Recent Posts

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Small Hive Beetle excluder/trap entrance.

« Last post by sc-bee on Today at 05:58:26 pm »

First I will admit I did not read all the post. Some may know this but the first SHB detected in the US were in SC and of course near a port city. Saying that some of the first trap designs good or bad were designed and tested in the SC area. Testing was done early on the PVC pipe method and much smaller that the size pictured. It was deemed not effective....

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Small Hive Beetle excluder/trap entrance.

« Last post by Ben Framed on Today at 05:47:19 pm »

> I have 4 top boards, butted end to end, on top of each hive. It may nullify my experiment.

Bob are the top boards joined to one another in a rigid way or just a simple butted up to one another way. The reason I ask, if they are rigid, (joined together permanently)  you may be able to use painters calk to seal the cracks? This is what my plan is on my solid tops. A cheap thin coat of calk will seal it yet be an easy access when it is time to go inside. A painters tool scrolled across the calk should easily free the tops up once more? I?m not talking about the silicone type calk, but the old time inexpensive cheap type. Lol

Phillip

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: legthargic bees

« Last post by TheHoneyPump on Today at 05:12:06 pm »

Imho wrt Lethargic bees.  Look for signs/symptoms or situation that points towards one of these:

- cold bees, damp bees
- malnourished bees
- sick bees
- demoralized bees, disorganized, aimless ... usually from being sick or hopelessly queenless for a long long time

Slow lethargic lazy bees in spring while other nearby hives are vigorous and busy would be a strong signal in my bee yard to sample that hive for nosema.  The invisible silent killer.  While waiting for sample results, as a field test I would also probably give them a spray bottle wetting of sugar water laced with honey bee healthy, then check again tomorrow to see if they have perked up.  If perked up a day after the spray, that would be a fairly strong indicator  that they are suffering from belly aches and will need some ongoing help to clear of it.

PS:  There is a distinct difference between calm bees and lethargic. You used lethargic.
If they were healthy but just calm and very quiet, it could be that they were just content for the day.  Particularly if it was cool outside and they were not feeling like they really needed to do any shopping.  Stayed home watching a movie. Chillin..  ;)



Hope that helps!

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarming from my hive.

« Last post by sc-bee on Today at 04:49:35 pm »

I checked them. There is plenty of room in the top. They are barely on 3 of the 10.
We have had no rain in over a month. I would expect to see some honey by now

Is the extra box 3 of 10 foundation or drawn comb? Is it plastic foundation? Some folks do not understand adding foundation if the bees do not have the capability to draw wax does nothing to mange swarm issues. Salt you may understand this but a lot of folks don't 

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Swarming from my hive.

« Last post by saltybluegrass on Today at 04:37:44 pm »

I checked them. There is plenty of room in the top. They are barely on 3 of the 10.
We have had no rain in over a month. I would expect to see some honey by now

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: New Hive - Noob questions from first inspection

« Last post by Crtolbert on Today at 03:28:42 pm »

Thanks, JurassicApiary! I will definitely keep you posted.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Which Queen is mated? What to do with the others?

« Last post by Ben Framed on Today at 02:11:44 pm »

Thank you so very much Mr HP.  Your thoughts and clear explanations are prized information. Another one for coping and printing for my folder.  And yes this does help tremendously. Again thank you!

> JurassicApiary. Same here !

Phillip Hall

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: Which Queen is mated? What to do with the others?

« Last post by JurassicApiary on Today at 01:45:17 pm »

While I haven't had this issue, or heard of multiple queens potentially flying with a secondary swarm, I have to say that the responses on this thread are packed with great insight for this newbee (and others, I'm sure).  Thanks to sawdstmakr, Van, cao, Acebird, and HP for chiming in and making this such an informative thread!  This is what Beemaster is all about and what I hoped it would be when I joined.  Good luck, Ben Framed.  Please keep us updated.

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: The New Beginning

« Last post by The15thMember on Today at 01:37:19 pm »

I am changing subject with this post so I am going to cut short and not go into the details of the successful treatment free methods by the beeks across the pond.

Perhaps you could start another thread to discuss this more in depth?  I'd be very interested to hear more. 

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GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. / Re: New Hive - Noob questions from first inspection

« Last post by JurassicApiary on Today at 01:30:53 pm »

Perfectly normal.  Right now they're focused on brood and food.  They'll propalize any urgent/bothersome issues quickly.  Otherwise, as a newly installed package, they're trying to focus efforts on strengthen their numbers, which involves drawing out comb and foraging.  Looking forward to hearing your inspection results tomorrow.