What did you do in the Apiary today?

[ericbeaumont]

didn't have a crown board

Ran short of box feeders (that I use instead of crownboards) and found a few sacks by Mum's shed. First had tarmac, but dumped the compost from the second and put the bag to better use.

One time I was without newspaper (or newsagent) in Well Street, Hackney and needing to do a unite, found the chippy used paper 470mm square to wrap f&c.

 

[JamezF]

Captured another swarm today (I hope). I've left the majority of the swarm in a cardboard box on a QX nearby on the grass. Much of the rest of the swarm (which was on the trunk of an apple tree) seems utterly disinterested in moving into the box though, despite bees fanning outside it. And they were a pig to get into the box in the first place. Initially they started running in and then all ran out again. I've used this box before and not had problems.

I've never seen that before. I'm wondering if there might be two queens and the bees still on the tree aren't budging because they still think they're good? I'll give them another half hour, but after that I'm taking what's in the box away. If the remainder is still there in the morning then perhaps I'll have another go and put them in a separate nuc.

James

 

[Goran]

Here the season is going to be one of the worst I remember.. Spring honey, well there is no any.. Some black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia) which survived frosts or secondary flowers is about to be open in few days, but usually such flowers offer low or none nectar.. In addition to that weather prognosis when it opens the flowers - rain for longer period.. Seems will be season to save the bees from starvation, not to think about extraction.. So far no swarming problems, which never happen before - no real flow for long period.. horror climate changes. I can see how bees can disappear even without diseases and poisoning..
Now the wise guys after they imported and sold false honey under label of real honey say that what is imported and sold isn't real honey and is threat to health of the people.. and should be banned from importing.. I don't know if they have no fear of men, how they have no fear of God - or don't have any conscience..
Bees with cordyceps antennae are not slow, they are fast, again I didn't manage to catch it..

 

[Antipodes]

Captured another swarm today (I hope). I've left the majority of the swarm in a cardboard box on a QX nearby on the grass. Much of the rest of the swarm (which was on the trunk of an apple tree) seems utterly disinterested in moving into the box though, despite bees fanning outside it. And they were a pig to get into the box in the first place. Initially they started running in and then all ran out again. I've used this box before and not had problems.

I've never seen that before. I'm wondering if there might be two queens and the bees still on the tree aren't budging because they still think they're good? I'll give them another half hour, but after that I'm taking what's in the box away. If the remainder is still there in the morning then perhaps I'll have another go and put them in a separate nuc.

James

My thoughts...if they get hot in the cardboard box, they'll potentially come out again. If it is a largish swarm they can't always spread out like they might on comb and can also be piled or pile up on top of one another (different to a properly formed cluster on a tree or shrub). They don't always like being piled up on one another, so that may have been an issue. I'm not sure how you have used the queen excluder (I've never used a queen excluder capturing a swarm) and can imagine that there could be one potentially significant issue using one if you didn't see the queen(s) on the correct side of it? The queen(s) is not always in the "correct" place in a swarm cluster from what I've seen....
The fanning on the outside of the box doesn't mean that the queen is necessarily in it either.

 

[JamezF]

Chances of getting hot in a cardboard box today were slim, to be honest

When I'm collecting a swarm in a cardboard box I usually have a sheet on the ground nearby on which I put a QX with one side propped up on a wooden block. Once the majority of the swarm is in the box, I put it (open side down, obviously) on top of the QX. To be honest I've no idea if it helps or not.

Today's was messy because the bees didn't cluster as I'd normally expect, but instead covered the trunk of the tree from just above ground level to about five feet high.

Anyhow, I'll see what happens tomorrow.

James

 

[JamezF]

Checking on the remaining bees from yesterday's swarm this morning to find that there are far fewer of them than last night. No idea what to make of that. Perhaps some have given up and gone home. I might have one attempt at persuading them into a box, but I suspect it might be pointless.

James

 

[JamezF]

Well, I had another go and they just didn't seem to want to know. Meanwhile the main part of the swarm seems to have settled into a hive and appears happy, though they were quite loud early doors. Roaring, but not ill-tempered. I suspect many of the "remnant" have returned home as it appears to be getting smaller and I can't justify spending more time on trying to recover what is probably only a few hundred bees now, so they'll have to take their chances in the rain tomorrow.

James

 

[Moobee]

Captured another swarm today (I hope). I've left the majority of the swarm in a cardboard box on a QX nearby on the grass. Much of the rest of the swarm (which was on the trunk of an apple tree) seems utterly disinterested in moving into the box though, despite bees fanning outside it. And they were a pig to get into the box in the first place. Initially they started running in and then all ran out again. I've used this box before and not had problems.

