The Honey Factory

[R2elk]

Olivarez OHB Italian queen

 

[Apis mellifera]

But should I move sooner with a large swarm?

Congratulations!! Im guessing they are on your property. Yes, move them this evening just before dark to the spot you want to keep the hive. Then this weekend put them in a hive body with frames, they will build comb fast and you dont want crazy comb in the trap. If for some reason you didnt move them tonight, do it tomorrow night. In the place of the swarm trap put a hive body to catch stragglers that go back to the swarm trap spot the following day. Place the trap each evening on the ground in front the new location with the entrance facing the new hive. It's a bit tedious but the bees will get the idea in a couple days and none of the bees will go to the trap spot. Good luck!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Agreed, move before the foragers fix on the location of the trap. late evening or very early morning I put a screen over the entrance and move them. If I don't know when the swarm arrived will move them to a far location for a few days then back to my apiary.

Prime swarms have mated queens. The smaller after swarms are headed by virgins. A prime swarm will have eggs in a day or two after moving in. Never leave open space in a swarm trap or it will be comb filled. Other than one or two old comb frames I have foundation filling the remainder of the box to take advantage of a swarms pre primed wax glands.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Olivarez OHB Italian queen

Great queens!

 

[TheDandyLion]

Congratulations!! Im guessing they are on your property. Yes, move them this evening just before dark to the spot you want to keep the hive. Then this weekend put them in a hive body with frames, they will build comb fast and you dont want crazy comb in the trap. If for some reason you didnt move them tonight, do it tomorrow night. In the place of the swarm trap put a hive body to catch stragglers that go back to the swarm trap spot the following day. Place the trap each evening on the ground in front the new location with the entrance facing the new hive. It's a bit tedious but the bees will get the idea in a couple days and none of the bees will go to the trap spot. Good luck!

Excellent. Yes, back yard bees.

They are where I want them, now just to move them later to a hive body. And well Um.. rebait and try again . One very cool experience.

Prime swarms have mated queens. The smaller after swarms are headed by virgins. A prime swarm will have eggs in a day or two after moving in. Never leave open space in a swarm trap or it will be comb filled. Other than one or two old comb frames I have foundation filling the remainder of the box to take advantage of a swarms pre primed wax glands.

That's kinda what I thought I had read previously re virgins. Last night there were quite a few bees, I was thinking small swarm moved in, but apparently the real event was today. Didn't know they would do that...

The nuc has 1 old brood frame, one partially drawn brood frame with open frames every other frame.

Oh it feels good to have bees again, and from a swarm. The workers are dark bodied, reminds me of the saskatraz from OHB I got several years ago...

 

[R2elk]

Great queens!

Yes they are. They make super gentle hives that are very productive.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Checkerboarding the NUC today. Eggs, capped brood and good stores. Feeling pretty smug as I haven't been whacked past 4=5 visits. Have to order a Jungle Jim Pith Helmet and head veil, jacket getting a little too warm. Hive on the right 120 +/- ready for extraction.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Using this weekend to attempt and put a dent in my bee equipment upkeep. Always so far behind. Have frames from a bear taking out a yard years ago in boxes, unpainted boxes I'd been using for honey supers and need to use them again soon. After setting up a cell builder and grafting 20 larva into queen cell cups the boy and I got to it.

Yesterday we scraped wax off the foundation in those boxes and rendered it. Tried several methods and it worked best to scrape into a box then wire brush them. Dipped and swished into boiling water to them bang them on the ground each end to dislodge most of the propolis in the plastic cells. Set up a double boiler- turkey fryer pot with my wok pan used for wax on top. With a wood roller ramp and foam wizzy roller recoated half the frames.

Today I put a board between two ladders above waist height threaded empty boxes onto the board. Light sand and dusting, removed all staples then rotated them around as a coat of paint was rolled on with a wizzy nap roller. Second coat after lunch.

Plastic frames that were salvaged and rewaxed will get a strip of wood 3/8 inch thick and 1/2 inch deep glued under the top bar on both sides. I started with all plastic frames because they are inexpensive with zero work needed to assemble. Quickly found the bees love to build ladder comb between boxes. I've tried cutting boxes down to the point the frames hit the ground if you set the box down and they still draw ladder comb. It's come to my attention it's due to the thin top bar on plastic frames. Just need to make those deeper to get the bees to behave and make separating hive boxes easy. Will dub with those after lunch while waiting for coats for paint to dry.

This is but a small dent in the list of fixing and making of equipment...

 

[Apis mellifera]

After setting up a cell builder and grafting 20 larva into queen cell cups the boy and I got to it.

FWIW... I stopped setting up cell builders and pull the queen from my strongest 5 over 5 nucs when they start building cups and drop in a graft. They have been my best cell builders. This year I already split my nucs and will have to split them again so Im not going to bother grafting this year.

This is but a small dent in the list of fixing and making of equipment...

It can be a lot of rewarding work. Best of luck! This is shaping up to be a good bee year in the NE.

FYI... For those who read this thread something you can plant now thats fun to watch your bees forage on is Lemon Queen sunflowers. Planted a bunch today.

 

[Sally PB]

something you can plant now thats fun to watch your bees forage on is Lemon Queen sunflowers.

I have half a dozen that I planted; I've never grown sunflowers before.