Buying first Bees

[pargyle]

I seem to be in a "hot spot" for swarms, and I have to be very careful with any equipment, wax, honey, bee equipment, kit, hives, or anything related to bees, which has "bee scent"....

or I end up with bees everywhere!

if you think that's interesting....and spooky....

X-FILES or Twilight Zone Bee related Story....

Unknown to me, a beekeeper once lived in this parish and house, in the 50s-60s, he has long since died, many many years ago....

an old woman purchased some honey from me two years ago, and is a regular now, came to my door two years ago and asked if I was the Mr Patterson's grandson......selling honey again.....(she saw the sign!), asked why I'd stopped...

I thought she was batty.....

She told me, she always bought her honey from the cottage, and he Mr Patterson had bees in the garden, just there, where my hives were...she was surprised I was not related in any way....and only purchased the house 10 years ago

She then told me that the "Bee's had returned to village, and these were his Bees!"

Speaking to older local residences, they also find it spooky, that the Bees and Beekeeper have returned to the village in the same house....., when I asked them who Mr Patterson was, and they said, oh, the old Beekeeper, that lived in your house in the 50s!....

Ahh ... that will be the Leylines .. Don't agree with Roger Patterson about an awful lot but I think what he describes and has witnessed partly fits the bill ...

Tin hat on ... open toed sandals at the ready ... as the Monkees said in 1966 'I'm a believer' ....

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/leylines.html

 

[pargyle]

My bees were a swarm ... lovely to handle, prolific, disease free, very low varroa (and untreated). They were in a bush about half a mile, as the crow flies, from my house ... Now I have three queens that are the daughters of the original swarm queen and their offspring are real Bassetts - still the same temperament and characteristics but obviously a much greater variety of genes, as I've got all sorts of colours and sizes in the colonies. I was so devastated when I lost the original queen in a swarm but someone else hopefully benefitted from her arrival ... and I got three colonies.

As everyone keeps saying ... don't discount a swarm and local bees.

I know a couple who paid lots of money for bees having been assured by the seller that they were pussy cats and disease free - after a swarm and two supercedures they have ended up with colonies that they hate handling two years down the line - far too feisty and a constant battle with varroa and chalk brood - even in summer ! They will be requeening again this year ... but it gets expensive.

Once you start splitting colonies or artificial swarms you are going to be at the mercy of the local drone gene pool unless you intend buying a new queen every time you increase your hives or lose a queen... the majority on here, IMO, appear to be like me ... bees on a budget ... and FREE swarm bees are one of the few things in beekeeping that don't cost you money ... just about everything else does !

 

[einsteinagogo]

Ahh ... that will be the Leylines .. Don't agree with Roger Patterson about an awful lot but I think what he describes and has witnessed partly fits the bill ...

Tin hat on ... open toed sandals at the ready ... as the Monkees said in 1966 'I'm a believer' ....

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/leylines.html

it has been said by beeks locally....but as yet, I've not got my rods out!

hence I keep the locations a secret, and my bait hives are set!

last year, I could have hive 20+ swarms, ran out of kit, in the end....and local beeks had no boxes to put the rest in....

this year, if any swarms appear, they will be offered to association members, I have enough colonies.

 

[RodBromiley]

I having listened to all your knowledgable comments decided that maybe a swarm is the way to go if I come across one. I'm so grateful for your comments and patience with me as a newby. Rod

 

[einsteinagogo]

I having listened to all your knowledgable comments decided that maybe a swarm is the way to go if I come across one. I'm so grateful for your comments and patience with me as a newby. Rod

Stick a bait box, on a ley line, or Ask your Swarm Officer in your BKA!

(and with a bit of luck if you get a early swarm, you may get a crop of honey!)

Good Luck...

 

[pargyle]

I having listened to all your knowledgable comments decided that maybe a swarm is the way to go if I come across one. I'm so grateful for your comments and patience with me as a newby. Rod

As above ... talk to the local association swarm collector - it was an incredible year for swarms last year and everyone in our association that wanted one got at least one.

There is something magical about tipping a swarm into a new box and seeing how fast they build themselves a home. I have foundationless frames and that's even better when you see what they do 'au naturel'.

I would suggest that you think about getting some clear crown boards .. as a new beekeeper the desire to look and see what is going on is very strong - almost irresistible - at least then you can lift the roof off and gaze at the little darlings without disturbing them !

