I’ve tried brushing them out but they are back every couple of weeks
I need to harvest honey should I brush again and wash down the frames
They are only on the out side of hive
I’d probably brush and flush a bit with water to make sure they are all gone. Do you think they are feeding on the honey somehow?
You need ant moats. Use the search tool to find how to make them. It is easy. We lost a hive a year ago to ants, but this year, the hive is happy and healthy. 
1 Like
From what I can see no to feeding on honey
Maybe some moats is the answer
- anyhow, you’ve got a good lot of honey in there
If you don’t want ants on the area where you want to harvest the honey, simply spray that area with cooking spray. The ants wont walk over cooking spray.
1 Like
See where you have the flow hive outlets and that white strip of flat plastic
I sprinkle a bit of borax powder there as the bees can be stubborn esp if any of the tubes leak, which they seem to do
When you harvest, a wet brush and brush it all off thoroughly. Over all i think these issues shouldnt happen for a product worth on near a $1000 for a cedar flow hive, i bought two but thats it for me.
I bought a sliding compound saw and am going to fabricate some top bar beehives, easier to inspect, manage and process honey, and if you make them right you can run them as traditional langstroms if you choose to do so, using yr existing equipment
Is this not going to kill some bees?
Erm no
Don’t you have the cover door made from timber which u replace back
Impossible for the bees to get there and eat the borax. Only the ants which squeeze tween the timber
Me thinks yr thinking about another spot
I have that exact spot in mind. However I don’t want to introduce substances that could potentially harm my bees or myself. The spot in question in not air tight, and wind or rain could potential cause your hive to be contaminated.
Each to his own, I suppose, but I do not fancy taking that chance.
1 Like
Borax is an inert substance and it shouldn’t come in contact with yr honey, virtually impossible for bees to eat it, if they even do eat it given where i put it which is in a closed gap between timber and plastic
it works well on ants and is “relatively” safe, sometimes we need to choose particular course of action, carry on chaps and chapettes
There are many physical barrier options and deterrents one has to exhaust before moving on to what can be considered a pesticide. That being said, I have not had significant troubles with ants, therefore I do not know the frustration you might be experiencing.
The topic of keeping ants out of our hives was, also, explored on this thread:
You might want to look over these comments, too.
I’m like you Deon, I also haven’t felt the frustration of ants in my hives. Although I see plenty of them. I even found an ants nest living in the dry rot of a honey super once, happily cohabitating with my bees.
My main concern with ants is that I can’t go down to my bees in thongs. Those green ants give a nasty sting under the thong straps at times. They hurt.
@JeffH had to give your post a second, quizzical look, as at first, I was
imagining you going down to your bees in a g-string, which I associate with
the word “thong”, and not with flip-flops, as you implied. Also wondered how the hell the ants got under your lingerie straps!? Were you rolling in them?
Thanks for that, however unintended. Good to start
the day with a laugh! 
4 Likes
Well done 
We have a stand up comedian over here, Carl Barron. He does a bit of a story about thongs in some of his routines. I had a look to see if I could find one of his videos with the gag. Would you believe that the first video I looked at started with it.
cheers
2 Likes
Brilliant! I must say, I take pleasure in using colloquialisms I know people might misinterpret. Lived in the UK where people would giggle every time I used the word pants. Also, here in South Africa we call a traffic light a robot, which confuses the heck out of everyone else.
Ok, back to the topic. As you were, folks.
1 Like
Yeah back on topic. 
We have the small black ants here that always find a way to get to the hive, they don’t seem to bother the bees too much but when they nest in the flow chambers they gotta go. The meat ants here clear the dead bees from the ground and keep the area clean although I’m sure if I didn’t grease the stand legs they would be into the hives.
Different ants, different effects, just ask Dawn with her Argentine killers. Who knows, just like the pseudo scorpions, some ants may be invited into the colony… 
1 Like
We called flip flops thongs when I was a kid. Somewhere along the way the meaning changed…
2 Likes
So interesting. I love this about bees!