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tuo posted:One sting is pretty good for that. I did something similar once....let me tell you it was way more than one sting. One great part about the layens is the install. Basically you take out the can and set it on some of the bottom frame rungs so they can continue to feed from it, tack the queen cage onto a frame, then set the bee box into the hive and close it up. Easy peasy and could be done nekkid should the mood arise.
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Apr 8, 2019 16:28
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Hasselblad posted:One great part about the layens is the install. Basically you take out the can and set it on some of the bottom frame rungs so they can continue to feed from it, tack the queen cage onto a frame, then set the bee box into the hive and close it up. Easy peasy and could be done nekkid should the mood arise. You mean when putting the bees into the hive? Okay, never got stung on that operation, as imo the bees have other problems in that situation. When we were able to catch a wild hive/got called to snap one, I also often only wore a t-shirt and shorts, that never was the problem. I also tend to put them in front of the hive, with a bar leading up to the entry, and let them walk into there (with the queen amongst them). Worked the two times we had to do it, and it's how I learned it from couple other times from fellow beekeepers I assisted. Going to a hive with a nasty mood and opening it in shorts though....mistake I only did once....MAAAAYBE twice (and I certainly can't remember the THIRD time) in my life. Also: I'm pretty happy as I got all six of my hives over the winter, and five of them are cool and good, one is strangely weak, still trying to find the reason for that (it ain't varroa, it also doesn't seem like an illness as we just had all health certificates renewed a week ago and the guy didn't find anything bad).
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Apr 8, 2019 17:06
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Hasselblad posted:One great part about the layens is the install. Basically you take out the can and set it on some of the bottom frame rungs so they can continue to feed from it, tack the queen cage onto a frame, then set the bee box into the hive and close it up. Easy peasy and could be done nekkid should the mood arise. Pretty much what I did, except I forgot to pull the cork out from in front of the candy plug  I'll go out in a couple days and pull the plug and cram a marshmallow in there
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Apr 8, 2019 17:17
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Bee package pickup has been pushed back 2 weeks due to california and it's weather. Maybe for the best, as it is currently snowing, my hive roof still needs completed, the beast still needs hauled to it's static location, and buds are not remotely breaking yet. Second week of May should be dandelion season in full force. Maybe I can squeeze a shallow pond out on the property by then as well.
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Apr 10, 2019 21:06
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lmao had bees for all of 3 days before the city called me and said the neighbors complained. I'm following code so they can kick rocks.
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Apr 11, 2019 14:41
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it's a good idea to talk to neighbors and give them free honey and also explain how bees fly up to get over things and then stay at that height till they arrive at their pollen destination where they then descend. If there's a fence between you and your neighbor, that likely sets a bare minimum height that your bees will mostly stay above. Regardless of having the law on your side, it's not great to have angry neighbors. At its extreme, they can intentionally sabotage your bees.
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Apr 12, 2019 02:36
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That's the funny part, I did tell them. They were cool about it. They're selling their house soon so I think they were just checking regs on how close to the property line the hive can be, but I'm still going to go talk to them again.
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Apr 12, 2019 14:10
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Ghostnuke posted:That's the funny part, I did tell them. They were cool about it. They're selling their house soon so I think they were just checking regs on how close to the property line the hive can be, but I'm still going to go talk to them again. Give them a bread with some jelly/jam or even some meat on it, and put both a bee and a wasp next to them. Talk to them fiveteen minutes later.
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Apr 12, 2019 14:28
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Ugh, my package hasn't done poo poo in two weeks. They haven't built out a single frame. They'd be totally hosed if I hadn't put an old frame in there. I checked them today and didn't see any capped over brood or the queen. Saw some eggs, though I saw some cells with multiple eggs so I've either got a lazy af queen or laying workers 
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Apr 21, 2019 01:43
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Ghostnuke posted:Ugh, my package hasn't done poo poo in two weeks. They haven't built out a single frame. They'd be totally hosed if I hadn't put an old frame in there. Did you coat the new frames with fresh wax? Sometimes that’s the only way to get them to build where you want them to. As far as I know, multiple eggs per cell only occurs with laying workers. You can try to requeen but they might not accept her.
