Greetings from Dorothy, Toto, and the Wicked Witch

[walkzdogz]

Hey all. I'm from KS and I'm a newbie to this board but not to beekeeping. This looks like a fun and informative board. Looking forward to "visiting' with some of you. :-D :-D

[TwT]

Hi and Welcome to the forum!!!

[1reb]

Hello and Welcome Walkzdogz
There is alot of great information on the forum !!
The members here are willing help and answer your questions, all you need to do is to ask
Johnny   

[JP]

So you're friends with toto, Dorothy and the wicked witch? Are you a politician? :-D

There's no place like beemaster, there's no place like beemaster, there's no place like beemaster...

Welcome!



...JP

[walkzdogz]

JP, LOL, some days my family may think I am the wicked witch! :-D

1reb,TwT,and JT thanx for the warm welcome. And here's some questions for ya. Once a upon a time on a 100* degree day, my ungrateful bees swarmed. Flew up into the high branches of a very tall tree, hung out a while, and then flew back to the hive. Why would the girls change their game plan and come back? Too hot?

Thinking I was meant to rehive this potential swarm- ( I did happen to be home to see this event), my daughter and I rigged a temp hive, put all the old frames w/ brood ect ('cept the one with the queen) and about 10% of the bees into the new hive. The old hive we put new frames, undrawn foundation, the queen's frame, and the rest of the bees. Think we'll have a happy ending? It appears that the honey flow is still on.

The new temp hive doesn't have an inner cover? Will that be a problem? It also doesn't have a bottom board. We're using a window screen until we can get something more suitable. How long should you wait after painting new hive equipment before you can use the woodenware with the bees? I would hate for the ladies to want to split just cause they had stinky accomodations.

thanx for any insight or condolences,
 :-D :-D

[Schoon]

Welcome WalkzDogz

[annette]

To answer your question about the swarm going back into the hive.  I have read here on this forum that sometimes they do that if the queen did not fly out with them. 

Also when you did that split, it would have been better to place the queen in the new split rather than place her back into the old hive.  Are there swarm cells in the hive???

On the painting of the woodenware.  When you paint be sure not to paint on the inside of the supers, etc. Anyplace the bees will be living.  I use only latex paint and it doesn't seem to smell at all by the next day. 

Hope this helps
Annette

[beee farmer]

Welcome! and dont forget the good witch of the East!!!!  you can claim her next time your kids accuse you of being a witch.

[walkzdogz]

Annette,
Thanx for the reply but why is it better to place the old queen in the new hive?  :? The new hive has all of the old hive's frames with all the brood  and swarm cells too- not much room for laying eggs. The old hive has new undrawn foundation so the queen has plenty of egg laying opportunities.

[walkzdogz]

Lol, bee farmer. Will have to remember that. :-D :-D

[annette]

Annette,
Thanx for the reply but why is it better to place the old queen in the new hive?  :? The new hive has all of the old hive's frames with all the brood  and swarm cells too- not much room for laying eggs. The old hive has new undrawn foundation so the queen has plenty of egg laying opportunities.

I am new at this also as this is my 4th year.  Since starting I have had 2 hives prepare to swarm by making swarm cells.  I have been advised on the forum to try and find the queen and place her into the new split, therefore a better chance the original parent hive will not swarm without her.

Even though you removed all the swarm cells from the parent hive, I have read here on the forum that once a hive has it in its head to swarm, they may swarm anyway even if you remove all the queen cells. In fact, you could end up queenless because you removed all the queen cells from the parent hive. Perhaps other more experienced beeks will come forth and help you also. 

[Brian D. Bray]

Annette,
Thanx for the reply but why is it better to place the old queen in the new hive?  :? The new hive has all of the old hive's frames with all the brood  and swarm cells too- not much room for laying eggs. The old hive has new undrawn foundation so the queen has plenty of egg laying opportunities.

A split is actually a controlled swarm, taking the existing queen to the new hive is  what happens in nature.  Doing so tells the remaining bees that the swarm has taken place and should, but doesn't always, put an end to the swarm cycle.  The bees in the original hive make new queens, or if they exist at the time of the split, they hatch out and carry on just as in nature.

You inadvertently did that by taking all the old frames and putting them in the new hive.  But the question then is where is the queen, with the old frames in the new hive, which defeats the purpose of the split or with the new frames in the  old hive? 

In doing a pre-swarm split, the normal method is to find the queen and move the frame she is on along with a few more into the new hive and leave the freshest brood and/or queen cells in the original hive.  The primary thing to remember is that in nature the old queen leaves the hive and goes to a new place and  begins froms scratch, the replacement queen stays at home and takes over the hive.

[walkzdogz]

Hey and many thanx, Brian and Annette,
The queen is in the old hive with new frames and undrawn foundation and about 90% of the bees. The new hive has the old frames with swarm cells and old frames full of brood and about 10% of the bees. (Hopefully the new hive will soon have their own queen.) So far it looks like things are working out. Keeping fingers crossed. I got this idea from a book. I was hoping it would help even out both hive's populations.

[annette]

Glad Brian came forth and explained it better than me. I get confused sometimes trying to explain this stuff.  I am much better at doing it, than explaining it.  That probably sounds crazy.

[Irwin]

I'm the same way Annette :-D

[annette]

I'm the same way Annette :-D

I am not alone, thank goodness!!

[Cindi]

Walkzdogz.  Welcome to our forum, it is great that you have found us, and yes, you will enjoy to visit here.  You will have a place to tell your stories, tales and experiences, and make some new friends.  Stick around, we love new members.  Have a most wonderful and awesome day, health.  Cindi

[walkzdogz]

LOL, Annette and Irwin, I'm not good at explaining it or doing it!

Thanx for the warm welcome, Cindi. I have had a nice day.