My "swarm" hive

[brydie]

Hi all from the land of Oz!

Thought I would send a pic of me with the swarm (in their new home) that my husband and I caught about 2 months ago.  They are all happy in their new hive and have been working hard the past few days.  They couldn't do much for a few weeks after we caught them as it was the tail end of our wet season here in Far North Queensland (don't worry I don't work the bees dressed like this, I just like to sit and watch them sometimes...it's my "time out").

I opened both the old hive and this new one on the weekend and was pretty excited because I found and marked both queens!!  Have never found them before (much to my disappointment!), but there they were - 2nd frame 1st hive, 1st frame 2nd hive...woo-hoo!!

Well, I'm one pretty happy new beekeeper at the moment I must say, it is such a great learning curve!

Anyhow, have a great day, take care - Brydie  :)

[brydie]

Ok, I tried to put a picture on here to show you, but it didn't work....can anyone tell me how to put a photo on a post???  Thanks heaps, Brydie

[buzzbee]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=8167.msg51193#msg51193
This is a dteailed description by Cindi you may find helpful.
If you still have trouble you can PM me the link too the photo and I would gladly post it for you.  Ken

[Robo]

Here is a tutorial for posting pictures.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=6691.0

[brydie]

Ok, I think I have the hang of it now.........THIS is my swarm hive!!!

Thanks for your help!

[Mici]

got yourself a big queen bee with that swarm huh? gotta get me a swarm this year! :evil:

[brydie]

Yep, got a nice queen!  I opened the hive on the weekend and found her, I marked her too (that was a challenge).

This swarm came from my original hive, I still have that hive, and also found the queen in there on the weekend - it was my lucky day!!

It sure was an experience catching that swarm...I'm disappointed we didn't get any pics (it was quite late in the day and the light was fading fast - not the best time to be playing with bees I know, but nevertheless well worth the effort as you can see).

I hope to put some more pics on the forum soon (many thanks to all who showed me how to post pics!!!!)

[Understudy]

Sounds like you did an awesome job. Congradulations. I hope they make lots of honey for you.

I think the queen Mici was referring to was the one wearing the blue tank top.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[brydie]

Hahaha, yeah I thought that's what Mici was referring to, but also thought I would leave the comment alone as it is a family forum  ;)

Hey, glad I wasn't wearing my yellow top at the time of the photo (that would have got some more comments I'm sure), my husband tells me not to wear that when I'm bee-watching 'cause they might think I'm a giant sunflower or something.

Anyhow, have a great day/evening (what time is it over there?), regards (aussie queen bee), Brydie  :)

[TwT]

Looks like you did great, just one little question about the photo! what is that between the two deeps? looks a queen excluder. and I was just noticing how your top fits on top of the hive just flush with the sides instead of like the covers we use here in the states telescopic covers were they hang over.

[brydie]

Yes that is a queen excluder (stainless) in between the 2 deeps.  The lid is a migratory type, we have extremely high humidity (average 80% and higher) and high temperatures here so we need the gap (approx 2.5 inches) between the top of the frames and hive lid for a bit of air flow, there are also vents on the front and rear of the lid (not pictured).

The hive would simply overheat if there was no gap.  Sometimes in summer just before the wet season almost half the colony will be out the front of the hive fanning like crazy and bearding to cool themselves.  I have moved my hives slightly under our mango tree so that they don't get the hot afternoon sun like last summer!  Where I am there is no Winter as such, the bees work pretty hard all year round.  They slow down a bit in the wet season, but that's about it.

I believe the telescopic covers don't have the gap?  I do like the idea of the lip on the telescopic covers though (it's like little eaves on a house), it would be handy for helping to keep the hive dry when it rains.  Maybe I should design a migratory cover with eaves...  Or is there something like this already?

[TwT]

yeah, they have a few different designs out, I have a few of the Kelly tops that have shims in the corner to keep the lid off the hive so it can vent, I cut a notch in the inter cover and use a small board to lift the top about a inch and that's my top vent, they sometimes use it as a top entrance.......  I like the kelly plastic tops,

http://go.netgrab.com/secure/kelleystore/asp/product.asp?product=168