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Posted: 8/13/2017 12:40:02 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Started mite treatments today. I love my new Vaporizer. It took less than 1 hour to treat 50 hives. It is a good idea if possible for people to start soon as bees born around this time forward are the bees "winter bees" that will be occupying the hive during the winter months You want these bees to be healthy and relatively disease free if possible. I know that's hard cuz you need a helper to take pics. |
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Posted: 8/14/2017 5:34:59 AM EDT
[#2]
I'm considering honeybees once we move to our new property in the next few years although it seems like Othello- "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master". My biggest concern (aside from inexperience) is that a good friend of mine owns a large greenhouse about a 1/4 mile from our property. He does use a variety of neonicotinoids on his plants. Would it then be pointless for me to even attempt this hobby since I would imagine their going to flock towards his flowers? It's a massive operation he has going- over 100,000 plants outside alone.
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Posted: 8/14/2017 8:12:09 AM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By mr2143:
I'm considering honeybees once we move to our new property in the next few years although it seems like Othello- "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master". My biggest concern (aside from inexperience) is that a good friend of mine owns a large greenhouse about a 1/4 mile from our property. He does use a variety of neonicotinoids on his plants. Would it then be pointless for me to even attempt this hobby since I would imagine their going to flock towards his flowers? It's a massive operation he has going- over 100,000 plants outside alone. |
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Posted: 8/14/2017 8:13:54 AM EDT
[#4]
This was posted earlier in this thread; it was posted more recently in the "Ground-dwelling Bees" thread. It's about natural hornet control.
HobbitWife had some hornets in her work cabin out back. She put water, some essential oil, Wintergreen IIRC, with some Dr Bronner's Soap, in a spray bottle, and sprayed it all around her cabin. It drove them away without harming my bees or her garden. |
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Posted: 8/14/2017 7:25:37 PM EDT
[Last Edit: cuttingedge]
[#5]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Would love to see any photos you can get on next treatment. I know that's hard cuz you need a helper to take pics. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Originally Posted By cuttingedge:
Started mite treatments today. I love my new Vaporizer. It took less than 1 hour to treat 50 hives. It is a good idea if possible for people to start soon as bees born around this time forward are the bees "winter bees" that will be occupying the hive during the winter months You want these bees to be healthy and relatively disease free if possible. I know that's hard cuz you need a helper to take pics. Since last year, I have updated my treatment equipment to save time. Last year I used a Varrox wand Vaporizer which requires you to seal off the hive while you vaporize for 2 1/2 minutes while the OA sublimates. After the 2 1/2 minutes, you pull the wand out and seal the hive up for an additional 10 minutes. This started to become time consuming with only 15 hives last season. Especially since I did 3 treatments 7 days apart with a follow up treatment in October. Now I have approximately 50 hives. It would take way too long to treat this way. On the advice of a commercial beekeeper up here, I purchased a LEGA vaporizer with heat gun. This unit only takes 15 seconds per hive and they don't need to be sealed up which greatly speeds up the treatments. This year, I am moving to a different treatment schedule doing 4 treatments 5 days apart and will again do a follow up treatment in late October. Here is a picture of the LEGA unit that I purchased. 
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Posted: 8/15/2017 8:49:17 AM EDT
[#6]
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Posted: 8/15/2017 10:14:51 AM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/144881/20170814_063034-280846.JPG Busy weekend! Looks like you have a lot of followers. I would like to know your process for getting them out of the supers. I have stepped up from escape boards to a leaf blower and will never go back. It is very fast and when done right, I have zero bees to contend with while extracting. I place an inverted telescopic cover on the bottom, and once the bees are removed from the super, I place it on the inverted cover followed by another telescopic cover. This keeps the bees out. I usually stack 4 like this for transport. I also use a trailer but don't have far to go to extract. |
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Posted: 8/15/2017 10:50:03 AM EDT
[Last Edit: DUX4LIFE]
[#8]
I used fume boards for the last several years. They work great, put the fume board on sit in the truck for 5 or 10 minutes come back out and pull the super off. If you leave it on too long it runs them out of the brood boxes also. My truck bed is currently tied up with the corn syrup yet so I had to use the tailgate. I could haul about 12 of them at a time. This year I also gave them about 2 gallons of syrup whenever I took the supers off.
