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.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They're that shape because apparently (I haven't experimented) the bees don't stick the comb to the sides as much. I think Beesource has plans for Langstroth hives, but I don't know any online plans for British types. If you're going to try making your own, look carefully at the joints. The bought ones have a type (I forget the technical name) which requires very accurate cutting, but some people in the US make their own, and use simpler types. Apart from that, you could buy a hive and copy it.

I haven't tried icing sugar. I believe it's efficient at knocking down the phoretic mites (ie those on adult bees). At the same time, it doesn't touch the mites in cells, and in the active season, that's going to be the majority. It's OK as an emergency treatment if a colony gets overrun by mites, but you need to plan treatments, rather than relying on stopgaps. I'll be using oxalic acid in the next few weeks, once the amount of brood has minimised (it never disappears altogether in my strain). I've also found a wide variation in the mitefall at the end of the season, and I'm going to be using that in my queen selection. If I select for low mitefall, there's a good chance I'll be selecting for some form of resistance.

[tonybloke]

Please can anyone supply instructions for homemade beehives? I have been looking around but all I can see at the moment is fairly sketchy. Can anyone also spare the time to explain all the variations eg number and type of boxes, shapes etc. Many thanks for any help.

if you really interested in bees, check out this beekeping site, and have a lookj at the 'video' section, hedgerow pete's guide to various beehives, etc
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/

[tonybloke]

are everyone else's bees still flying?

[naff]

Infradig,
              Try www.woodworkersworkshop.com and search the site. There are loads of plans etc.

[InfraDig]

Looks good! Thank you. I may be some time....!

[Robert_Brenchley]

My bees were well and truly clustered today. One colony looks as though it's down to two frames of bees, which isn't good, but they're all alive.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've been making candy today. I took an old recipe from Wedmore's 'Manual of Beekeeping' 1946, and still in print. There's nothing like it). 4lb of sugar to 1 pint of water. That's roughly two Kg sugar to 500 ml water, with a bit extra water for luck. Boil it down until you can drop it into cold water, and it forms a soft lump. You know when it's coming because it starts to string instead of falling cleanly from a spoon. Don't let it caramelise at all - stir until all the sugar's dissolved, and err on the side of too much water. Bees can't digest caramel, so it boulds up in their gut if there's a long cold spell and they can't get out for a poo. Potentially, this can kill your bees.

Pour it into containers - I use old bread tins - and put a lump on top of the brrodchamber if you think there's any chance of their running short. I don't think my bees will, but they started from nothing this year, and the broodboxes are very far from full of stores. A tin of candy will keep a hive going all winter (when my strain uses very little), and all through a bad spring as well. Since it's already got water in the mix, the bees don't have to dilute it much before they can use it (some people deny that they dilute it at all) so there's no stress to the hive. Bees produce water as they metabolise sugars, so the cluster will always have a little available.

[tonybloke]

I 'hefted' mine at the weekend, very heavy indeed. They still bringing in pollen (probably mahonia) when it's dry and warm enough to fly

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mine tend to be moderate in everything. The amount of honey used over winter is very small, but a year's accumulation of stores, while more then enough to get them through, leaves me worrying about their being left with nothing again is we get another summer like the one before last. So I'll be feeding until they're heavy again, which will take another summer or two.

[Toadspawn]

I am concerned that my hives have gone from being very very heavy to heavy in just over a month. I hope we get some cold weather to slow their activity down. I do not want to feed candy but maybe forced to if they continue to eat their stores at the same rate.   

[Robert_Brenchley]

Sounds as though they probably still have large broodnests. I requeen hives like that. They're a native species, and they should be able to survive withoiut feeding!

[tonybloke]

well, I actually saw a drone today!, he came and had a look out of the door, and wandered back in !!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I had drones all through last winter. It's common with native British bees. Most strains have a lot of native blood.

[tonybloke]

these are 'norfolk mongrels' from Easton College apiary, very dark bees, and also good-tempered.

[Robert_Brenchley]

There may be less mongrelisation than you realise, since you've mentioned the two most obvious characteristics of native bees! I've had a fair few 'mongrel' strains over the years, and not one of them has been as good tempered as my natives. It would be worth doing some morphometry to see, though some people have had strains that looked and acted just like native bees, which eventually turned out to be adapted hybrids.

[tonybloke]

I'll do a bit or morphometry in the spring, I'll also breed from that hive, the other hive will need re-queening, it's got a carni-type '08 queen in it, again, very good-tempered.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Carniolan crossed with native Amm has an extremely bad reputation. I've tried carnie crosses twice, and they've been seriously nasty.

[tonybloke]

Hive an Api New Year!!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I gave mine an oxalic treatment the other day, and found that two have died out. It always seems to be hives headed by queens raised the previous summer, but I had no lack of drones so it shouldn't be down to poor mating.

[tonybloke]

I gave mine an oxalic treatment the other day, and found that two have died out. It always seems to be hives headed by queens raised the previous summer, but I had no lack of drones so it shouldn't be down to poor mating.

so, these were 'o8 queens?
I'm treating my 2 tomorrow, NYD, one of them is this yrs Q, the other is an '08 Q. I'll let you know how they are.
happy new yr, rgds, Tony