Author Topic: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today? (Read 72644 times)

Occam · « **Reply #580 on:** March 11, 2024, 11:35:12 am »

So haven't had any time in the apiary really due to other things in the schedule such as work (primarily 😂), events with family, getting garden ready, etc. However in downtime at work I've tried to make use of my time building a few swarm traps and a hive tool out of some scrap metal from the garage. Went over to my parents with my family for an early St Patrick's dinner and hung a swarm trap on a column in their back yard.

Lesgold · « **Reply #581 on:** March 11, 2024, 10:26:04 pm »

Just finishing off the cleanup after extracting from a few hives. Just over 80kg of honey from a mixed floral source. Cappings were allowed to drain and then placed into the wax melter. The heated, dark honey was drained from below the molten wax and allowed to cool for a few hours. A wax cap was lifted off the honey and added to the melter with some water. It still amazes me how much honey is left in the cappings. This dark honey will sell well at the markets for a premium even though it has been heated. There are quite a few people who buy it for cooking or adding to coffee or tea due to its rich flavour.

The15thMember · « **Reply #582 on:** March 12, 2024, 06:49:33 pm »

I finally got around to giving my last 3 colonies their first inspections today, and I also checked for queen cells in that colony whose queen was a drone layer. They didn't make any off the frame I gave them unfortunately, although I did notice some small queen cells with royal jelly but no larvae on the next frame, along with some drone brood, so not sure exactly what went on there. I gave them another frame of eggs, so we'll see if they do something with them this time.

Terri Yaki · « **Reply #583 on:** March 12, 2024, 07:09:36 pm »

I think I've learned that the royal jelly turns a regular larva into a queen but where does it come from and which comes first, the jelly or the egg?

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #584 on:** March 12, 2024, 07:51:27 pm »

Terri,
Royal Jelly does not turn bees into queens. Giving 3 day old larvae pollen bread turns the larvae into a worker. Any larvae that has not been fed pollen bread can bee made into a queen. If the bees make emergency queens from a worker cell, they will float the larvae to the edge of the cell with Royal Jelly and build the cell vertically. Swarm cells are normally built on the button surface and are built vertically.
All bees are fed Royal Jelly for the first three days AFTER it hatches. Eggs hatch 3 days after being laid.
That means the bees have 5/6 days after loosing a queen to make new ones.
Jim Altmiller

Terri Yaki · « **Reply #585 on:** March 12, 2024, 09:00:57 pm »

Aaa, so I was misled on that royal jelly. How is a queen made then? And where does the royal jelly come from?

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #586 on:** March 12, 2024, 09:56:21 pm »

Royal Jelly comes from the young worker bees mandible glands. It is the equivalent of mother?s milk.
As long as the female larvae is fed a constant diet of Royal Jelly it turns into a queen.
Jim Altmiller

Michael Bush · « **Reply #587 on:** March 13, 2024, 05:27:31 am »

Royal jelly is made in the hypopharyngeal gland which is in the head. It comes out of he mouth of the nurse bee. As Jim pointed out, it's the pollen and honey that suppress the larva into being a worker rather than a queen.

Terri Yaki · « **Reply #588 on:** March 13, 2024, 08:50:18 am »

OK, now I'm getting it. Thanks! Do people ever reach in there and move stuff around to create queens?

It's going to bee in the 70s here today and I'll bee looking for my neighbor's bees to see if they're coming this far yet.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #589 on:** March 13, 2024, 09:08:54 am »

>OK, now I'm getting it. Thanks! Do people ever reach in there and move stuff around to create queens?

I'm not sure what you're envisioning, but yes. Queen rearers trick the bees into making a lot of queens. Huber did a lot of experiments with royal jelly and larva. Some scientists have fed royal jelly to diploid drones to get them to maturity, since the bees will just remove them.

beesonhay465 · « **Reply #590 on:** March 13, 2024, 02:48:12 pm »

havent been on the forum recently . had 3 hives all sold.however feeling better now . spent the last week or so building a layans hive and placed in the backyard. no more heavy boxes to lift.frames are 15 by 19 deep. i will use a swarm attractant and try to get a swarm. there is a half mile of tree line or more beside the house . swarms seem to like my neighbors apple tree.if i cant get a swarm into the hive maybe i can get one off the tree. whatever i do about 2 hours is all , then im done. :smile

MJHellmann · « **Reply #591 on:** March 14, 2024, 05:06:28 pm »

I set up and leveled my hives! Soon to be first time beekeeper here. Just learned that I need to elevate my hives more, so back at it soon. I'm sure I'll make plenty more mistakes, but I'm super excited!!!

The15thMember · « **Reply #592 on:** March 14, 2024, 05:19:41 pm »

Welcome to Beemaster, MJHellmann!

Your hives are beautiful! Yeah, you will probably want them a little bit higher than that, just for your own sake. Then you won't have to bend over so far. I have my hives on cinder blocks, and even that is a little low for comfort when my hives are small.

Terri Yaki · « **Reply #593 on:** March 14, 2024, 06:24:14 pm »

Quote from: MJHellmann on March 14, 2024, 05:06:28 pm

I set up and leveled my hives! Soon to be first time beekeeper here. Just learned that I need to elevate my hives more, so back at it soon. I'm sure I'll make plenty more mistakes, but I'm super excited!!!

Nice graphics on the boxes. Good luck.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #594 on:** March 14, 2024, 10:24:25 pm »

MJ,
Welcome to Beemaster.
Being in Ohio, you probably have skunks in your area. You want the hives high enough that the skunks have to raise their bellies off the ground. This allows the bees to sting them in the belly and run them off.
Jim Altmiller

Ben Framed · « **Reply #595 on:** March 15, 2024, 03:02:55 pm »

I will admit this publicly as I did it to myself and the joke is on me. lol!

It was a beautiful day a couple days ago and I decided to do some inspections. I was parked, had everything laid out at the back of my truck with my focus on what was coming up. About that time a unexpected vehicle pulled in the front wising to pass by. It was on a small narrow private lane seldomly used. Naturally I did not wish to block the way and all my attention was now on moving out of the way. Obligingly I hopped into the truck and put her in reverses, I felt a crunch and immediately thought of my smoker!
Yep! Its amazing what a 350 dully can do to a little stainless steel smoker!

Phillip

PS my new one is due to arrive today!

Lesgold · « **Reply #596 on:** March 15, 2024, 10:20:13 pm »

Bad luck Phillip. Hope you bought an Aussie smoker that is truck proof😝😝😝😝😝😝

Terri Yaki · « **Reply #597 on:** March 15, 2024, 11:02:38 pm »

All of those smokers look exactly the same to me, do they all come out of the same factory?

Ben Framed · « **Reply #598 on:** March 16, 2024, 02:07:32 am »

Quote from: Lesgold on March 15, 2024, 10:20:13 pm

Bad luck Phillip. Hope you bought an Aussie smoker that is truck proof😝😝😝😝😝😝

Dog-gone Les! I wish I had know! An indestructible Aussie smoker is just what I need! However my new Amazon smoker came in today. It looks almost like my Man Lake smoker (which was no match for the truck) lol..... Ill just have to be more careful! lol

Phillip

Ben Framed · « **Reply #599 on:** March 16, 2024, 02:08:52 am »

Quote from: Terri Yaki on March 15, 2024, 11:02:38 pm

All of those smokers look exactly the same to me, do they all come out of the same factory?

I don't know Terri. I bet you can guess where this one was made!

Phillip