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Posted: 8/15/2017 9:52:36 PM EDT
[Last Edit: DUX4LIFE]
[#9]
Those followers are actually the cleanup crew. I loaded the empty supers on the trailer and parked it a ways away from the nucs in the yard. I am NOT a fan of open feeding at any time or form but didn't have time to drive around and stick the supers back on for a week to be cleaned.
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Posted: 8/16/2017 9:36:18 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
Those followers are actually the cleanup crew. I loaded the empty supers on the trailer and parked it a ways away from the nucs in the yard. I am NOT a fan of open feeding at any time or form but didn't have time to drive around and stick the supers back on for a week to be cleaned. |
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Posted: 8/16/2017 7:51:45 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Why are you against open feeding? We're pretty sure that is how it went down. Bob had the only confirmed case of foulbrood in the county. Early the following spring Andy's nuc came down with it. They were only a few blocks apart. The place where Bob got his bees is loaded with foulbrood according to the state inspector. But hey, he got them real cheap. One of my customers just bought a few nucs cheap from an apiary going out of business in Florida. Guess why they were going out of business...Foulbrood....He caught it before adding it to his apiary and burned it. People need to look at where they are getting their bees from and look at the general health of the apiary if possible. You can hide the symptoms really easily if you treat. The old rule of thumb for beekeepers is to treat for foulbrood whether you have it or not. If you do that the symptoms never show...I like isolation for my yards. |
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Posted: 8/16/2017 9:45:27 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
My friend the next town over had to burn one of his nucs. The one with the $200 artificially inseminated queen due to foulbrood. His neighbor bought some cheap hives that had the disease and when they died he just laid out the frames for other hives to clean up. Andy's bees helped themselves and brought the disease back into the hive with contaminated honey. Same reason you need to be careful if you feed honey from one hive to another. We're pretty sure that is how it went down. Bob had the only confirmed case of foulbrood in the county. Early the following spring Andy's nuc came down with it. They were only a few blocks apart. The place where Bob got his bees is loaded with foulbrood according to the state inspector. But hey, he got them real cheap. One of my customers just bought a few nucs cheap from an apiary going out of business in Florida. Guess why they were going out of business...Foulbrood....He caught it before adding it to his apiary and burned it. People need to look at where they are getting their bees from and look at the general health of the apiary if possible. You can hide the symptoms really easily if you treat. The old rule of thumb for beekeepers is to treat for foulbrood whether you have it or not. If you do that the symptoms never show...I like isolation for my yards. |
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Posted: 8/17/2017 9:44:19 AM EDT
[Last Edit: FrankSymptoms]
[#13]
Kitties, some time ago you mentioned that you were interested in learning about beekeeping in a high desert environment.
One of the things that we get in the Southwest, and that seems to set us apart from other parts of the country, is our monsoon season. Although monsoons are most commonly known for forming over India and Bangladesh, they also form along the Brazilian coast, Sub-Saharan Africa as well as northern Mexico and the Desert Southwest. Each year, after a hot and dry early-summer, the Southwest U.S. receives monsoon-fed scattered showers and thunderstorms. Historically, the monsoon begins during the first few weeks of July and runs through September. Psorothamnus scoparius (Broom dalea, aka dye bush) is flowering right now, all over the desert. The bees love it, and can be seen gathering nectar and pollen all the time now. There are a number of other plants but this one is predominant in this area right now. I will post some pics later when I can. I guess my point is that after the snows dry up (if we even get snow, it didn't happen this year) we have a few flowers that rather quickly dry up. The bees seem to gather what they need somewhere, as they ignore the syrup I put out for them. There are flowers that aren't visible unless you look really hard for them; the dry desert shrubs cover them as the flowers are close to the ground. Then the monsoon rains hit, and the desert blooms again from July through September. . eta But the humidity is terrible, and our evaporative cooler is worthless!  Also, working with the bees when it's been raining every other day is iffy; as you've pointed out, they get VERY pissy when it's been raining! I got stung 4 times last week when I opened my first hive; I can usually work with them without mishap.
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Posted: 8/18/2017 9:28:09 PM EDT
[#14]
This was posted earlier in this thread; it was posted more recently in the "Ground-dwelling Bees" thread. It's about natural hornet control.
