Hmmm... wouldn't the comb then be 'dirtied' by the passage of bees over the winter and be unsuitable for cut comb in 2013?
It would also mean the hive was running on brood and two halves which I'd have thought was too big for overwintering.
I should preface this with saying that up to now we've not been extracting honey in any form other than cut comb so spinning or otherwise isn't really an option (no kit or great desire to do it).
We're halfway through this years Apiguard treatment and we took off the supers before the first...
Question: When in the life cycle of a caste being housed do they start polishing cells?
Background: Caught a smallish swarm/caste on the 24th May and they've been housed in a Poly Nuke being fed 1:1 syrup. Pretty sure the queen was present as the bees balled under the OMF whilst being collected...
We're in a very sheltered spot and don't suffer from high winds but yesterday we had the lid blown off a poly nuke.
So just a reminder to anyone else using them; strap or weigh them down.
A neighbour came round last night asking for help.
They're moving house and a swarm of bees had come down their AGA flue and were balling up in the kitchen (the AGA had been turned off for a few weeks so was stone cold). As they were completing today at 12:00 they were in a bit of a tiz -...
Oh Poo - Yes RAB, I should have understood what you were saying.
I now have an empty bucket :(
Ho Hum. At least I helped them survive the gale last night.
Hope they do well wherever they've ended up.
I'm not planning on the bucket being a permanent home :) It was purely used to keep them dry during the gale last night (and yes a box might have been better but it wouldn't have survived overnight).
40 mins time and they're getting moved (assuming they've not done a runner; just had a look...
One hive threw a cast yesterday (left two queen cells after they swarmed).
They sat on a fence post all day, got rained on a couple of times and having seen the nights weather forecast was really orrible I took emergency action.
So..... as I'd run out of kit.... who needs Polystyrene hives...
When you next feel like spending a little bit on your new hobby - a polycarbonate (transparent) crown board would be a useful purchase - lets you have a quick peek without opening the colony and, IIRC, has better thermal (insulation) properties than a bit of plywood.
Well - that's two votes for the 'chuck them in the Langstroth' technique :)
and two for the engineering method.
Re distance - it'll be about five miles away.
and size of the swarm here's a picture
Advice please.
Caught a swarm on Saturday from one of my own hives (yes I know... but every time an inspection has been possible time-wise it's been raining or freezing cold :( ).
The only kit I had available was a National Super so that's what they ended up in (dummied down to five frames...
Captured a swarm from one of our hives this AM and while going through the mass of bees looking for her Maj, I noticed several drones.
Why would drones go with a swarm? Do they just get caught up in the excitement or is there a reason? :confused: