REGARDING           RE>Ants
 
Steve Albritton writes:
"I checked my hives last night and the ants are getting bad enough that I've
got to do something.  I am new and started in Mid April with two 3 pound
packages from South Louisiana.  We set them out and they promptly combined
into the same hive.  We managed to get about 1 pound back in the second
hive.  So I have one really weak hive that I am trying to save.  I purchased
a feeder that installs in the top of the hive to prevent robbing.  Now I've
got ants crawling up the outside of the hive to get to the sugar water.  Can
I spray the outside of the hive with borax soap or must I try spraying the
bottom of the hive trying to stay away from the bees?
 
I would not spray anything around the hives.  Bees could be affected by the
detergent as well as ants.  There was a post about a week ago that suggested
putting the detergent with 1:1 syrup into a small jar, punching nail holes
into the jar cap, and putting it on its side in the path of the ants.  I'm
going to give this a try, because, like you, ants are attacted in huge
numbers to my hivetop sugar syrup feeders.  I think I fed more ants than bees
with mine.
 
Ted Fischer