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People keep bees on the roofs of apartment buildings in manor cities.
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Mar 19, 2017 08:58
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Leperflesh posted:People keep bees on the roofs of apartment buildings in manor cities. Yeah, i remember a documentary about bees that showed a hive on a roof in the middle of Paris.
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Mar 19, 2017 11:04
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Catberry posted:Is this too metropolitan for bees? This looks like bee heaven.
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Mar 19, 2017 16:55
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That settles it then. I'm getting bees as soon as I can afford it. Summer of 2018 I hope.
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Mar 19, 2017 20:15
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Mar 20, 2017 19:56
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I live in the middle part of CT and my first hive survived over the winter. Today was the first warm day in awhile and the bees were out and about so I opened the hive to do some maintenance. I looked through the bottom deep and wasn't able to see the queen, and there were only about 20 capped cells on two frames. Should I be worried that the queen died over the winter or is this normal? I looked online but wasn't finding anything definitive as to when the majority of aying should be occurring.
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Apr 2, 2017 17:22
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Made myself a little 5 frame top bar swarm trap. Should come in handy for moving things around. While I was building it I saw some honey bees flying about so hopefully there is enough of a population for me to get a swarm. After talking to the local beekeeper he put me on his list of people to call about swarms since he felt it is a better way to stock a top bar rather than trying to cut up frames from his hives. Aparently the sudden lack of communication was because he confused top bar hives with flow hives and wrote me off as someone who didn't really know what was involved with keeping bees.    The plastic door with different openings is a 3d print so if anyone is interested I can post it to thingiverse.
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Apr 2, 2017 20:47
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Opera Bitch posted:I live in the middle part of CT and my first hive survived over the winter. Today was the first warm day in awhile and the bees were out and about so I opened the hive to do some maintenance. I looked through the bottom deep and wasn't able to see the queen, and there were only about 20 capped cells on two frames. Should I be worried that the queen died over the winter or is this normal? I looked online but wasn't finding anything definitive as to when the majority of aying should be occurring. Did you see any eggs? (I know they can be hard to see sometimes depending on your veil). Or any queen cells? helno posted:Made myself a little 5 frame top bar swarm trap. Also, nice setup helno. I love the way the top bars look but they're not really good for my needs.
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Apr 4, 2017 14:35
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We got our two packages installed today, one in the ebay top bar, and the other in the homemade drum top bar I posted on the last page. Went way easier than expected. Much easier than nuc's, surprisingly. I decided to hang the queen cages instead of letting them go or setting them on the bottom. It is going to get cold here tonight. Here's to hoping they acclimate to their new homes!
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Apr 7, 2017 22:26
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19 days and counting till the bees land. I need to build a jar feeder and scrounge up some wax for my bars and I will be off!
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Apr 10, 2017 21:45
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My new bees never touched my two feeders. I am thinking it is because they are literally 10 feet away from woods filled with poplar in full bloom. I decided to check on the bees today, it being 4 days since we installed them. Hive one went great! They've partially drawn three combs already! I am talking the size of my hand! The queen cage had 2 bees in it, and two dead bees blocking the entrance. None were queens, though. I never saw her, but I am assuming she is fine. We kind of hosed up on the second hive. The queen cage was empty, but it was covered with comb in a big x pattern, radiating out from the cage. They had built some proper comb on the other top bars. So I pulled out the comb-covered nest and set it down covered in bees. Then I smacked myself in the forehead, seeing as there was a good chance the queen was still on it! I picked it back up and brushed all the bees back into the hive, but a big clump fell to the ground. My son and I picked through the clump and there was no sign of the queen, so hopefully she was elsewhere when we removed the comb, or we got her back in. Dumb Dumb Dumb. All in all, though, a great start. I am amazed that they have managed to draw so much comb in just three days. It was half filled with honey and pollen, too. Awesome little workers. I feel bad that I treated them so poorly.
