Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed the honey slowly vanishing from frames almost full to now almost empty. I have noticed ants inside the flow frames but NOT to the extent of inundation .
I am in Mackay QLD we have had rain but nothing too prolonged .
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
When you say the honey is vanishing from the frames, do you mean you’ve observed it be decreased in general from the whole frame or just the end cells as seen through the back panel?
If its the latter, I’d say its just a case of the bees moving the honey around and maybe consuming some during the rainy period. The levels in the end cells of my frames fluctuate quite a bit from day to day or week to week for no obvious reason and I have to say they rarely accurately reflect the state of the frame overall anyway.
Is the hive otherwise healthy? - no other pests (other than the ants) observed during inspections?
I’ve had limited success with cinnamon dusted about to deter ants (it washes away with the next rainfall though) and I’ve seen some pretty clever ant traps on this forum but haven’t needed to go that far yet.
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That’s what bees do: They store honey when there is a surplus and then they eat it when there is no surplus.
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