Lost our bees.

[drstitson]

welcome back - the forum seemed slightly wrong without your reports.

good luck with the swarm. I'm sure it was all down to the quality housing you provided! "This isn't just a bait hive; this is a HM bait hive".

richard

 

[Teemore]

Welcome back!

Missed reading your posts.

 

[kazmcc]

welcome back - the forum seemed slightly wrong without your reports.

good luck with the swarm. I'm sure it was all down to the quality housing you provided! "This isn't just a bait hive; this is a HM bait hive".

richard

Such a sweet thing to say! Missed my daft questions then?

 

[kazmcc]

Welcome back!

Missed reading your posts.

Thank you Teemore! Must say I've missed being on the interwebs

 

[Pete D]

Hi,
just like to echo what others have beat me to.

Welcome back, enjoy

Pete D

 

[nonstandard]

Hi,
just like to echo what others have beat me to.

Welcome back, enjoy

Pete D

Me too, great to have you back and don't forget there is no such thing as a daft question

 

[victor meldrew]

Surprising what the sunshine brings out !!!

Can't keep a guddun down
VM

 

[YorkshireBees]

Just to add my own Welcome back and to say, being just the otherside of the Pennines, if you did ever need more bees let me know. I have swarms coming out of my ears at the moment! Well calls for collecting them that is!

You ask just the right questions, which some beginners are too afraid to ask. I'm sure a lot of people follow your threads for that very same reason.

 

[beestie]

Aha! Welcome back - I must say I haven't seen so many offers of free bees before - how do you do it?
I think we all know that - great posts and a determination that puts us all to shame. How's the book coming on?

 

[Greatbigchicken]

Welcome back, I've missed your posts. I think you started just before me so were asking the questions one step ahead of me, I learnt so much from your posts and the ever supportive answers.

Good to have you back.

 

[Cazza]

Now for the questions I still have drawn frames from the honey harvest last year. Can I still keep them for future use? Or should I get rid? Also, is there any alternative to cleaning the old equipment than scorching? I have tried to get access to a blow torch or something but with no success. Can I just wash them in strong bleach?"

Drawn super frames are worth their weight in gold. Keep them and use again and again.

As Tonybloke said DIY stores sell cheap small blow torches, easy to get hold of and cheap to run.

I soak non flammable items in a strong bleach solution and/or washing soda in an enormous plastic storage box, after a good scrape to remove excess propolis.

Now then "new man" that's far more interesting......

Cazza

 

[Juststarting]

Now then "new man" that's far more interesting......

Cazza

Oh you are soo much more observant than me....

Welcome back Kaz.

In the fullness of time we will just need to know all the details of how you overwintered !

pip

 

[Erichalfbee]

i've been away for a couple of days.....moving house
AND here you are.
Welcome back.

 

[REDWOOD]

Good luck with your new colony

 

[kazmcc]

Aww, you are all so sweet, thank you

Re: overwintering, I am on brood and a half, and I left them with a pretty packed hive. There were packed stores all around the brood and the shallow brood was packed full of fully capped frames. I opened late because of the temps being so low ( it stayed cold late here ). There was still capped honey left but it had gone mouldy. The whole entrance was blocked with dead bees, all the way across. I'm thinking they had problems getting them through the mouse guard holes. I'm dying to know if it was something I did, just so I never do it again, or if it was out of my hands

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Re: overwintering, I am on brood and a half,

No, Kazmcc, you misunderstand "juststarting"s post about overwintering, I think.

It followed a reference to your new bloke.....

Dusty

(Maybe you didn't - but I can't imagine what "I'm on brood and a half" might mean!)

 

[kazmcc]

Ohhhhh! Lol My new bloke is ace. Just introduced him to bees a little bit, he helped me wrestle the bumble box off the wall at school. Next, the new swarm introduction, and that's all I'm saying

 

[drstitson]

"In the fullness of time we will just need to know all the details of how you overwintered !"

by the sounds of it snuggled up under the duvet with new man with no interruptions from internet.

 

[alanf]

Re: overwintering, I am on brood and a half, and I left them with a pretty packed hive. There were packed stores all around the brood and the shallow brood was packed full of fully capped frames. I opened late because of the temps being so low ( it stayed cold late here ). There was still capped honey left but it had gone mouldy. The whole entrance was blocked with dead bees, all the way across. I'm thinking they had problems getting them through the mouse guard holes. (

I had a colony that was very slow clearing dead bees. Every few weeks I removed the mouseguard and cleared the entrance with a stick. No signs of varroa or nosema and they took off in March just as other colonies did. Genetic? Position? Some detail of design or mouseguard fixing? don't know but one to look out for.

 

[kazmcc]

That's a good idea, something so simple but effective. At least I'll know in the future, this is where decent mentoring should come into it's own. Thank you, I'll watch out for that from now on