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I had one where I was super sure they wouldn't make it, and actually wanted to kick myself for not merging them last autumn (because they didn't develop that well all last year...if I would have had more queens, I would have exchanged the queen last summer). I gave them some more food, this time mixed with pollen. Checked them this weekend, and oh my boy did they explode in the last days! Really happy. Next week it seems that temperatures also pick up, so I'll add the seperators and I guess I'll also add the first honey supers to all of them.
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Mar 3, 2020 09:00
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Working on roof today.
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Mar 26, 2020 16:26
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Gotta level the new addition by next weekend, when nuc is supposed to arrive. Size comparison with Layens and Warre.  
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Apr 3, 2020 17:05
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My hive didn't survive after all. Looks like they ran out of food and the queen took everyone and left.
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Apr 3, 2020 19:42
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Ghostnuke posted:My hive didn't survive after all. Looks like they ran out of food and the queen took everyone and left. Bees sticking out with their rear end from the cells? Or only dead bees on the bottom?
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Apr 3, 2020 19:51
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Ghostnuke posted:My hive didn't survive after all. Looks like they ran out of food and the queen took everyone and left. Same, except I think wax moths forced them out.
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Apr 3, 2020 23:51
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:Same, except I think wax moths forced them out. Was the hive okay? Wax moths and bees normally live in some kind of harmony. I know we beekeepers hate the wax moth, as it destroys the combs we try to keep outside of the hive over winter. The wax moths mostly feed off the dark combs, where a lot of bees hatched (fecies of the larva, skins from the hatching larva etc.). The stuff that makes combs getting darker and darker. The wax moth feeds from that, and is also able to feed from the wax itself a bit. Bee hives normally don't drive the wax moth out, they control their population, because it actually removes the lovely combs for them. If a hive gets weaker, and reduces breading, the wax moth have to find other food sources, namely more wax, and there are studies that say they even start to eat pollen and - if they can get to it - honey. A sound hive - normally - won't have a problem with wax moths. If wax moths conquer the hive, I would always search for the reason why the hive was so weak it couldn't control them. Normally, they live in harmony.
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Apr 4, 2020 17:00
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The hive wasn't in great condition when I sealed it. They were still working on the second deep, and my city had just sprayed pesticide right after despite us being in the no spray zone. Like an inexperienced asshat, I was too worried to actually crack open the hive during winter to do proper inspections, and only watched the entrance. Activity outside looked fine, so I wasn't worried. When I finally did open it up for the spring inspection, all the combs had been completely emptied, and maybe fifty bees still milling around. Some of the frames had a silky build up on them, and looked as if some incect had burrowed its way through a couple, hence my wax moth theory. The bottom of the hive was completely filthy with some sort of dust, but not too many dead bees. I probably should have taken pictures, but I was pretty much devestated, and disappointed with myself. Johnny-on-the-Spot fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Apr 4, 2020 |
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Apr 4, 2020 19:44
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Haven’t done a full inspection on my hives yet, hope to get one done this week. Meanwhile both hives are doing great, eating like crazy and bringing in tons of pollen. Now I just need to make sure they don’t swarm 
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Apr 4, 2020 22:23
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Johnny-on-the-Spot posted:Some of the frames had a silky build up on them, and looked as if some incect had burrowed its way through a couple, hence my wax moth theory. The bottom of the hive was completely filthy with some sort of dust, but not too many dead bees. I probably should have taken pictures, but I was pretty much devestated, and disappointed with myself. If that was all you saw then I doubt wax moths were the cause. They were definitely there if you saw the silken cappings and their tunnels, but that sounds mild. I had infestations in both my hives last fall due to some unknown factors weakening the hive (pesticides, maybe?). When they're bad you'll just see webbing everywhere with the comb unrecognizable.
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Apr 5, 2020 03:40
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drat, one of my hives lost it's queen. Not a single piece of fresh brood, just some areas with capped brood (running out), and a single queen cell. Already lot of honey in the brood nest. Hope it's not to early in the year so that that new queen works / gets mated. I assume it hatches within the next couple of days. Guess I'll add a frame with eggs anyway, to be on the safe side. I really, REALLY need to start breeding surplus queens for such cases.
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Apr 5, 2020 13:25
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tuo posted:Bees sticking out with their rear end from the cells? Or only dead bees on the bottom? There were very few bees left in the hive, but the ones there were rear end up in the cells.
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Apr 5, 2020 17:06
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Ghostnuke posted:There were very few bees left in the hive, but the ones there were rear end up in the cells. Yeah, that sounds like they ran out of food 
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Apr 6, 2020 06:12
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So much food, so few mites. That week of 70 degree weather we had in January made them break their cluster and spread out. Next week was in the 20s-30s and they got wrecked. Thanks Obama.
