Recent Posts

1

GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 10:56:22 pm »

Thanks, I feel like they're just taunting me. 

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TOP BAR HIVES - WARRE HIVES - LONG HIVES / Re: A full 30 frame Layens

« Last post by Occam on Today at 10:50:03 pm »

Oh boy, they got busy. Curious, do you use a follower board in your Lauren's?

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TOP BAR HIVES - WARRE HIVES - LONG HIVES / A full 30 frame Layens

« Last post by Bob Wilson on Today at 10:17:03 pm »

This is what happens when your bees multiply too fast. OR when you get behind in building more frames.
There are 25 frames occupied and another 2 sheet of comb added on by the bees. The entrance is at the far end.
I am just going to wait until harvest in the fall, and deal with it when the honey is cured and the bees are fewer.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by gww on Today at 08:42:14 pm »

Good luck.  Maybe a bee keeper is finding his hive swarmed and hiving them before they move.  Sill bees looking is a great sign and I would not bet against them making the move.  Mine turned out a little bigger then was in my mind but not the biggest I have caught but about normal.  Again, good luck.  It is exciting and they are not just looking for no reason.

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DISEASE & PEST CONTROL / Re: A question about controlling ANTS

« Last post by Dreamystan on Today at 06:49:51 pm »

Dealing with ants invading beehives is no joke, especially when they seem to outsmart all the DIY tricks. I've been there, trying everything from salt to grease, but those tiny invaders just kept coming back.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 06:23:09 pm »

And another hive inspection is in the books. I have a couple of questions regarding this inspection. In the deep box, is that building of comb normal? They're not filling out the frames too well.

I don't use foundation, but it looked normal to me.  Comb building is a lot of work, it may take them some time if your flow isn't strong.  You mentioned at the end that you saw bees hanging onto each other.  That could be bees festooning, where they make kind of a scaffolding with their bodies as they build comb.  I'm assuming bees on foundation still do this behavior.
 

And should a new colony like this be building practice queen cells? Was I wrong to just leave them there?

Some colonies build a lot of queen cups seemingly just to have them in case they need them.  I have several colonies that keep cups built for most of the summer, but they are never charged (they don't have an egg or larva in them).  I was a little surprised that they had made so many, but until one has an egg or larva in it or is drawn out into a full queen cell, I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

And on a frame or two, for some reason I was unable to determine if it was honey or brood. That would be to the outside in the medium box. I ask about it in the video. It should be easy for me to determine but I wasn't able to.

It can be a bit tough if the wax is very light, but to me it looked like that frame had brood in the middle. 

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 05:08:00 pm »

And my swarm trap is hot today. They started about 0800, took a break from 1315 to 1515 and came back. It's not as active as it was the last time. I hope they're not just teasing me again.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 05:05:39 pm »

I don't know, myself. My nuc came in medium frames so that's why it's a medium on the bottom. I had quite a consensus that it was time to add the upper box and to keep feeding. The queen has been in the upper box for two weeks now and I'm thinking that when it's time to clean out the medium box, I'll put it on top, above a queen excluder. I'm all ears for input and willing to learn though. Thanks for the input, I like hearing the thoughts on it. Oh, and they were building comb on the bottoms of the frames when it was just the medium box.

You might want to put the medium box on top.  They will build themselves down into the deep.

I wonder about that. I worked with my mentor in early spring when he was going through his hives and his all built up. So much so that he moved the almost empty bottom boxes to the top. And when I put the deep up top, the queen moved up into it. If I had three or four hives, I could conduct all kinds of experiments.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

« Last post by FatherMichael on Today at 04:48:57 pm »

I don't know, myself. My nuc came in medium frames so that's why it's a medium on the bottom. I had quite a consensus that it was time to add the upper box and to keep feeding. The queen has been in the upper box for two weeks now and I'm thinking that when it's time to clean out the medium box, I'll put it on top, above a queen excluder. I'm all ears for input and willing to learn though. Thanks for the input, I like hearing the thoughts on it. Oh, and they were building comb on the bottoms of the frames when it was just the medium box.

You might want to put the medium box on top.  They will build themselves down into the deep.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

« Last post by Terri Yaki on Today at 04:03:21 pm »

I don't know, myself. My nuc came in medium frames so that's why it's a medium on the bottom. I had quite a consensus that it was time to add the upper box and to keep feeding. The queen has been in the upper box for two weeks now and I'm thinking that when it's time to clean out the medium box, I'll put it on top, above a queen excluder. I'm all ears for input and willing to learn though. Thanks for the input, I like hearing the thoughts on it. Oh, and they were building comb on the bottoms of the frames when it was just the medium box.