HobbitWife had some hornets in her work cabin out back. She put water, some essential oil, Wintergreen IIRC, with some Dr Bronner's Soap, in a spray bottle, and sprayed it all around her cabin. It drove them away without harming my bees or her garden. I got the ingredients wrong. Here's the right recipe: Water, Clove essential oil, cedar essential oil, and an equal amount of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint soap. Sprayed directly on them will kill them; it works well as a repellent too |
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Posted: 8/19/2017 1:44:17 PM EDT
[#15]
Has anyone used bee propolis? How do you prepare it?
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Posted: 8/19/2017 10:10:16 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Has anyone used bee propolis? How do you prepare it? The resulting mixture smells amazing, especially once the alcohol dried out of the filter. I want to rub it on everything now! I'll experiment with it at some point. It seems like it would be great for treating outdoor furniture or blowing really nice smelling 151 fireballs! It stains similar to iodine, though. |
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Posted: 8/20/2017 4:28:22 AM EDT
[Last Edit: FrankSymptoms]
[#17]
I collected a small amount, maybe a quarter teaspoon, for a coworker with allergies. Think it'll help her?
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Posted: 8/20/2017 7:56:33 AM EDT
[Last Edit: BustinCaps]
[#18]
Everything I've read is cautionary about propolis exposure to people with allergies to bees, bee products, or any of the components. Tree resins, pollen, etc
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Posted: 8/22/2017 5:28:38 PM EDT
[#19]
Anyone else observe their hives during the eclipse? It was very interesting. Totality was 95% where I live. About 15 minutes before totality the bees changed their normal busy in and out flight patterns. They began flying very slowly in front of the hive like they were confused. As the air temperature dropped and the sky became dimmer, the bees entered their hive. A totality, all of the bees were in and very quiet. I cracked open one of the hives and they were very docile - quite a bit different than their normal defensive behavior this time of the year (I have to smoke them or get mobbed by them). They were all pretty motionless. About half an hour after totality the bees were back at it again.
I guess their behavior was pretty predictable, but it was kind of cool to see nonetheless. Anyone else take time to check out their bees during the eclipse? |
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Posted: 8/23/2017 2:17:18 PM EDT
[#20]
OK bee folks. I honestly haven't had time to keep up with this thread, and since I didn't try bees again this year, everything related to bee has been on the back burner.
Anyway, while I think it was discussed some time ago, what are the feelings about these new "flow" hives? For $300 on fleabay, you can get setup. Since I have not yet invested in ANY extraction equipment, it has me thinking. So, anybody have any thoughts on these? link for reference |
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KY, USA
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Posted: 8/23/2017 7:43:54 PM EDT
[#21]
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Posted: 8/24/2017 3:25:07 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryThat's Awesome  Is that your photo?
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Posted: 8/29/2017 11:59:08 PM EDT
[#23]
My bees didn't survive last winter. In preparation for starting again I threw 20 frames, most with capped honey, in the freezer. Life got in the way and it didn't happen this year. I just remembered yesterday that I still have them in the freezer. Should I put them out and let the other neighborhood hives clean them out for me?
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Posted: 8/30/2017 7:46:40 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Kitties, sorry I didn't get any pictures. Since last year, I have updated my treatment equipment to save time. Last year I used a Varrox wand Vaporizer which requires you to seal off the hive while you vaporize for 2 1/2 minutes while the OA sublimates. After the 2 1/2 minutes, you pull the wand out and seal the hive up for an additional 10 minutes. This started to become time consuming with only 15 hives last season. Especially since I did 3 treatments 7 days apart with a follow up treatment in October. Now I have approximately 50 hives. It would take way too long to treat this way. On the advice of a commercial beekeeper up here, I purchased a LEGA vaporizer with heat gun. This unit only takes 15 seconds per hive and they don't need to be sealed up which greatly speeds up the treatments. This year, I am moving to a different treatment schedule doing 4 treatments 5 days apart and will again do a follow up treatment in late October. Here is a picture of the LEGA unit that I purchased. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/294057/image-280464.jpg https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/294057/image-280468.jpg Do you mind saying how much the vaporizer/heat gun combo was? It sounds like the way to go. Will be really interested in how you come out this year as compared to last. People don't get that it's an ongoing learning process, and you are a really good example of that. You keep learning, researching, listening and trying, making records, analyzing. That's a beekeeper. |
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Posted: 8/30/2017 7:47:33 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/144881/20170814_063034-280846.JPG Busy weekend! Nice trailer! 
