Clearing supers, bees roaring, what should I do

[parkranger]

And some people just post a lot because posting on internet forums constitute a major part of their life.

And if they didn't, it wouldn't be a forum, would it!

 

[Terry G]

:

Anyhow, how's the stamp collecting going?

Not half so well as the beer drinking

 

[Alabamaeee]

Beequick works for me usually, and after 10 mins of having the supers in the car I open up and let the stragglers that are shimmying up the tailgate go back to their home

 

[masterBK]

jd101k2000 "then gave the super a good smoking"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are not alone. I judge honey and have tasted the smoke in some entries (hope I don't get cancer from all those carcinogens !)

 

[Little John]

And if they didn't [post a lot], it wouldn't be a forum, would it!

Of course it would. The quantity of posts would be reduced, that's all.

LJ

 

[richardbees]

Terry G



at least it didn't involve getting stung!

 

[itma]

Modern Porters are not very good.
They need the springs set precisely correctly both horizontally and vertically.
Which is part of why I dislike them.


Most of those who profess to liking them seem to have had them for a long time. Perhaps their springs are 'taller' or perhaps they are more skilled at setting them.

I like the no moving parts and no adjustment Rhombus.
There's nothing wrong with simple and easy.
Just give it a tall eke under it - at least 50mm is called for.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just give it a tall eke under it - at least 50mm is called for.

I converted a Canadian clearer with Rhombus escapes in each corner and added a 3" eke on your recommendation and it works very well. I just HATE the huge festoons of bees that have to be shaken down before closing up.
I have, actually never tried smoking them down for fear of contaminating the super underneath, perhaps a little smoke might help?

 

[Terry G]

Would a spare empty super serve as an eke or would it be too tall?

 

[Davelin]

Probably bit of a big gap for super clearing but guess it would work.

Cut 4 bits of batten and screw them together to make an eke, takes about 15mins.

 

[mbc]

Clearer boards are designed to make the bees feel isolated so that they leave the supers to join the rest of the bees below. If you left them on they would have cleared.

Anybody know what a queenless roar sounds like ?

IMHO the most likely scenario to explain the ops description is this. The bees in the super have been deliberately made queenless to take advantage of their biology to clear the supers, its a temporary situation quickly resolved by them rejoining their queen and leaving the supers clear for harvesting. Job done.
To other suggestions:
-orderly queue following each other out= pretty much exactly what happens
-brushing bees from the frames=much, much more "distress" for the hapless invertebrates and the hopeless great ape
-not posting an honest opinion just in case its wrong or could possibly cause confusion=this is forum bullying, I think people should post what they like so long as they're prepared for it to be shot down if its gobshite

Three pages of answers before bees roaring is associated with queenlessness(sorry Veg, I've already 'ed to your "isolation"), disgraceful from any experienced beekeepers jumping on the "distress" bandwagon.

All IMHO of course, happy honey gathering

 

[user 6228]

Anybody know what a queenless roar sounds like ?

IMHO the most likely scenario to explain the ops description is this. The bees in the super have been deliberately made queenless to take advantage of their biology to clear the supers, its a temporary situation quickly resolved by them rejoining their queen and leaving the supers clear for harvesting. Job done.
To other suggestions:
-orderly queue following each other out= pretty much exactly what happens
-brushing bees from the frames=much, much more "distress" for the hapless invertebrates and the hopeless great ape
-not posting an honest opinion just in case its wrong or could possibly cause confusion=this is forum bullying, I think people should post what they like so long as they're prepared for it to be shot down if its gobshite

Three pages of answers before bees roaring is associated with queenlessness(sorry Veg, I've already 'ed to your "isolation"), disgraceful from any experienced beekeepers jumping on the "distress" bandwagon.

