scouting my hive

[mexbigshow]

Hi everyone, i'm new to this site and i have only kept bees for 1 season now, last year i built a top bar hive and baited it with lemon grass oil and in may i had a swarm but the bad winter we had in south yorkshire killed the bees so this year i bought a poly langstroth which i baited on wednesday with lg oil (found out lg oil melts into poly lol) and yesterday the hive was scouted for about 10 mins then the bee was in and out like she owned the place, so fingers crossed i will get a swarm soon. My hive is on an allotment so there is always something with blossom or flowers growing and about 5 allotments down there is another bee keeper but every spring and summer he buggers off on holiday for months at a time so i think they may be his bees that get fed up and get a new home, what do you guys think?

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes that sounds about right, if the other beekeeper wants to give away his bees then to go on holiday for a couple of months during spring / summer will probably do the job.

Only one thought if the other beekeeper is a bit slack lets say and you get a swarm from him the bees may have a reasonably high level of Varroa.

Good look

 

[mexbigshow]

thanks, i think he used to do more with them but i think this year alone he has had 2 heart bypasses so maybe he can't put as much strain on his body as before, his allotment is ideal for bees because he has 3 plots and all he grows is fruit, i think he is just an animal lover because he also keeps ducks, geese, chickens, quails and turkeys which could be a bad idea because they attract a lot of rats and mice

 

[Lois]

Why don't you ask him if you can look after/have his hive as you are interested and then you will be doing him and you a favour. You can make sure any swarms a low on varroa if you do and you will make a friend of someone who might need a hand but could be too proud to ask for it.

 

[Tom Bick]

Sounds like an interesting chap and after heart bypass op perhaps will need a helping hand this year especially with the lifting if he is willing to accept it that is. I am not suggesting you drop everything to offer all your spare time but he just may appreciate it and if he is an experienced beekeeper you may just benefit.

The rats and mice thing on allotments are just part of the deal from my experience and with chickens ect you just get more, the problem people just start to spray poison around and that causes even more problems in my humble opinion.

 

[mexbigshow]

hi, yeah i was thinking about asking him about either helping with the hives or if he was thinking of packin in i would take the hives, i think he would accept the help because he already said i could have as much of his fruit as i wanted and he said he could do with an helper for his livestock

 

[mexbigshow]

hi tom, i would be able to spend quite a bit of time on his plot because i run a community allotment project so i get paid to spend time on the allotments and spend time with my bees, i would like to pick up his knowledge because he has been a beek probably since before i was born, i just let the rats get on with things up here because we are surrounded by fields so poison wouldn't do much, there is a lot of osr about half a mile away aswell so i will need his advice on that aswell

 

[Tom Bick]

Sounds like a it could all work out.
I am connected with a community allotment site as the beekeeper on site and they have just got funding for a full time person on site, it’s a big site and perhaps needs full time management.

 

[mexbigshow]

i just checked on my hive and there were 4 dead bees, 2 on top of the queen excluder and 2 on the ceiling of the roof, this is my set up floor,brood box, queen excluder and then roof, is this ok or should i take off the queen excluder until i put on a super?

 

[Tom Bick]

No great need for the queen excluder.

Have you put frames in your bb.

 

[mexbigshow]

yes i filled it with frames with wired foundation, is this the right way or should i just have a few frames in and then add more as needed by the bees?

 

[Tom Bick]

No I think it is sensible to have the frames as this way if the bees move in and stay you don’t have wild comb to deal with.

It is often good to have one old drawn comb frame with no honey in it as another attractant or a couple of old frames with new foundation fitted, ideally an old used hive that smells of bees, but you managed last year with the tbh and that worked.

Someone mentioned that with all frames fitted with foundation it is good to have a hole through the centre of the frames it apparently helps the bees when they first move in and sort of makes sense but who knows.

We can go on and on but at the end of the day if the bees like it and they want to swarm they will move in but if they also think the hole in the tree, the old dumped vax hoover, the compost bin or the chimney ect is a better option they will be go there.

Its early days for swarms me thinks best talk to the old chap and perhaps you can get a nuc off his hives or swarm control them into your hive.

 

[tonybloke]

i just checked on my hive and there were 4 dead bees, 2 on top of the queen excluder and 2 on the ceiling of the roof, this is my set up floor,brood box, queen excluder and then roof, is this ok or should i take off the queen excluder until i put on a super?

take off the queen excluder, put on a crown board! ( under the roof)