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Apr 6, 2020 19:45
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Both of my hives have pulled through. Did my first proper inspection and there is tons of brood in both.
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Apr 9, 2020 04:46
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My package of Sasks is on the 25th and just got the word that my Carn nuc is pushed back to anywhere between the 18th and 25th. Buds are just starting to break in the area and I really don't want to wait 2 more weeks to get them installed. The suppliers are blaming the delay on being too busy. With our abbreviated growing season up here, this has a bit of an impact.
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Apr 9, 2020 15:11
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Feed them pollen and food. Since you are not harvesting honey anyway, they should be save with that.
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Apr 9, 2020 15:50
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tuo posted:Feed them pollen and food. Since you are not harvesting honey anyway, they should be save with that. Oh they will have plenty of food to get started. The Layens has a full frame of honey and the nuc will have it's honey. I just wish they were not missing out on 2 weeks of spring buildup. (Originally they were to be available on the 11th)
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Apr 9, 2020 16:33
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I got my nuc of Italians today! I went ahead and installed them, and oh boy, I can't believe how much calmer and less aggressive they were than my last hive of africanized bees. Absolutely no angry buzzing in my face. They are gonna be a joy to check up on.
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Apr 19, 2020 21:46
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Checked my hives yesterday, and since the canola is in full bloom, they are calm as gently caress. I also exchanged couple of queens last year for new ones from an (apparently) pretty good breeder. Told him I don't really care about calmness (I want bees that can defend themselves) but it be cool if they wouldn't tend to swarm easily. I actually wanted to make the first splits yesterday, but apart from one hive, not a single one is showing swarm tendencies. Genetics are good  Also pulled a muscle on my back handling the honey supers, and I'll have to pack on another dozen today. Absolutely bonkers what they do this year. Most of them will get their third honey super either today (if my back takes it) or tomorrow, as the other two are already full. Last year I harvested like 15kgs/30lbs of canola honey, this year I assume it'll be more like 300kgs/600lbs, if not more I'm also quite selectively removing drone brood this year. Only from the hives that are weaker and/or actually show some swarm tendencies, so the good genetic drones have the air superiority for hives that decide to exchange the queen/swarm/splits plus beekeepers around me.
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Apr 20, 2020 07:28
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Saturday is going to be insane. I have to drive down into Salt Lake valley in the early AM, drop off a hive, pick up a package of Saskatraz, drive back up to the mountains, then drive all the way back down to the valley to pick up a nuc. The vendor of the nuc STILL hasn't coordinated an ETA for pickup.He seems to have zero concept that many folks who purchased from him have to plan around things. None of the other vendors are having issues getting their bees out the door, yet he is still loving around, blaming coronavirus, despite all of his bees being local stock. On the bright side our weather has finally improved, and we should be getting tons of plants flowering in the next couple weeks. Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Apr 20, 2020 |
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Apr 20, 2020 16:05
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On my way to run errands when out of the blue the nuc supplier calls me, letting me know my nuc is ready for pickup at 5:30 PM this evening. It’s a 45 minute drive to get there. Happy they will get installed tonight, but who does scheduling like this?
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Apr 21, 2020 17:53
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Half of my hives I visited today....to put on more honey suppers (no time to paint them, sadly :/). Totally crazy what's happening this year. The ones with one honey supper? I don't have more, and currently don't get any more from my supplier, and they are the splits from last year that aren't in totally full on crazy mode at the moment in regard to hive size. I added like 200 frames to all of my hives the last days, and am currently googling "how to [kill yourself if you never worked with wood] make honey bee boxes". Like seriously, I can't get more at the moment, and the bees are filling them up like crazy. I'm pretty stoked for the first harvest in about a week and a half, but I think me and my back won't survive it. Also should have bought the bigger extractor... ...but the bees are so incredibly calm at the moment. You can walk in front of that row, even stand there (that's what I do when I work on them with my father) and nothing happens. There is so much bloom around, and everything is so quiet like I never witnessed it in the last couple years...  The varroa treatment this year will be interesting. And it's actually the year I wanted to start with Ox sublimation....argh...guess I'll stick to total brood removal. e:also what it looks like in front of them at the moment (plus a lot of fruity trees)  Creamer go!!! tuo fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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Apr 23, 2020 16:01
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Also: spot the hive currently making a new queen and gently caress everything else  it hatched, but ain't laying yet. hope it does in the next week, else I'll have to add some more fresh brood for the next try, before a worker bee gets crazy ideas
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Apr 23, 2020 16:19
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drat I wish I had space for a setup like that. We have 50ish colonies right now but they’re so spread out over the city it’s hard to manage. Bees seem to be doing great this year. Ton of early splits, lots of swarm calls. Nice to see when everything else is so poo poo
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Apr 23, 2020 17:53
