Strange noises from a bait box - mystery solved!

[barratt_sab]

We needed a box for a cast, and we only had a bait box – we didn’t think that would be a problem.

We didn’t have enough frames to fill the box, or a dummy board, so we used a couple of bits of low density polystyrene insulation to dummy out the gaps – that didn’t seem like it would be a problem either.

A little later, we saw bees coming out of the box carrying little white things – we searched through the books to see what might be wrong, without any great insights.

Finally, we opened up the box to have a look, and there was a noise like the the snap crackle and pop noise that rice crispies make.

As you can see, our home-made poly hive didn’t do so well! They ignored two frames of foundation, excavated a huge hole right though the polystyrene and filled it with comb (complete with eggs). The hole must be about 7 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. The bait box had ½ inch of shredded polystyrene in the bottom of it.

We have transferred them to a hive, but it was really windy, so we didn’t stop to look for the queen. Given that, we didn’t mess about trying to get the comb out of the polystyrene and into frames, so that had to go in too!

Roll on sunny, calm days so we can sort it out.

 

[RoseCottage]

Wow...totally fascinating.
That's why I love this place...I'd never see this elsewhere.
thanks for taking the time to share it.
Sam

 

[Headnavigator]

Wow...totally fascinating.
That's why I love this place...I'd never see this elsewhere.
thanks for taking the time to share it.
Sam

Just amazing!

 

[warts]

Made me smile a big broad smile..(the little monkeys!)

Good luck with the weather

 

[Poly Hive]

Which is why I mention now and again that the density of poly is important....


LOL

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

And in addition to Poly Hive and density - they also know where it is warmest, too!!

RAB

 

[Tom Bick]

Nice photo, it was still a good idea to insulate even though a lot of time spent trying to remove it. I did a similar thing last year over wintering a nuc but wrapped the polystyrene in tin foil, it worked a treat until I put a hole in it.

 

[barratt_sab]

Which is why I mention now and again that the density of poly is important....

As they say, I saw this and thought of you!

We had to go out to sort out a nuc this evening (frame feeder being robbed) and couldn't resist cracking the lid on the hive with this colony in it.

They are doing pretty well - capped brood, eggs and stores. We found the queen, marked her, lost her, found her again and shut them up.

Glad it raised a smile - we thought we had a whole new bee disease on our hands.

 

[barratt_sab]

...wrapped the polystyrene in tin foil, it worked a treat until I put a hole in it.

That's a good tip.

We put the same low density polystyrene over the crown boards in the winter, with open feed holes, and they barely touched it, so we were surprised how quickly they went through this - the hole in the photos was made in about 2 weeks.

 

[darren64]

mine did something similar with kingspan,the ground beneath the OM floor was covered in yellow powder,I wandered what the heck was going on at first.