sugar syrup

[crispy]

Hi all i have been feeding the bees sugar syrup now for about 6 days and i am having trouble with ants ,now i dont know if the bees mind sharing there food with them but i have an endless line of sugar ants on my hive anyone have a way to stop this or at least put a brake on these little raiders ?

[Biggles]

Hi Crispy

Make a stand with four legs.  Place each leg in a container of water.  Make sure the end of the legs won't poke through the container.

Maintain the water level, keeping foreign material out of the container that could form a bridge.

Cheers

Mark

[crispy]

Gday mark yes i am definatley going to have to do something about it and soon .

[iddee]

Pour a line of cinnamon around each leg. They won't cross it.

[crispy]

Well i changed the sugar syrup yesterday afternoon and when i took the top of i couldnt believe how many ants had fallen in and died definately a problem it had also started to get a crust type skin on it so took it completely of and washed it out , relating to another thread i had put up as i have to change the nuc for one that has a queen when i looked at the frames i had put in two were being drawn out and had syrup in them and 3 that were not i have  removed already my question is when i close the hive off should i  1. leave the frames with sugar syrup in for the new nuc or 2. take them out strip all the foundation and syrup out and re foundation them for the new bees .
I will be closing the hive off once i have got all the bees out and frames back to the nuc box they came in so that no bees can go back they must go back to the nuc box which will be closed off early saturday morning for there ride back to the breeder on saturday arvo and any bees out well tough luck youve been evicted .   

[Biggles]

Hi Crispy

Return the nuc as received.

Any frames with work already done will give the hive that extra bit of advantage when you can include those frames.

Ask the nuc provider if you can view the new nuc's queen, before taking delivery.  Look for eggs in the cells to ensure she is laying.  If he objects, look at him sideways. 

Mark.