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tuo posted:btw: anyone still backyard beekeeping, or am I mostly talking to myself? Still catching up (obviously) but I installed a package in my front yard last weekend. (Sonoma County, California)
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Apr 23, 2020 18:40
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Wizard Mannequin posted:drat I wish I had space for a setup like that. We have 50ish colonies right now but they’re so spread out over the city it’s hard to manage. Bees seem to be doing great this year. Ton of early splits, lots of swarm calls. Nice to see when everything else is so poo poo I currently have 20 hives there. I had some at another place, but had to take them back (long story, don't wanna drag it into here, just wanted the hives where I can care about them). I actually planned to expand the whole thing a bit to the point where I could invest a day a week and it would at least not cost me money (which is not a problem, but would be nice), simply because I love caring about them, have enough space for them etc. Current situation with covid-19 killed that, though, as the markets are closed etc. so all my plans are busted. A lot of new customers come here/call me to buy honey while the markets are closed, so there's that. I'll do the necessary splits anyway, of course, currently struggling to get boxes for them because I'm a fool at building something out of wood :/ A lot of new beekeepers contact me because their introduction course got cancelled, and I try my best to either direct them to the guys doing youtube streams at the moment, or answer them directly. I can't even sell hives (which I wanted for the first time since beekeeping this year) because over here we need an inspection from the veterinary (no disease etc.) before we either move them or sell them, but currently it's up to the person creating said certificate if they want to or not, and our beekeeper who does them is 78 years old and won't do any inspections at the moment (which is totally okay for me). It's such a hosed up situation. We never had so many people passing by (either by foot, or by bike) where our bees are (remote location), but you can't really inform them (not even talking about selling something) like you want to due to current situation. And in this drat year, we have a honey production that I haven't seen in the last five years. To be honest, I really, REALLY enjoy going to my bees at the moment, but going back is kinda depressing, as it reminds me of all the poo poo. I'll just keep on beekeeping, and giving them the best care I can. I'm very, very impressed by the support from my honey customers, who can't wait for the next batch and even want to pledge some money (which I refuse). It's such a bizarre situation. Meltdown complete.
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Apr 23, 2020 19:17
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Stitecin posted:Still catching up (obviously) but I installed a package in my front yard last weekend. (Sonoma County, California) That's awesome! I hope they'll develop well! Treat them well, and they'll teach you so much good things you can't even imagine yet (also the stings, but that's part of it). It's such an alien swarm intelligence that we not only get to witness, but actually care about, live with and learn from. At least were I live we destroyed them in their natural habitat by introducing foreign mites, and imo everyone who does a little thing to remedy that does a good thing.
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Apr 23, 2020 19:23
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Wizard Mannequin posted:drat I wish I had space for a setup like that. We have 50ish colonies right now but they’re so spread out over the city it’s hard to manage. Bees seem to be doing great this year. Ton of early splits, lots of swarm calls. Nice to see when everything else is so poo poo Perhaps bees are appreciating the fresher air?  Installing my nuc into the long lang on tuesday was eventful. Was a 1.5 hour drive to get there 2 hours before sunset, and the 2 old ladies ahead of me literally stopped the guy from filling orders so they could chat with him for a minimum of 15 minutes. I poo poo you not. Finally got mine and raced home over a highway that was cratered like the moon (I am certain the girls did not enjoy that) and got home just as the sun dipped below the mountains. Gave them a whopping 5 minutes to calm down and then proceeded to transfer the frames into the hive. They were not happy. After a couple divebombed my face, one doing a grazing sting through my beard, I retreated to the house to get my bee jacket/veil. Really wanted to get them into the hive rather than wait till the next evening. I may pull and clean them up a little in a day or 2, because the comb on the nuc appeared to have either queen or supersede cells forming on one of the frames. There was also a poo poo ton of propolis. Today the weather is pleasant, and they are slowly making their orientation flights and wondering when the buds and flowers are going to appear. These are the overwintered local carniolans. (At least they are advertised as carns, and they look like the carns I have had in the past)  I pick up my Saskatraz package on saurday AM, and drop off this new build for a client: 
Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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Apr 23, 2020 20:47
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tuo posted:currently struggling to get boxes for them because I'm a fool at building something out of wood :/ If you were CONUS I would have been more than willing to handle supply for you.
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Apr 23, 2020 21:40
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Minutes after that last post my boss called me and told me that a ups truck carrying 100+ packages from Mann lake had a bunch start leaking and he got called to clean it up. Mann lake told him that he could just take all the packages with a leak so we ended up with 30 new colonies basically out of nowhere. Not a terrible problem to have but definitely a scramble to figure out the equipment situation for all of them.
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Apr 23, 2020 23:55
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Wizard Mannequin posted:Minutes after that last post my boss called me and told me that a ups truck carrying 100+ packages from Mann lake had a bunch start leaking and he got called to clean it up. Mann lake told him that he could just take all the packages with a leak so we ended up with 30 new colonies basically out of nowhere. Not a terrible problem to have but definitely a scramble to figure out the equipment situation for all of them. Packages or Nucs?
