Stand, with legs, legs in cans with a little oil. That's what my plan is ....
Where I live, all keepers HAVE to do this. The ants are a major problem and will get into the hives almost immediately without that barrier.
Warning though - If you use
just oil you will kill bees too because those that come back tired and wobbly from foraging end up in the oil in numbers larger than you'd expect. I've seen hive stands with literally hundreds of dead bees in the cans. What we do here is mix in some sand or soil with the oil so you have very oily sand in the can, but not liquid. The ants will not cross the oil, and if a bee hits it they can still get out since they do not get coated by it.
Works very well and we just have to watch that weeds or debris do not "bridge" the cans and allow the ants to cross.
