Hello,

I see you are asking your question from West Virgina. Since I'm not familiar with ant species in West Virginia, I will answer your question as if it were coming from Michigan. Michigan State University Extension's Ask Extension platform is intended to answer questions from Michigan residents.

Ants aren't a cause for concern in honey bee colonies in Michigan. It's common for beekeepers to find ants in hives, especially on the top of a hive's inner cover. Ants will gather in the hive as shelter. As honey bee colonies grow in strength/population, they will often corral and kick out the ants. Ants in Michigan do not take enough nectar or honey to be problematic.

If ants are on the inner cover, you can try to prop the telescoping lid up with a stick or other object to create more space between the inner cover and the telescoping cover. Adding more space may allow the bees to more easily remove ants or the ants to leave.

Here is an old blog post on this topic:

Help! My colony has ants! | Michigan State University Bee Blog

Happy beekeeping!