Bees and Beekeeping

[SamLouise]

For your beekeeping chit chat

I can't create a sub-board so I hope this sticky thread will be ok to start with.

[Hobbitlin]

Hanging around in bushes mostly, Robert. We passed on 3 of them to local beeks but the 4th one absconded from the lovely nuc we'd put them in. Obviously they had spotted somewhere they thought was much nicer in the direction of Witton Lakes. 

Are you part of Birmingham BKA in Highbury Park, by any chance? I've seen the apiary there whilst doing some voluntary work with the Park Ranger Service. It's a nice setting.

[Robert_Brenchley]

My hives are just behind the Botanical Gardens. It's interesting that swarms do sometimes hang around apiaries without having anywhere to move in. I usually find that they stake out an empty hive for a week or two, then just take it over. A nuc box could be a bit small for a swarm that's obviously programmed to look for somewhere big enough for a permanent residence. I'd have been inclined to give it a frame of brood if I didn't have a hive empty.

[Hobbitlin]

I'd have been inclined to give it a frame of brood if I didn't have a hive empty.

Yes we did that but they still left.    But then again, there's nowt so contrary as bees! 

What a lovely place to have hives. I bet there must be very varied forage in the Botanical Gardens? We have our apiary in the Community Garden part of our allotments. Several plot holders have said how pleased they are with the pollination of their fruit trees this year, thanks to the bees.

We had our first batch of allotment honey which sold like hotcakes at our allotment Spring Fair last weekend. We had a taster jar which was also gone by the end of the day. I've never been so busy. We had an observation hive as well, so that was a great opportunity to educate plotholders and public alike about honey bees. The queen was very obliging and did some beautiful demonstraions of egg-laying. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

There must be all sorts of honey plants around in small quantities, but the great majority of my honey comes from bramble in most years. Occasionally it's tinged with privet, but while there's masses of golden rod and willowherb, I've never had a noticeable flow off either. There's masses of ivy, which is good for wintering.

[Toadspawn]

Bees in walls

I was called out to a house where bees took up residence inside the wall of an old stone built shed about 10 days ago and are quite active. They are gaining access through a hole underneath the wooden lintel over an old filled in doorway. The owners were happy to leave them there until he was stung. He was knocking nails into the wall about 6 feet from the entrance hole and naturally the bees were a bit upset. They don't want the bees there now but they do not want them killed. I have been asked to remove them.
It has been suggested that I block the hole using something like a bee escape so that the flying bees can leave the nest but cannot return. I was told to put a brood box or nucleus box with foundation or drawn out comb immediately next to the 'bee escape' but at right angles to it. The bees, unable to get into their 'home' will then go into the bait box. After about 2-3 weeks there will be relatively few bees left in the wall and the queen will probably have stopped laying because there are no nurse bees and no food and she will leave the wall and move into the box in search of food.
Apparently if I can put a frame of brood in the bait box this will encourage the bees to use it and stay there until the queen appears. When I know she is in there because eggs will appear then it can be moved to a new site.
The entrance hole is about 10' from the ground but the owner has some scaffolding which can be errected to support the bait box.
Any thoughts? Has anyone tried this? Will it work?
 

[Robert_Brenchley]

I haven't used it myself, but apparently it gets the workers out quite efficiently. Get some 1/8 inch mesh - the size that's used for open mesh floors, vetilation in nuc boxes, etc - and make a cone out of it. Fix it up over the entrance hole, and seal round the base so the bees can't find their way back in.

I don't think the queen will come out, and if you give them a frame of brood they'll attempt to make a new one. The larva may not be very well fed under the circumstances, so you'd be better off putting a nuc there with a laying queen. The bees coming out of the wall will soon move in with them.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Yesterday I spotted a couple of bees investigating an empty hive, today there were a dozen or so checking out a couple of them. I'm hopeful, maybe there's a nother swarm on the way.

[tonybloke]

Yesterday I spotted a couple of bees investigating an empty hive, today there were a dozen or so checking out a couple of them. I'm hopeful, maybe there's a nother swarm on the way.

