# Ant Issues



## southeastflorida (May 23, 2010)

There are some ant "moats" on this thread
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246259
There are working for me, I had serous problems with tiny and bull ants.


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

Somewhere or this thread I have read cinnamon scattered on the innercover will repell ants, I put some cinnamon on one colony today that has an ant problem. I will check on them Saturday to see if it is working and post the results.
Myron Denny


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## STEVE R (Jul 11, 2007)

I had good luck tanking out several colonies of Florida Carpenter Ants
recently with Diatomaceous Earth. They have been giving 10 new packages
heck this summer. After sprinkling ‘DE’ on the areas they were coming and
going out of the ground their numbers have been greatly reduced. Also my Bees 
do not seem as agitated and are not patrolling the outside of the hive as they were
before.


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## Prunedale HBR (Sep 11, 2010)

Myron, I'll give that a shot and let me know how it goes for you. 

Steve, We used the diamatatious earth on one of our hives to see how it would do. The ants stopped for about a day and a half with the initial application. The only thing that concerned me was that the ants that actually made it through would take it into the box. Maybe thats not a big deal, I read that the only way it would harm the bees is if it was airborne. If the cinnamon works and doesnt flavor my honey, this may be the answer. Thanks for the info.


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## Watchdog2020 (May 6, 2010)

I smeared axle grease around the legs and it stopped them cold. They wouldn't even try to cross it.

edit. I did have a weed grow tall and over the grease and they immediatly found their bridge over it.....smart little pests they are.


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## Bsweet (Apr 9, 2010)

I have used ground cinnimon and still do .it s well for me and the ladies don't mind at all. Jim


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

I did not have time to go to the hive with ants today, I will go tomorrow afternoon and report whether the cinnamon is working. I also have diamatatious earth on the innercover but it did not seem to be keeping all the ants away. I will report tomorrow evening.


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

When I first got to the problem hive today I sprinkeled diamatatious earth around it on the ground. I then pulled the telescopeing cover and checked the inner cover, I did see 3 ants still alive but the count has dropped dramaticly. I had put a cover over the hole in the inner cover and put diamatatious earth on the outedge of the inner cover previously. I put the ground cinnamon on my last trip. It looks like one of those treatments might be working. I will keep checking for ants in this hive. 

I did a vac sample of this colony to check, it looked to me like there were 2 varroa mites in the 50 bee sample. When someone with good eyes looks we will get an official verdict.


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## Bsweet (Apr 9, 2010)

Denny, If you have a digital camera take at close up photo of your bees, down load to your pc and then zoom in. the bees are standing still and you can count mites or check for deformed wings. you can also do the same with brood comd and check for eggs and or laying pattern Jim


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

We are having our bee information meeting on fall treatments Monday evening, we will have a microscope, I have samples and we are going to get more. We have a representative of the Okla Dept of Agriculture scheduled, I will try to post any findings of interest.


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## slwethrs (Aug 16, 2010)

I am having ant issues this summer also and I tried the cinnamon. It worked great for me. Must be reapplied when it gets wet from rain or dew. But it really prevented ants from crossing barrier. It did not seem to take a very thick layer either. Just sprinkled around the concrete blocks my hive is sitting on and very few ants found their way to the hive. I think they found a spot I missed with cinnamon.

I have not tried the grease application-and it may be more practicle because it will not disentigrate with moisture. I have read somewhere else that works too.


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