I've never seen that before. I'm wondering if there might be two queens and the bees still on the tree aren't budging because they still think they're good? I'll give them another half hour, but after that I'm taking what's in the box away. If the remainder is still there in the morning then perhaps I'll have another go and put them in a separate nuc.

James

I had similar last year with a swarm on a fence post that I think had been there a while so lots of queen pheromone present. Had to smoke them off the post (as had about half in a nuc & the rest wouldn’t budge) & then heavily smoke the post to confuse them enough to head to where the queen actually was.

 

[Garry R]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17522899...wiJrN9CxVQMjIbIulzzsu5iRD6Qf|tkp:BFBM3O-VgP9h
I tried the above tarp with the reinforcement as a cover for the frames in my 14 x 12 long hive as the other things I tried were chewed through. Cuts easily to size. After weeks this has not been touched and as a bonus it does not seem to get stuck to the frames and peels back so easily for inspections. No propolis either. Early days but I have high hopes and may use it on ordinary hives

 

[Newbeeneil]

I had a quick look at the swarm I picked up on Thursday evening. It was probably one of the biggest I’d ever picked up and I put it in a couple of supers as I’m going to run them using the Rose method but by using supers instead of Rose boxes.
In the 60 hours they have been in the supers they have drawn out 20 frames and filled most with nectar. I can’t see any eggs so assume it must have a virgin in there which is a surprise considering the size of the swarm and how early in the season we are.

 

[Bettenham]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17522899...wiJrN9CxVQMjIbIulzzsu5iRD6Qf|tkp:BFBM3O-VgP9h
I tried the above tarp with the reinforcement as a cover for the frames in my 14 x 12 long hive as the other things I tried were chewed through. Cuts easily to size. After weeks this has not been touched and as a bonus it does not seem to get stuck to the frames and peels back so easily for inspections. No propolis either. Early days but I have high hopes and may use it on ordinary hives

Do you use this in place of a crown board or with? I am considering what I need for the tbh conversion to long hive which I'm doing now.

 

[Murox]

On two of my long deep hives I still use building damp proof membrane plastic (thick plastic sheet, an opaque blue colour that I can just still see through when in use) and I have a few squares cut up to "national" size as well. Perspex material from the covid screening works well, I use that too as a crown board.

 

[StephenT]

Merged two nucs back into their ’mother hives’ having completed the 2 week Pete Little method. Checked on another one at another site where we did the same last Wednesday and the queen was present and laying. Fingers crossed they don’t make any more plans to swarm but half expect them to. The remaining hive was Demaree’d a couple of weeks back and so swapped empty frames for ones with brood. All hives on 2 supers which are being filled nicely. Expect to put a 3rd on 2 hives next week.

 

[StephenT]

shake all the bees off the frame before moving it up, I always do, having been caught out in the past

What's the purpose of shaking the bees off when moving frames up as I didn’t do that yesterday?

 

[Erichalfbee]

What's the purpose of shaking the bees off when moving frames up as I didn’t do that yesterday?

To make sure the queen isn’t on the frame. You don’t have to if you know the queen isn’t on the frame you’re moving.
If you are in a hurry with lots of hives to do and you do t have time to find the queen then it makes sense anyway

 

[StephenT]

To make sure the queen isn’t on the frame. You don’t have to if you know the queen isn’t on the frame you’re moving.
If you are in a hurry with lots of hives to do and you do t have time to find the queen then it makes sense anyway

Thanks. We made sure we knew where the queen was whilst moving the frames.

 

[Do224]

Reunited a nuc with the main hive after doing the two week Pete Little swarm control method. Stuck another super of foundation on as well as the first is all drawn and feels pretty full. This is at an out apiary and doing the same to two hives in our garden at the weekend. Hoping to get them all de-swarmy before the main flow

Is there an description of the Pete Little method anywhere? I searched the forum but haven’t come across a proper explanation

 

[StephenT]

Is there an description of the Pete Little method anywhere? I searched the forum but haven’t come across a proper explanation

https://thewalrusandthehoneybee.com/swarm-control-by-the-experts/
It‘s described in this article. We put all 5 frames from the nuc back in the hive with some air freshener.

And I get the frame with eggs and small larvae from the nuc.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Yesterday after me rushing around sorting three colony’s with charged cells all three queens nuced and cells knocked down to one good open cell on each colony , we went through the home apiary and demareed this colony out on the common
My earlier split on another has a virgin somewhere as the cell was open we didn’t take to much time looking through them.

 

[Curly green finger's]

This maple is flowering for the first time grown from seed