I had removed the syrup feeder a few days ago as they just weren’t drinking it. I replaced it today, just in case the last batch had gone bad, and they drained half of it today. Clearly this batch was much more interesting.
I’ve also noticed some sugar ants have been climbing up the side of the hive, and I think they may have detected the new syrup. I’ll brush them off for now, but I have a feeling I may need to get more aggressive about keeping them away.
On a related note, we have the sugar ants in the house as well, more than I have ever seen in the house, which I’m almost sure is due to the extremely mild winter we just had.