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Apr 21, 2019 04:45
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I'm gonna put in a new frame full of brood/eggs and see if they raise a new queen. Otherwise I'll just get a new package since these bitches be lazy
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Apr 21, 2019 05:09
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The location of the multiple eggs will tell you if it is a dud queen or laying workers. A lot of people immediately jump to laying workers when they just have a new queen. New/untested package queens will often lay 2-3 eggs per cell, but almost ALWAYS standing up in the normal fashion and deposited at the bottom of the cells in the correct place. If that is the case, you can either squish her and replace or give emerging brood and eggs if it continues. If you try to toss a new queen in a hive that has accepted a dud, you’ll be throwing the queen away. More often than not, however, she’ll get into the flow of things relatively soon. This seems to be a lot more common than it did a couple decades ago. I see it in almost every new package queen, regardless of source. Never in Nucs. That or I’ve just gotten much better at spotting mislaid eggs. Laying workers will deposit their eggs on the side or corners of the cells because their abdomens aren’t fully developed. There are some things you can do to try to eliminate laying workers, but all of them are a lot of work and questionably effective. If you’ve gotten to that stage, which is doubtful for a new package, they’ve accepted those laying workers as (drone-laying) queens and will likely reject any new queen additions. They may not have any desire to make a new one as laying workers are their strategy for making sure their genetics continue.
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Apr 21, 2019 16:18
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Ghostnuke posted:Ugh, my package hasn't done poo poo in two weeks. They haven't built out a single frame. They'd be totally hosed if I hadn't put an old frame in there. Also, what are you feeding them? Sugar syrup that is too ‘heavy’ often slows down wax production.
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Apr 21, 2019 16:19
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Just sugar syrup. They haven't really been touching it though. I'm pretty sure the queen that came with my package is dead. I found a dead bee at the entrance that was larger than most a few weeks ago (def not a drone). I put it aside and forgot about it until today and I'm pretty sure it was the queen. They must have rejected her for some reason.
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Apr 22, 2019 03:33
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Ghostnuke posted:Just sugar syrup. They haven't really been touching it though. If it was a queen, it should be easy to identify. If it has a black carapace/spot where the other bees don't have one, and it is larger and it doesn't have two giant eye-clusters which are connected to each other - plus of course the enlarged abdomen - it should actually be a queen. If she's dead already, you could also try to find/extract the stinging aparatus. Workers have a straight stinger, queens have a slightly curved one (to more easily kill the other queens while they are still within the cells).
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Apr 22, 2019 10:44
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Did my very first attempt at breeding queens this weekend. drat, I really need this magnifying thingy with a light you put on. Moving the larva to the queen cells is loving hard.... (guess I simply need more training, but I only had like eight artifical queen cells, and I killed at least two or three larva while trying to "gently" remove them from their cells, plus remembring where "up" was so they don't suffocate in the artificial queen cell....I need more training. But it actually looks like it worked, all eight cells are already cared about by worker bees and seem to be in good shape. I can only hope they turned that one larva around which I fear I placed upside down in the cell....
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Apr 22, 2019 10:48
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Seems like my attempt wasn't a complete failure. Six of the eight queen cells I created are still cared for. I'll only have use for three, maybe four (depends on what the first split does, will look into that tomorrow) queens at first. So I guess I'll raise the other two in the small boxes you put them in to get them mated to drones (what's the propper english term for that?). How early should I prepare them? My plan is to give each of them six small top-bars, dipped in wax, and about three handfull of bees about two or three days before the queens hatch (plus some food of course), and then put the queens in the day before they should hatch. My plan is to do another round of queen breeding for summer, but I'd like to try to get these over a couple of weeks when I have enough bee mass again to create two new splits again for them. Any fundamental flaws in that plan? tuo fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Apr 25, 2019 |
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Apr 25, 2019 10:02
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Ghostnuke posted:Just sugar syrup. They haven't really been touching it though. Supposed to be picking up a nuc today to combine with my queenless package. Hope they don't kill her again...
