# Funny smell & carpenter ants?



## Beacon Woods (Aug 2, 2006)

Yesterday when I was putting supers on the two established hives from last year I noticed that one of the hives had a funny smell to it. I could smell the wonderful aroma of honey-in-the-making but also this strange, not foul, but unusual odor. I also discovered to my dismay that there are carpenter ants under the sbb. Could these ants be making a funny smell or is it something else?

I was going to tear the whole thing apart but it was at the end of the day (and I was tired). Also I am still new to this whole thing and the thought of a bunch of bees "angry" with me for messing up their house during the major spring honey flow was enough to keep me from looking. Probably a bad plan. What do you think it is? Pollen? I've heard that sometimes certain pollens smell funny. And how in the world do I get rid of these nasty carpenter ants? I've tried the cinnamon trick. The hive is on concrete blocks and so legs in #10 cans with oil won't work. Can I bait them without hurting the bees? Suggestions?

Thanks!
Chris


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

describe the smell a bit better? smells are hard to describe (at least it seems that way to me)...but give it a try anyway.

what might you have blooming? any number of dominate plants at some point in the season will produce quite distinct smell.. we have wild onions here that very early in the season give a hive the light smell of french onion soup.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Ants smell like formic acid. Of course, if you know Latin, you can guess why it's called formic acid.


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## Beacon Woods (Aug 2, 2006)

*Smells like...*

You are right... it is hard to describe a smell.... Something like wet latex paint with rotting wood combination smell. Not foul, but not sweet either. Does that help? Also, the other 6 hives do not have this smell (nor do they have the ants). What do I do?

Formic acid .... made me smile.... "ant acid"?  

Believe it or not I really can smell when I am near an ant hill when I'm gardening. This does not seem to smell that way... although garden ants are usually the little brown ones not the big fat ugly black carpenter ones.

There are about 10 acreas of apple blossoms the bees are working on (across the road). There are also all sorts of other blooms and tree pollens and masses of dandelions (at least on our farm). Can you help? Thanks!


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## sentientsoil (Apr 20, 2008)

argh! MB, I just looked up "formic" to find out what it means in latin... lol! ants smell like ants... thanks.


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## AllFloridaBee (Sep 25, 2007)

baiting carpenter ants works pretty well. You can use a granular , such as Advance Carpenter Ant bait or a gel such as MaxForce carpenter ant bait. Carpenter ants feed at night, so if the bait is available only at night, the possibility of bees consuming it would be minimal.


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## Beacon Woods (Aug 2, 2006)

Thanks! I'll stop and get some bait tomorrow. So, if I put it out at dusk and get it relatively early in the morning and do that a couple of days in a row will that work? How long should one bait the buggers?


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

the snip***Something like wet latex paint with rotting wood combination smell*** has really got me stumped, but then I said it was seldom ever easy with smells.


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## AllFloridaBee (Sep 25, 2007)

one night with the bait will probably be sufficient.

way back when during my intro entomology class, I collected carpenter ants with a mouth aspirator. One good inhalation of the formic acid cured me of that method.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Could it be mildew? Wet latex paint has a real strong ammonia smell. On the Carpenter Ants. If you want to go the organic way. Use orange oil sprays and D.E. (diatomaceous earth) But not the D.E. you get at the pool supply places. Check out www.dirtdoctor.com and search ants, ect..


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## Dearth Vader (Apr 26, 2008)

I saw Lowe's has D.E. (diatomaceous earth) for pest control in the lawn & garden section.


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