What did you do in the Apiary today?

[bjosephd]

Bridge, Brace, and Burr comb are in part genetic and in part a function of hive design. The pictures of combs with extreme bridge and burr comb are an example of a hive that does not properly implement bee space combined with bees that love to build a bit of extra comb.



Here is a pic of a colony of bees that do not build much bridge or burr comb and are in a hive that uses correct bee space. This same colony is currently in the middle of a major flow and is filling supers with honey. I opened them 3 days ago and found 3 small areas of bridge comb between brood frames. There was no comb between the brood chamber and the super above.

Lovely stuff.

I seem to remember you use a narrower side bar than most?

I'm tempted to sand mine down, especially as they get wider with propolis through the season.

How many mm width side bars do you use?

 

[B+.]

How many mm width side bars do you use?

Its probably not a good idea to ask an American to give you a measurement in metric ;-)

 

[Fusion_power]

The end bars are just shy of 32 mm. Top bars are 22 mm wide giving bee space of 10 mm. The queen in that colony is painted blue i.e. 2 years old and looks set to produce a record crop of honey. They show no signs yet of attempting to swarm which is impressive for a 2 year old queen. I'll be raising a few from her as soon as the main flow is over.

Positive traits:
very gentle
low swarming inclination
low production of bridge, brace, and burr comb
high honey production 2 consecutive years
Excellent resistance to hive beetles and varroa

Negative traits:
Tend to work comb over into drone cells more than I like
comb building is not as strong as I prefer but is still acceptable

 

[bjosephd]

The end bars are just shy of 32 mm. Top bars are 22 mm wide giving bee space of 10 mm. The queen in that colony is painted blue i.e. 2 years old and looks set to produce a record crop of honey. They show no signs yet of attempting to swarm which is impressive for a 2 year old queen. I'll be raising a few from her as soon as the main flow is over.



Positive traits:

very gentle

low swarming inclination

low production of bridge, brace, and burr comb

high honey production 2 consecutive years

Excellent resistance to hive beetles and varroa



Negative traits:

Tend to work comb over into drone cells more than I like

comb building is not as strong as I prefer but is still acceptable

Might their low production of bridge and burr comb be related to their comb building being 'not as strong as [you] prefer' ?

 

[Fusion_power]

I rate comb building from readiness to enter supers of foundation and draw comb. These had the brood nest half full of fresh nectar before they started on the super which had one drawn bait frame and the rest comb honey foundation. So when I say their comb building is not as strong as I would like, it is probably related to their low propensity to build bridge and brace comb. But from my perspective this is more a rating of how readily they enter the supers.

 

[Goran]

At our orchard.. was about 30cm of snow.. Tomorrow will go first time after snow ( still a lot holding). Not few fruit tree branches snapped off. Also in the forest a lot of trees got torn. It is nature call, but nature bleed itself mostly.. We helped " a bit" to it became crazy, cruel and highly unpredictable.. Maybe is that the way nature want to get rid off of parasites..

 

[Eyeman]

Interesting. Not sure.

I was actually annoyed about the (what now looks like a small amount) of brace comb between frames. (See below)

I wonder how your bee spaces (between frames and above frames) compared to mine through winter. Although often I had an eke for fondant. I did have a little extra comb on top early season, but nothing like yours.

This particular hive is very clean... they hardly propolize at all. I have another colony that glue their universe together big time.

(just looked again at your picture - looks like you have your frames in castellations spaced for supers ie a bigger gap for fat honey stores. To over-winter in a brood with that spacing I would suggest causes a big increase in comb in all directions. And mine is no shook swarm... those are the frames they over wintered on)

Yes all my supers are on castellations. Never put brood frames on castellations.

 

[bjosephd]

Yes all my supers are on castellations. Never put brood frames on castellations.

I see... and was that super part of your overwintering set-up?

