Ant Barrier for bee hives

thingiverse

This is an ant barrier device to keep ants out of a bee hive. 4 are required. Each is designed to mount on a four inch 3/8-16 threaded rod. The lower part of the ant barrier will hold mineral oil. All gaps are 1/2". In order to enter the hive, the ant climbs the threaded rod, climbs the oil cup then is confronted with a 1/2" wide pool of oil. The ants cannot cross the oil so cannot enter the hive. These have been 100% effective at keeping ants out of my hive. The cover is designed to discourage bees from entering the ant barrier. It should be printed in black in order not to attract bees. The central holes are 3/8" but I found I could thread the plastic so the threaded rod will hold the parts in position. A hex nut can be used under the ant trap. The threaded rod should extend at least 1/2 inch below the assembled ant trap to keep ants from climbing directly to the outside cover. The rods mentioned above are part of a hive stand. The hive stand is made from inexpensive two foot sections of 1/2" and 3/8" rebar from a home supply store. The rebar is welded to support the hive. On each corner of the welded a 3/8-16 hex nut was welded. The threaded rod threads vertically into the hex nut and supports the hive. This hive stand was initially made to easily level the hive and to provide an unobstructed space under the hive. Later this ant barrier was designed in order to keep ants from entering the hive. A few ants can be handled by the bees. We had a number of starter hives with 3 pound bee packages (1 queen, 3 lbs bees, approximately 10,000 bees) which were overrun by ants. They not only take the honey, they carry off the bee larvae. I printed in ABS, resolution 0.2mm The STL files are in inches so to change to mm, scale by 25.4 Print Settings Printer: Reach3D Rafts: No Supports: No Infill: 50% Notes: ABS, black, avoid bright colors that tend to attract bees.