This years "Cock Up's"

[Monsieur Abeille]

Hmmm... here's one that'll cheer you up:
going down to see the bees, all suited up etc. and forgetting that I'd used Body Shop Honey Lip Balm earlier that day
Bees were quite calm about it, but very determined: I was going to have a velcro moustache for the rest of the morning, regardless of my attempts to remove them!

 

[joolsp]

My mistake? Feeling really smug after 'successfully' doing my very first AS only to find the next day that i'd transferred the old queen into the new hive on a frame that had a sealed QC on....doh!

This precipitated a chain of events caused by similar numpty mismanagement throughout May,June and July that saw me having to take 7 swarms (some of them the same one more than once...ho hum) and ending up with 4 colonies from my original one.

And if we 're voting on "best" mistake, then the honey lip balm does it for me

 

[Otleybee]

I was swapping over the apiguard and the remains of the first pack slipped off the foil and slid down between two frames. I was not really kitted up for a full inspection so I just left it. I did notice some bits of capping and pupae on the floor over the next few days. Will it have done any harm?

 

[Teemore]

A good mate was helping another beek with hive inspections mid August. A couple of the colonies were known to be bad tempered and sprayed water does little to keep them down so the smoker was on hand. My mate got a little carried away with pumping the smoker (not whilst smoking a hive i hasten to add!) and managed to produce a 'few' sparks.... several minutes later he had a few bees inside his veil and was wondering where they came from..... Now he has a couple of 2" patches on his veil and less of an inclination to manicly pump a smoker!

 

[BeeHill]

the day before I was due to go on holiday the hive in the garden swarmed. Collected it into cardboard box and took it and a hive down to association apiary. Assembled hive with QE above floor to persuade her to stay in. Then decided to try to get them to walk into the hive. They did - its facinating. Went home - then realised the Q would be UNDER the QE. Had to ask Good Friend to go and reconfigure for me. Live and Learn!!

 

[ROACHMAN]

Leaving my extractor uncleaned in the kitchen and then leaving the kitchen door open. When I then went into the kitchen to make a drink I was greeted my a plague of thousands of angry bees looking to reclaim their honey, it reminded my of something from the bible, needless to say the wife was not best pleased

 

[Skyhook]

I was swapping over the apiguard and the remains of the first pack slipped off the foil and slid down between two frames. I was not really kitted up for a full inspection so I just left it. I did notice some bits of capping and pupae on the floor over the next few days. Will it have done any harm?

Quite possibly- reactions seem to vary so much it's hard to tell. To be on the safe side, I would remove it ASAP.

 

[margob99]

I have to say; there are so many funny incidents described in this thread it does me quite good. I don't feel like such a klutz when I realise stuff happens to other people too ...

 

[rowbow]

crown board

I use double sided crown boards and put them back on the way they came of not this time, the following week lifted roof with the crown board attached stuck up with propalis.
John

 

[susbees]

I use double sided crown boards and put them back on the way they came of not this time, the following week lifted roof with the crown board attached stuck up with propalis.
John

Is THAT the best you could do (wrong)???

 

[TBRNoTB]

1st one of maybe many.

Is THAT the best you could do (wrong)???

As a newbeek would do, try and find the Queen (reminds you of a childs game!) after four months success at last. install Queen cage, drop marking pen into hive, put comb upside down so as to be able to remove other bars and retrieve pen. when all reinsated find Queen cage has fallen off comb, ( complete with HRH) Doh! Cannot find Queen, decide she has gone to ground again! Week later Queen cells built......moral of the story who needs to mark a Queen if the obvious signs are there?
PS She was a good laying Q too, double doh!!

 

[Silly Bee]

I don't understand the fixation some have with finding and marking a queen. Brood, eggs, all happy, what more do you want?

 

[PaleoPerson]

I don't understand the fixation some have with finding and marking a queen. Brood, eggs, all happy, what more do you want?

I like to find the queen just to ensure she is in a safe area when I close the frames up (i.e. not in between bits of brace comb or near the edges of frames).

 

[Loubee]

Expensive D'Oh

I found a swarm whilst out walking in the rain. Husband, not chuffed with a skep of bees in the barn, (where the kids bikes are), went out early next morning and bought, yes BOUGHT a shiny new brood box, Q ex, omf & roof The bees were fiendish, real devils, so when I saw 1 supercedure cell in the middle of a frame - the day before we went on holiday, I thought - yup, leave the girls to get on with it. Well, yes, you're there ahead of me We got back from our holibobs to find a state of the art brand new shiny hive. Actually, that should say an EMPTY state of the art brand new shiny hive. Very pretty though