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Apr 11, 2017 01:04
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If you don't see the queen, just look for eggs. If you see eggs, then you had a queen as of the last few days most of the time (there are weird fluke things with workers laying infertile eggs/drones if the queen is dead, but there is going to be other signs that something is that wrong so don't worry about what I just said there). Sometimes, some hives loved being fed and the hive next to them didn't. Or it could be weather, phase of the Moon, or who knows what. I'd leave the feeders out unless there is a problem. If you got honey that fast though, I'm suspecting they're hitting the feeder at least a little bit.
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Apr 11, 2017 02:49
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Not honey. I should have said nectar. But I know they're not using the feeder, I removed them the first day when the only thing interested in them was ants. I will look for eggs or brood when I open them up again. I think I'll leave them alone to get settles for a week or two.
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Apr 11, 2017 03:05
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Something occurred to me. First year Warre I was instructed to keep it to 2 boxes and allow the bees to have all the honey produced to make it through the winter. Also that bees will work their way as a bundle of bees through the stores of honey over winter. When I install them in a couple weeks I am going to have an empty box above the one I install them into, using the empty box to house the jar feeders. [s]If once they establish the "top" one they have access to, should I leave the once feeder box there and put in top bars or remove it and only add boxes to the bottom as needed via nadir?
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Apr 14, 2017 02:22
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2 weeks till bees! I need to completed a jar feeder and drill large holes in either side of the plank I have the hive on, both for strapping it down (windy as hell and will be a while till the windbreak shrubs will be big enough to matter) and to use to mount supports to be used to lift the boxes when nadiring. 
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Apr 17, 2017 17:39
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I'm not sure what you mean by "nadir" but basically you typically stop using a feeder once the bees are gathering enough nectar on their own, and that certainly should be the case by the time they're expanding into supers. If you're putting a feeder inside the top box, just take the feeder out and add frames for the bees to build out. They'll have used propolis to glue the top box down anyway, and it will smell right, and you don't want to give the bees tons of unfilled space or they'll fill it with crazy comb and/or may struggle to keep the empty space pest-free and climate-controlled. I think you usually start the bees with sufficient space for their brood chamber - with Langstroths that's usually either one or two "deeps" or three "mediums" or one deep plus one medium stacked. (I have heard of two deeps stacked but I think that might be too much space for a new hive.) You then only add more supers to the top of the hive, allowing the bees to expand as needed. If you let them store too much honey they're more likely to swarm & split the hive. Here in mild California, we found we needed to harvest once they were mostly filling a third medium honey super, which meant at least two harvests per year (one midsummer one early-mid fall) and even then one year the hive split & swarmed. Your mileage may vary so you should certainly discuss this with your local beekeepers.
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Apr 17, 2017 17:50
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Leperflesh posted:I'm not sure what you mean by "nadir" but basically you typically stop using a feeder once the bees are gathering enough nectar on their own, and that certainly should be the case by the time they're expanding into supers. If you're putting a feeder inside the top box, just take the feeder out and add frames for the bees to build out. They'll have used propolis to glue the top box down anyway, and it will smell right, and you don't want to give the bees tons of unfilled space or they'll fill it with crazy comb and/or may struggle to keep the empty space pest-free and climate-controlled. Nadir as in adding boxes to the bottom as you remove the top one. This is a top bar Warre. The empty top "feeder" box will be resting on the canvas and won't be propolis'ed together. Bees won't actually be able to get into the box itself. The jar feeder sits on top of the canvas (with flaps in it so they can access the lids) on top of the middle box's top bars. Basically this, but with the canvas under the feeder and box edges with openings in the canvas under the jars: https://www.dadant.com/catalog/m008...56lOhoCmzDw_wcB Fog Tripper fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Apr 17, 2017 |
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Apr 17, 2017 19:28
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Ohhhhh. Yeah I have no idea about Warre hives, I've never even seen one much less talked about them. e. it seems you have to lift the entire hive each time you add an empty box to the bottom, gosh. I think in early September my entire Langstroth hive stack probably weighed over 150 pounds. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Apr 17, 2017 |
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Apr 17, 2017 20:31
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Leperflesh posted:Ohhhhh. Yeah I have no idea about Warre hives, I've never even seen one much less talked about them. Yeah, hence the planning ahead for the posts I will mount a lift on. I read up on it and some people create some elaborate stuff to lift them slow and non-threatening-like. I am thinking a strap/winch thing that I can slide into the large holes I will be drilling in that redwood plank you can see. Will have 2 thick wood posts go into the holes and support a crank above the hive with straps on either side. The rest of the time the holes will be used to attach the tie-downs for the hive. It is hella-light empty and the wind is a bitch here. Dumb noob question: Does it matter which direction the bars are oriented relative to the front door of the hive? With a Langstroth, do you limit it to a single box till they get close to filling it, or install them into 2 or more and let them start where they like? If the latter, do they tend to build top down box-wise or bottom box first? Fog Tripper fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Apr 17, 2017 |
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Apr 17, 2017 23:26
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Fog Tripper, that stand and hive look great.
