A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[3goodeggs]

Maybe, if a professional is required for a cut out of trap out, your husband could offer to help and gain some valuable experience.
Sadly even in the village here where I have lived all my life, someone stole a nuc box that I had captured a swarm in and left in what I thought was a quiet place for a couple of hours for the bees to settle. It could only have been another beekeeper which is pretty upsetting. So you are right to be concerned about your super.

I'm hoping to have a little look into a couple of my hives on Monday or Tues. It will be a first inspection of the season. I only do 2 or 3 per hive per year these days. Absolutely delighted that all my colonies came through another winter untreated for varroa. . The two oldest colonies are now going into their 7th year untreated. The others are younger colonies but all related to those original two which are themselves related. I guess I was very fortunate when these bees decided to come and live with me and I think they have a lot of native dark bee genetics which makes them so resilient.

I think that might be part of my worry. We buy new boxes so we will not contaminate our bees, then capturing a wild hive...I suppose we can treat them assuming they have everything. But if they are healthy... but they did leave where ever they came from for a reason...
AUUGGH! The responsibility of all of those little lives!

I called him and read what you wrote, so he said he'd mull the situation over a bit and decide what to do next week.
Apparently they are in a hollow pyramid shaped decoration on the top of a solid pillar.
He thinks he is just going lift it up and set it on top of the super and leave it for a week. His hope is they will move down into the super. Maybe some bee go in the top of the pyramid might work. ?

The owners are concerned for the safety of the bees.
People are learning, and that is a good thing.

 

[1muttsfan]

Still wondering if your husband survives...

 

[3goodeggs]

Yes, he came home with a plan. He realizes it will require help and the proper equipment and a few weeks of time.
I feel a lot better about it.
I think calling him and expressing my desire for him not to do anything fool hardy might have helped....
And reading rebrascora's post to him is probably what did it.
He did not even get stung. It is like cutting down a tree, it is not so tall until you have climbed it.
Then the plan changes.

 

[OHhappychicks]

...

I was planning on growing lavender and was bummed when it didn't start growing in my pot.... then I realized two days ago looking at my seed packages that I never planted it  I will look up lilacs and some other things.

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope this next group goes better.
[/quote


Thank you. I hope so too.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Bummer.  I lost my first hive the first winter as well, the local beekeeper I spoke with thought it was due to mites.  I reinstalled the following spring, and have had these bees now for 3 years.  At my last inspection I noticed they replaced my original queen.  There is a new queen and she is not marked. (my original queen was marked yellow)

It's so sad. I had put medicated strips in for mites, so I hope it wasn't that. Can I just leave my hive like it is, add some lure to catch a swarm Or do I have to use a special trap box?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I'm not sure. I've never caught a swarm.

3goodeggs - glad your DH decided to play it safe.

 

[rebrascora]

Quote:
99% of the time a swarm is the bees means of reproducing. You need to see it as giving birth and a natural birth at that. Compare that with a package which is like a premature baby, born by cesaerian (sp?) section and with a transplanted heart (since the queen is not usually related to the other bees in a package). Give me a swarm any day and a feral swarm over a commercial colony swarm or package which has been used for crop pollination and is most likely poisoned half to death by pesticides.

A strong thriving colony will swarm (weak ones do very occasionally but usually only if they are starving) and the bees in a swarm are far more likely to be free of disease than an established colony, as they come with no brood and comb which can harbour disease. They have bellies full of honey so that they have enough fuel to start building their new home without artificial feeding and are specially selected by the colony to be of a young age to build comb enthusiastically and set up a new home...the strongest and fittest..... Swarms are truly remarkable entities and should be prized much higher than any commercial package, or nuc for that matter, Swarms are generally more placid, since they have full bellies and no home to protect, unless they have failed to find a home in the first few days and are getting hungry and there is no nectar (due to drought perhaps)

Of course, if you live in an area where there are Africanised bees, then you need to take precautions but if you are beekeeping in those areas, you should be taking precautions anyway, since bees can mate freely.