All IMHO of course, happy honey gathering

A few score of bees nasenoving and fanning indicating the way to the colony is quantitively different from 1000s nasenoving and fanning indicating no direction at all. Bees marching back into the main colony as done using the sheet trick takes a few tens of minutes. Porter escapes taking hours of bees roaring and nasenoving are not comparable. We gave up on the escapes after 6 hours of roaring going on. From the timing of the op I assumed this roaring had been going on some time.
Isolation for a social animal is stress.
Queenless for bees is stress if the associated aggression is anything to go by.
If you are going to use stress as a management tactic, it should be of the shortest time practical able.

 

[Terry G]

Anybody know what a queenless roar sounds like ?

IMHO the most likely scenario to explain the ops description is this. The bees in the super have been deliberately made queenless to take advantage of their biology to clear the supers, its a temporary situation quickly resolved by them rejoining their queen and leaving the supers clear for harvesting. Job done.
To other suggestions:
-orderly queue following each other out= pretty much exactly what happens
-brushing bees from the frames=much, much more "distress" for the hapless invertebrates and the hopeless great ape
-not posting an honest opinion just in case its wrong or could possibly cause confusion=this is forum bullying, I think people should post what they like so long as they're prepared for it to be shot down if its gobshite

Three pages of answers before bees roaring is associated with queenlessness(sorry Veg, I've already 'ed to your "isolation"), disgraceful from any experienced beekeepers jumping on the "distress" bandwagon.

All IMHO of course, happy honey gathering

All very perplexing. I understand the logic of the isolation theory but I have more than half a dozen books on beekeeping, including Hooper, plus I've done endless reading on the Internet, and I've never seen reference to extreme roaring as a response during the clearing process which - given how dramatic it was (they could be heard from 4 feet away) - I would have thought at least merited an aside. I know books are no substitute for experience but I can't help lack of the latter! Could be my reading isn't as thorough as I thought though.

 

[Tom Bick]

I think your bees just took it upon themselves to do it.

I have now cleared a good few supers and never once experienced the roaring noise you refer to but on rare occasions after an inspection I have heard it and no the hives were not Q-.

If this was common then it would be mentioned 100’s if not 1000’s of times over the years and from my recollection you are the first to mention it regarding clearer boards.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you are going to use stress as a management tactic, it should be of the shortest time practical able.

Tell my employers that - over 25 years and still no change!

 

[Little John]

Three pages of answers before bees roaring is associated with queenlessness(sorry Veg, I've already 'ed to your "isolation"), disgraceful from any experienced beekeepers jumping on the "distress" bandwagon.

Isn't queenlessness a state of distress ? I would have considered that to be the absolute pinnacle of distress for any honeybee colony.

LJ

 

[mbc]

I think your bees just took it upon themselves to do it.



If this was common

Some do, most dont. I've no idea what triggers off the roar in some colonies and not others, but generally they're fine after a while, the exception is if the porter bee escape gets blocked for any reason or if robbers can get in any where. A blocked porter (sometimes caused by drones in the super)certainly causes "distress", as do robbers who often cause blockages even in rapid clearer boards as some bees try and defend the honey and corpses can fall and block the exits.

 

[mbc]

Isn't queenlessness a state of distress ? I would have considered that to be the absolute pinnacle of distress for any honeybee colony.

LJ

Queenlessness certainly causes mild distress, the raised eyebrow was at posters not pinpointing the cause.
The "pinnacle" of distress is harder to pinpoint, but I would say there are much worse things that happen to some colonies than a portion of their bees becoming temporarily queenless.

 

[VEG]

My bees make no distress noise if I use the petrol blower to clear a super, it must be the way forward.

 

[Little John]

Queenlessness is certainly distress, the raised eyebrow was at posters not pinpointing the cause.
The "pinnacle" of distress is harder to pinpoint, but I would say there are much worse things that happen to some colonies than a portion of their bees becoming temporarily queenless.

You know that they are only going to be queenless for a short time - but they don't know that !

For them it presents as 'an apocalyptic event' - and it is that which causes such a degree of alarm and distress.

LJ