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Apr 18, 2017 00:18
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Fog Tripper posted:With a Langstroth, do you limit it to a single box till they get close to filling it, or install them into 2 or more and let them start where they like? If the latter, do they tend to build top down box-wise or bottom box first? If you're starting with a package of bees, you usually start with either one deep or two mediums. I'm not sure about with a nucleus, you might need more space to start with (nucs already have brood and tend to expand much faster). I think with Langstroths the bees build upward, but they leave the brood chamber at the bottom and use the uppers for honey storage. You can make sure they don't do any laying above the boxes you want to be the brood chamber by using a queen excluder. It looks to me like with the Warre method, eventually you're harvesting honey from comb that was previously used as a brood chamber. That comb tends to be much darker in color. I suppose the honey tastes the same, though?
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Apr 18, 2017 01:04
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Leperflesh posted:If you're starting with a package of bees, you usually start with either one deep or two mediums. I'm not sure about with a nucleus, you might need more space to start with (nucs already have brood and tend to expand much faster). I think with Langstroths the bees build upward, but they leave the brood chamber at the bottom and use the uppers for honey storage. You can make sure they don't do any laying above the boxes you want to be the brood chamber by using a queen excluder. Dunno, but should know after a year! What appeals to me is that you are not reusing old comb, it is fresh as you are rotating it out (after the first establishing year). From what I have read that cuts down on nasty icky stuff sticking around too long. If they build upward and then eat downward over winter, maybe I will do the two bottom boxes with the third empty "feeder" box on top. When I remove the feeder and the underlying canvas, I'll put an excluder between the bottom ones and top box and put bars in the top. Worst case scenario is they'd end up with surplus honey in the top non-queen box. Is that sound thinking? Then in the fall I could freeze the surplus bars/honey and use it in the spring if they need a jump start. Sinister_Beekeeper posted:Fog Tripper, that stand and hive look great. Thanks! I cannot take credit for the hive. Its a kit from beethinking.com The timber on bottom is cemented in and the 4" plank is bolted to the timber. Next winter I will take what I have learned and build up a hive or two with whatever mods I feel would have helped. Maybe even a Langstroth, which is the popular type in the area. People tell me that despite the long cold winters our valley is wonderful for hives. Fog Tripper fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Apr 18, 2017 |
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Apr 18, 2017 01:42
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Apr 18, 2017 05:24
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That's not a bee, it's a front loader 
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Apr 18, 2017 13:55
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Fog Tripper posted:That's not a bee, it's a front loader There's a bee at the controls but it's hard to see.
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Apr 18, 2017 18:58
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Catberry posted:There's a bee at the controls but it's hard to see. That is a wasp.
