Success and failure

[Curly green fingers]

Why? absolutely no need, putting annual undue stress on the bees for no reason, you will be following the foolish mantra chanted by the dark side and shook swarming annually to totally stress out and bugger up your colonies


But it is - what you are trying to do is squeeze a queen that is happily laying over two boxes back into one at a time of year when the colony is rapidly expanding and demanding more space - surefire way of triggering premature swarming.

OK I get what your saying Jenkins point taken no need annually what would you recommend/Advise then ?. Its all well an good leaving comb for 3+ years what about comb hygiene.? Some people on here give good advice with out sounding like there having a dig all the time .
Blunt answers are no good to no one . where as an explanation why your advising such things goes a long way.
Cheers mark.
Poly you have helped me over the winter no end and I thankyou for that.

 

[Levitt53]

Ah ok. I’ll move it today. I’m just trying to get rid of these damned frames but gradually will have to do. I really don’t feel confident handling a double brood but at least it will make it easier to split.

 

[Levitt53]

It’s gone. Does anyone ever have a season that starts as you think it will when you are mulling it all over in February?

 

[maddydog]

Its all well an good leaving comb for 3+ years what about comb hygiene.? .

The bees have been doing this alot longer than us and have managed well enough. If there's no brood disease then I leave them to it. The oldest/blackest frames can be rotated out a couple a season.
Reckitts and Unilever have done too good a job on the human psyche, 99.9% of everything doesn't need killing

 

[maddydog]

It’s gone. Does anyone ever have a season that starts as you think it will when you are mulling it all over in February?

Never, because you don't know exactly what you're dealing with until the first full inspection

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

OK I get what your saying Jenkins point taken no need annually what would you recommend/Advise then ?. Its all well an good leaving comb for 3+ years what about comb hygiene.? Some people on here give good advice with out sounding like there having a dig all the time

Didn't realise we had to temper all our posts for the snowflakes.
change as and when needed not keep bees by numbers, certainly don't shook swarm unless you have EFB and only do a Bailey change (or modified Bailey) if needed.
Identify comb that needs replacing during inspections, if empty,and at the edge of the brood nest, take straight out and replace with foundation, if occupied (stores or brood) gradually work the frame out to the sides then replace when empty.
Good comb is to valuable to replace at every whipped stitch, and is probably the reason people are moaning about grey foundation, which is probably due to the amount of recycled brood comb being put up for exchange.

 

[pargyle]

Didn't realise we had to temper all our posts for the snowflakes.
change as and when needed not keep bees by numbers, certainly don't shook swarm unless you have EFB and only do a Bailey change (or modified Bailey) if needed.
Identify comb that needs replacing during inspections, if empty,and at the edge of the brood nest, take straight out and replace with foundation, if occupied (stores or brood) gradually work the frame out to the sides then replace when empty.
Good comb is to valuable to replace at every whipped stitch, and is probably the reason people are moaning about grey foundation, which is probably due to the amount of recycled brood comb being put up for exchange.

Common sense at last .. I see so many new(ish) beekeepers thinking that the bees need fresh comb every year ... there was nobody to insist on bees changing their comb before there were beekeepers and they survived better then than they do now with beekeeper interference. Feral bees don't change their comb although I'm sure if they do need to remodel comb they are more than capable of making the decision on their own.

It's the same as the predilection that some beekeepers have for 'spring cleaning' - scrubbing the boxes out with cillit bang to get rid of all the propolis that the bees have so carefully put there ... why do you think they put it there ?

I really don't know where these ideas come from and worse still, get perpetuated to the unthinking/unknowing.

 

[madasafish]

Common sense at last .. I see so many new(ish) beekeepers thinking that the bees need fresh comb every year ... there was nobody to insist on bees changing their comb before there were beekeepers and they survived better then than they do now with beekeeper interference. Feral bees don't change their comb although I'm sure if they do need to remodel comb they are more than capable of making the decision on their own.

