Ants and bearding

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Good Afternoon,

Relatively new hive that is about two weeks old. It is hot here in North Carolina. I took off the entrance reducer as I’ve noticed the bees are bearding some and figured I would create a little more air flow. Read I could do this till things start to cool off.

I checked on the tray underneath and noticed a few ants (about 4) crawling around. I had put some water in the ant tray on the legs but guessing that has evaporated. I believe that greasing the legs may be best. Veggie oil or something like that a good idea?

Thanks for any and all input.

2

Oil works better - if you put it in the pest tray also drowns all the pests that land in there from within the hive.

The ants are more of a cosmetic problem, unless maybe you have some so-called “crazy ants” but mostly a strong hive will keep them at bay.