Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: Barlon on July 04, 2017, 10:25:54 am
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So just to start off I don't tend to deal with honey bees but rather native bush bees, so I didn't have anything to start with when I got asked if I could remove some honey bees nor did I really have a use for the bees so overall I could have just turned down the job.
I had two options allow the bees to be nuked or get what I needed and rescue the bees, that being said I accepted the request and started building my first honey bee hive and have since nearly finished it but I've had no luck locating tools or protection for the job and sadly don't have the time to try my hand at ordering online but regardless of whether I have everything I need I'm planning to do this regardless.
Wish me luck since I'll likely need it and feel free to leave some advice for someone under geared for the job.
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Barlon,
First I would test their demeanor. Stand near the hive and see what happens, keep getting closer. If the bees do not mind your presence, then see if you can lightly touch the guard bees on the opening. If you can they are probably good bees.
Before you start:
1. Smoke yourself in all exposed areas, hands head, face and arms.
2. Smoke the bees 10 minutes before you start and then 30 seconds before. This really changes their mood.
3. It wiould be best to use a bee vac to reduce as many bees at the entrance and in the hive as you can. A 5 gallon bucket with a hole in the bottom to connect to the vacuum, a screen covering the bottom to keep the bees from being sucked into the vacuum and a hole above the screen to connect to the pick up hose.
4. Move slowly and try not to roll or injure any bees. Bees react to their sisters being hurt more than anything else.
5. Have a bucket and lid for comb, one or 2 for honey.
6. Have a hive with empty frames. Put 4 rubber bands, 2 on each side. You cut the comb to fit in the frame and use the rubber bands to hold it there.
Search utube for JP The Beeman. He has lots and lots of videos on how to remove bees from all kinds of structures.
Good luck.
Jim
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Jim told you right, but left out one item. You frame up only the brood comb and "maybe" a frame of pollen. DO NOT try to frameup the honey. It will only drown the bees and attract pests.
An onion sack or a sheer window curtain will serve as a veil.
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The bees were only discovered after some people managed to unknowingly annoy the bees and were chased by a large fighting swarm and stung multiple times but have since calmed down to the point where you can stand at the entrance and look in without being stung.
I suspect the hive swarmed recently as I was told there was a huge mass of bees coming out of the nest and since then activity has died down alot and the bees have been calmer, I'm guessing the bees were very cramped in such a small space, they seem to be living in an open post with an entrance hole alittle bigger then a fist.
I've been watching videos but I need a smoker of some kind which I can't buy anywhere in my area is there any advice for a quick makeshift smoker that'll at least last for the job?
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Hey Iddee, you forgot the yellow plastic bucket and a stick to tang any escapees back to the hive ! !
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Here's a picture of the hive I made for the bees, It was my first time building one and I had to do it almost all by hand only using a drill to make holes and a staple gun to attach the mesh to the bottom to make an air duct, had to buy a few things to make it but at least the wood was free.
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I am liking the gal.iron roof - a kind thought for bees in the Wet
getting to hear the rain coming down :-)
Can I ask how far you are along that Trigona/Trigonella path?
Cheers.
Bill
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I am liking the gal.iron roof - a kind thought for bees in the Wet
getting to hear the rain coming down :-)
Can I ask how far you are along that Trigona/Trigonella path?
Cheers.
Bill
I'm hoping the roof works well during the wet season but only time will tell.
As for my native bees I've opened a small business selling and renting hives as well as selling things like honey wax so on, currently got two types of native bees Tetragonula mellipes and Austroplebeia magna which have been doing very well this year.
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I am liking the gal.iron roof - a kind thought for bees in the Wet
getting to hear the rain coming down :-)
Can I ask how far you are along that Trigona/Trigonella path?
Cheers.
Bill
I'm hoping the roof works well during the wet season but only time will tell.
As for my native bees I've opened a small business selling and renting hives as well as selling things like honey wax so on, currently got two types of native bees Tetragonula mellipes and Austroplebeia magna which have been doing very well this year.
Heh, never did get much latin beyond "mea culpa", plus my retention on flora/fauna
names is terrible!
You are well ahead of me, being at resale. My goal being Nat.Parks donations.
Hopefully this September I can set more traps and do some splits from last year's efforts.
Have HumptyDoo mangos come in yet?
