costly error

[BB King]

I have a one hive out apiary where I put a clearance board under my top super on Friday pm and went back early this morning (Sun) to remove what were well capped frames.

All the bees had left the super but I was horrified to see all cappings removed (a nice pile of shavings left on top of the clearance board) and all the comb dry, not a drop of honey left. I stupidly used the crown board as a clearance board and didn't replace it with another thinking the roof would be a secure enough fit. Must have been robbed by wasps, a few had been about on recent inspections.

Hey ho on with the Apigard and feeding and one costly lesson learned.

 

[Matt1971]

Hi bb king, I had the same problem last week opened up the hive and was immediately got a face full of wasps. Could not understand how they got in, I then discovered that one of the wooden supports underneath the roof had warped in the weather( was not like that when I built it) and was leaving a gap so the wasps could get in. So when I put the super back on to get the bee's to clean up my super, I put foam insulation along the wooden support so the super sits flush until I get chance to fix it.

 

[Tom Bick]

Lesson learnt BB

Check that roof it should form a bee tight seal even with no crown board.

If you are lucky it was your own bees that took the honey back into the bb so check before you start to feed.

 

[Chris B]

If it was wasps there would still be a lot lingering about.

 

[drstitson]

yet another reason to make a definite distinction between crownboards (solid - wood or perspex) and feeder/clearer boards (with holes for feeder/escapes).

"investing" in dedicated boards (cheap and easy to make - even Mons Ab managed!) means that the supers will remain sealed by crownboard at all times.

 

[BB King]

Lesson learnt BB

Check that roof it should form a bee tight seal even with no crown board.

If you are lucky it was your own bees that took the honey back into the bb so check before you start to feed.

I did check and had no more honey in the BB than 2 days previous I did a full inspection then. I saw a few wasps about this morning but it was 7.30am so probably more about later in the day, We have had a hot previous 2 days in Norfolk, 27 degrees so perfect weather for robbers

 

[huntsman666]

<Must have been robbed by wasps, a few had been about on recent inspections.>

If it was wasps, why wasn't it robbed earlier? The 'gap' would still have been there.

 

[Chris B]

<Must have been robbed by wasps, a few had been about on recent inspections.>

If it was wasps, why wasn't it robbed earlier? The 'gap' would still have been there.

Because the bees defend it.

 

[huntsman666]

Of course!

 

[BB King]

<Must have been robbed by wasps, a few had been about on recent inspections.>

If it was wasps, why wasn't it robbed earlier? The 'gap' would still have been there.

Hi Huntsman, the crownboard was above the super previously and put underneath as a clearing board with Porter escapes. The roof was placed back on top and must have left enough gap to let the blighters in.

 

[MuswellMetro]

i have had wasps get in through the roof vents because the mesh had come loose

 

[oliver90owner]

The crown board should always prevent anything entering via any gaps in/under the roof. That is what it is there for. The roof is for keeping the hive boxes dry from above. Those people who leave open orifices in the crownboards might think of why the roof ventilators have mesh over them. That is to stop unwanted visitors as well. The roof must also be poorly assembled or using wrong sized battens.

That is an expensive mistake, if the super was full, and will not be repeated, I am sure. My crownboards are a sheet of 9mm ply cut to 460mm square. Much less chance of making a mistake when they are that simple, no risk of temptation to use them for anything other than as a crownboard, either.

I agree with Tom Bick that a lot of the stores would have gone back inside. Bees are just not usually that stupid withtheir hard earned stores. Further if it was anywhere near full, it would need a lot of wasps to devour that much honey in two days. I go for robbing bees, mostly, even if not yours. Of course, they might have a full brood box already.

RAB

 

[David P]

Made same mistake last year, never again i know it was my bees moved it though, came back next day to see a big cluster of bees over the so called cone escape (wasp entrance) took em less than 18 hours to move the lot . Decided they could keep the stores since they worked so hard.