Ant's in Flow Hive

On inspecting my flow hive I have found a huge number of ant’s in it. I obviously have taken the flow hive off the brood box, no ants in the brood box, and put axle grease around the foundation where the flow hive is located, I have a traditional hive right next to it and never have had any issues with ant’s.

From what I can see firstly the bee’s had not yes had the time to put any honey in the flow hive, and it seems the the bees just can’t get to them.

Has anyone had a similar experience and does anyone know how to clean the ants from the hive, I used water and the little critters are still there, dead of course.

Interesting, have you tried sprinkling cinnamon on top? Someone made comment that works quite well keeping ants out

You can pop the cables and clean up and then reassemble the frame. They are made to do that. It’s a PITA but will get the ants out. Alternatively you could hitch a tiny tumbril to a pair of drones since they aren’t doing anything worth while anyway. I’m not sure you can find a bell small enough for them to ring and it may be difficult to teach them to call ‘Bring out your dead’ but that would clear out the corpses as well; -)

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Yes I had cinnamon on top, was good for not getting ants on the top of the hive.

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Yes I have started to do that, some what harder to put back together than I imagined, but it’s probably the only way to clean the ant out of the flow hive.

I started by using a water hose to clean them out, works fine for the main part but the ants remain in the top and bottom channels, so I then took one apart, and cleaned it, the only tip I would give is to build a small jig to re-assemble the flow hive, otherwise putting the cables on is pretty hard. I found when you pull the cables tight I ended up with the flow hive separating over the bench top.

Built a small jig in 10 minutes and problem solved.

I checked this morning the axle grease has formed a barrier that has stopped the ants climbing on the foundation stones.

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You may also use ant killing balls that are available in market. But also for the safer side please do consult a pest expert like pest inspection Davis because they will inspect the situation more keenly and will suggest you correctly.

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You may use boric powder or ant killing balls that are available in the market. But please for the safer side consult a pest control company as they will guide you correctly.