Topic: Bee Keeping Questions

[Chantenay]

This is so embarassing, but I can't find the answer in my books.
The bees have now got brood on nine out of 12 brood frames, so I have put ten super frames on this morning.
Do the bees keep re-using the brood frames (please don't guffaw like that) or do I have to keep replacing them? Is there anything I should be doing other than looking at each brood frame and checking everything looks "normal" - which it does.

[triffid]

Not guffawing at all -- it's a perfectly sensible question. :)
Bees will re-use all comb. The first job a baby worker bee does when she  hatches is to clean up her own cell. And since a properly laying queen lays eggs in blocks (usually concentric arches), you should find that regular sections of each brood comb are freed up and re-laid in turn.

That said, brood comb fairly quickly gets dark and thick, what with propolis build-up and the patter of millions of tiny bee feet. So it's a good idea to replace it every season if you can -- or at least every second season (the artificial swarm manouevre is the classic way of getting new drawn brood comb.) Old comb can harbour disease and it's also much more difficult to inspect.

Super combs are a rather different matter. The bees will re-use and rebuild them, strengthening the cells a little each time. If you're using an extractor, second-season comb is much more resilient; brand new comb is very fragile and needs to be spun with caution! However, if you're doing chunk honey or sections of honeycomb, of course you'll be cutting out comb which the bees will then rebuild.

When you say you've added a super, I'm assuming you mean for stores... If so, it won't hurt to add a second super; we're in the middle of the main honey flow and if we get any sort of break in the weather your bees will be bringing in surprising amounts of nectar. Bees like space above their heads; if they don't have that, regardless of whether there are spare frames at the edges of the hive, they can start feeling crowded. (mantra for keeping on top of swarm control = "bees think vertically"!)

[Robert_Brenchley]

They just go on using it so don't worry. They do like new comb though, and diseases of chemicals can build up in the old. A good trick is to replace a couple of frames every year, in rotation. So next year you'd take out two frames, and put a coupl;e of frames of foundation in next to the broodnest. Use the coloured drawing opins to mark them so you can keep track of when they were put in. 

Speaking of chemicals, avoid Apistan and Bayvarol; so many mites are now immune that they just lull people into a false security, and then they lose their bees.

[Chantenay]

Thank you so much for that advice.
I thought the super with 10 frames was honey for me. So does Triffid mean that first super is theirs too for their stores, and I put another one on for me. I don't want to be greedy.
I had better make up the next super - that's the one thing I have really not enjoyed so far - the woodwork. I can't knock nails in straight!

[Robert_Brenchley]

That depends on the bees and what hive you keep them in. If you're using standard national boxes then a lot of people use the first super as part of the broodnest, with a queen excluder over that. My native bees are fine in a single National, but the hybrid Italian strains struggle. Alternatively, you could extract the honey and feed extra sugar syrup in the autumn. If you're new to bees, you probably don't know how much in the way of stores your bees really need, and I find it varies enormously from strain to strain.

[Chantenay]

Once again thank you, that is so helpful, because it means I am not doing anything wrong - I have to learn what my bees like. I don't know what strain they are but I shall observe them more closely as the numbers increase.
Can either of you suggest what I might expect to see if they are feeling a bit cramped and stressed, please.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Give them nore space. This is where experience comes in; is there someone in the local Beekeepers' Association who could have an occasional look at them and advise? I could make a rough guess from the appearance of the bees; do they have yellowish stripes?

[Chantenay]

I will try to get one to stop working long enough to get a nice portrait. They seem to have more marmalade markings.
Even more embarassing is that the person allocated to be my mentor kept flirting and going on about the masons christmas dinner, so I'm afraid I avoid him like the plague. Hence I am pestering you - and very grateful for your help, thanks.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you're in Warwick, and you're really stuck for advice, I could possibly get over to look at them some time after the GCSE marking is finished. Marmalade sounds like hybrids to me; my bees are pretty much black. I used to have a hybrid strain that wintered with clusters the size of a football, and needed masses of food to get them through. I think I'd tend to put them on brood and a half (ie a broodbox and a super combined as a broodnest, with an excluder over the top) and see how it goes. Give them a couple of gallons of feed in the autumn (the recipe is 4kg of sugar plus enough hot water to make up a gallon; use half the quantity of sugar for spring feed) and see how they are. With more experience of them, you'll soon be able to fine-tune it.

PS The only masons I know are bees.

[TonyM]

All useful advice on the forum but I am surprised no one has suggested you look into a local course or join the nearest association!!

I did both of the above and in my second season now have four colonies.

The best way of learning is with some mentoring and advice at an out apiary.

Thanks
Tony

[Chantenay]

Hi - attached is a picture of one of the girls with a lovely orange bottom.
I have done the course, and joined the local Association, but as I mentioned above the mentor allocated to me is more interested in flirting. Anyway, I have decided to stop being such a wuss, and I will contact the training officer and see if he can tactfully reallocate someone else. Kind and helpful as you all are, it's better for the girls to have me properly supervised!
Meantime, I have removed the queen excluder and let them into the super because  they did look a bit squashed up. I will collect my honey later.
Robert - you are very welcome when you have any time, I know you're a gent!

[Robert_Brenchley]

That one's a bumblebee. PM me your contact details.

[Chantenay]

Oooops - I thought it was one of mine but you're right mine are skinner and blacker. I will capture one leaving the hive then there will be no mistake.
How hilarious! ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I thought for a moment you might have a bumblebee nest, then checked back and saw how many frames of brood you've got.

[louise stella]

'scuse my ignorance - but what's the difference between bumblebees and honeybees?   Do they all make honey?

Louise

[Robert_Brenchley]

Yes, but bumbles only have a very small nest, with enough honey (and pollen, which is the main brood food) for the grubs. They have annual nests; the queens last through the winter, then start new ones in spring. They build up in size, raise a new generation of queens, then die out.

Honeybees are smaller, and have much bigger nests, with up to 50 000 bees, which are perennial. The queens last several years; I have heard nine years quoted, but mostly they're got rid of after a year or two. Queens are incapable of looking after themselves, and are mere egg-laying machines. A colony will raise new queens, typically in May or June, then once they're ready to hatch, the old queen will be bundled out of the hive, and will fly off with half the adults to found a new colony. It takes something like two million foraging trips to produce a pound of honey, so you can imagine, you need strong colonies to get a good crop.