Seriously, that's a wonderful harvest. How many pounds? |
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Posted: 8/30/2017 7:50:11 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
That's a good busy! Looks like you have a lot of followers. I would like to know your process for getting them out of the supers. I have stepped up from escape boards to a leaf blower and will never go back. It is very fast and when done right, I have zero bees to contend with while extracting. I place an inverted telescopic cover on the bottom, and once the bees are removed from the super, I place it on the inverted cover followed by another telescopic cover. This keeps the bees out. I usually stack 4 like this for transport. I also use a trailer but don't have far to go to extract. I hate fume boards, but am a wussypuff if I think I'm hurting them.  I know, I need to toughen up. 
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Posted: 8/30/2017 7:54:01 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Kitties-with-Sigs]
[#27]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
My friend the next town over had to burn one of his nucs. The one with the $200 artificially inseminated queen due to foulbrood. His neighbor bought some cheap hives that had the disease and when they died he just laid out the frames for other hives to clean up. Andy's bees helped themselves and brought the disease back into the hive with contaminated honey. Same reason you need to be careful if you feed honey from one hive to another. We're pretty sure that is how it went down. Bob had the only confirmed case of foulbrood in the county. Early the following spring Andy's nuc came down with it. They were only a few blocks apart. The place where Bob got his bees is loaded with foulbrood according to the state inspector. But hey, he got them real cheap. One of my customers just bought a few nucs cheap from an apiary going out of business in Florida. Guess why they were going out of business...Foulbrood....He caught it before adding it to his apiary and burned it. People need to look at where they are getting their bees from and look at the general health of the apiary if possible. You can hide the symptoms really easily if you treat. The old rule of thumb for beekeepers is to treat for foulbrood whether you have it or not. If you do that the symptoms never show...I like isolation for my yards. That said, Dux, I never heard this as a reason to avoid open feeding of any kind, and I have no idea why I haven't heard this said out loud. I can't believe that guy knew he had foulbrood and put those frames out. Lord have mercy (as my grandmother would say). Those poor hives.
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Posted: 8/30/2017 8:01:45 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Kitties, some time ago you mentioned that you were interested in learning about beekeeping in a high desert environment. One of the things that we get in the Southwest, and that seems to set us apart from other parts of the country, is our monsoon season. We are going through this right now. We have gotten several lovely rain storms on and near us, near enough that the bees can fly to the newly-rain-enriched area. Sometimes we have a rain storm that covers the entire region; other times there are towering clouds that dump rain in a very limited area, perhaps a mile or so wide. Psorothamnus scoparius (Broom dalea, aka dye bush) is flowering right now, all over the desert. The bees love it, and can be seen gathering nectar and pollen all the time now. There are a number of other plants but this one is predominant in this area right now. I will post some pics later when I can. I guess my point is that after the snows dry up (if we even get snow, it didn't happen this year) we have a few flowers that rather quickly dry up. The bees seem to gather what they need somewhere, as they ignore the syrup I put out for them. There are flowers that aren't visible unless you look really hard for them; the dry desert shrubs cover them as the flowers are close to the ground. Then the monsoon rains hit, and the desert blooms again from July through September. . eta But the humidity is terrible, and our evaporative cooler is worthless! Also, working with the bees when it's been raining every other day is iffy; as you've pointed out, they get VERY pissy when it's been raining! I got stung 4 times last week when I opened my first hive; I can usually work with them without mishap.Life in the desert is a whole other world to me. Life on the ocean would be the same. I've spent so little time at the beach, I don't understand how the ocean really works. I mean, in theory I understand the tides, but not in real life. People who grew up around it can read the water in ways I would love to understand. Same with how the desert works. This is a great summary and thank you for writing that! You know what I was thinking--you mentioned a project when we were talking via IM. You ought to put together a book of "Honey in the Desert Southwest--Lore and Learning from New Mexico and Arizona Beekeepers"---Get each beekeeper to speak on a particular topic. Record it, and transcribe it (you'd have to edit so it would be readable, but keep as much of their vernacular and way of speaking as possible) then use your own first year of beekeeping and your learning as a way to tie the whole thing together. That would be an awesome project!
I just love giving people great ideas that are going to make them work really, really hard.
