NewBee Question of the Day

[EasternShore]

Ok Folks... Put your heads together...

Why do I have common house flies and the ones you see on dead fleash all over my hive and around it. Also I've seen what my neighbor calls flies which look like small yellowjackets trying to get into the entrance. The girls are fighting them off like crazy.

Caught a small swarm the other day, coolest thing happened, they left the new hive 15 hours later,  early the new morning. SOOO cool to watch. They landed on my peach tree and  I put them in a brand new deep with only 5 frames. They appear to be queenless so I'm trying to buy one.

I have a rather healthy hive that could use the extra workers...would you risk combineing them? How would you suggest I blend them, the newspaper and queen extractor between the deeps?
These are my only hives. 1 deep with 5 frames. 1 Colony in 2 deeps that are not even filled in, maybe a total on 8 frames with both honey and brood. The rest in cutout comb fully drawn and ready for them to fill up.
Hope this is clear enough.
Mark

[Kathyp]

the swarm may have flown with a virgin queen.  i caught one like that earlier in the year.  you might add a frame of brood to that swarm to help hold them.  hopefully, you will know if you have a queen in a couple of weeks.  if you do not, you can still combine them.

the flies may be after dead bees.  i have found them on my bottom board when the screen has lots of dead bees.

for the robbing, reduce the entrance so that they do not have so much area to guard.  you can  do it with a bit of grass, or an entrance reducer. 

[Robo]

Ok Folks... Put your heads together...

Why do I have common house flies and the ones you see on dead fleash all over my hive and around it. Also I've seen what my neighbor calls flies which look like small yellowjackets trying to get into the entrance. The girls are fighting them off like crazy.

I can't speak for your area, but the DEC released black flies in our area because they eat the eggs of some other insect pest.  So I have plenty of flies now :roll:  The worst part is when I'm working on the bees and these flies keep landing on my bare arms,  I keep thinking it's bees.

Caught a small swarm the other day, coolest thing happened, they left the new hive 15 hours later,  early the new morning. SOOO cool to watch. They landed on my peach tree and  I put them in a brand new deep with only 5 frames. They appear to be queenless so I'm trying to buy one.

You can keep a swarm from leaving by placing a queen excluder between the bottom board and the deep.   This of course assumes there is a queen.  Only leave it for a day or two just in case it is a virgin queen.

I have a rather healthy hive that could use the extra workers...would you risk combineing them? How would you suggest I blend them, the newspaper and queen extractor between the deeps?
These are my only hives. 1 deep with 5 frames. 1 Colony in 2 deeps that are not even filled in, maybe a total on 8 frames with both honey and brood. The rest in cutout comb fully drawn and ready for them to fill up.
Hope this is clear enough.
Mark

I'd give them another week, to see if there is a virgin, and then look for eggs.  If not, then you can decide to give them a queen or combine.  If there is a virgin queen, and you try to give them a queen,  they will kill your purchased queen.  So make sure they are queenless before giving them a queen.

You can combine with newspaper or you can just dump the bees in front of your other hive and let them find their way in.   Since having a minimum of 2 hives is highly recommended you might really want to try and keep them separate.

rob....

[EasternShore]

Thanks folks,
I'm thankful you all are here! I'll give them a few weeks..can't hurt, right?

The move went fine, both hives are now across the street in Bee Heaven! This property was owned by a naturalist and has EVERY plant and flower and tree available for my area. They will be very secluded and less apt to have me meddleing.
I'm planning on setting a spare super where the other hives were in hope of them finding safe haven if they come back to visit.
Mark

[Michael Bush]

I sure could have used a queen extractor this weekend.  All that trying to find and remove queens is exhausting... ;)

[EasternShore]

Ok Mike...what are you trying to tell me here?..hehe
Ah...maybe install an extractor to see if she's in there?

[randydrivesabus]

he's poking some good natured fun at you for saying extractor instead of excluder i think.

[EasternShore]

Geez was so tired I missed the point completely!!! Excluder...NOT extractor..and yes..there are days when an extractor would save time. Thanks...some of us are ALITTLE slowwwwer than others...No I did not ride the short bus in school..hehe

[Brian D. Bray]

Geez was so tired I missed the point completely!!! Excluder...NOT extractor..and yes..there are days when an extractor would save time. Thanks...some of us are ALITTLE slowwwwer than others...No I did not ride the short bus in school..hehe

Me neither, I lived next door to the school and just jumped over the hedge.  Left the house at 1 minute til and still got to school on time.

[EasternShore]

UPDATE:
All bee's have returned to the relocated hives. Took them 2 days but they returned last night.
Thanks All!!!

[Michael Bush]

I wonder if you have a dead mouse in the hive?