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OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES FORUM / Re: Gold prospecting using a metal detector
« Last post by Ben Framed on Today at 01:36:28 am »👍🏻
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The first trap I hung and baited in my parents backyard had plenty of bee smelling stuff in there... melted down moth infested beeswax slathered over the interior. Propolis warmed to stickiness and rubbed around. Pippette with a small amount of lemon grass oil. Box had bees all over it the next day Match 11th and has had consistent bee activity every day with good weather. About 12:30 today the bees decided to move in. I got the call from my parents "there are so many bees flying everywhere, thousands!" haha. I told them to enjoy the show while they ate their lunch. My dad decided to get close to get some pictures and video.
But I'm wondering if I understand the space issue correctly. I thought it was mainly an issue of being able to keep warm enough, but maybe there are other reasonsIt is also about the fact that the bees have to be able to patrol and defend the space when they are not clustered. A package starts out in a state of severe disadvantage. They have no food, no comb, and many times not even a queen they know or who is even related to them. This makes them very vulnerable, and if they have too much space too soon, it can simply be overwhelming for them to try manage everything they need to do to make the space a functioning nest.
Thanks for the suggestions!
With both screen bottom boards and foundationless frames, thats way too much empty space. Not having any foundation there's nothing to anchor them to the hive. Remove the screen bottom boards and add frames with foundation or add a dummy board to reduce the area. Your colonies will struggle to get going if you dont decrease the area in the hive body. The next time you install packages cut the screen open and dump the bees onto the queen cage or place the queen cage below the inner cover hole, add another hive body and place the hole of the package over the inner cover. The next day take out the package cage and add feed.
It seemed like a possibility, but there was nothing to rob, except the syrup that was identical in all three hives! That's why I asked.Quoteb. Would Italian bees try to "rob" a hive that doesn't really have a store of honey? (They all have the same jars of syrup.)I have local mutts, so I can't speak from experience, but I'm under the impression all bees will rob when the situation presents itself. What you are describing sounds like it could be robbing.
Quotea. Is there any significance to bees being clustered only on the wall of the hive box??In my experience, bees who are clustered are unable to work for some reason. I agree that it sounds like the queen is probably there based on your observations. I noticed you said all the hives have plenty of syrup, but are they actually drinking it? Are any of the hives drawing wax yet? 40F overnight sounds like it may be too cold for them to take it, because the syrup is too viscous and/or they know it will reduce their body temperature too much.
Again, thanks much for the reminder!!QuoteAny other comments/suggestions?I think you probably learned this based on your experiences hiving the packages, but I just wanted to articulate something that I find helpful to remember: When you have a hive open, try to be methodical and be sure you don't miss something, rather than rush and forget something that you'll need to disturb them to fix later. When you encounter a situation with a hive open and you aren't sure what to do, it's very easy to get overwhelmed, make a hasty decision, and then realize later with a clearer head that it wasn't the best decision. Whenever I find this is happening to me, I like to physically take a step back from the hive, and take a moment to think through what I need to do, how I'm going to do it, and why I'm doing it, before I begin to make the motions of doing it.
I also just wanted to mention, in case it needs to be said, that the cluster of bees on the ground was absolutely no danger to anyone. Those bees were for all intents and purposes a swarm in that moment, and unless stepped on they wouldn't have stung anyone. Just in case you needed some backup to convince your daughter-in-law.Yes, I know.
With both screen bottom boards and foundationless frames, thats way too much empty space. Not having any foundation there's nothing to anchor them to the hive. Remove the screen bottom boards and add frames with foundation or add a dummy board to reduce the area. Your colonies with struggle to get going if you dont decrease the area in the hive body.That's a good point, beesnweeds, but as a new beekeeper she may not have any other equipment than what she used. Dora, what size and how many boxes did you install them in? I installed my first two packages on foundationless frames in 2 8-frame mediums, and I didn't have any trouble, but the conditions were such that they were able to start drawing right away.