No, this isn’t some nutbar post about cinnamon being the next wonder drug that’s being suppressed by Big Pharma and the New World Order.
It’s about the use of cinnamon in the hive. What for, you ask? To repel ants.
Last week when I had my first look at the swarm, the inner cover of the hive was polluted with ants. Hundreds of them. There were also two very large piles of eggs. Gah. I have no idea why, but that many ants just makes my stomach churn. Invariably, when I dump them off into the grass, I wind up with a dozen or so crawling around on me and I don’t like one bit. They’re not bothering the bees, they’re absolutely not allowed in the hive, but I’d rather not have them there.
So, I tried a remedy that I’d heard of and never properly tried. When I closed up, I gave the inner cover a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon. This morning when I opened it up, there wasn’t a single ant anywhere. Ahhh. Natural remedy to the rescue. 🙂