It's the same as the predilection that some beekeepers have for 'spring cleaning' - scrubbing the boxes out with cillit bang to get rid of all the propolis that the bees have so carefully put there ... why do you think they put it there ?

I really don't know where these ideas come from and worse still, get perpetuated to the unthinking/unknowing.

When I started beekeeping, I read all these stories of disease..old comb etc. So I decided to keep one Lang on the same frames starting 2014.. Still has most of those frames... It was my only hive unaffected by AFB..

Based on current teaching, the bees should be dead. The queen is marked Blue - 2015..still laying strongly..

Of course one example proves nothing - I may be lucky (after AFB?), a great beekeeper (I don't think so) or just chance...

 

[pargyle]

When I started beekeeping, I read all these stories of disease..old comb etc. So I decided to keep one Lang on the same frames starting 2014.. Still has most of those frames... It was my only hive unaffected by AFB..

Based on current teaching, the bees should be dead. The queen is marked Blue - 2015..still laying strongly..

Of course one example proves nothing - I may be lucky (after AFB?), a great beekeeper (I don't think so) or just chance...

Most of my colonies have some frames that are over three years old and a couple have some that are 5 years ... doesn't seem to bother the bees. They use them. I burn any stored ones that get wax moth as I don't want to risk leaving any eggs behind and any that start to look really manky but just being black ... no issues.

I would only sterilise a hive (mine are mostly poly) if there was disease in there .. if I swap a box for any reason the inside will get any burr comb scraped off, a coat of paint outside and a good brush out. Floors the same.

New hives get a coat of my propolis varnish on the inside and a coat of paint on the outside before they go into use.

I don't think it's a coincidence that your bees that have old comb and a box they have lived in for some time are the healthy ones Mike.

 

[madasafish]

Most of my colonies have some frames that are over three years old and a couple have some that are 5 years ... doesn't seem to bother the bees. They use them. I burn any stored ones that get wax moth as I don't want to risk leaving any eggs behind and any that start to look really manky but just being black ... no issues.

I would only sterilise a hive (mine are mostly poly) if there was disease in there .. if I swap a box for any reason the inside will get any burr comb scraped off, a coat of paint outside and a good brush out. Floors the same.

New hives get a coat of my propolis varnish on the inside and a coat of paint on the outside before they go into use.

I don't think it's a coincidence that your bees that have old comb and a box they have lived in for some time are the healthy ones Mike.

The remainder were sterilised by burning by BI after AFB and I have added 3 new hives since. Apart from cleaning floors down each year and removing surplus wax/propolis by scraping I do nothing Philip.

We have wax months here but so far no real problems with them - cold weather?

 

[Beefriendly]

The bees usually let you know when they have had enough of their frames and often nibble it away.
When it starts looking like the brood frames shown in the picture below I reckon it's time to remove and add fresh...and trust me being a Tyke, I'd be sorely tempted to stick these in the middle and see if they would draw them out again
And trust me being a Tyke, I can tell you they don't.

 

[Curly green fingers]

The bees usually let you know when they have had enough of their frames and often nibble it away.
When it starts looking like the brood frames shown in the picture below I reckon it's time to remove and add fresh...and trust me being a Tyke, I'd be sorely tempted to stick these in the middle and see if they would draw them out again
And trust me being a Tyke, I can tell you they don't.

Great photos for learning from would you say frames like that are more likely to be on the outside?

 

[Beefriendly]

They often start in the middle as a frame where they have nibbled the bottom away...as I work them outwards they sometimes get chewed away even more as per photos. Couldn't tell you exactly which positions they last occupied in any of my hives, just it was time for them to go.

 

[Curly green fingers]

They often start in the middle as a frame where they have nibbled the bottom away...as I work them outwards they sometimes get chewed away even more as per photos. Couldn't tell you exactly which positions they last occupied in any of my hives, just it was time for them to go.

Thanks B for the info after talking to my farther my hive comb could be as old as 10 years the last time grandad did hive inspections was 2002 before he pasted away . . by his records.

 

[Beefriendly]

Years left in it