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Apr 26, 2019 14:32
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I'm moving a beehive tomorrow night, but I'm a bit worried that it might not take because it's only being moved a little less than two miles from its previous location. I've heard about piling twigs, leaves, and other debris around the hives entrance in order to trick bees into acclimating to their new environment, but is there anything else I can do?
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Apr 27, 2019 02:19
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:I'm moving a beehive tomorrow night, but I'm a bit worried that it might not take because it's only being moved a little less than two miles from its previous location. I've heard about piling twigs, leaves, and other debris around the hives entrance in order to trick bees into acclimating to their new environment, but is there anything else I can do? If it isn't too hot, you can block the entrances with hardware cloth for about 2-3 days. Make sure you take out the mite board so they have plenty of ventilation. Then open and partially block the entrance with a leafy branch like you said. Usually does a pretty good job of resetting their little bee brains.
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Apr 27, 2019 02:44
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Thank you, I'll definitely give that a try, and report back!
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Apr 28, 2019 02:13
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Ghostnuke posted:Supposed to be picking up a nuc today to combine with my queenless package. Hope they don't kill her again... Going to combine them with newspaper? That usually works just fine.
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Apr 29, 2019 19:18
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I just took out 5 frames that my lazy rear end original bees didn't do anything with and replaced them with 5 baller rear end frames from the new bees. These guys had honey stored already.
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Apr 29, 2019 20:17
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I was able to move the beehive tonight! It took two tries because the first time we tried all we managed todo was upset the bees and got stung a bunch. This time, it went a whole lot smoother until we set it down and the base shifted. Since we couldn't keep the hive sealed, I just piled the lawn debris at the entrance and called it a night.
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Apr 30, 2019 04:52
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Lesson learned: in case of bad weather, don't just do the tilt-inspection with coldbrood. We had like 8°C this weekend, so we just quickly checked the hives via tilt-inspection (tilting the box forward in search of swarm cells at the bottom). Wanted to create another split from our second strongest hive. Went there today exactly at the right time to see the swarm gathering. Pulled frames, and of COURSE they created the swarm cells on the upper left and right parts of the frames. Good thing, though: managed to catch the swarm with the queen, and also created another split with one of the three frames with ready-to-hatch queen cells. But oh boy, that was a day. Now gonna load up the car with some more boxes to gather four new hives from a fellow beekeeper....I think I'll sleep soundly tonight ps: it's so awesome to stand within a swarming hive, because they can't give a gently caress to sting you...it's just awesome...
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Apr 30, 2019 15:51
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Still to be completed: - Separator boards - Entrances (trying to determine best round hole size and number) - Level/concrete final destination  Bees arrive on the 11th. Good thing as we are still dipping below freezing over night.
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May 1, 2019 19:12
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That thing looks pretty rad. I'd wanna a be a bee in there. Have you considered something for them to land on? We started with boxes that didn't have a "Flugbrett", basically a thingy the bees can land on before they enter the hive. We added them, and it seems to be pretty good for both the bees guarding the entry and the bees coming ladden with either pollen or honey, so you don't have to hover about to find the entry, but can relax for a moment by simply landing, and then crawl into the hive. I know, nature also doesn't have those things, but it seems to make it much easier on the gals. Also also: my first try at breeding queens failed spectacularly (well....it was only six larva....), because I hosed up the fake cells (dipped them in liquid wax from our hives, but always caught an air bubble (of course) and also was stupid enough to hang them in a hive with a queen [  ]. Tried another round now, with properly formed fake cells (used a silicone template) and a propper queenless split, and howdyho, do they care about them.
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May 2, 2019 12:36
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so the hand is pretty much the worst place to get stung other than the face. I caught one on my knuckle last night and now my hand is swelled up like a grapefruit
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May 2, 2019 14:14
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tuo posted:That thing looks pretty rad. I'd wanna a be a bee in there. I am forgoing landing pads. When my old hive was being robbed, it appeared to be making it easier for the invaders, like a welcome mat. The plan is to have by autumn, a set of entrance diversions, such that the invaders are attracted to the false/screened entrance while the bees who live there will be used to the true one. Sad about your queens, but you miss 100% of the shots you do not take, and you seem to be learning from it.
