Ants!

I checked out the Helenium today. I opened the telescoping cover and saw ants everywhere! There was plenty of feed left in the pail.

I proceeded to inspect the hive. There was one frame with some drawn comb in the right (facing east) upper center of one of the ten frames. There were a cluster of very active bees about it.

The rest of the hive was rotten with ants.

I removed the attic, which seemed to have an ants' nest in the southeast corner of it.

Beneath the hive there was a pit into which water was dripping. Was this from the pail? What dug out the pit?

After the hive inspection was done, I went to retrieve the attic deep. The ants' nest had re-congregated  in the southeast corner of it. I banged it out again and put it, ant-free, in the back of my truck.

I wonder what that tiny cluster of bees is?