The Honey Factory

[duluthralphie]

Re-queening this time of year is not an option.

We are headed into temps well below freezing. Right now we bounce around the freezing mark every night.

My gear is adequate to protect me. However, I don’t think you understand how mean this hive is. Today I walked over 100 yards from the hive where my wife was, I was going to take my Michelin Man suit off. She stopped me and said I should walk further and brush off as I still had bees on and around me.

I have young grandkids. I do not want them stung. I am afraid to get within 50 ft of this hive without a suit on.

I will go into their hive on Saturday to refill their feeder. It will most likely be there last meal. When I get a good cold day they will take a soapy bath. Or have a plastic garbage bag placed over the hive.

They have very little honey this year, by killing the mean hive the other hive might (emphasis on might) survive the winter.

@nao57 if you want this bees come on up here and take them. Bring your own frames and boxes to carry them home.

Also, if my other hive should re-queen I do not want a drone from the mean hive impregnating her.

So bye bye bad bees...in the next two weeks.


Oops I forgot, the hive is huge, two large boxes full of bees, packed, two medium supers pretty packed too. There are even a lot of bees hanging in the two medium supers I am using as a feeding box.

I would guess 70-80,000 bees. All mean!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

My hives have already removed the drones and exterminated them.

 

[MarkJr]

Don’t use a thin trash bag. Nice, heavy black one.

 

[duluthralphie]

My hives have already removed the drones and exterminated them.

Nope, I saw drones the other day..

 

[MarkJr]

My hives have already removed the drones and exterminated them.

I hived a swarm two weeks ago. There’s almost zero chance they’ll make it (virgin queen) but they damn sure are going gang busters drawing foundation. I’ll take drawn frames in exchange for 15 gallons of sugar water any day. I made them a pollen patty so they have resources to make extra bodies. They will go into a 3 frame nuc in 4 weeks. 1 gallon deep feeder in next to them.

 

[duluthralphie]

Don’t use a thin trash bag. Nice, heavy black one.

Large and heavy and maybe two of them.

 

[MarkJr]

Think outside the box.

How would you get a gentle queen replacement?

There's nothing that says she has to use a daughter for this hive to replace. She could purposely use an outside source. (But she'd have to make sure the queen cells get taken out to not get a nasty daughter replacement.

Your comment did help.

Pretty good at thinking outside the box when it comes to bees. Requeening IS using a different daughter FROM an outside source. Most queen producers breed for gentleness. Their out yards are consistent and predictable for breeding.

Bees are very structured and have a well defined set of rules. You have to learn to play within the lines and bend the lines to make things change up.

 

[Kusanar]

So you want me to dig through 117 pages? I have no idea which page he posted that on.

This is why people get frustrated at beeks.

That isn't a beek thing, it's a forum etiquette thing. You should at least skim the thread and even if you don't read the whole thing when it is big like this one, you should read the first several pages and last several pages so you have an idea of what is going on. Jumping into threads and giving information without reading is why we have so many threads about a sick chicken, and then the chicken dies, and 2 days later someone chimes in with "I would do xyz and I hope she gets better soon!" without bothering to read and see that the bird is dead.

If you don't want to skim through the chatter you can always search the thread for posts by the OP and then just read the highlights.

 

[nao57]

That isn't a beek thing, it's a forum etiquette thing. You should at least skim the thread and even if you don't read the whole thing when it is big like this one, you should read the first several pages and last several pages so you have an idea of what is going on. Jumping into threads and giving information without reading is why we have so many threads about a sick chicken, and then the chicken dies, and 2 days later someone chimes in with "I would do xyz and I hope she gets better soon!" without bothering to read and see that the bird is dead.

If you don't want to skim through the chatter you can always search the thread for posts by the OP and then just read the highlights.

That is ridiculous. There are 117 pages in that thread. And you guys expecting that someone has to read through that many pages before they 'have the right' to post will drive people away from this site.

I guess its time to look for a new forum.

 

[R2elk]

That is ridiculous. There are 117 pages in that thread. And you guys expecting that someone has to read through that many pages before they 'have the right' to post will drive people away from this site.

I guess its time to look for a new forum.

Nobody told you to read the whole thread, just the beginning of the thread.