I am such a $!**

[taff..]

you chose your own word to insert there


life has got in the way of my beekeeping the last few weeks, as it does from time to time, and last week I hadn't yet taken off any honey so one of my hive was sitting with 2 partially filled supers and the other had 3 with the top one being fully capped and the other 2 being partially capped, this hive has been a pretty strong colony this year.

I haven't had much luck with porter bee escapes so I decided that I'd do it manually by removing a frame at a time and brushing/shaking the bees off and putting the frame into another super and so on, it's only a couple of supers right?

well IF the temper of the strong hive had been 'normal' it would have been fine, but after getting off the full super off the top I had to beat a tactical retreat and have a re-think, I like the smell of pear drops when I'm eating them, but not when it's coming from a super of mental bees. so I came on here and searched for 'clearer boards', got some ideas, and made some over the weekend.

monday I placed the clearer boards on the hives and retreated in a fog of angryness happy that in 24 hours I'd taking off supers devoid of bees.

Tuesday I went over all confident that I'd be in and out of the apiary in 2 minutes, and I was, right after I'd re positioned the top super so that there was no gaps that the bees could use to rob out the supers, and quell the mayhem that was going on

now, the best I can hope for from the point of view of a honey harvest, is that they have robbed out the partially filled supers above the clearer board and filled the empty one I put under the clearer board for the sake of giving them enough physical room.

all I need to do now is re-arrange the boxes and clear the super that is currently under the clearer board.


tip - always check that the boxes are aligned properly regardless of what's going on around you


that's it confession over, flame away, I have my fearnought on

 

[rockdoc]

Been there last week, know how you feel.

 

[For want of a better word]

Thanks for sharing that !

 

[theboynelson]

Been there, but mine was robbed out by wasps, it's heartbreaking.

 

[Poly Hive]

What can I say?

A very hard lesson to learn.

PH

 

[taff..]

Been there last week, know how you feel.

Been there, but mine was robbed out by wasps, it's heartbreaking.

I'm not the only one

 

[enrico]

That's when a tin of fabi spray comes in really handy. A quick spray and all the angry bees boiling out will turn and run down in the hive. At that point put the hive back together properly and then run for it before they all come boiling out of the entrance! Tee hee...
I know just how you feel....they can reduce a grown man to tears!

 

[ratcatcher]

one of our club members, who has 40 plus hives, does not use clearer boards, instead an electric garden vac, on blow, gently blows them out whilst the super is standing on its side, bees fly back to hive

 

[VEG]

I used a petrol blower to clear the stragglers out of my supers earlier in the year it works a treat.(I used clearer boards but always get a few bees left inside super)

 

[theboynelson]

Im interested, don't the bees get damaged by using a blower. Do you blow in a specific direction? ie from the rear so they come out facing the entrance.
Do the house bees make it back to the hive?
Apologies for all the questions, I am genuinely interested.

 

[VEG]

The supers I blew the bees out of had at most 20/30 bees in if that. I just moved the supers to the car then tipped one up on end, then blew them upwards into the air they then flew back towards the hive. House bees are normally in the brood box.

 

[theboynelson]

Thanks for replying