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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching
« Last post by Ben Framed on Today at 01:34:37 am »
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.

Great preparation and awesome catch! Congratulation on your earned success!!!

Phillip
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Agreed. However it's the state ag department that did this, it's an unelected agency as far as I understand. But they need to vote people in that will fight for them against overreach
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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 reasons
It 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.
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> The good news is the state backed down and reverse course on the CAFO  definition and regulation after public outcry and support of the farmers.

Good and in my opinion, the good people of the State should remember what these officials tried to pull, making sure to vote them out next election. ,
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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarm Catching
« Last post by Occam on Today at 01:07:46 am »
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.
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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.
Thanks for the suggestions!
The screened bottom has a pan under it, so it's 1" extra space below.
In #1 the bees were hanging on the middle frames (with starter strips) covering what would be 3 full frames and the equivalent of the inner side of the next frames.

In #3, the bees are in a similar arrangement, but covering the equivalent of 4 frames plus the inner side of the next frames. (I'm describing as though there were foundation. That's what it *looks* like.)

I hope not to have to install packages again, but if I do, I'll surely follow your suggestion!

And yes, I'll put a dummy board in #2. It will be hubby's task to build it tomorrow! The other two packages seem to be developing into a real colony. They go out and forage. Some come back with pollen.

All three packages were installed in 10-frame mediums with frames with starter strips.

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 reasons?
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Too clarify... the information in the video actually covered two things, redefinition of the standards for CAFOs (condoned animal feeding operations) as well as the water rights issue. And of course they're available outside youtube if you search for them. Yes some YouTube channels use click bait, so does every need website.

The good news is the state backed down and reverse course on the CAFO  definition and regulation after public outcry and support of the farmers.

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/25/oregon-department-of-agriculture-withdraws-requirements/
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b. 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.   
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.

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a. 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.

The stronger package #3 seems to be taking syrup for sure. It seems like a compounding effect: Somehow they got off to a better start, and now they are moving ahead faster because they are taking more syrup.

The 40 F was one night. It has been getting warmer again. Tonight will go down to 47, after that it's all above 50 and up to 63, but another cold night is forecast a week from today.

I did give them warm syrup some of the time, but I don't remember whether they had warm syrup the night I rehived the package. Now that you mention it, I'll make sure that at least that weak package has warm syrup in the mornings. Daytime temp was up to 80 yesterday and 74 today.

Thank you so much for your suggestions!

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Any 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. 
Again, thanks much for the reminder!!

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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.  :grin:     
Yes, I know.  :grin:
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