Fire Alert : Red Fire Ants and Beehives
Normally functioning honey bee hives can produce decent income for a beekeeper, if the bees are kept healthy and the hive kept free from pests. Unfortunately, honey bees are subject to a number of predators. One unlikely but potentially deadly threat is the red fire ant, an aggressive insect that is hard to control.
Fire ants belong to the genus Solenopsis; there are about 285 species worldwide. Like all ants, fire ants have three-part bodies composed of the head, the thorax, and the abdomen, with three pairs of legs and a pair of antennae; however, unlike other ants, fire ants have copper-brown heads and thoraxes, with darker abdomens. Like bees, fire ants are social insects. A colony will have a queen (who can live up to seven years and produce more than 3,500 eggs each day); drones, whose sole purpose is to mate with the queen; and workers. As with bees, the workers are sterile females who do all the work of the colony.
Fire ants typically build large mounds in open areas, up to 15 inches off the ground and 5 feet deep. However, if there is cover, the ants may build their nests under timber or rocks, often near moist areas such as riverbanks. The ants feed on young plants, seeds, crickets, and other insects, but they are omnivorous; they will eat almost anything. They can attack small animals and kill them. When attacking, a fire ant will bite first to get a grip on its prey, then sting with a stinger on its abdomen. The stinger releases a toxic alkaloid venom called solenopsin; stings are often painful to humans, and can lead to severe medical complications if the victim is allergic and is stung enough times.
 Fire Alert : Red Fire Ants and Beehives |
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The most aggressive of fire ants is the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), native to South America but now found in the southern United States, Australia, Taiwan, southern China, and parts of Southeast Asia. These pests were first introduced into the United States via cargo ships from Brazil docking at the port of Mobile, Alabama, in the 1930s; since then, they have spread throughout the American south from Maryland to California. These ants are extremely resilient, and have learned to cope with flooding as well as drought conditions. If their nests are situated beside a river and become flooded due to rising waters, the ants will come together forming a large floating ball, with the queen safely in the center. Once the floating ball of ants strikes a tree or some other stationary object, the ants will quickly swarm onto it and wait for the floodwaters to recede. In drought conditions, these ants will extend their underground tunnels as deep as the water table. They can withstand temperatures well below freezing.
Various kinds of ants can invade a beehive, and many common species of ants are harmless, beyond the nuisance they create for a beekeeper. Some benign species of ants may build small nests inside the top cover of a beehive; generally, the bees don’t bother the ants, and the ants don’t bother the bees. You cannot use pesticides to eradicate the ants, as these same chemicals will harm your bees. To avoid such contamination, you can set your beehive on a stand with four firm legs, and place each leg in a broad dish or can containing cooking oil.
Fire ants, especially red imported fire ants, are not benign; they are seeking food sources, and the sugar syrup that beekeepers often feed their bees is a tasty food for fire ants as well. They can also eat the honey produced by bees, bee pollen, and the bees themselves. If these ants come across a wounded bee in the hive, they will swarm and kill the bee, carrying off the carcass. They are also known to invade honeycomb cells and consume bee larvae. In large invasions, bees will sense peril and abandon the hive; the ants will then lay their eggs in the hive. Beekeepers often have no choice but to destroy these hives.
If you can locate the ants’ mound, you can treat the mound with a liquid insecticide such as Talstar or Demon WP. An ant ‘bait’ such as Maxforce Fire Ant Bait can be effective as well; such products contain the active ingredient fipronyl, which is toxic to ants but nonrepellant. Ants carry the bait back to their mound and feed it to other ants; gradually, the colony will die off, including the queen. Advion and Award are two other brands of ant bait.
A simple, homemade ant bait can be made from a mixture of Borax (sodium borate) and sugar, half and half. Put this mixture in a coffee can with a snap-on lid, and bore some 3/16″ holes in the can about an inch from the bottom. Smear sugar water on the outside of the can, and place it near your hive but under a board so the bees won’t get at it. Once the ants find this lethal ‘food,’ they will take it back to their mound and poison the entire colony.
There are also various ways to keep ants from entering a beehive; placing the four legs of a hive in bowls filled with cooking oil is one solution, but make sure to replenish the cooking oil on a regular basis. Ants are repelled by cinnamon; if you sprinkle cinnamon around your hive, ants should be driven away by the smell. Or, place your hive on a larger piece of plywood, and put the plywood on a four-legged or solid stand. Smear a broad line of Vaseline all the way around the underside of the plywood, near the edge. The ants will not be able to crawl through the Vaseline to get to the hive, and meantime your bees will have an alternate place to land, on the top edge of the plywood, when they are returning to their hive.
Ants can be invasive and destructive, and many beekeepers around the world have lost thousands of dollars worth of hives, bees, and lost revenue. However, most ant problems can be managed if you catch the problem early on.