I thought you didn't like 'swarmy' bees?

[Robert_Brenchley]

I don't, but they're not necessarily going to be swarmier than others. If they are, they just get requeened. Meanwhile, bees are always welcome!

[Robert_Brenchley]

So many bees round one of the hives this afternoon it was hard to believe the bees weren't in there, but they hadn't arrived when I left.

I give every queen a clean slate when the colony arrives; they may, for instance, have swarmed due to lack of space, and I could end up killing a good queen. Once arrived, I always replace the queen from a hive which tries to swarm. It's not hard to discourage, though obviously there's no such thing as a strain which never swarms.

[tonybloke]

collected another swarm today! ( 7 this year)

[jimtheworzel]

http://www.chesneybeeproject.blogspot.com/
the bove was written by a friend from the allotment.

[goodlife]

Well its been swarmy year here too...I've got swarms coming visiting from all directions..
But..has anybody experienced a swarm that is trying to take over another hive..?
I've just been to see my bees after having a call from the 'landlord' that there is dead bees all over..
And indeed..there was swarm hanging underneath the hive floor and and small cluster on another and such a buzz on front of the both entrances.
No..not my bees has been swarmed..there is two hives and both was under attack..both have bees dangling on ..
So only action I could take is reduce the entrance and let them sort it out for now..
As soon as I did that things did calm down a lot..

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've heard of Africanised bees doing this, but they're a tropical type which wouldn't last five minutes in our winters.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I had a visit from the bee inspector yesterday; they're trying to get round everyone, and find out where everyone's hives are, so that if there's an outbreak of disease they'll be in a position to check them all. He said they think only about 50% of beekeepers have registered on Beebase (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm). Has everyone signed up?

[goodlife]

I don't think they will be getting good registration figures for few years yet..there is still a lot of 'mature' beekeepers that are not using or have computers.
Once the non-surfing, beekeeping generation is gone, numbers will go up.

[goodlife]

Code:

I've heard of Africanised bees doing this, but they're a tropical type which wouldn't last five minutes in our winters

Yes..I've heard that too..but our bees?..never heard or seen before
I suspect it might have something to do with weather change..(yes..blame the weather for that too  )..we've had sunny dry weather for ages..and propably the swarm/s were getting desperate to find shelter for on coming rain..who knows how many days they've been 'dangling' around already..I've certainly been busy catching swarms and getting calls from our local area. What I know of, there is quite few beekeepers/hives in less than 1 mile radius...and I'm not suprised there is few more of non-registered sort too 
Anyway..been to see the hives that WAS under the attack..and reduction of the entrances did seem to do the trick...but there must be 'millions' of dead bees all over the floor..swarm clumps never left and there is now two dead swarms..they've finally perished..
I suppose I could have tried to collect them ..but as there was so much flying going on and the place where the hives are..leaving them to be was safest and easiest solution. If they've been good size, main swarms..then they would have been worth of the trouble.
..these hives are on top of shopping centre roof and access is trough offices.. ..so I do have to think carefully if and when to try to take bees trough indoor spaces..

[tonybloke]

I had a visit from the bee inspector yesterday; they're trying to get round everyone, and find out where everyone's hives are, so that if there's an outbreak of disease they'll be in a position to check them all. He said they think only about 50% of beekeepers have registered on Beebase (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm). Has everyone signed up?

yep, and had a visit from the seasonal bee inspector ( v.nice lady)  My bees were given a clean bill of health!! yay!!
she visited 3 other keepers hives whilst she was up this way, and recorded their details for inclusion on the fera site.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Nobody's likely to be buying nucs this late in the year, but I've just been told that someone - I don't know who - is selling nucs infected with brood disease. Next year, don't buy from any commercial seller unless they're certified free from disease, in writing.

[tonybloke]

Nobody's likely to be buying nucs this late in the year, but I've just been told that someone - I don't know who - is selling nucs infected with brood disease. Next year, don't buy from any commercial seller unless they're certified free from disease, in writing.

good advice, Robert