Crazy bees that run around on the ground... ? it's Ants!

Beekeeping - Basics
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I have noticed in my apiary the odd healthy looking bee perplexedly running madly around on the ground. Being overly fond of my bees I try to pick these up and put them near a hive. However the crazy ones run around- jump onto- then straight off of- any perch you offer them- and seem incapable of accepting aid. Just yesterday I saw another one of these bees- scrambling about dementedly. Despite my best intentions she seemed beyond help.

Then I took a leaf and grabbed her with it. Only on close examination did I see to very small ants clinging to her- one on a leg and one on her abdomen. Looking from a distance you would never see them. They were determinedly nipping at her- and whenever one came in range of her head she would try and bite (?) it. Her mad scrambling on the ground now made sense. The ants were just too small to pick of her- so I dunked her in water ants and all. The water gave her the opportunity to get them off. I put her on a branch and after a few minutes she seemed well recovered!

It seems if an ant gets a hold of a bee it holds on for dear life and harasses the bee until other ants join in and finally bring the (to them) behemoth down to ground. Persistent Little Buggers!

Whilst you have to admire ants for their strong industrious work ethic and cohesive society - compared to bees they as light to dark:

The Ant Queen is Big and Ugly- The Bee Queen is Big yet Pretty (and not too big in comparison to her kind like the horrid ant queen). Furthermore the queen bee roves all over her hive, inspecting and greeting all. No worker is too lowly to meet her on the combs! Meanwhile the queen ant lies bloated, immobile in some fetid dungeon, disgorging eggs for all the world like a miniature Alien Queen from Aliens. Despicable I tells you!

The Ant colony is twisted, chaotic and lets face it: ugly- the Bee colony is a marvel of form, engineering and orderliness.

(many) Ants thrive on detritus, decay and death: Bees thrive on Glorious Spring Flowers!

Ants crawl around on the ground: Bees own the very sky! Iā€™d like to see an ant forage over 7km in one dayā€¦ (actually I forgot- antā€™s can fly too- dang it- yet mostly they choose not to: idiots)

Whereas a bee gives itā€™s life if it chooses to sting- so takes the decision seriously: an Ant is free to nip, and nip again-ad infinitum. There is no end to their nipping.

Bees rarely annoy: Ants often do.

Finally: Bees make golden honey- and yes- Honey ants also make honey- but it is nowhere near as good or as much- and you have to eat the ant to get it and ants donā€™t taste good they are bitter. I bet bees taste better too. Not that I am going to eat any.

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I would like to disagree with you but just ā€œcanā€™tā€. Ants might be orderly and organized like bees but are as annoying as flies.

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My god man your writing is fantastic, you really painted a picture of with words Iā€™m not a bee keeper just stumbled on this wonderful essay when after googling do bees eat ants because it looked like this bee was eating a bunch of ants. But I find this and am blown away at how good it is. I hope you see this and the hope to get your permission to share this on Reddit

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I agree Evan, Jack is no slouch when it comes to putting a sentence together. When you read ā€œno worker is too lowly to meet her on the combs! Meanwhile the queen ant lies bloated, immobile in some fetid dungeon, disgorging eggs for all the world like a miniature Alien Queen from Aliensā€. A literary masterpiece. Iā€™d be surprised if Jack wasnā€™t a best-selling author.

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Hmm, not sure about the reality of this. ā€œNot a bee keeperā€ and yet the profile says one hive?? Smells like a bot to meā€¦ Perhaps @Freebee2 or @Bianca have a more sophisticated opinion than mineā€¦

:wink:

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I wondered the same thing myself Dawn. Itā€™s hard to own one hive without being a beekeeperā€¦

However a lady this morning told me about a bloke who keeps harvesting honey without doing any brood checks. How would you classify him? A hive owner/honey harvester. Probably not a beekeeper in the true sense. I told the lady heā€™ll come unstuck one day. The bloke inherited the flow hive, his father recently died. Apparently he was able to do the same thing. The lady puts it down to the good area the bees are in. I put it down to luck which will run out one day.

The lady puts her lack of success & ongoing hive beetle issues down to the bad area her bees are in.

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Well, if Evan is a bot, he will get a boot. I still thank him/it for reviving this post, which I missed all this time! Well done Jack :clap::clap::clap:

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Oh ye of little faith!
Evanā€™s post was too sophisticated to be a bot surely?

