A little help please

[jenkinsbrynmair]

" I realise i'm going to get quite a bit of criticism for putting forward this analogy "...

I think you might get a bit of crticism - full stop.

My head is still hurting trying to find a reason for all this fiddling

 

[Boston Bees]

My head is still hurting trying to find a reason for all this fiddling

I'm still trying to work out where the analogy is.

 

[Boston Bees]

I have a theory that because i'm using commercial brood chamber without a qx and keep stacking supers on whenever they start to fill the hive never runs out of space together with not going into the brood chamber disturbing there well being they do not swarm allowing the colony to get very large.

I have a theory that you don't think they are swarming because you aren't going into the brood chamber, so you are never seeing the swarm cells ...

It's a bit like putting a bunch of 20 year olds into a hotel, never going in, and just walking past the entrance lobby once a day, and then saying "yep, definitely no sex happening in that building"

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have a theory that you don't think they are swarming because you aren't going into the brood chamber

It's called ostrich syndrome
If you don't see it, it can't be happening

 

[Sanntos]

It's a bit like putting a bunch of 20 year olds into a hotel, never going in, and just walking past the entrance lobby once a day, and then saying "yep, definitely no sex happening in that building"

..or like looking at a colony once a day, saying "yep, definitely no swarming there"

 

[Boston Bees]

..or like looking at a colony once a day, saying "yep, definitely no swarming there"

errr ... that's the point I am making, yes

maybe it was lost in translation

 

[elainemary]

Cant say it’s ever something I’ve experienced or seen referred to in any beekeeping literature. Anything you can point us to. Years ago I helped an old beek who claimed his combs were 20years old and they still had brood being reared in them Theoretically the idea would be sound but I wonder how many years this wax would have to be in use for such an issue to occur,

The Bibba webinar I quoted (post 48) said after 15 complete brood cycles, cells are sufficiently reduced to affect the size of bee and the bee’s collection of pollen & nectar plus the space to store it. This was supported by the research I mentioned which studied comb from 1 to 6 years old and all the years in between. Concluded that comb 3 years old and above should be changed. Clearly comb that has just had food stores in could last longer vs comb in the centre of the nest

They also made the point, also made by post 53, that this would not occur in nature as the wax moth and mice would remove old comb and the colony would either build new in free space (usually above), or abscond, or swarm.

It’s only man who has confined bees to a box, leaving them with no option but to use the comb they are given.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Concluded that comb 3 years old and above should be changed.

which is utter nonsense really

 

[Curly green finger's]

which is utter nonsense really

I wonder how many times you've seen bees rip old comb down, I've seen swarms do it on more than one occasion?
Im changing old comb after 3/4 years.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do what you like - always easier to follow blindly rather than think for yourself

 

[user 20297]

I wonder how many times you've seen bees rip old comb down, I've seen swarms do it on more than one occasion?
Im changing old comb after 3/4 years.

Even though I haven't kept bees long enough for them to have developed old comb, one of the few, extremely scabby frames which came with my first, purchased nuc was ripped apart by the bees during last season. My bees aren't even members of the BIBBA.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We all keep our bees differently. If folk want to change their combs every 1,2, or 3 years or never does it matter?

 

[user 20297]

The Bibba webinar I quoted (post 48) said after 15 complete brood cycles, cells are sufficiently reduced to affect the size of bee and the bee’s collection of pollen & nectar plus the space to store it. This was supported by the research I mentioned which studied comb from 1 to 6 years old and all the years in between. Concluded that comb 3 years old and above should be changed. Clearly comb that has just had food stores in could last longer vs comb in the centre of the nest

They also made the point, also made by post 53, that this would not occur in nature as the wax moth and mice would remove old comb and the colony would either build new in free space (usually above), or abscond, or swarm.

It’s only man who has confined bees to a box, leaving them with no option but
to use the comb they are given.

Don't you be coming on here, spreading nonsense with all your fact and experience-based arguments.

...but you do imply that judgement comes into this; some three-year old frames may be only partially used.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Do what you like - always easier to follow blindly rather than think for yourself

Ok, I will follow my leader who is me!!

 

[Sanntos]

You are all individuals!

 

[Curly green finger's]

You are all individuals!

Maybe that should read " we are all individually inept" in some folks eyes .

 

[Erichalfbee]

Maybe that should read " we are all individually inept" in some folks eyes .

Not collectively, then?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Not collectively, then?

Most of the time probably

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I remember having a glimpse of a colleagues paying off report (we used to do three month stints away in those days, then return to our home shore stations, the reports just went to our Senior Officers ashore)
'the only reason officers would follow this man is from a sense of idle curiosity'

 

[oliver90owner]

They also made the point, also made by post 53, that this would not occur in nature as the wax moth and mice would remove old comb and the colony would either build new in free space (usually above), or abscond, or swarm.

Don’t try to misquote me. I did not say anything about bees absconding because the comb was ‘old’. Bees are clearly more clever than most humans (particularly bibba?). Repair and replacement is far better than discarding otherwise perfectly operational items (including their home). Bees do not encourage waxmoth and mice to help em out with their housekeeping. Only after the colony has died out, does this occur (hopefully), as a means of recycling the cavity by removal of any unwanted infections thereby readying the cavity for future incoming swarms.