Kriston M. Bruland wrote:
 
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I visited all of my hives this past weekend and found uninvited guests
> in two
> of them.  One hive had black carpenter ants underneath the outer
> cover, on top
> of the inner cover.  They had chewed big holes in the inner cover and
> were
> working down into the super under it.  I cleaned all of them out,
> removing the
> eggs and all the ants.  The next day they were right back in, eggs and
> all.
>
> Another hive had two snakes sunning on the front porch, probably
> eating bees
> too.  They went right into the hive when I approached.  I managed to
> drive them
> out with the smoker and they went off into the woods.  The next day,
> there was
> a different (larger) snake which also went into the hive when it saw
> me.  The
> bees completely ignored the snakes when they went in.  Fortunately we
> don't
> have poisonous snakes in this area.
>
> Does anyone have any good ideas for getting rid of either?  I have
> never had
> either of these in hives before.
>
> We had some good sunny weather on the weekend and I extracted about
> 400 pounds
> of blackberry honey!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kris Bruland
> Member of Mt. Baker Beekeepers Association
> Bellingham, WA  U.S.A.
 
  Dear Kris:
 
Can't help you with the snakes, but I battled ants and hit upon the
following solution. I put my hives on 3/4" plywood boards to which I
attached four 4x4 posts. These I put in plastic tubs containing motor
oil.  The ants could not get across the moat of motor oil to climb the
posts, and my bees have remained free of ants since.
 
--
MZ