not sure i can do this

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slider955i

New Bee
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Location
stourbridge , westmidlands
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National
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following on from my thread yesterday about two many supers i went down today and basically made 2 supers up from the 3 .
this was ok but the bees went mental and followed me up to the house and would not leave me alone .
eventually took cover in my house and put all my gear back into the garage

could see bees flying around angrily so stopped inside

after 15 mins took my mountain bike from the garage went to ride off and a bee stung me right by my eye , literally 5mm from my eyeball
i am in a lot of pain whilst writing this

what did i do wrong or is this the norm, we have never had the bees angry like this they have always been so docile

also i am sure i will look like freddy crugar in a few hours , any thing i should do or take to help with the sting considring where it is ?

fed up:confused:
 
Re- eye, take anti histamine asap.

Re bees... number of reasons. No flow. No flow, and no flow.

Not going to repeat my comments about gardens and bees but you now have first hand experience of how things can change and not always for the better.

Sorry for you.

PH
 
I tell you what I sometimes do as I also have a few hives in the garden, if I have to re-arrange the super combs I put on a clearer board for a few hours, the sort of clearer boards I use have a rhombus escape (an elongated diamond shaped plastic mesh with a bee space opening at opposite ends) and clears the supers fast, not all the bees but most, then you have time to do a proper job without all the shaking which always seems to upset the bees, I leave a super on for winter so that this time of year I leave them all the uncapped honey.

Hope this helps some as keeping bees in the garden needs a certain, careful management.

Enzo
 
I tell you what I sometimes do as I also have a few hives in the garden, if I have to re-arrange the super combs I put on a clearer board for a few hours, the sort of clearer boards I use have a rhombus escape (an elongated diamond shaped plastic mesh with a bee space opening at opposite ends) and clears the supers fast, not all the bees but most, then you have time to do a proper job without all the shaking which always seems to upset the bees, I leave a super on for winter so that this time of year I leave them all the uncapped honey.

Hope this helps some as keeping bees in the garden needs a certain, careful management.

Enzo

sounds like a good idea , i probably upset them big time

has the flow is ended is it worth taking off the super that is capped , and like you say leave the one super on for food over the winter.
presume you will still leave the queen excluder on
next seaon will the bees carry on filling the super we have left on , thus giving them a good start
also my extracter has not arrived yet so is it ok to store the super somewhere like a pantry perhaps
 
my extracter has not arrived yet so is it ok to store the super somewhere like a pantry perhaps

Seal it in a garbage (bin) bag so it doesn't absorb water in a humid environment, also will keep the ants and other crawlies at bay.
 
and like you say leave the one super on for food over the winter.
presume you will still leave the queen excluder on

If you leave a super on for winter supplies - you will need to remove the Queen excluder. The bees will need to move to the food, and if they leave the Q she will die - and if they don't eat...they will all die.
 
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sounds like a good idea , i probably upset them big time


presume you will still leave the queen excluder on

If you leave the QE on over the winter the Q can become stuck below the QE whilst the cluster is in the super so this is not a good idea.
Cazza
 
and like you say leave the one super on for food over the winter.
presume you will still leave the queen excluder on


Nope - if you leave the QE on, her maj. cannot get to the stores - the bees might go and she would die of cold or they will stay to care for her and they'll all die.
 
thanks for all the replies , is it wiser then to leave the super off and feed the bees with a feeder during the winter has originally planned
 
thanks for all the replies , is it wiser then to leave the super off and feed the bees with a feeder during the winter has originally planned

I don't have any experience, but if they have made up more than one super, then wouldn't it be better to do a fair exchange and leave one and let them have the food they created for themselves? If they use all that, then feed. Would I be right?

I don't know if our girls are going to make enough this year, I am inclinde to let them have what they've worked hard for, and only take when they make more than surplus.
 
Nope, you can't open the hive too much in winter as they lose heat quickly.

If you are treating for Varroa finish that and then start to feed a sugar solution. They will take and store as much as they need, then take off excluder to give them free rein and wrap them up for winter.
 
Surely if supers (one or more) are left on in the off season, treatment for varroa, whether thymol based or oxalic, is a no no. Much better to remove all the supers, treat for varroa and, if necessary, put one super on at a time. Even then it is not a good idea as the cluster will move up and leave the queen behind to freeze - assuming the crownborad is left on too of course. If the C/B is removed - perhaps OK? Personally, I take all the supers off, extract whatever is there, reduce the water content to an acceptable level if necessary and if the bees need feeding, give 'em syrup from Bookers sugar plus fondant as an Xmas prezzy. Worked wonders last year despite the severe freeze out here in the middle of nowhere.:)
 
The problem I find is that the standard Natonal Brood box does not seem large enough to hold a decent colony and enough stores for the winter, every single box colony I winter, run low on stores in the new year and need feeding 1 kg blocks of fondant several times before spring, now I just leave a super on and I find I barely have to feed at all and I don't spend my evenings worring if they are going to starve, come spring they still have stores and build up well. I eventually run them on brood and a half (sometimes double brood) and keep the super for that purpose so contamination when treating is not a problem.

Enzo
 
Enzo,

:iagree:

That is what I found, and did, with both WBCs and Standard Nationals.

Only have the brood to fill with the 14 x 12s.

Further I think it allows the bees more room to move up if they are over an OMF, as mine are.

Regards, RAB
 
The problem I find is that the standard Natonal Brood box does not seem large enough to hold a decent colony and enough stores for the winter, every single box colony I winter, run low on stores in the new year and need feeding 1 kg blocks of fondant several times before spring, now I just leave a super on and I find I barely have to feed at all and I don't spend my evenings worring if they are going to starve, come spring they still have stores and build up well. I eventually run them on brood and a half (sometimes double brood) and keep the super for that purpose so contamination when treating is not a problem.

Enzo

I always use brood and half nationals too - quite big enough for brood and stores. Supers not necessary. Presumably Enzo and the next poster do not leave the Q/E on through the winter?
 
Surely if supers (one or more) are left on in the off season, treatment for varroa, whether thymol based or oxalic, is a no no.

Does it bother the bees that stores taste of thymol? I'd assumed, possibly incorrectly, from previous posts not. (and, excuse further ignorance but don't understand why supers left on would pose a problem with oxalic?)
 
The next poster after the previos one would certainly NOT have Q/E on. Why would they - on a single box?

Next poster
 

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