Ours, after nix/zilch flowerings in 2016, have come in early with all bees at it in droves.
My only (common) Lychee began just yesterday with the orchard due to come on in
two weeks, all going well.
Again, few to none of these in 2016.
Cheers.
Bill
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Hey guys just updating on what's happend so far.
I'll be heading out early next week and have gotten lucky with some of the tools I needed for the job, I've got my hands on an old bee suit which I'm borrowing and a homemade smoker which was left on the property by the old owner still in very good condition, so I'm pretty much all set to handle these bees so hopefully you guys won't be hearing tails of me running for the hills from a swarm of bees.
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Good luck. :happy:
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Hey guys just updating on what's happend so far.
I'll be heading out early next week and have gotten lucky with some of the tools I needed for the job, I've got my hands on an old bee suit which I'm borrowing and a homemade smoker which was left on the property by the old owner still in very good condition, so I'm pretty much all set to handle these bees so hopefully you guys won't be hearing tails of me running for the hills from a swarm of bees.
"a little smoke a nifty poke tis all we gentle folk tote
in that yoke of bespoke avoiding bee croak"
... go hard Son, bee well :-)
Bill
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Another update on the bees with sadly some bad news.
The bees were sadly attacked by large ants while a few days before I got to the hive and nearly all the bees had been wiped out, however I did manage to save a small chunk of brood and some undamaged honey combs as well as some bees but it dose not look too good and I suspect they'll die out as I don't think they have a queen or enough workers to survive.
These are some photos showing the bees after I finished setting up the hive hopefully they can pull through or at least have a better fate then being ant food.
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Here's a picture of the brood before I framed and closed up the hive, I don't know too much about honey bee brood so I'm not really sure what kind of cells are in the brood.
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Hope there is more, much more broodcomb than that now pictured Barlon, what is there is capped workers. To start with you will need at least 6 times that amount of comb 80% populated.
I did not take note of the entrance construction in my first post.
I do now... sorry about that.
For us fellas in the tropics stick to one entrance at one end. For that size hive you need a minimum of 2,000 sq. mm. (100x19mm). Give them a landing board at least 25mm wide. Place two or more 25mm vents at the top of the box at the opposite end.
Screen with S/S mossie mesh.
For now?
Use that centre entrance only, glue/nail thick cardboard over the other two.
Inside the hive gather your frames around that centre entrance and put dividers either side of that core.
Make sure a queen is present, now. Where none is present I recommend you forget this effort and use the hive as a trap. To set that up provide an entrance and vents as described above. Move what frames you have - up three minimum - to beside the new entrance. Place a divider after the last frame.
Your area should be humming right now with loads of eucalypts coming in, ironbark not far away too. Find a creek bordered with stringybark and park the hive nearby, use your ant trap idea.
Good luck ;-)
Bill
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Hope there is more, much more broodcomb than that now pictured Barlon, what is there is capped workers. To start with you will need at least 6 times that amount of comb 80% populated.
I did not take note of the entrance construction in my first post.
I do now... sorry about that.
For us fellas in the tropics stick to one entrance at one end. For that size hive you need a minimum of 2,000 sq. mm. (100x19mm). Give them a landing board at least 25mm wide. Place two or more 25mm vents at the top of the box at the opposite end.
Screen with S/S mossie mesh.
For now?
Use that centre entrance only, glue/nail thick cardboard over the other two.
Inside the hive gather your frames around that centre entrance and put dividers either side of that core.
Make sure a queen is present, now. Where none is present I recommend you forget this effort and use the hive as a trap. To set that up provide an entrance and vents as described above. Move what frames you have - up three minimum - to beside the new entrance. Place a divider after the last frame.
Your area should be humming right now with loads of eucalypts coming in, ironbark not far away too. Find a creek bordered with stringybark and park the hive nearby, use your ant trap idea.
Good luck ;-)
Bill
I've already reduced the space inside the hive but I can't exactly do much else for awhile now since I live nowhere near the hive and need to travel for hours just to check on it, that being said I'll check on it when I can but if it dies before that it's not really going to cause me any problems since I was only doing this to attempt to save some bees in a bad spot.
If the bees manage to survive and grow I might try keeping honey bees but I don't really want to go even more out of my way to trap swarms or anything.