What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

Where did you find the better chinese grafting tools. I've tried loads, but all useless so I've moved on to a brush. I don't understand why someone doesn't make a better quality one

I bought them on ebay 5x/set Beekeeping Beekeepers Chinese Queen Rearing Grafting Tools Retractabl -k- | eBay

 

[Helmb1360]

I had a deer knock over a hive. Luckily it was a small hive and all was ok, i placed it back on the stand job done

 

[North End Bees]

I placed it back on the stand job done

Luckily bees are very resilient!
But if there are deer about it would be worth strapping the hive together to stop it being knocked apart again.

 

[Helmb1360]

Luckily bees are very resilient!
But if there are deer about it would be worth strapping the hive together to stop it being knocked apart again.

I was using straps but the apiary manager said there isn't any point in using straps lol. We live and learn

 

[Curly green finger's]

Haven’t done to much in the apiary today shock out a drone layer also got a colony i demareed and the queen is also doing the same one almost capped superseding cell but lots of frames of drone and worker brood I couldn’t find the queen to many bees but fresh queen eggs present albeit I leave them for a couple of weeks and see if the cell comes good if not another shake out .
From 10am ish more extracting a lot more dark honey this spring than I’ve ever known.

 

[drex]

In the chaos of moving home and reducing the number of colonies I had an abundance of stored boxes and frames. Have not checked them since stacking them all in garage. Wax moth rampant. Have burnt sulphur. Did not bring my solar wax melter, but recently found a suitable box on a skip dive. Oh well, I thought a lot of my comb was getting old anyway.

 

[JohnRB]

I bought them on ebay 5x/set Beekeeping Beekeepers Chinese Queen Rearing Grafting Tools Retractabl -k- | eBay

thanks

 

[Malcolm B.]

Unfortunately I think that the bees will propolise it up pretty quickly with all those surfaces to connect the frames to. I made a similar system in wood that I put in a bait hive with the afore mention results!

You may very well be correct. The degree or effectiveness of their propolis on this design is part of this experiment. The frames are a very snug fit so they won't be able to put propolis between frame and plastic. I may try raising the block height to be exactly level with the top of the frames to keep propolis off that part of the wood frame.

If propolis is the only negative issue, I might try machining a couple of strips of teflon bar instead. It would be interesting to see if the bees can make propolis stick to non-stick teflon.

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Really enjoying your bee story long may it continue to entertain us .let us know how the castellations perform, time will tell if the bees propolize them

Thank you for your kind words, John. I have something else for 'In the Apiary' but I will leave it for a few days before posting. Most certainly I will recount the successes and failures of the 'Castellation experiment'.

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I inherited some very old boxes of DN1 frames with studs pinned to the side bars where the Hoffman spacers would be.
Worked perfectly well.

I had wondered about something like that. That sounds like a very good alternative. Thank you. I could pin and glue suitably prepared "shoulders" to convert the standard frames to the Hoffman Style. I may have a go later and report back here for comments.

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Surely bees could still get trapped/squashed in those?

It is possible of course, especially if the box is extremely busy. I tend to use either a long 'bee brush' or more usually a very soft narrow paint brush to gently encourage bees away from any danger zones. Unlike those who run bees as a business I have the distinct advantage of not needing to be in a hurry, so I can take my time and work slowly and carefully through the hive, enjoying my time with them. I always try extremely hard to not trap or crush even a single bee. Of course, I do realise that one cannot be so obsessively careful when there are ten or more hives still urgently needing prompt attention.

Malcolm B.

 

[pargyle]

In the chaos of moving home and reducing the number of colonies I had an abundance of stored boxes and frames. Have not checked them since stacking them all in garage. Wax moth rampant. Have burnt sulphur. Did not bring my solar wax melter, but recently found a suitable box on a skip dive. Oh well, I thought a lot of my comb was getting old anyway.

Annoying isn't it ? ... it does not take them long either does it ? I found one frame in my brood frames that I had stored - it was fine a couple of weeks ago ..went in the wax melter today along with a load of other brood frames - fried wax moth grubs by mid afternoon when the sun came out.

 

[Malcolm B.]

Wax moth rampant.

I have an account of wax moth to share here soon.

 

[Dr. Abe]

They swarmed, not superseed, and unless you reduce the QCs to one, they will throw out casts leaving you with a severely depleted colony.

So to clarify, you recommend I go in and destroy all the QCs except one?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So to clarify, you recommend I go in and destroy all the QCs except one?

every time

 

[Sutty]

You used to be able to buy adaptors to convert frames to Hoffman's, I do t know if they are still available but I'm sure you could 3d print some.
I wonder whether it would be an improvement to Hoffman to have the usual vertical pointed side bar on one side and 2 small horizontal points on the other.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You used to be able to buy adaptors to convert frames to Hoffman's, I do t know if they are still available

they are

 

[Wilco]

Checked four sites, most doing well. One colony which was on a couple of half combs at the end of winter and gradually built up just had a sixth shallow added. For me that's pretty special. I don't know if they'll fill it but I'm starting to struggle to lift the full ones from the top!

 

[RJC]

they are

here - Hoffman Converter Clips

 

[Garry R]

they are

Useful things - I have used them - fit them on the frames the right way round though to fit in sequence (sharp and flat side bars with the other Hoffman wooden frames in the box.

 

[Garry R]

Extracted supers and found a couple of Queen cells (one sealed) on two of the frames, However these were isolated - absolutely no worker or drone brood on the super frames as using queen excluders. If proof were needed then workers do move eggs about.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If proof were needed then workers do move eggs about.

not proof at all.
Workers lay eggs, especially in supers.
They also make QCs from them

 

[Sutty]

Extracted supers and found a couple of Queen cells (one sealed) on two of the frames, However these were isolated - absolutely no worker or drone brood on the super frames as using queen excluders. If proof were needed then workers do move eggs about.

Or bees will occasionally do odd things with laying worker eggs!