Plans for the season?

[Tom Jay]

I've another plan, for mid May. Some have seen on here that we are moving house - not so far - and I have already moved my bees. As happens, last June I hived a swarm that came to my current back garden, and that has been a good success: very dark bees, gentle, and though hived on 11th June last year I still harvested 17lb of surplus off them last September and the colony seems to be doing fine through this winter. Well:

Today I was working on some frames in our current back garden. Scraps of honey on them. Soon I had a couple of bees - ever so dark - supping up the spare honey. I thought - 'these from the same feral colony which swarmed out last June?' So my plan: I'll put up a bait hive mid May here in our 'old' back garden, as the house will be empty for at least four months after we move out in April, and I might just get myself another colony from this excellent strain of bees living locally and unmanaged. We'll see!

 

[Ian123]

I would put your bait hive up early april and by early i mean the 1st

 

[Cuckmere couple]

bait hivs as early as 1 april??

 

[Ian123]

Yes seen a few swarms in first half of April tends to be honey bound colonys, the first bit of nectar comes in they pack it around the brood it restricts the queen and out they go. Also if theres any osr in the area they dont have to be on that long before they think about it. Obviously depends on location but there you go

 

[Millet]

Yes seen a few swarms in first half of April tends to be honey bound colonys, the first bit of nectar comes in they pack it around the brood it restricts the queen and out they go. Also if theres any osr in the area they dont have to be on that long before they think about it. Obviously depends on location but there you go

Don't forget Ian we are one month behind up here on the north east coast..maybe a bit more where oil seed rape is concerned..if we are lucky the bees will be able to work the rape around the middle of June..the willows and wild cherry trees will be of use to the bees mid April..mine swarm every year at the end of June into July even the supposedly none Swarmy strains i buy still try to swarm with plenty of space for the Queen..it may be different this year swarm wise but we will see..

 

[Ian123]

Kinda why I added the bit about location at the end....also over the years have seen a few early reported ones from well north of me well before I’ve seen any

 

[Ian123]

I just did a quick search of past posts and found 1 report for 28th of March in Cheshire on second page did not other looking any more

 

[Beefriendly]

Earliest swarm in North Yorkshire that I've seen and captured was mid-march, from one of my own overwintered hives.
Suspicion was 2 queens overwintered together. Never did find which hive it originated from

 

[For want of a better word]

I would put your bait hive up early april and by early i mean the 1st

The few I put out are on sites by St Patricks day.... I do not have time to ponce about after then!!

 

[Tom Jay]

Kinda why I added the bit about location at the end....also over the years have seen a few early reported ones from well north of me well before I’ve seen any

Thanks Ian and all those who have nebbed in on the discussion about timing of bait hive placing. I'll act sooner than I thought then. Prompts another question: does a bait hive present an attraction to a queen wasp for her nest? Cheers.

 

[Millet]

Kinda why I added the bit about location at the end....also over the years have seen a few early reported ones from well north of me well before I’ve seen any

I know and the reason i typed what i did is Tom Jay is in a very similar location to me..

 

[Millet]

Thanks Ian and all those who have nebbed in on the discussion about timing of bait hive placing. I'll act sooner than I thought then. Prompts another question: does a bait hive present an attraction to a queen wasp for her nest? Cheers.

Yes most certainly.. i opened a bait hive up two years ago and there was a tennis ball size wasp nest hanging from the crown board..i had no veil on and luckily i did not get stung..i knocked it of at the bottom of the garden with my veil on and once the wasps dispersed i opened the nest up for the chooks..

 

[Millet]

Whoops x 2..

 

[Tom Jay]

Another and rather different kind of 'plan for the season':
The lady of the big house where I have established my new apiary, the lady who is a professional garden designer and has been planting her own gardens for pollinators for years - she has been sending me links to the claimed "gentler way of beekeeping" on various sites on the net, for my interest and comment. Stuff about top bar hives and so on.

So a 'plan for the season' for me is to demonstrate how dudes who use National Hives and hold to a careful inspection regime and who are looking for a surplus for honey harvest … CAN HAVE A MOST GENTLE WAY OF BEEKEEPING.

Dorian Pritchard who gave the series of lectures which got me into this lark never wears gloves at his National Hives. His theory is that if he approaches the craft in a manner which is a minimal disturbance to the bees, they will not sting him. He advised us not to try no gloves for at least five years. This is my sixth year and I will still wear gloves! But I hope I have imbibed from Dorian the ways of gentle beekeeping for the prospering of pollinators and the flourishing of the species as well as for a satisfactory honey harvest.