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Posted: 8/30/2017 8:05:13 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
OK bee folks. I honestly haven't had time to keep up with this thread, and since I didn't try bees again this year, everything related to bee has been on the back burner. Anyway, while I think it was discussed some time ago, what are the feelings about these new "flow" hives? For $300 on fleabay, you can get setup. Since I have not yet invested in ANY extraction equipment, it has me thinking. So, anybody have any thoughts on these? link for reference |
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Posted: 8/30/2017 8:06:05 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
That's Awesome Is that your photo?How'd you do that? |
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Posted: 8/30/2017 8:08:56 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Kitties-with-Sigs]
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By medicmandan:
My bees didn't survive last winter. In preparation for starting again I threw 20 frames, most with capped honey, in the freezer. Life got in the way and it didn't happen this year. I just remembered yesterday that I still have them in the freezer. Should I put them out and let the other neighborhood hives clean them out for me?
I don't have a good suggestion for using those other than.. If you are part of a local bee association, you might check with the beekeepers to see if anybody has hives in trouble and needs to feed. As long as you know with absolute certainty that you have no disease, that might be gold for somebody needing help. you gonna try again this spring? 
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Posted: 8/30/2017 8:23:56 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Awwww.
I don't have a good suggestion for using those other than.. If you are part of a local bee association, you might check with the beekeepers to see if anybody has hives in trouble and needs to feed. As long as you know with absolute certainty that you have no disease, that might be gold for somebody needing help. you gonna try again this spring?
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Posted: 8/30/2017 9:01:48 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By medicmandan:
Absolutely. Life just got in the way this year. Wife wants her freezer space back though. 
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Posted: 8/30/2017 9:04:10 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 1811guy:
Anyone else observe their hives during the eclipse? It was very interesting. Totality was 95% where I live. About 15 minutes before totality the bees changed their normal busy in and out flight patterns. They began flying very slowly in front of the hive like they were confused. As the air temperature dropped and the sky became dimmer, the bees entered their hive. A totality, all of the bees were in and very quiet. I cracked open one of the hives and they were very docile - quite a bit different than their normal defensive behavior this time of the year (I have to smoke them or get mobbed by them). They were all pretty motionless. About half an hour after totality the bees were back at it again. I guess their behavior was pretty predictable, but it was kind of cool to see nonetheless. Anyone else take time to check out their bees during the eclipse? It was interesting. And beautiful. Nice to hear how the bees reacted. |
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Posted: 8/30/2017 9:10:02 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
OK bee folks. I honestly haven't had time to keep up with this thread, and since I didn't try bees again this year, everything related to bee has been on the back burner. Anyway, while I think it was discussed some time ago, what are the feelings about these new "flow" hives? For $300 on fleabay, you can get setup. Since I have not yet invested in ANY extraction equipment, it has me thinking. So, anybody have any thoughts on these? link for reference Order a couple of 3-lb packages by Christmas. You have until February (I'm sure, up there you have at least until then) to get your woodenware ordered, arrived, and installed. So you can put your order for bees in, then it will be crunch time to decide, in the winter when there is less on your plate with outdoor stuff. |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 8:50:59 AM EDT
[#36]
Well,
, looks like I am out of the bee game for this year.
I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my hive is deserted. Weekend before last everything was looking good, although they did not show any signs of moving up into the super from the two deeps. Then I went down to check on Sunday and it was a ghost town. No bees, no nothing. Not a drop of nectar, no capped cells, nothing. It was like nuclear winter. No bodies around the entrance or on the ground by the hive. Just gone. I don't think it was CCD, since the queen was gone, and every single cell was dry, unless she bailed out after the workers. I don't know what I did wrong. They seemed so happy for the whole summer, and then they just abandoned me. I'm so disappointed. |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 10:17:37 AM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By fish223:
Well, , looks like I am out of the bee game for this year.
I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my hive is deserted. Weekend before last everything was looking good, although they did not show any signs of moving up into the super from the two deeps. Then I went down to check on Sunday and it was a ghost town. No bees, no nothing. Not a drop of nectar, no capped cells, nothing. It was like nuclear winter. No bodies around the entrance or on the ground by the hive. Just gone. I don't think it was CCD, since the queen was gone, and every single cell was dry, unless she bailed out after the workers. I don't know what I did wrong. They seemed so happy for the whole summer, and then they just abandoned me. I'm so disappointed. This is why I started with two hives. If the hive looks free of disease, at least a new package next year will do well with all the pre-drawn comb! |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 1:58:17 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By fish223:
Well, , looks like I am out of the bee game for this year.
