Myrm’s Colonies

Approximately eight weeks ago I captured a newly mated Lasius niger queen from this year’s mating flights.  I had not intended to capture any queens this year, but I was in my garden and saw this de-winged queen running about where I knew there to be an established colony of ants. Not wanting her to be caught […]

I often see quite a number of dead ants piled up in the midden area of this colony, though the number of live workers seems to be at a steady constant.  Good news, as it means the queen is doing well.  I just took a peek into the nest and I can see two black, winged males

Over the past few months I have become more and more concerned for my 11-year-old Lasius umbratus queen. I had not seen her all year, and I had noticed that the number of workers and brood within the nest has dropped dramatically. It didn’t really surprise me as, on average, these queens live 10-15 years,

As readers of my journals may know, I have a 4-year-old Lasius niger colony (the “Magenta Colony”) which I have raised from a single queen ant captured during the mating flights of 2015. As is normal with new Lasius niger colonies, the growth was slow for the first year, picked up in the second, and