Anyhow- bot or no Iā€™ll take the compliment. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I donā€™t think he was a bot, just a passer through who enjoyed Jackā€™s post. I did as well, very much, despite that I donā€™t share the negative sentiment towards ants but quite respect and appreciate them for their tenacity, industriousness, cohesive society and willingness to collaborate for the common good - many of the same traits I admire in bees :slight_smile:

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thanks! i actually like ants too- as long as they leave my bees alone and stay out of the house. I think I was drunk when I wrote that :wink:

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I do have a question about ants, but would also like to put in my 2 cents on the bot question. That post has all the hallmarks of a bot ā€“ effusive and strange flattery about your writing style, followed by a call to action ā€“ in this case, permission to post it on Reddit. Iā€™ve worked in the software industry for forty years and I did a double take when I first read that post. It was a hit and run.

OK, now about ants. Iā€™ve noticed in many beekeeping videos that people often place their frames on the ground when doing a hive check. Isnā€™t that an invitation for ants and other hitchhikers to jump onboard ā€“ or onframe, as the case may be? I was watching a video about things that beekeepers shouldnā€™t do, and one of the first things he did was put his frame in the grass. I kept waiting for him to mention it as one of the things you shouldnā€™t do, but it wasnā€™t on the list. It seems better to keep it off the ground.

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I never, ever, ever do that. Ever.

Instead, I put an inverted Langstroth lid (the flat ā€œtelescopingā€ kind) next to the hive. It is actually on a hive stand next to the hive to save my back. I put an inner cover inside it to give some ā€œbee spaceā€. I then put an empty deep box on top and put my inspected frames into that.

I think that there are multiple benefits from this method:

  1. No exposure to ants on the ground
  2. Much less chance of squashing bees
  3. If the queen drops off, she is in a contained space, not in the grass
  4. The frames are shielded from bright light (I put a tea towel over the top), wind and cold. Remember that for bees, anything below ~35Ā°C (~97Ā°F) is cold in the brood nest. Much less chance of beekeeper-induced chilled brood and chalkbrood

You have good instincts @claire_c, rely on them and then use your questions to improve. :wink:

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Iā€™m curious as to what the point of such a ā€˜hit and runā€™ might be?

@Dawn_SD I just use a frame rest- the ones that hang off the side of the hive.

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I will let @claire_c answer what she meant about the ā€œhit and runā€, rather than put words down for her which might be wrong.

I have used one of those, but I find that there are many advantages to using an empty box instead (on top of a crown board/inner cover):

  1. Bees donā€™t drop onto the ground - when they ā€œfestoonā€, they often lose their grip outside of the hive
  2. I donā€™t have to worry about the queen falling off
  3. I can control bees flying into the air if I need to put 3 or 4 or more frames onto the frames rest (or into the box)
  4. If I want to take my time, having a box with tea towels over the top helps them to maintain heat, and reduce guard activity. That reduces chilled brood, chalkbrood and stings

If you have found something that works for you, yippee! If not, the above is what I do :blush:

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Hi Semaphore ā€“ Spam bots will sometimes plant a post in a forum that serves the purpose of ā€œplanting a stakeā€ for future exploit. Sometimes they seem like theyā€™re just passing through and donā€™t come back (like a hit and run), but their real purpose might be to get a foothold and ultimately hijack the SMTP mail server so it can be used to send spam to other users. Iā€™ve seen quite a few similar messages that on the surface seemed to be from a person, but the content was actually generated by a bot. The ones Iā€™ve seen use flattery to get your attention, and then try to get you to respond in some way. The one thing the messages lack is anything of real substance. That user hasnā€™t been back since the message was posted, so it was most likely a bot crawling around forums and posting dynamically constructed, automated messages.

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I really like your lists of best practices! The other day I was thinking about the way you use tea towels, and on a whim I found this bee and honey tea towel, which of course I had to buy. This oneā€™s too nice for the bees, so Iā€™m going to save it for when itā€™s safe to have company again.

So here I am at 2 in the morning. I got up to let the dog out, and then checked my email and one thing led to another! Good night!

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That is a lovely tea towel. I bet @Eva will want one of those! :heart_eyes:

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The company, Cavalinni & Co is in San Francisco. Theyā€™re a wholesaler with links to retailers on their site. They have all kinds of cool bee stuff like bags, calendars, and aprons. I know what Iā€™m getting my kids and grandkids next year!