I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my hive is deserted. Weekend before last everything was looking good, although they did not show any signs of moving up into the super from the two deeps. Then I went down to check on Sunday and it was a ghost town. No bees, no nothing. Not a drop of nectar, no capped cells, nothing. It was like nuclear winter. No bodies around the entrance or on the ground by the hive. Just gone. I don't think it was CCD, since the queen was gone, and every single cell was dry, unless she bailed out after the workers. I don't know what I did wrong. They seemed so happy for the whole summer, and then they just abandoned me. I'm so disappointed. This is especially true if there are other factors stressing the colony such as drought or lack of forage. |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 2:02:33 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
I thought that was a heat gun! Do you mind saying how much the vaporizer/heat gun combo was? It sounds like the way to go. Will be really interested in how you come out this year as compared to last. People don't get that it's an ongoing learning process, and you are a really good example of that. You keep learning, researching, listening and trying, making records, analyzing. That's a beekeeper. |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 2:04:03 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Do you think you have losses from injury because of the leaf blower? I hate fume boards, but am a wussypuff if I think I'm hurting them. I know, I need to toughen up. |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 5:12:49 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
I have not noticed any losses from using the leaf blower. You would absolutely want to make sure that your queen is not present in the supers before using this technique. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Do you think you have losses from injury because of the leaf blower? I hate fume boards, but am a wussypuff if I think I'm hurting them. I know, I need to toughen up. |
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Posted: 8/31/2017 9:50:59 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
I should also say...you still have time, you know. Order a couple of 3-lb packages by Christmas. You have until February (I'm sure, up there you have at least until then) to get your woodenware ordered, arrived, and installed. So you can put your order for bees in, then it will be crunch time to decide, in the winter when there is less on your plate with outdoor stuff. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
OK bee folks. I honestly haven't had time to keep up with this thread, and since I didn't try bees again this year, everything related to bee has been on the back burner. Anyway, while I think it was discussed some time ago, what are the feelings about these new "flow" hives? For $300 on fleabay, you can get setup. Since I have not yet invested in ANY extraction equipment, it has me thinking. So, anybody have any thoughts on these? link for reference Order a couple of 3-lb packages by Christmas. You have until February (I'm sure, up there you have at least until then) to get your woodenware ordered, arrived, and installed. So you can put your order for bees in, then it will be crunch time to decide, in the winter when there is less on your plate with outdoor stuff. I'd rather finish up a bunch of projects (like landscaping the ENTIRE property after destroying it with my house project) than start any more before I finish. |
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Posted: 9/1/2017 4:36:05 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By fish223:
Well, , looks like I am out of the bee game for this year.
I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my hive is deserted. Weekend before last everything was looking good, although they did not show any signs of moving up into the super from the two deeps. Then I went down to check on Sunday and it was a ghost town. No bees, no nothing. Not a drop of nectar, no capped cells, nothing. It was like nuclear winter. No bodies around the entrance or on the ground by the hive. Just gone. I don't think it was CCD, since the queen was gone, and every single cell was dry, unless she bailed out after the workers. I don't know what I did wrong. They seemed so happy for the whole summer, and then they just abandoned me. I'm so disappointed. If so, you need to get that comb out of there and freeze it. Pronto. Don't wait. |
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Posted: 9/1/2017 4:37:20 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Rat_Patrol:
I may not get bees next year yet. Going to be working like mad to get protein infrastructure finished. I promised the wife no more meat chickens until I make them a permanent fenced in area and coop..... I'd rather finish up a bunch of projects (like landscaping the ENTIRE property after destroying it with my house project) than start any more before I finish. |
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Posted: 9/2/2017 9:46:46 PM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Wow! Nice trailer!
Seriously, that's a wonderful harvest. How many pounds? Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs:
Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/144881/20170814_063034-280846.JPG Busy weekend! Nice trailer!
Seriously, that's a wonderful harvest. How many pounds?
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Posted: 9/2/2017 9:53:36 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Sounds like they may have had a high mite load. Sick bees whether from disease vectored in from varroa or not will often leave the hive. This is especially true if there are other factors stressing the colony such as drought or lack of forage. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By cuttingedge:
Originally Posted By fish223:
Well, , looks like I am out of the bee game for this year.
