Ants making a nest on the crown board!

[Rod Dawson]

As if the lack of honey this year is not enough, I found a nest of ants forming on the crown board of my hive. Any advise on how to keep them out?

 

[Winker]

I had the same problem, there were thousands of ants/eggs on the top of my crown board. I put greese around the bottom of the legs of my hive stand and it done the trick.

 

[alanf]

As if the lack of honey this year is not enough, I found a nest of ants forming on the crown board of my hive. Any advise on how to keep them out?

No holes or covered holes? Leave the feed.escape holes open for a week or so at this time of year and the bees will usually clear them out.

 

[MartinL]

Just keep brushing them away, I'd try sealing all the hive joints (between floor, boxes, crownboard and roof) with a good splodge of petroleum jelly. Then wrap the stand legs with sticky tape, sticky surface facing out (like wax bands on fruit trees). Make sure there is no long grass or other access to the box.

My hives are home to hundreds of earwigs and the odd forraging ant. I have feeders over the crown board holes which seem to be keeping them both out of the colony.

 

[Chris Luck]

I'd try sealing all the hive joints (between floor, boxes, crownboard and roof) with a good splodge of petroleum jelly.

My bees do that with propolis, clever cunning little sods aren't they?

Chris

 

[user 6228]

My metal stands have bolts for feet. I put under these upturned bottle caps which collect rain water. The ants then have difficulty in getting across the water to the hive.

 

[Poly Hive]

I see this quite a lot, and they don't appear to bother the colony nor do they enter the supers that I am aware of so I sweep them away and after a month or so they seem to give up.

PH

 

[reikib]

Have read that using ground cinnamon,around hive and on crown board helps,as ants apparently hate the stuff.

 

[nikca]

I see this quite a lot, and they don't appear to bother the colony nor do they enter the supers that I am aware of so I sweep them away and after a month or so they seem to give up.

PH

 

[madasafish]

 

[Sadders]

I have a small ant colony on my crown board. I don't know why, but I enjoy watching them picking up their eggs and running.

 

[MuswellMetro]

I had a problem this year with ants because i used correx as covers for the feed holes....ants stored eggs inside the correx

might use ground cinnomon or this method as described in the 1886 bee journal

http://archive.org/stream/britishbeejourna1886lond#page/274/mode/2up

I like keeping up to date with new ideas

 

[meidel]

I had a problem this year with ants because i used correx as covers for the feed holes....ants stored eggs inside the correx

might use ground cinnomon or this method as described in the 1886 bee journal

http://archive.org/stream/britishbeejourna1886lond#page/274/mode/2up

I like keeping up to date with new ideas

Bloomin eck besides the sepia tint the print is minuscule!

 

[MuswellMetro]

Bloomin eck besides the sepia tint the print is minuscule!

nice to catch up with you yesterday

Just use the + button at the side , the journals were found by Steve L, and while I washing my bee suit I was just looking for references to Barnet & District in the Journals, I have confirmed we were founded in 1911 and the first hon secratary lived in Muswell Hill

I also read that in 1922 journal that Middlesex BKA set up a model apiary almost in the middle of Barnet on the part of Middlesex then administered by Hertfordshire (under Barnet UDC)

 

[alanf]

the journals were found by Steve L

Thanks for the link. I see the entire archive is pretty extensive. And available for kindle download, I'll have to give some a go.