Author Topic: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today? (Read 75217 times)

Terri Yaki · « **Reply #640 on:** April 08, 2024, 07:02:15 am »

I didn't word that very well...I cut a full entrance block, not a bottom board. It will take me about 1/2 hr to get home from where I'm picking them up. My local TSC has screened bottom boards and since I need a bottom board, should I grab one and use it to provide ventilation? On leaving them the nuc for a day or two, I'm hoping that by moving them into their new home from the get-go, I won't have to move them here by myself.

Caashenb · « **Reply #641 on:** April 08, 2024, 08:53:20 pm »

I have been lurking here quite awhile. This weekend I moved to swarm traps to the yard and checked on a nuc I split from a crowded colony last weekend. Check my traps that are still out and have three more to relocate next weekend.

FatherMichael · « **Reply #642 on:** April 08, 2024, 08:54:59 pm »

Laid out a community feeding station.

Subgrade foundation of Quickcrete with 8x8x16 blocks and top level of 4" cap.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #643 on:** April 09, 2024, 12:20:13 am »

Quote from: Caashenb on April 08, 2024, 08:53:20 pm

I have been lurking here quite awhile. This weekend I moved to swarm traps to the yard and checked on a nuc I split from a crowded colony last weekend. Check my traps that are still out and have three more to relocate next weekend.

Thanks for coming out from your lurking , lol, by posting your thoughts. How is that split coming along?

Phillip

Caashenb · « **Reply #644 on:** April 09, 2024, 07:18:25 am »

Thanks Phillip, it is looking good so far, this is my first split attempt and I had moved three frames of brood and stores with a capped queen cell. When I checked the queen cell was uncapped but I was unable to find queen but that is not unusual for me. I will keep watching with my fingers crossed.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #645 on:** April 09, 2024, 07:36:06 am »

The QC is open, that?s good. Give her a few days before you go back in. Give her enough time to mate and begin laying. Once mated and laying she will have that plump look and will be easier to spot.

Phillip

.30WCF · « **Reply #646 on:** April 09, 2024, 05:19:45 pm »

That?s a pretty good swarm right there.

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Ben Framed · « **Reply #647 on:** April 09, 2024, 06:01:34 pm »

Where in the picture is it?

.30WCF · « **Reply #648 on:** April 09, 2024, 06:04:33 pm »

It?s like an Easter Egg hunt.

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.30WCF · « **Reply #649 on:** April 09, 2024, 06:11:00 pm »

30 feet above the burn pile. They like that limb for some reason.

Staged up a nuc to dump the bucket into. Then slide them into place.

Got em.

Used more of the comb that?s just been stored outside in stacks of empty supers with no bottom board or lids.

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beesnweeds · « **Reply #650 on:** April 09, 2024, 07:17:12 pm »

Quote from: .30WCF on April 09, 2024, 06:04:33 pm

It?s like an Easter Egg hunt.
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Instead of hoping you can find and catch your swarms you can toss a rope over the branch and pull up a Russian scion or an old brood frame with a roof on it. That way you can just lower them into a box.

.30WCF · « **Reply #651 on:** April 09, 2024, 09:05:37 pm »

Quote from: beesnweeds on April 09, 2024, 07:17:12 pm

Quote from: .30WCF on April 09, 2024, 06:04:33 pm
It?s like an Easter Egg hunt.
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Instead of hoping you can find and catch your swarms you can toss a rope over the branch and pull up a Russian scion or an old brood frame with a roof on it. That way you can just lower them into a box.

Yep. They flew back up. I parked the nuc box up in the tree touching the swarm for the nite. Maybe they will go in. If not, I?ll see about grabbing some brood frames tomorrow.

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.30WCF · « **Reply #652 on:** April 11, 2024, 02:16:13 pm »

After a day and a half, they finally went in. A day and a half of a nuc box touching them with a brood frame with nurse bees inside. They were still outside this morning, and I looked a few minutes ago and the swarm was gone, but bees were flying about the entrance.

Full swarm sat on the lid for two and a half days. The last day and a half had a brood frame added.

Small bundle of bees still on the branch, probably have a virgin Q in there.

Added a second deep nuc with two frames of drawn comb and three foundation frames, changed lids to a single feeder lid and topped them with a mason jar of 2:1.

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Terri Yaki · « **Reply #653 on:** April 11, 2024, 04:32:45 pm »

Won't mayhem and murder ensue with those nurse bees in there?

.30WCF · « **Reply #654 on:** April 11, 2024, 04:33:21 pm »

Well, between the time I put that swarm in a box and ate lunch, I got a nice little after swarm or a different hive swarmed.
The one I been trying to get the last couple days is still in the double nuc on the end. Lots of activity around all hives and they are still just circling and landing on that new branch about 10-12? away from where the other swarm landed.

You can see the new swarm over the burn pile, and the rope is still up from this morning just to the right. These ones are a little lower.

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.30WCF · « **Reply #655 on:** April 11, 2024, 04:39:19 pm »

Quote from: Terri Yaki on April 11, 2024, 04:32:45 pm

Won't mayhem and murder ensue with those nurse bees in there?

They came from a queenless hive I split last week and were raising a couple queen cells. I took a frame that didn?t have any QCs on it. They should be fine.

I also have swapped queens from hive to hive a few times just to give a weak hive a better laying queen. (As in catch both queens and drop them right into the other queen?s hive right in the top bars. They just walk in like they own the place.) They just want a laying queen. Virgins and banked queens are a different game.

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The15thMember · « **Reply #656 on:** April 11, 2024, 04:45:33 pm »

Quote from: Terri Yaki on April 11, 2024, 04:32:45 pm

Won't mayhem and murder ensue with those nurse bees in there?

Nurse bees are more loyal to babies than they are to queens. So usually, especially during a flow when everyone isn't in maximum protection mode, nurse bees can be moved between hives with minimal fighting.

.30WCF · « **Reply #657 on:** April 11, 2024, 05:33:06 pm »

Start the timer. Maybe this swarm
Is smarter than the last one.

Had to dig deep in drawn comb bank to get some nice mediums for this nuc.

Strapped it to some concrete float handles and wedged it in the fork of the branches. Odds are I didn?t smash the queen.

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FatherMichael · « **Reply #658 on:** April 11, 2024, 07:36:30 pm »

Awesome, .30.

.30WCF · « **Reply #659 on:** April 13, 2024, 12:32:33 pm »

This morning they were still all sitting on the box. It did have a brood frame. They just were not having any of it.
I pulled the nuc down and only a few bees were in the box on the brood frame.
This morning it took about 5-6 times of rattling the pole bucket on the bottom of the branch and dumping them in, then they started marching in. I set them up under the tree for now until they all go in, and then I?ll move them sometime. It looks promising right now. Only a handful are clinging onto the tree branch now.

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