I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my hive is deserted. Weekend before last everything was looking good, although they did not show any signs of moving up into the super from the two deeps. Then I went down to check on Sunday and it was a ghost town. No bees, no nothing. Not a drop of nectar, no capped cells, nothing. It was like nuclear winter. No bodies around the entrance or on the ground by the hive. Just gone. I don't think it was CCD, since the queen was gone, and every single cell was dry, unless she bailed out after the workers. I don't know what I did wrong. They seemed so happy for the whole summer, and then they just abandoned me. I'm so disappointed. This is especially true if there are other factors stressing the colony such as drought or lack of forage. |
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Posted: 9/4/2017 6:43:57 PM EDT
[#47]
Okay, just did an inspection of my hive. I found a few disturbing things.
I scraped this off the bottom of the hive. 
The white things at the top and at 3:00 look like some larva that didn't make it. There are several tiny red specks that I think are mites. There are several dead bees there, too. This was only in one small area of the hive. The most disturbing thing was a small, lively, segmented white thing, about the diameter of a fine sewing needle. I HOPE it was a bee larva. This was the worst stuff I found. 
Looks like a single queen cell. This late in the season, I believe it was a precautionary cell, but it IS capped... progeny waiting to hatch. 
This looks like they're just trying to make some cross-comb. This end of the hive seems to have a lot of empty comb, ready for honey. (The brood is in the center of the hive.) 
This is just some dirty comb. This is one of the original 4 frames my beek mentor gave me a year ago. It was a whole frame back then; now it's a half frame, looks dirty, and the cells are very shallow, like the sides have eroded. Should I cut it away and use it for whatever honey wax is used for? All else looks good in both hives: there's plenty of capped and uncapped brood, and plenty of comb. Bees all look pretty active. *I smoked 'em this time, didn't get stung once. |
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Posted: 9/4/2017 6:51:49 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DUX4LIFE:
Just over 1,300 pounds... 
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Posted: 9/4/2017 6:56:14 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Kitties-with-Sigs]
[#49]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By FrankSymptoms:
Okay, just did an inspection of my hive. I found a few disturbing things. I scraped this off the bottom of the hive. http://oi66.tinypic.com/ddztqv.jpg The white things at the top and at 3:00 look like some larva that didn't make it. There are several tiny red specks that I think are mites. There are several dead bees there, too. This was only in one small area of the hive. The most disturbing thing was a small, lively, segmented white thing, about the diameter of a fine sewing needle. I HOPE it was a bee larva. This was the worst stuff I found. http://oi64.tinypic.com/2m5fo61.jpg Looks like a single queen cell. This late in the season, I believe it was a precautionary cell, but it IS capped... progeny waiting to hatch. http://oi65.tinypic.com/2mzayk1.jpg This looks like they're just trying to make some cross-comb. This end of the hive seems to have a lot of empty comb, ready for honey. (The brood is in the center of the hive.) http://oi68.tinypic.com/zsjts3.jpg This is just some dirty comb. This is one of the original 4 frames my beek mentor gave me a year ago. It was a whole frame back then; now it's a half frame, looks dirty, and the cells are very shallow, like the sides have eroded. Should I cut it away and use it for whatever honey wax is used for? All else looks good in both hives: there's plenty of capped and uncapped brood, and plenty of comb. Bees all look pretty active. *I smoked 'em this time, didn't get stung once. Dark comb is best comb according to the old timers I know. Bees actually seem to prefer it, so there's nothing wrong with it because it's dark. However, the question is...what are the bees doing with it? Did you see anything odd about it other than the fact that bees have chewed it away to make other comb? *see edit* Before you do anything with that queen cell, you need to know the status of your current queen. Did you see her? ETA: I thought you meant the CELLS were shallower. Now I see that you meant they have removed wax from that frame, making it "shallower" or so I'm understanding. They may be chewing that old wax and using it elsewhere. How is the population in your hive? How much honey do you have? Looks like you have pollen from the first photo. |
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Posted: 9/4/2017 7:14:03 PM EDT
[#50]
Before you do anything with that queen cell, you need to know the status of your current queen. Did you see her? ETA: I thought you meant the CELLS were shallower. Now I see that you meant they have removed wax from that frame, making it "shallower" or so I'm understanding. How is the population in your hive?
How much honey do you have? Looks like you have pollen from the first photo. Honey is plentiful but I'm going to put one or two candy trays in each hive this winter, as it is supposed to be a cold one. There's lots of pollen and bee bread elsewhere. Except for the stuff I found and put in the dish to be photographed, the hive looks OK to me. |
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