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.