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Apr 18, 2017 19:26
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Fog Tripper posted:That is a wasp. I don't know. It doesn't radiate the sheer benevolence and in-depth tolerance of other beings that I have come to associate with wasps. Has anyone tried wasp keeping? What would you harvest from a wasp hive? Mangled insect shells? Catberry fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Apr 18, 2017 |
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Apr 18, 2017 19:32
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More wasps. 
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Apr 19, 2017 04:08
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Fog Tripper posted:Then in the fall I could freeze the surplus bars/honey and use it in the spring if they need a jump start. Why would you want to freeze the honey?
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Apr 19, 2017 08:53
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NPR Journalizard posted:Why would you want to freeze the honey? I saw that some people freeze the comb on the bars/frames so they can easily be put back into the hive instead of feeding with sugar water. Why not freeze?
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Apr 19, 2017 12:57
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I assume freezing the comb might also kill off any pests?
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Apr 19, 2017 17:35
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Killing pests is the only reason to freeze the honey, yes. It will kill mites, for example. Honey itself is an incredible preservative and honey will remain edible for centuries without refrigeration as long as you keep pests away from it.
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Apr 20, 2017 01:39
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Leperflesh posted:Killing pests is the only reason to freeze the honey, yes. It will kill mites, for example. Wallis-Budge, E.A. The Mummy: Chapters on Egyptian Funereal Archaeology. posted:Abd el-Latif relates that an Egyptian worthy of belief told him that once when he and several others were occupied in exploring the graves and seeking for treasure near the Pyramids, they came across a sealed jar, and having opened it and found that it contained honey, they began to eat it. Some one in the party remarked that a hair in the honey turned round one of the fingers of the man who was dipping his bread in it, and as they drew it out the body of a small child appeared with all its limbs complete and in a good state of preservation; it was well dressed, and had upon it numerous ornaments. Now I want a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Corpse free, if you please.
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Apr 20, 2017 03:41
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Bees arrive on Saturday. Weather looks to dip below freezing at night for the foreseeable forcast.  At least the fields by me are filling up with dandelions.
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Apr 24, 2017 13:53
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I looked in my hives today. My drum hive had drawn comb on about 70% which amazes me, since that is only 20 days. The hive I bought off ebay is more dissapointing. it has about 70 of bars started as well (less impressive, since it is half the size of my drum hive), but for some reason one end is cross combed on just about every bar. I don't know what I am going to do about that. Can someone who has more experience than me tell me what is going on in this pic? It looks good to me, but I am not too adept at inspecting comb yet.
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Apr 26, 2017 23:21
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Here's my best guesses. I am not an expert. e. I forgot to label it but near the cells I labeled "uncapped honeycomb" I think I see some orange pollen stored.
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Apr 26, 2017 23:28
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OK. Pretty close to what I was thinking, but I missed the uncapped larva entirely. Thanks! I am pretty happy! And yeah, that's definitely pollen.
The Dregs fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 23:35
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Is uncapped brood a bad sign?
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Apr 27, 2017 04:45
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Spookydonut posted:Is uncapped brood a bad sign? All larvae begins as uncapped brood as the lil' guys need food, Workers spend 8 days from egg to grub uncapped, and the rest from day 9 to 21 is all capped
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Apr 27, 2017 04:55
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Yeah eggs aren't always easy to see, so seeing uncapped brood is a sign you had a healthy queen no more than three weeks ago. The smaller the brood, the more recently you had a healthy queen. That frame is actually kind of crazy how it shows basically everything you'd see in a healthy hive; honey, pollen, nectar, recently opened cells in the center of the brood chamber (e.g. brand new bees have emerged), capped brood, uncapped brood, and if it were tilted slightly more toward the camera I bet we'd see fresh eggs too. Plus a modest but not crazy amount of drone cells, so the hive has the extra energy available to be breeding (males go out and breed with queens on their virgin mating flights, that's really their only job, they do nothing for the home hive so a hive that is struggling to feed itself likely won't be making drones).
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Apr 27, 2017 17:55
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