 

[rdmw]

Such a cold snap this last 10 days. Fresh snow on the hills. I have had to feed two colonies. Inspections before the snap showed good build up. I have no varroa drop at all after apistan in the autumn and three sublimation treatments in January. Very chuffed with this.
Planning queen rearing with cup kits and have the mini nucs all painted up
Any tips on how to attach the starter foundation strips to the bars? I have been dribbling melted wax but it sets very fast and makes more mess than anything.
Just finished my new solar wax extractor. Need some sunshine to try it out


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[masterBK]

They seem to nail their top bars to the side bars differently in the USA! Risk of lifting the top bar leaving the rest behind. Most UK beekeepers nail through the sidebar into the top bar.

 

[slangers]

Originally Posted by Helen
On my commute to work, I used to pass field after field after field of OSR in bloom at this time. This year, hardly any. The profit in it could have reduced at a guess?

Where I am, they seem to be growing nothing but OSR. You can smell it in the air everywhere.

 

[Fusion_power]

They seem to nail their top bars to the side bars differently in the USA! Risk of lifting the top bar leaving the rest behind. Most UK beekeepers nail through the sidebar into the top bar.

Ten nails per frame, 4 through the top bar, 4 through the bottom, 2 through the side of the frame into the top bar. Glue used in all joints.

 

[drex]

Surrounded by OSR, but the bees are bringing little nectar in. We have not had rain for weeks. All hives good and strong and foraging well. Took 6 frames of brood out of my brood factories today (6 nucs) to boost the main hives even more, and to cut the swarming instinct in the nucs. Queen cells in 2 main hives. Did modified snelgrove 2. Disappointing so far, last year they were piling it in at this time, Most have only one half full super on. The vagaries of beekeeping. I will soon use the nucs to requeen the main hives, and get the nucs ready to receive the queens from my queen rearing

 

[madasafish]

Ten nails per frame, 4 through the top bar, 4 through the bottom, 2 through the side of the frame into the top bar. Glue used in all joints.

That's what I do.

With a nail gun and a hive jig,takes little time..

 

[B+.]

They seem to nail their top bars to the side bars differently in the USA! Risk of lifting the top bar leaving the rest behind. Most UK beekeepers nail through the sidebar into the top bar.

If you have a decent air nailer, staples (1 3/8*) do the job much better than nails.
I was always taught to nail in through the side bars too, but, staples are stronger.

 

[Millet]

Such a cold snap this last 10 days. Fresh snow on the hills. I have had to feed two colonies. Inspections before the snap showed good build up. I have no varroa drop at all after apistan in the autumn and three sublimation treatments in January. Very chuffed with this.
Planning queen rearing with cup kits and have the mini nucs all painted up
Any tips on how to attach the starter foundation strips to the bars? I have been dribbling melted wax but it sets very fast and makes more mess than anything.
Just finished my new solar wax extractor. Need some sunshine to try it out


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Here is a simple idea for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCPBCdQNgNg

 

[Brigsy]

Finally finished my change to commercial frames on one colony via a Bailey. Phew. They are also feeding queen cells, so had to start a Wally at the same time. What a palaver. Clearing all the bees off the old brood and a half frames produced quite an impressive cloud of bees.

All settled down now. All others behaving nicely. An Apidea also arrived yesterday.......

 

[Fusion_power]

I was always taught to nail in through the side bars too, but, staples are stronger.

In order of strength, Glue, Ring nails, Square nails aka brad nails, staples, coated nails, and plain round nails are last. These must be properly used to give good results.

Staples have potential weakness that they compress the wood under the crown of the staple. This breaks the fibers and in some cases compromises the joint. When prying on the frame, the staple crown will pull through the top bar. Leaving the staple crown protruding above the top bar prevents this, but is in the way for scraping the frame to remove wax and propolis.

32 mm galvanized brad nails combined with a good coat of waterproof glue give a very high strength joint. The frames must be cut properly with adjacent surfaces aligned with the grain of the wood for glue to perform well.

I am on the way to an apiary with 7 colonies to check status and add supers. The main flow is on and it is very heavy this year.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Caught a swarm which had settled in the blackthorn hedge. That's the first this year. Today was also marked by the cherry tree next-door "singing" with bees? Now fingers crossed that they visit our apple trees which are just starting to blossom.

 

[rdmw]

Thanks that is good. I thought you had to use foundation as a starter strip but a spline of wood coated in wax is so much easier [emoji2]


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