Identifying commercial beeks

[Erichalfbee]

So, Motobiman, how do you prevent your bees swarming?

 

[madasafish]

Barring bad luck with virgins mating I'm struggling to think how people lose bees so long as they've followed basic varroa control guidelines, am I missing something?

No training, no wish to learn, fear of stings, no treatment (I can succeed where thousands have failed!) and buying bees on a whim - now moved on to something else.


That is what I have seen in 6 years!

 

[Motobiman]

So, Motobiman, how do you prevent your bees swarming?

The question is off topic so PM me and I'll give you the link.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The question is off topic so PM me and I'll give you the link.

Why not just start a new thread "how motobiman stops bees swarming"? We can all enjoy your skills that way.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The question is off topic so PM me and I'll give you the link.

Since when were any threads here kept on topic? My question wasn't a trick question. You have asked questions here and folk have replied in an effort to help. I am curious and would like to learn.

 

[mbc]

No training, no wish to learn, fear of stings, no treatment (I can succeed where thousands have failed!) and buying bees on a whim - now moved on to something else.


That is what I have seen in 6 years!

I can imagine this happening once for a given person, but repeatedly? Let alone the financial side surely they'd get disheartened by the dead outs.

 

[Finman]

Why not just start a new thread "how motobiman stops bees swarming"? We can all enjoy your skills that way.

Surely every hive swarms if you do not take care of it.
No need to ask.

 

[For want of a better word]

Surely every hive swarms if you do not take care of it.
No need to ask.

Not shirley it seems if you get some of the Carfax or Bishopricks non swarming hybrids?

Nos da

 

[Finman]

Not shirley it seems if you get some of the Carfax or Bishopricks non swarming hybrids?

Nos da

Then they walk somewhere to the bigger home. They do not want to live in such place where nobody love them.
.
Do you know non walking hybrids? I bet that you don't.

Näin on näreet

 

[For want of a better word]

Then they walk somewhere to the bigger home. They do not want to live in such place where nobody love them.
.
Do you know non walking hybrids? I bet that you don't.

Näin on näreet

Mine hop it!
Nos da

 

[Beefriendly]

And I don't consider the amount of honey each hive produces is the ONLY measure of the colony,s success.

I tend to agree that amounts of honey extracted is not an exact measure of beekeeping success or skill. It's difficult to say exactly what is. Some beekeepers work hard to obtain high honey yields, moving bees to seasonal forage etc. Many are confined to one location all year round. Some areas/apiaries have better forage nearby than others. Some use bees bred for honey production, others don't. So average yields can be misleading. But as has been said previously, if bees are well looked after then they can't help but produce honey surplus to their requirements.

It would be interesting to hear how you judge your colonies success.
Is it how much honey per colony per annum you have not extracted?
Or years a colony is headed by the same queen?

 

[Motobiman]

It would be interesting to hear how you judge your colonies success.
Is it how much honey per colony per annum you have not extracted?
Or years a colony is headed by the same queen?

Good question.
At the moment I am smarting from losing a colony to a sustained wasp attack that I was unable to prevent because I was away for three weeks right when the wasps reached their peak.
It's the first year in a new apiary and the landowner does not pick or clear up apples and pears from four trees nearby.
I had hoped the windfalls would attract the wasps and protect the hives but seems maybe I was wrong.

 

[Finman]

The word I used was EXTRACT.

And I don't consider the amount of honey each hive produces is the ONLY measure of the colony,s success.

That makes no sense.

Honey yield comes from pastures. That is why beekeepers move their hives to good pasture

Those who keep hives always in same place, they will never notice that


The beekeepers selects the pastures, not bees.
.
.
.

 

[Beefriendly]

Good question.
At the moment I am smarting from losing a colony to a sustained wasp attack that I was unable to prevent because I was away for three weeks right when the wasps reached their peak.
It's the first year in a new apiary and the landowner does not pick or clear up apples and pears from four trees nearby.
I had hoped the windfalls would attract the wasps and protect the hives but seems maybe I was wrong.

In my experience moderately strong colonies (say a minimum of 7/8 frames of brood in a single National) will see off most wasp ventures. Small ones , say 3/4 frames of broods or weak nucleus's often don't have the numbers of bees to defend themselves.
It's down to bad management if you have weak colonies succumbing to wasps and perhaps slightly naive to think they will prefer apples to honey.

 

[maddydog]

Good question.
At the moment I am smarting from losing a colony to a sustained wasp attack that I was unable to prevent because I was away for three weeks right when the wasps reached their peak.
It's the first year in a new apiary and the landowner does not pick or clear up apples and pears from four trees nearby.
I had hoped the windfalls would attract the wasps and protect the hives but seems maybe I was wrong.

I would imagine a lot of those nasty commercial bee farmers are rolling their eyes at your latest post.

 

[Motobiman]

In my experience moderately strong colonies (say a minimum of 7/8 frames of brood in a single National) will see off most wasp ventures. Small ones , say 3/4 frames of broods or weak nucleus's often don't have the numbers of bees to defend themselves.
It's down to bad management if you have weak colonies succumbing to wasps and perhaps slightly naive to think they will prefer apples to honey.

This was a nucleus with 4 good brood frames and I thought was strong enough.

I had been contemplating combining them with a swarm I collected earlier but made the decision not to.

OK rub it in why don't you, mea culpa I accept that and the suggestion that fermenting fruit downwind of the apiary should/would attract the waps came from our local association experts.

Next year I will try for bigger colonies by combining the swarms with proven colonies.

 

[Motobiman]

I would imagine a lot of those nasty commercial bee farmers are rolling their eyes at your latest post.

Yep probably but I certainly don't care what they think.

Hope you feel better now though.

 

[maddydog]

Yep probably but I certainly don't care what they think.

Hope you feel better now though.

Rarely better

 

[Beefriendly]

OK rub it in why don't you, mea culpa I accept that and the suggestion that fermenting fruit downwind of the apiary should/would attract the waps came from our local association experts.

Next year I will try for bigger colonies by combining the swarms with proven colonies.

Not rubbing anything in. I've lost nucs and weak colonies to wasps in the past myself. I suspect most beekeepers have. It's part of the learning curve....don't have weak colonies come wasp time. I'll bet next year you will unite any to a swarm or whatever's around. And perhaps also realise, from your own experience this year, that your local association experts appear to be giving out very suspect advice.

 

[For want of a better word]

Next year I will try for bigger colonies by combining the swarms with proven colonies.

NO...
Select this years best colony and feed well in Spring, cull the queens from a couple of your less well liked colonies and then merge these with your favorite colony... to give you at a minimum two brood boxes of brood, in the SPRING... if as Finnie says you have good forage the bees will find it... and if you do not keep being nosey and leave the bees to get on with it you will be rewarded with a stack of full supers.

Swarms merged with your good colonies will possibly arrive too late in the season to prove to be of any worth.

The few swarms I acquire get vaped once settled in an apiary isolated from other colonies... and unless a prime, get used as donor bees for making up mating nucs.

No criticism and I realise this is a difficult process if you can only have access to a couple of colonies.... perhaps consider working as a group with other local beekeepers pooling resources and sharing out the golden bounty... so useful as Christmas gifts?


OMG I will be BANNED now for using the "C" word!!!


Yeghes da