When I see vids of guys puffing smoke at the darlings to the point of asphyxiation, crashing supers back onto brood boxes without any attempt at 'diagonal and then gentle swivel', pinching every last drop of honey from them in late September, I get it that there are those who decide beekeepers are no such thing but rather they are honey farmers. No. the craft as we have inherited it in its mainstream traditional way does not need to be that way, and demonstrating that in my own methods has become a priority this year at new apiaries.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Another and rather different kind of 'plan for the season':
The lady of the big house where I have established my new apiary, the lady who is a professional garden designer and has been planting her own gardens for pollinators for years - she has been sending me links to the claimed "gentler way of beekeeping" on various sites on the net, for my interest and comment. Stuff about top bar hives and so on.

So a 'plan for the season' for me is to demonstrate how dudes who use National Hives and hold to a careful inspection regime and who are looking for a surplus for honey harvest … CAN HAVE A MOST GENTLE WAY OF BEEKEEPING.

Dorian Pritchard who gave the series of lectures which got me into this lark never wears gloves at his National Hives. His theory is that if he approaches the craft in a manner which is a minimal disturbance to the bees, they will not sting him. He advised us not to try no gloves for at least five years. This is my sixth year and I will still wear gloves! But I hope I have imbibed from Dorian the ways of gentle beekeeping for the prospering of pollinators and the flourishing of the species as well as for a satisfactory honey harvest.

When I see vids of guys puffing smoke at the darlings to the point of asphyxiation, crashing supers back onto brood boxes without any attempt at 'diagonal and then gentle swivel', pinching every last drop of honey from them in late September, I get it that there are those who decide beekeepers are no such thing but rather they are honey farmers. No. the craft as we have inherited it in its mainstream traditional way does not need to be that way, and demonstrating that in my own methods has become a priority this year at new apiaries.

I have always been gloveless as I find I am naturally more sympathetic to creatures who could sting me if I treat them roughly. If I get stung nowadays it's normally because I trap a bee while lifting a frame....but it makes me more careful.

 

[Tom Jay]

I have always been gloveless as I find I am naturally more sympathetic to creatures who could sting me if I treat them roughly. If I get stung nowadays it's normally because I trap a bee while lifting a frame....but it makes me more careful.

I'm impressed mate.

 

[Beefriendly]

I have always been gloveless as I find I am naturally more sympathetic to creatures who could sting me if I treat them roughly. If I get stung nowadays it's normally because I trap a bee while lifting a frame....but it makes me more careful.

I always wear gloves (nitryl). I just hate cleaning propolis and the likes off my hand afterwards. Same reason I wear gloves when gardening.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I always wear gloves (nitryl). I just hate cleaning propolis and the likes off my hand afterwards. Same reason I wear gloves when gardening.

I lied actually..... I do occasionally where thin latex gloves with a couple of my hives which produce vast quantities of propolis. My steering wheel got too mucky! I can still feel the queens when marking with these thin gloves.

 

[madasafish]

Another and rather different kind of 'plan for the season':
The lady of the big house where I have established my new apiary, the lady who is a professional garden designer and has been planting her own gardens for pollinators for years - she has been sending me links to the claimed "gentler way of beekeeping" on various sites on the net, for my interest and comment. Stuff about top bar hives and so on.

So a 'plan for the season' for me is to demonstrate how dudes who use National Hives and hold to a careful inspection regime and who are looking for a surplus for honey harvest … CAN HAVE A MOST GENTLE WAY OF BEEKEEPING.

Dorian Pritchard who gave the series of lectures which got me into this lark never wears gloves at his National Hives. His theory is that if he approaches the craft in a manner which is a minimal disturbance to the bees, they will not sting him. He advised us not to try no gloves for at least five years. This is my sixth year and I will still wear gloves! But I hope I have imbibed from Dorian the ways of gentle beekeeping for the prospering of pollinators and the flourishing of the species as well as for a satisfactory honey harvest.

When I see vids of guys puffing smoke at the darlings to the point of asphyxiation, crashing supers back onto brood boxes without any attempt at 'diagonal and then gentle swivel', pinching every last drop of honey from them in late September, I get it that there are those who decide beekeepers are no such thing but rather they are honey farmers. No. the craft as we have inherited it in its mainstream traditional way does not need to be that way, and demonstrating that in my own methods has become a priority this year at new apiaries.

I started gloveless in 2010 and still am. An impressive collection of stings - mainly from the colonies of others..

Anyone who claims TBHs are better for bees and beekeepers is living in a warm clime and never had to sort out crosscombing .

Propolis sorted out by some hand cream afterwards..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Anyone who claims TBHs are better for bees and beekeepers is living in a warm clime and never had to sort out crosscombing.

there's a reason they are called Kenyan (or African) top bar hives