 

[RodBromiley]

Guys, you are so helpful. Being new it's always a little embarrassing to ask basic questions. You are all patient and so helpful. I really cannot thank you enough. I'm going to try and catch a swarm but also identify who has swarms. You fellas have saved me £ maybe and put me on the right track. Thanks ever so much. Rod

 

[RodBromiley]

And I'm going to order a few clear crown boards

 

[Bosleeu]

And I'm going to order a few clear crown boards

Good idea I started using them last season and love them. You can order cut-to-size sheets online and just frame it with 6mm wood or plastic strips if needed. (depending on whether you have top or bottom bee space) Much cheaper.

 

[einsteinagogo]

And I'm going to order a few clear crown boards

if you are not making your own, this guy is cheapest....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NATIONAL-...593?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item33a1cdf579

these are made of acrylic, not glass, so thermally better, and he can supply with or without holes!

from the BBKA Web Site

John Sadler
Swarm Collection Coordinator

T: 01244 314984
M: 07588 097597

I would make contact and get on the list!!!!

At present in our area, I don't think we've had any swarms yet, but they'll be starting...

 

[RodBromiley]

Will order crown boards and appreciate the details of the swarm guy. WOW

 

[jonnybeegood]

Good idea I started using them last season and love them. You can order cut-to-size sheets online and just frame it with 6mm wood or plastic strips if needed. (depending on whether you have top or bottom bee space) Much cheaper.

Just go to B&q & you can buy a sheet of perspex that will do 3 crown boards. I would use the perspex around the edge to make beespace rather than wood. Wood tends to twist the perspex on the hive & when you take the roof off it twists up, must be the wood expanding at different rates that causes it to twist.

 

[Bosleeu]

True.

Perspex better than wood for the rim.

 

[BeeJayBee]

At present in our area, I don't think we've had any swarms yet, but they'll be starting...

Kicked off here today, collected two!

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Two out of 3 of my hives are swarms from last year. One swarm just turned up in my garden (and moved into an old hive my mentor had left in my garden) and the other is a swarm my 14year old daughter collected (under supervision of our mentor, he knew where the bees came from). The swarm that turned up in our garden was a little livier than I was used to handling but the original queen has been superseded and must have mated with the drones from my other hives and the bees have calmed down.

So swarms aren't bad, just get a good mentor who can advise and check over any swarm for you. I should add this will only be my 2nd year of bees. If anyone had told me 3years ago that I would happily have 3 hives of bees in my garden I would have told them they were completely mad.

 

[Fritillary]

. I have foundationless frames and that's even better when you see what they do 'au naturel'.

Pargyle, do you use starter strips in your frames or do you find it unnecessary? (Am just having first go with a National, having only had TBHs.)

Useful advice about crownboards.

 

[pargyle]

Pargyle, do you use starter strips in your frames or do you find it unnecessary? (Am just having first go with a National, having only had TBHs.)

Useful advice about crownboards.

I have used a triangular section of timber painted with beeswax nailed to the underside of the frames top bar so far ... works very well. You need a straight drawn frame in the hive to give them a guide and start them off in the right direction.

Having said that .. I'm now trying a different a slightly different 'starter strip'. I cut the bottom of the hoffman top bars off flush using my band saw .. I then ended up with the strip of timber I cut off as 'waste'. So, I've tried nailing that to the underside of the topbar and coating that with wax (saves cutting triangular bits). Seems to be working just as well at present but only just tried a few frames with this system so I'll be back when they are a bit more advanced.

A lot of people just use a strip of foundation about an inch deep put into the top of the frame in the conventional way using the wedge and this also works very well. Now I've got a fair bit of my own beeswax I'm also going to make some of my own wax 'starter strips' and try those.

I don't think it matters a great deal to the bees what you use to start them off ... I like a strip of timber in the top of the frames as I think it adds a bit of stability to the comb at the point of attachment.

You will also need to wire your brood frames horizointally if you are thinking of going down the foundationless route. Tom Bicks thread here will give you lots of ideas ...

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27494

 

[wessexmario]

you can use the frame 'wedge' strip that normally holds the foundation in place as a starter strip - rotate it 90 degrees so that it's vertical and nail to the top bar.

 

[pargyle]

you can use the frame 'wedge' strip that normally holds the foundation in place as a starter strip - rotate it 90 degrees so that it's vertical and nail to the top bar.

That's basically what I have just started doing ... but I saw off the 'other' side of the wedge so the underside of the frame top bar is flush. You are right - they do have a long and a short side ... I've done a few with the strips vertical and a few with them horizontal.

I didn't think I could ever be the first to try ....

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

you can use the frame 'wedge' strip that normally holds the foundation in place as a starter strip - rotate it 90 degrees so that it's vertical and nail to the top bar.

I've never understood this: it has an almost square section so can you spell it out a bit? Sorry to be stupid.

PS to other foundationless types: BOY mine are making a lot of drone comb at present.