A month or 2 ago there was some discussion about how to keep ants away from
hives.  At the time, I said I had a friend who had this problem in western
NSW who had worked out an effective solution.
 
I tracked him down last night and got some details.
 
The ants out there can easily destroy a colony.
 
He keeps his hives on a stand about 300mm of the ground.  The stand is a
plank of timber long enough to support 4 or more hives.  The stand is
supported at each end by a steel trestle similar to the type used by
plumbers on construction sites.  Each of the four legs is smeared with a
"brew" that stops the ants from crawling up the legs.
 
The brew is basically a 50:50 mix of axle grease and sump oil.
 
Sump oil on its own would apparently stop the ants while it is fresh.
However it quickly drains away the ants can cross it again.
 
Axle grease on its own will stay in place but it is so thick, the ants can
crawl across it.
 
He mixes the 2 together (about equal proportions) until he gets a "thick
cream" consistency.  The brew should be too thick to drain naturally through
a cheese cloth but thin enough to be squeezed through.  He later added about
5% insecticide the brew.
 
The bees don't like the smell of this brew so when he smears the brew on the
legs they are inclined to give him, a hard time.  Once it is on, they get
used to it.
 
The main problem with this system is dust.  The dust will stick to the brew
and build up enough to allow the ants to cross the barrier again.
Consequently he has to periodically "reapply" the brew to the legs.
 
He has recently tried a new system which seams to be working well.  He puts
the foot of each leg in a bath of sump oil.  The oil does not dry out but it
can be washed away in heavy rain.
 
To keep the rain off he cuts an annulus of rubber from old inner tubes.  The
inside diameter of the annulus is a little smaller than the pipe that makes
up the leg and the outer diameter is wider than the tins he used to make the
bath of oil.  The legs are pushed through the hole and the rubber is pushed
about half way up the leg.  The foot of the leg is placed in the bath of oil
and then the rubber is pulled down to a level just above (but not touching)
the oil bath.  In this position, the rubber acts like an umbrella for the
oil bath.  It keeps the rain (and dust/sunshine) away from the oil which
never dries out and is no longer washed away (or choked with dust).
 
At this stage he believes the new technique to be superior because there is
less work involved.
 
 
 
Regards
 
Chris Allen