Hi all,
I’ve just installed my Flow Hive 2 with legs and as we live in ant infested sandy area in WA, will placed it on blocks and then put the legs into tubs of oil.
Unfortunately all we have managed to do (although no ants) is drown some of the girls in the oil!
Any ideas??
Thanks
Kate
A product called ‘Never Wet’ and available at Bunnings and possibly a bigger hardware store. It is a 2 part application and the ants can’t climb over it, they can’t get a grip on it, they simply fall off… Spray the legs and the problem will be fixed.
Cheers
Hi Kate, welcome to the forum.
Ideas? Sure, plenty.
Hey Kate,
I have a setup similar to yours with one exception…I put a lid hovering over the oil. This stops the rain getting in as well as twigs and leaves that can form a bridge across the oil. Also stops the bees landing in the oil (or at least makes it a lot harder). I used an outdoor stilastic type material to form a seal and hold the lid in place.
Great, thanks for the help
I actually did this as we have a huge ant problem in the back garden. And it works. Dries to an off-white and slightly messy finish but no ants!
When I bought it a couple weeks ago, the guy at Bunnings said they were not restocking it. So head down quick. I had to go to 3 stores before I found the last pack.
Yep, non in Bunnings but you can still get it on Ebay!!
aha, good luck! Works a charm…for a while. i notice with all our recent rains and the location its in (splashback off a brick wall) it seems to be wearing off. In saying that, it may have been a faulty application on my part.
Hi Kate I live in WA too and have put my flow hive ontop of a table and sprinkled cinnamon around the hive which fingers crossed is keeping the ants away.
Hope this helps 
If that doesn’t stop the ants a smear of grease on the table legs will do the trick.
Regards
Thanks Peter48 I will try that too.
How did the cinnamon work?
Sorry, I went with the Never Wet which seems to work well!
Hi it worked really well the ants seem to go away almost instantly 
It’s better then using anything that might harm the bees and is so readily available.
Which ever works Kate at least you have solved the ant problem.
Do you know if this is safe to apply when the block are already in place on the hive? We applied this to our cinder blocks that our hive is mounted on, but must not have done a good job because ants are on the blocks.
Did you apply this when your hive was already established? Just not sure if the chemicals will bother the bees
I have dusted the cinder blocks even in an established and working apiary. I am sure that bees show no interest in ant dust so regard it as a tool you can use in ant control. Hope that explains better for you. Cheers Peter
I have a big issue with ants too here in WA.
I had a look at the NeverWet stuff. It will apparently work for a short time but it is not long lasting. And carcinogenic apparently.
None of the home made remedies work unfortunately. They’re all wishful thinking and I tried them all. Sometimes not even the toxic commercial products work completely either. Ants are very resilient creatures.
You also have to be careful because anything that kills ants, will also kill the bees.
So far, the only thing that worked for me was to put the hive on a stand with metal legs, and apply machinery grease on top of the legs (facing down, under the hive) where it is protected from the weather and dust settling on it. Also make sure that no long grass is touching the hive making a bridge for the ants. I only have to re-apply the grease every several months, maybe twice a year.
Bees will be attracted to the Borax paste in a matchbox but is the matchbox is closed up enough a bee can not get to the paste, as I have said elsewhere on this thread. I use the ant dust more liberally as the years go by as the bees show no interest in it so I assume their is no smell or visual attractant to the bees. Consider for a moment that an ant has to eat the ant dust to kill the ant, an ant walking on it will have no effect to the ant from what I can see.
I always use a respirator when using any sprays, but where did you come across that NeverWet might be a carcinogen?
Regards Peter