No need to buy new boxes, just remove frames and comb and scorch the inside with a blow torch before you hive new bees in them.
If these bees have already started building comb in this pyramid feature, then they are unlikely to abandon that in favour of a framed hive although they may grow down into it, they will continue to utilise the comb they have already built, so that will eventually have to be "cut out" and ideally fitted into frames with rubber bands or masking tape. The bees will eventually connect the comb to the frames and chew through the tape or bands and remove them from the hive. This procedure of removing a colony is called a "cut out".

Anyway, I am delighted to hear that your husband is going to do some research before he tackles it and I am happy to offer advice if he can take some photos and post them.

Regards

Barbara

PS. Yes it is great that the people have not resorted to the easy option of just spraying them. I hope your husband is able to save them, or if not, perhaps encourage the people to leave them as a living garden feature. I have 7 colonies within 12 feet of my back door without any problems.... apart from it being a bit noisy in the summer when they are ripening honey!

 

[rebrascora]

@ Happy Chooks

My colonies give themselves a new queen every year after the old queen leaves with the prime swarm. If I am lucky, I catch the swarm and she goes on to found a new colony in a new hive whilst the original colony raises new queens, to either swarm again and again (cast swarms with virgin queens) or fight to the death to take over the reign.
I don't try to prevent swarming as it is a healthy part of a colony's life cycle and in my opinion, one of the reasons why my bees are surviving and thriving untreated. Of course I get less honey as a result, but I could make far more money from selling bees if I was in it for commercial reasons. As I is, I get enough honey for my family and friends and I give the swarms away to new hobby beekeepers.

 

[Happy Chooks]

@ Happy Chooks

My colonies give themselves a new queen every year after the old queen leaves with the prime swarm. If I am lucky, I catch the swarm and she goes on to found a new colony in a new hive whilst the original colony raises new queens, to either swarm again and again (cast swarms with virgin queens) or fight to the death to take over the reign.
I don't try to prevent swarming as it is a healthy part of a colony's life cycle and in my opinion, one of the reasons why my bees are surviving and thriving untreated. Of course I get less honey as a result, but I could make far more money from selling bees if I was in it for commercial reasons. As I is, I get enough honey for my family and friends and I give the swarms away to new hobby beekeepers.   

I didn't have a swarm though, that's the strange part.

I'm going to get an extra hive body though, just in case of a swarm, hopefully I can catch it.

 

[3goodeggs]

This is my hive. I said, 'I think it is getting ready to swarm." He said, "No, they are just making wax."
I said, "Put the nuc in front of them anyway, because If you don't and they swarm and we lose them, I will not be fun to live with"
The bees dropped into the nuc. He does not think the queen moved in. He had put two frames from the brood chamber into the nuc to split the hive right before they started
To mass like this.
I am thinking if the nuc looks like they are thriving, then maybe the queen moved in?
I didn't take the course in college, I just read the book.

The continuing saga of the bees in the column...
So anyway, here is the type of column from the house that needs the bees moved.
This is the column without the bees.
He is going to get a lumber saw and cut the top off of the bee column.
First, it is the gate not the house. It is not a pyramid on top... I do not even rattled by his inability to communicate anymore.- They are not in the top because the top is solid Styrofoam. He thinks there might be a little indent but not much.
The column is cement blocks- not Styrofoam- We have been married 30 years.I deserve a medal.
ANYWAY...
The opening is seven inch square, and is five feet deep.

He is thinking about putting 2 pieces of plywood cut to the outside dimensions on top of this column with an opening cut in it the same 7' square.The top piece of plywood will be attached to the brood chamber. He is then going to drill a hole into the side of our brood chamber so they can come and go. He is going to set the brood chamber on top of the bottom piece of ply wood that he will attach to the column. When the queen is in the brood chamber he will slide a queen excluder between the two pieces of plywood and then drill a hole into the base of the column. (yep, I will make sure some one is there to call emergency services, because they won't like that.)
After the hole has been drilled, he is going to put bee go in the hole and hopefully they will go up into the brood chamber and leave the column comb.


He figures after the bees have been moved the rest of the bees will need to be killed.
Or the remaining workers will make a worker queen.
I assume if they hatch without worker bees there to care for them they will die anyway.
I do not think he will be able to cut out much hive with out seriously damaging it.

so, what do all think?
I think I have a headache trying to make what he said sound like what he meant to say.
I think that part of my brain is dying.
That medal better be real fancy.