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May 2, 2019 14:44
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I suck at queen breeding. From 16, four are cared for. I think my eyesight is the problem. Gonna look into the breeding systems where you don't need to move the larva
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May 3, 2019 12:35
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Hasselblad posted:I am forgoing landing pads. When my old hive was being robbed, it appeared to be making it easier for the invaders, like a welcome mat. The plan is to have by autumn, a set of entrance diversions, such that the invaders are attracted to the false/screened entrance while the bees who live there will be used to the true one. That's a pretty cool plan, actually! We had a weak hive last year, and I know what you mean in regard to the "welcome mat". We closed up the hive so only one or two bees can enter or exit (to make defense easier), that worked quite well. We have six (out of twelve) hives currently sitting at the same spot, and one of them doesn't have a landing pad (I swear it's somewhere in my car), and it's interesting how much the honey/pollen-ladden bees sometimes have to struggle - or the other way round - how early they land on the hives with a landing pad, only to relax for a bit, and then walk into the hive. Then again, having two hornets sit on the landing pad (as we had last year) waiting for arriving/departing bees only to munch them also ain't nice. Guess I'll have to rethink the landing pad thing. After last year, I'll surely remove them as soon as the first hornets show up.
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May 3, 2019 12:40
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I picked these up to stop robbing and I kinda love them
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May 3, 2019 16:02
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El Mero Mero posted:I picked these up to stop robbing and I kinda love them Yup, same intent. What's nice is that you are not messing with airflow into the hive.
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May 3, 2019 16:14
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Well, I'm trying again after a bad winder. I found a local beekeeper who gave me a good price on 3x 5 frame NUC's with local overwintered bees/queens. I just cleaned all my equipment and re-arranged my bee yard. I have room for I believe 12 hives right now and if I can put the time/energy into it, I would like to make a few splits. Maybe double the stock and get them through winter. I learned my lesson this last year and stocked up on reading material. Here's to a productive 2019.
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May 4, 2019 02:41
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Ghostnuke posted:lmao had bees for all of 3 days before the city called me and said the neighbors complained. I'm following code so they can kick rocks. neighbor is still being a big old prick. I hope my bees fly over and sting him
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May 6, 2019 14:20
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After 3 days of rain, my one remaining apimaye hive swarmed. Between work and weather I haven’t been able to get in the brood box for a couple weeks and paid the price. On a positive note, I managed to cut the limb the swarm landed on and put them in an empty hive. They were still in there today and building comb. My nucs were also ready for pickup and I got them into empty hives. I now have 4 hives with two more left to fill. Hoping to do some splits this summer to fill the remainder.
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May 7, 2019 01:51
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99.999% ready for the bees to arrive on saturday. Evening storms have been rolling in the past few days, and while the wind is freaking me out in regard to the Warre hive stack, the Layens megahive is shrugging it off like a rock. Buds are beginning to break in a big way here and the bees cannot get here soon enough.
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May 7, 2019 05:54
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Swarm season's going quite well in tennessee... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgILjWHUYqs
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May 12, 2019 06:13
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Girls are installed. The layens hive was easy peasy. No need to jostle and dump the bees out. Plenty of room to just set the box inside and the queen cage on a few of the frames. Closed it up and they made their own way out on their own. The warre I was going to wait till evening, but decided to dump them in mid day. Queen sat on top bars, bees dumped, feeder box set on top and the box sat just outside the entrance with the stragglers. All in shorts and a tee shirt. God I love carniolans. El Mero Mero posted:Swarm season's going quite well in tennessee... Holy Toledo! Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 16:38 on May 12, 2019 |
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May 12, 2019 16:32
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When I do some bee watching of the bees going in the front door sometimes I see a bee that is at least 50% larger than the smaller more numerous forager bees. Is this a drone or something or a robber from another hive?
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May 12, 2019 19:48
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