The Honey Factory

[jerryse]

Pulled 2 supers and extracted them. There is some locust honey in there.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Pesky ants in the NUC feeder box. No problem, flat sticky mouse trap in the box and Diatomaceous food grade spread on ground and block hive stand. One day and they are gone, got this tip from and Old Timer on Youtube. jerryse, I AM JEALOUS! Pulling supers

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Pesky ants in the NUC feeder box. No problem, flat sticky mouse trap in the box and Diatomaceous food grade spread on ground and block hive stand. One day and they are gone, got this tip from and Old Timer on Youtube. jerryse, I AM JEALOUS! Pulling supers

Two years ago i lost a weaker hive to an ant attack. We have some vicious small ants here, called »carpenter ants«. in 2022 i had my hives on pallets on top of cinder blocks and the ants were actually nesting in the pallet's wood, raiding the bee hives during the night.
Since that experience i have my bee hive on two treated landscaping posts and the bottom paver is treated with permethrin twice a year.

 

[Apis mellifera]

A surprise today finding 2 colonies in empty stacked hive bodies today. I can keep most hives from swarming most of the time but not all of them all of the time.
Im thinking one of them is a stray.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

A surprise today finding 2 colonies in empty stacked hive bodies today. I can keep most hives from swarming most of the time but not all of them all of the time.
Im thinking one of them is a stray.

That's why i always keep a fully stocked hive with a single brood box out there. - So far no luck though.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

It's a frenzy, Holly has popped and the whole tree is humming with bees. A long commute for the crew, 20 feet, plus there is holly in the swamp. Dropped another medium on the hives, things are looking SAHweet!

 

[5Australorpasaures]

A surprise today finding 2 colonies in empty stacked hive bodies today. I can keep most hives from swarming most of the time but not all of them all of the time.
Im thinking one of them is a stray.

Strays are good and the first thing I do is a Varroa count. Got 'em may as well make sure they'll stay strong.

 

[Apis mellifera]

First thing I do with swarms is treat them with oxalic acid before they have capped brood. I'll do a mite count on them in August. All my hives are getting extended release OA this weekend.

 

[TheDandyLion]

I would re set about 3 or 4 weeks.

*note I have massively edited this message*

Just wanted to say thanks for the great advice. I reset the bait 3 weeks after I originally set the trap. Seven days after the reset, I saw a scout checking it out, 2 days later I had what I thought was a swarm, as there were a lot of bees coming and going from the hive. Pre-swarm cleanup? Then today happened, and the entire area was dark with bees, the nuc I'm using as a trap was covered with thousands marching into the opening. I am still in disbelief but this looks great.

Next question. I'm thinking that if I wait until they have brood they will be less likely to abscond when I move them to a proper hive. About a week if they have a laying queen, but maybe 2 if a virgin. Am I over thinking this? But should I move sooner with a large swarm?

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Just wanted to say thanks for the great advice. I reset the bait 3 weeks after I originally set the trap. Seven days after the reset, I saw a scout checking it out, 2 days later and I have myself a swarm. I didn't get to see it arrive, and haven't opened them up yet, but by the activity around the hive, it looks promising.

Next question. I'm thinking that if I wait until they have brood they will be less likely to abscond when I move them to a proper hive. About a week if they have a laying queen, but maybe 2 if a virgin. Am I over thinking this?

Swarm comes with the original Queen. Personally I would get them to their permanent hive location. Some say 2+ miles away. If not an option, the evening before the move you can put them in lock down and move them at that time to your preferred location, cut 'em loose on the 4th morning, the bees will orient themselves to this spot and not return to swarm site. I have used this method when I had to move whole hives from 20 to 50 feet for one reason or another with no bees looking for old location.

The bees get right to work inspecting and cleaning cells for queen to do what the queen does. The bees agreed on the box and most likely will not abscond.