Beekeeping in the dark

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Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Messages
6,525
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Location
London N10
Hive Type
14x12
just tried to help a friend out, who is away in france, frantic phone call this afternoon

conversation went
"can you put clearer boards on for me, i am stuck in france and want to extract on thursday" ,ok, "i haven't got porter escapes though," do worry i'll pop into blackheath and get you some


stuck for an hour, on the m25, took a bite to eat and arrive at his bee hives at 8,00pm with 20 new ported escapes

one hive under heavy wasp attack as a gap had been left due to wrongly stacked supers, sorteed that out and left till last

porter escapes fitted first, did not work, tried another yep worked, eventual got two hive fitted with porter but could not get the other 16 porters to work this left one hive

they are the plastic type with metal inset, ok dark and bees getting angry so eventual gave up

never had that problem before they always just worked from the packet,,,,now, what is the problem with them, the metal springs centre, and just lightly touch but the bees just pushed thro, going back tomorrow and try

ok now the rant, went ot last hive with one of my rhombus escapes from the car, took the suppers off, ,,,,,,,, arupted like a volcanoe, about 40 stings but only two got thru and , more mahem,,,now dark, rhomubus on , hang on that bees close, err it is the hood ,one somehow one got into the hood, squashed it

well what else could go wrong, drove to the electronic gates, thinking must really be late,, its very dark, ,,,err too dark , i realised i was locked in the farm due to a power cut the gates would not work

, two hours later,eventualy the power came back on, and when i got home, i been phoning u, where have you been, err no mobile phones due to power cut, supper cold but not given to the dog

never do a freind a favour and inspect bees at night
 
Last edited:
MM I think this is reason enough to rant. What a bad day!
 
if you can always help a bee buddy you never know when you my need them
Sorry to her about the day you had though could you not overide the gates they do and can be done ask your friend about how to do it :willy_nilly::hurray::rant::rant::party::smash:
 
dark + bees = pain, a leason I never seem to learn from.

never again!
 
The dog was number 3.
Just think yourself lucky it does not go in 4's.

I am sat here shaking my head,I have also had to work bees in the car headlights before and its no fun,I think that last hive had just had about 14 hours of wasp attacks and had enough for one day when you opened them up,just like you have now :toetap05:
 
Thanks for giving me a belly laugh. It was the vision of your dog that did it. Hope he has forgiven you now.
 
I hope your friend brings you something nice back from the French duty free!!!
 
After a recent annoying episode where i was looking after a friends bee's whilst he was on holiday I can sympathise with you. It all starts out as a small favour which in theory is so simple, but it turns out to be a nightmare! :banghead:

Although thankfully no stings were involved for me!:D
 
I remember a few years back offering to help a local beek while he went on safari for a month.

He asked if I could pop some supers on while he was away.

No problem I said,he told me his brother would deliver the supers and frames over to me while he was away.

When they arrived I had to laugh,every thing was flat packed plus a box of frame parts and foundation sheets.

The supers were pine seconds from a supplier who gets a bit of stick on the forum.

I had to use a vice and G-clamps to assemble the supers as the parts were like bananas.
 
stuck in France and I need to extract on Thursday?? with friends like that, who needs enemies?
 
Good one Admin, it certainly takes the biscuit.

MM, perhaps your pal should bring a petrol leaf blower back from France and save you all the hassle. I'm sure that he didn't think that you would be put to any great inconvenience . . . ha ha. Never volunteer. :)
 
Good one Admin, it certainly takes the biscuit.

MM, perhaps your pal should bring a petrol leaf blower back from France and save you all the hassle. I'm sure that he didn't think that you would be put to any great inconvenience . . . ha ha. Never volunteer. :)

He has just dropped off a couple of bottles of nice french red wine, so all is forgiven
 

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