, they'll dessicate.

BeeMaster2 · August 28, 2016, 05:10:56 AM

By the way, the scientific name for termite means equal wing. When they are swarming, if you pick one of them up, use your fingers to flair their wings. Termite wings will have all 4 wings the exact same length. They are the only ones in the ant family with equip wings.
Jim