>Not all ants are harmful to bees. Since they are close relatives to >bees, we should appreciate them and conserve them where possible. > >Observe whether they are predator ants or not. Just because they go >in and out of hives does not necessarily mean they are harmful. > >Regards > >Allen All Bee List, I agree with Allen, all my comments were in regard to FIRE ANTS. In Texas they are a small red ant and once you've experienced a fire ant mound you'll remember exactly what they are! The Logic/Award DOES NOT harm other native ants as far as I can tell. For example, I continue to have what we call a "sugar ant" in my yard (year 'round). It is a small native black ant that seems to do no harm to the bee hives. Standing in/on a fire ant mount reminds me of a joke: The customer of a blacksmith wondered into his shop one day and was pokin' around looking at stuff and handling everything! When the nosey fellow pickup a hot houseshoe and immediately tossed it back down, the blacksmith said, "Ah, burned ya didn't it?" And the coustomer said, "No it doesn't take me long to look at a horseshoe." Well if you've experienced fire ants, it won't take you long to see enough! They do have one redeming value, they can really do a job on wax moth invested frames (the wax moths, larve, etc don't stand a chance).