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.

[betula]

Oh this is good,just need Tony or Robert to kick off now   

[Robert_Brenchley]

This is a brilliant idea; maybe the chicken people would like a board as well?

I sneaked a look at my bees this afternoon; all four hives are alive. I don't usually lose them this time of year, it tends to be around January. Lasy year I lost two out of six in the autumn, and they were seriously weakin the spring, when another dwindled away. I suspect the problem was malnutrition due to the bad autumn weather. They were confined to the hives and using up what stores they had when they should have been bringing in a lot of ivy pollen. Pollen is the source of all their nutrition apart from carbohydrate, and I think that was the problem.

[tonybloke]

Well, here we go!!
my two hives are apparently doing really well, still flying in mid-november, bringing in some pollen (suspect it is from mahonia) and some nectar from ivy. I 'hefted' them today, and they are both  bl**dy heavy!!
One of my queens is an '08 queen,(collected swarm) and by the colour of her, got a fair bit of italian in her. The other one is a '09  'norfolk mongrel',(purchased nuc) and a lot darker. both hives are in 'commercial' broods, solid floors, feed holes in the crown boards open for the winter.
Bees still flying most days, and even still got a few drones!!


how many other Beeks are members here?
how many / what type of bees / hives has everyone else got??
come on, don't be shy!!

[gwynnethmary]

Hi- we don't keep bees, but my husband has just made a lovely des res for bumble bees to go in our garden- has also made a posh version for our son and daughter-in-law for Christmas.  When is the best time to place it in the garden ?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Six Nationals, all converted to 14x12. Four are occupied, as my September splits failed.

[Geoff H]

Hi- we don't keep bees, but my husband has just made a lovely des res for bumble bees to go in our garden- has also made a posh version for our son and daughter-in-law for Christmas.  When is the best time to place it in the garden ?

Spring. The queens have gone into hibernation now and will start looking for nests in spring. You can buy bumble nests but most don't get occupied and your hubbies may suffer the same fate. Bumble bees nest in the debris of old mouse or rats nests and I have read that the queen bee seeks them out by following the scent of rodent urine.
Last summer i had to rescue a bumble bee nest that had been exposed by a shed demolition. It was in the middle of  a mass of paper and dry moss. If you can get any pet bedding from suitable specie that might help but they do need suitable material in the box. Remember it only lasts a year.

[tonybloke]

Hi- we don't keep bees, but my husband has just made a lovely des res for bumble bees to go in our garden- has also made a posh version for our son and daughter-in-law for Christmas.  When is the best time to place it in the garden ?

now, to let mice move in for the winter, it's the smell of mice that bumble bees look for

[tonybloke]

Six Nationals, all converted to 14x12. 

were they easy to convert?

[Toadspawn]

I united four stocks into two . Unfortunately I could not find the queen in one stock so the pair were united with two queens. Presumably they fought and one won. Don't know which one yet. Both stocks on double brood and both fed with 1.5-2 gals syrup. However, they worked something (ivy?) afterwards taking in so much pollen and nectar that they are too heavy to heft. Any bit of dry weather they are still flying and working some flowers. Hopefully they will come through the winter as strong stocks because (un)fortunately oilseed rape about 100 yds away. I think I might try for some cut comb because quick granulation will not matter as I will not need to extract it.
Just ended two years of chairman of the local group and we are lucky to have Kate Humble as one of our members now as she lives in the area and has acquired bees from another of our members.
Had a good day promoting beekeeping and the importance of pollination at a local 'apple day'. There is so much interest that our training course has double the amount of applicants they we can handle effectively.

[Geoff H]

My honey bees.....I have 4 strong colonies all in commercials with one queenless colony dying out - I have explained why I did not combine them in another thread.
Two strong colonies are Carniolans - lovely bees and two are black mongrels - a bit more feisty so stuck at the back of a farm. The Carniolans are in my garden and i can take photos 12 inches away without protection.
I have invested in a polystyrene hive from Denmark - Langstroth with Dadant brood frame which I want to try next year. I want to try Italians and perhaps Buckfast on my allotment.

[paulinems]

huby has 1 hive at the moment but didnt get any honey this year he hopes to have more hives for next year is starting to make himeself more hive ready for new bees for next year

[tonybloke]

are everyone else's bees still flying ?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mine are flying a bit on the brighter days, but that's all. Thorne's do a 14x12 converter (at an exorbitant price) so it's really easy. If you're any good at woodwork you could get one and copy it. I'm never comfortable keeping colonies in single Nationals, as even a small broodnest will fill one leaving very little space for stores. I've tried double box systems and it's too much palaver, so I have everything on the larger frames.

[Melbourne12]

We are just ending our first season as beekeepers.  We have two hives, both currently on ordinary nationals, but intending to convert to 14x12 next year since both became overcrowded in the summer.  One colony are Carniolans, the other a dark coloured mongrel swarm.

OMFs on both,  and crown boards left on for the winter.  Both are being fed fondant at the moment, but to be honest they probably didn't need it since the mild weather has meant that they were still foraging as of last weekend.

We recently gave them a Hiveclean treatment since there were still a few varroa on the floor in spite of Apiguard in September.  But right now the mites are our only obvious worry as we head into winter.  Both look like strong colonies, so fingers crossed.  We'll be putting anti-woodpecker wire around the hives as soon as the frosts arrive.

[Twoflower]

Has anyone tried the icing sugar trick for varroa on honey bee? I emptied out my spring bulb pots the back end of last month and disturbed a orange bottomed bumble bee ( it was a big one so i think it must have been a Queen ) which was covered in what looked like mites. Having read that icing sugar grains are the same size as the holes the mites breathe though, and so if covered with icing sugar they can't breathe and fall off i thought I'd give it a go. Well the bumble bee didn't seem to mind being covered in sugar and when i went back to check she was beautifully clean with not a mite to be seen. I just wondered if anyone has tried the same trick?

[Geoff H]

Bumble bees don't get varroa. There is a debate on at present as to whether icing sugar is really that effective. I am going to be dosing mine with oxalic acid solution next month.

[Toadspawn]

I put icing sugar on one of my colonies early this year and it appeared to work. Varroa seen on the hive floor insert before treatment and during treatment but none afterwards so it appeared to work. Will try it again next spring because I don't want to use chemicals when the bees are gathering nectar and storing honey. However, treated with Apiguard so there may be no need for any spring treatment.

[InfraDig]

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.

[InfraDig]

I have a design for a top bar hive by P J Chandler. Why is it that shape (trapezoidal)? Is there something wrong with just using a normal box shape.?