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Apr 24, 2020 00:13
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Hasselblad posted:If you were CONUS I would have been more than willing to handle supply for you. Sadly, wrong continent :/ I really need to learn some basics in woodwork. The shed in that picture above is the only thing i ever built on my own (the roof slides off on rails, as there is a telescope under it), but at that scale, you dont need knowledge and the right tools, i just mase a rough plan and slapped it together. But a bee box? I fear i‘d make so many mistakes the ladies would be at risk.
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Apr 24, 2020 07:06
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I‘m also thinking about changing the hive setup to brother adam‘s way (four hives, each entry towards another direction), as working on that row of boxes is a pain in the back, both when removing the supers as well es when drawing frames (cold build). That or spreadin them out more (just two mext to each other). Anyone experienced with brother adam‘s way? I always fear that the hives pointing north and west struggling with the missing sun on the entry.
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Apr 24, 2020 07:14
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tuo posted:I‘m also thinking about changing the hive setup to brother adam‘s way (four hives, each entry towards another direction), as working on that row of boxes is a pain in the back, both when removing the supers as well es when drawing frames (cold build). That or spreadin them out more (just two mext to each other). Anyone experienced with brother adam‘s way? I always fear that the hives pointing north and west struggling with the missing sun on the entry. You could run long langstroths, like I posted above. Uses standard deep frames. No boxes to lift.
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Apr 24, 2020 14:26
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My neighbor spotted me and my wife in our bee suits while working on a hive. He stopped over and said he’s interested in getting honey from us. I’m happy to give him some once we get a good production going. Then he asks “oh, so is it local honey?”.  Mother fucker, it’s from across the street.
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Apr 28, 2020 05:38
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I’ve had multiple folks ask if I ever let the bees out. People are really loving dumb.
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Apr 28, 2020 06:17
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So I sat watching my 2 horizontals, one had a nuc of local overwintered carns, and the other a package with a saskatraz queen from somewhere out if state. Both hives started with a frame of honey and old comb. The local carns from the nuc look to be bringing in loads more pollen, the individual carriers are massively weighed down with each load, while the package bees look to be bringing it in less frequently and in smaller amounts per bee. They all obviously have the same access to pollen sources, it is really interesting seeing how different just this one thing is. The only other difference between the two is one hive is a long langstroth and the other is a layens. If the package hive peters out, I may if possible do a split from the nuc hive into the layens.
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May 3, 2020 16:03
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I’ve been swamped with work and the weather has been both cold and rainy, so I hadn’t been able to open up the hives in 2 weeks. I knew one of them was enormous and probably wanted to throw a swarm, though. I’ve never felt the need to use a queen excluder before, but dang if this queen hasn’t been laying in every goddamn cell she could get her antennae on. Probably should have split it weeks ago but I was waiting for more hive parts to arrive. No swarm cells at last inspection. Sure enough, TWELVE loving capped queen cells today. The hive is just massive. At this stage I don’t expect to avoid a swarm even if I split it or cut off all the cells, so I’m trying a new toy. A few years ago I bought a “Swarm Bandit” from Brushy Mountain. It’s basically a cage you insert into the hive entrance- queens can enter from inside the hive, but the exit space is too small for them. Workers can come and go as they please, but the idea is that if a swarm is super imminent, you snag the queen in the cage along with a ton of bearding workers, then just move the whole thing to a new box. Never tried it, hopefully it’ll work. Honestly I don’t really have the space for another hive but I guess I’m gonna figure it out. Blerg Meanwhile my other hive is just sloppy as gently caress. I really don’t want to requeen it though I know that’s probably what everyone would recommend. The girls insist on building burr comb loving everywhere and connecting every box with tons of drone comb. The queen is laying in some strange patterns, preferring only the eastern end of the hive but traveling up to the honey supers. So again, I’m putting an excluder in, for the first time ever. I condensed all the stray brood frames into one box and swapped the orientation of a few to hopefully encourage her to fill out the full frames. Who knows if it’ll do anything, but I figure it’s worth a try. Bees, man. Glad my hives made it through the winter without any problems but sheesh!
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May 17, 2020 04:16
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I had a single pre-swarm which I picked off the grass this year, and it wasn't even from me (I assume beekeeper next to me), because none of my hives currently show strong swarm tendencies. Strange, I expected otherwise, especially since I couldn't expand some of the really strong ones - space wise - as much as I wanted. I made splits from them, but the rest of the hives is pretty calm this year in regard to swarming. Can't imagine that the change in genetics I'm currently after already kicked it, I assume that takes way longer. I'm not mad about it, though.
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May 17, 2020 08:00
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