May 23, 2011

It was a nice warm day today and I was down at the barn, so I thought I'd see how the bees are doing. Lots of bees flying in and out of the hive. Many of the incoming bees had pollen packed on their legs. I lifted the top cover to see if many bees were still using the feeder and discovered only a couple were actually feeding. I also noticed a few ants crawling around the hive. Since the bee weren't really using the feeder anymore and I'm sure it's what's attracting the ants, I decided to remove the top feed. I removed it and dumped the remaining syrup out in the field. In place of the top feeder I installed the inner cover with the end notch facing up and toward the front of the hive. On top of that I installed the top cover pushing it forward to make sure the notch would provide ventalation to the hive. If I still have ant problems, I might place each of the 4 legs of the hive stand in the cut off bottoms of milk cartons. I'll then fill these with water. This will act as a moat to keep the ants out. I have been told however that the bees will take care of the ants on their own. We'll see!