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

[cheraboo]

We just checked the hive out back. There are concerns that they have lost their queen and it's been a few days since we were out there so I just wanted to look and see what kind of activity was going on outside the hive. There were only a few bees at the entrance and not many flying around. I took the cover off the top and found 20-30 pincher bugs scurrying on the inside cover. So I freaked out and got all scared that our colony was in trouble. We've seen an occassional ant here and there but nothing like this before. Are pincher bugs a threat to the colony? Is there anything we need to do?

We pulled the inside cover off and found that the bees had been busy and seemed just fine. Jacob pulled two frames and we saw honey and drawn comb. I had planned on taking the bodies apart to check the queen situation but decided that if the workers were working then we should just leave them alone. We can check out the hive in more detail when the sun is out and the threat of rain has disappeared. We had seen queen cells on a previous inspection so that's why we're thinking the queen may be missing/dead/etc.

 

[ChksontheRun]

Pincher bugs or earwigs like dark damp locations. Make sure your telescoping cover is lifted up a little at one end for ventilation. I don't think you will find that there is a problem with them inside the hive, just under the telescoping cover where the bees aren't busy at work. Ants can be a problem here, and they are after the honey. I have been surprised to find them inside the hive in the corners of the super. Has anyone come up with a solution to the ant problem?

 

[Reinbeau]

A thriving hive will keep the ants at bay, but you can use cinnamon sprinkled liberally around the outside of the hive to keep them at bay. It has to be renewed after a heavy rain.

 

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
i'm assuming you guys are talking about basic black ants? we've not had problems with them much, but Reinbeau's cinnamon trick has worked for us.

in related pest management, we actually encourage limited fire ant colonies around our hives. we're VERY careful that they don't get too numerous because they are nasty pieces of work, but around the hives they are very helpful with keeping your hive beetle populations in check: beetles that fall from the hive usually don't get a chance to make their way back inside before the fire ants kill and consume them. since we've had fire ants around, our hive beetle numbers have dropped, which is a very nice thing.

 

[ChksontheRun]

Very interesting about the fire ants. We really don't have them here, just those pesky little black ants that seem to be everywhere, including the kitchen sometimes. They actually bother the hive top feeders more than the hives I think. I guess that is one of the big advantages of the division board feeders, but I don't like to open the hive to fill those up. (I have 3 new hives that I am feeding). I do see occasional trails of the little black ants going into the hive we are not feeding, but not nearly in the numbers that go to the hive top feeders.

 

[bibliophile birds]

forgot to say that they also help break the life cycle of the hive beetles since the beetle pupae mature in the soil. you would be shocked to see how successfully fire ants destroy pupae when they find them! it's brutal- and beautiful (DIE BEETLE SCUM!!).

 

[PotterWatch]

My hive stand legs are sitting in tuna cans full of oil to keep the ants at bay. Works great though some bees do fall in and drown. I have a friend who puts tanglefoot on the legs of her hive stand and she says that works really well too and that very few bees get caught in it.

 

[PotterWatch]

I inspected my hive today to see what my bees had been up to since I added a second box a few weeks ago. Everything looked great and the bees were extremely docile. I didn't have more than 6 or 7 flying around me until I was almost done. They started to get stirred up a bit by the end, but they settled down within a couple minutes of putting the boxes back together and the top on. Good bees!

Smoking a little under the top before taking it off completely:

Looking at some of the new comb they've drawn in the top box:

One of the last frames that hasn't been filled in the bottom box. It had a strip of foundation wax attatched to it that had fallen off the frame next to it. I will not be using wax foundation in any further boxes. They seem to do just fine with the paint stirrers I glued in on the top box so I will continue to use those:

Some pictures of the frames in the bottom box. These have newer comb on them. By the time I got to the ones they first started to draw comb on, my husband had tired of taking pictures

. I didn't spot the queen, but there was lots of capped brood and larve. I didn't see any eggs, but I imagine that was due to my inexperience at this more than anything else. There were no swarm cells and in general, it looked great to me!

 

[cheraboo]

Great pics! How do you get those bee shots so clear? When I try to get closeups they are usually blurry.

 

[Beekissed]

PW, those are absolutely great pics!!! Thank you! I'm getting up the nerve to check my bees again to see if they are doing okay in drawing out comb and how they are progressing.

I hope to have some kind of progress going on inside that hive!

How old is this hive, PW? New package or nuc? How long have they been working? Forgive me if you have mentioned this in a previous post......