Cinnamon and ants

Central Europe, 2nd year beek. So at today's inspection I found shit load of ants on my screened board, on 90% of the hives. A mentor suggested leaving the bottom off the hive indefinitely, but I'm a bit reluctant, cuz winter, but for now they'll be without them until end of autumn, at least. To deter any further infestation of ants I sprinkled some cinnamon around hives (there's roof above them and they have a bottom), so it should be safe from the rain for a while. But my bees went berserk after i started sprinkling cinnamon. Did that happen to anyone else? Did i royally fu? Will cinnamon hurt them? I don't think i sprinkled enough cinnamon that there would be taste of it in honey, if that is even possible? Tricks, suggestions welcome.

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