Author Topic: Bees and Beekeeping  (Read 135422 times)

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #200 on: May 25, 2012, 22:07:42 »
I was collecting a swarm just other day from our local shopping centre roof ledge..and somebody spotted me from offices higher up. This photo of me in 'action' was sent to me this morning... ;D Thanks for the modern mobile phones and their super cameras ::) Girl can't be alone even on roof top anymore without being spotted... ::)

And before anybody mention about the unapropriate footwear for the job..yes..not a bee proof shoes. At first I wasn't even wearing suit when I was scooping the bees into nuc..but after while I though I better put it on..just in case.
Pheww..it was hot up there.. ::) And yes..no cloves neither. Those bees were really nice and calm. ;D
« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 22:16:43 by goodlife »

shirlton

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #201 on: May 26, 2012, 07:02:14 »
You look very cute in your beekeepers outfit  ;D
When I get old I don't want people thinking
                      "What a sweet little old lady"........
                             I want em saying
                    "Oh Crap! Whats she up to now ?"

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #202 on: May 26, 2012, 08:33:58 »
You look very cute in your beekeepers outfit  ;D

Cute?..not the word I would have thought..but thanks.. ;D

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #203 on: May 27, 2012, 20:52:51 »
Bees have staked out one of my empty hives, so I'm hoping a swarm will move in shortly!

cjb02

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #204 on: June 09, 2012, 18:11:59 »
It has been a bit quiet on the swarm front this year, it does look like you had fun picking that one up though. The weather is not helping one bit. so far this year I have had 3 swarms. One I picked up from a house and the other two took up residence in my two apiaries (they weren't mine either which was good). One each. This is a blog entry of an inspection of a colony I have done today. The colony was a swarm I picked up last year and it is doing quite well. Click here . The swarm last year just took up residence in an empty box.

sunloving

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #205 on: June 17, 2012, 07:42:57 »
Wow goodlife, love the action picture.

I went to my first Lancaster beekeepers day yesterday after joining up this week. -All about black bees- I'm really excited about learning at their training apiary and setting up a few hives of my own next season.

So will be stalking this thread to find out how you guys are doing.
x sunloving

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #206 on: June 17, 2012, 08:33:15 »
Yayyy.. ;D Now you are getting into bees too.. ;D I'm much more interested of bees than I'm about honey...just necessary 'evil' to deal with, but bees I could stare at hours.

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #207 on: June 17, 2012, 08:40:34 »
Something I spotted other day about bees that I found very interesting..
that particular day wasn't too bad day and we had sunny spells  8) and I had pile of wilting rhubarb stalk and leaves that I tiedied out of plants..they had loads of honeybees all over them and the bees were licking all of those wilting plant parts.
Now I'm wondering if the bees were resulting desperate measures with some plant sugars that possibly was on surface.. ???...or would they have used moisture off from the leaves (looked quite dry to me).. ???..or perharps they were taking some oxalic acid and treating themselves against 'bugs'.. ??? My hive at the lottie is ok with 'food' so they are not hungry..though it could be somebody's else bees too.... ???

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #208 on: June 17, 2012, 17:43:00 »
Bees do use water, and often it's dew, or filthy water from somewhere. They seem to be atracted by water with salts dissolved in it, but I doubt whether they'd target oxalic!

Melbourne12

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #209 on: June 18, 2012, 11:01:18 »
Only a proportion of the acids in rhubarb is oxalic, with malic acid predominant.

I found a paper that suggests that it's the malic acid that's involved in most of the reactions (http://www.jbc.org/content/126/1/43.full.pdf), not the oxalic or citric.

But the sugar content of rhubarb is tiny, just over 1%, so I'm a bit puzzled by the bees' interest, I must say.

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #210 on: June 18, 2012, 14:39:33 »
Code: [Select]
so I'm a bit puzzled by the bees' interest, I must say...yes, me too and I've never noticed that behaviour with rhubarb before.. ???
I didn't think there would be much sugars..but then I thought as they were 'wilting'..perharps that would bring 'something' on surface...like 'sweating' some substance.. ::)

cjb02

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #211 on: June 18, 2012, 22:36:04 »
Were there any aphids on the rhubarb ( I have never seen any on mine but who knows) and were they farming the sugary secretion from these? just a thought.

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #212 on: July 07, 2012, 20:05:31 »
Were there any aphids on the rhubarb ( I have never seen any on mine but who knows) and were they farming the sugary secretion from these? just a thought.

Sorry..I only just notice your reply... ::)
No..no aphids..they were just walking along wilted stems and leaves with their tongues out...clearly 'licking' the surface for something.

Changing the subject...I just noticed today that there where masses of honey bees on privet flowers on my hedge..first time ever I've seen privet been 'used'..and we've got lot of privet around here. They must use privet as 'last resort' food ..unless all the other flowers are wet or otherwise unsuitable for forageing at the moment. Blackberry flowers are out too..but there is not that many honey bees on them..mainly bumbles. I wonder if the privet is particularly nectar rich this year with all this rain.. :-\ ???
Nice to notice 'new' things going on.. ;D

Robert_Brenchley

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #213 on: July 08, 2012, 17:14:15 »
Privet seems to be one of those plants which only produces occasionally. There was one year when my bees were all over it. The honey was darker and stronger tasting than normal. Privet honey has a reputation for being nasty, even poisonous, but I found it quite pleasant.

tomatoada

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #214 on: July 08, 2012, 17:28:25 »
A gentleman on my allotment site has recently bought a hive and some bees.   They only stayed a few days and disappeared.   He has joined the bee society and gone into things so I suppose there is nothing he could have done to stop them.  We are all gutted.   The weather was so bad for the days after they arrived.   Any suggestions please?

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #215 on: July 08, 2012, 20:29:06 »
There is 'rule' for moving bees into new location..you either move them less than 3 feet or you have to move them more than 3 miles.
To explain this..bees very fixed to their nest location and if the hive is moved more than 3 ft..they will get confuced and struggle to find their 'home' and they will be flying around the old hive site for ages.
3 miles is they average flying/foraging radius that they have mapped all the identification features around this area to their nest...move outside this area and they have to map the landscape to the new location again.
If somebody buys new colony...they have to make sure they are moving it outside their old foraging area...or they simply will recognize where they are and will return to their original 'home'...and seller can sell same colony twice.. ::) ;D

tomatoada

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #216 on: July 09, 2012, 08:33:53 »
Any advice?

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #217 on: July 10, 2012, 09:28:49 »
Advise as getting them back? or keeping them in situ in first place?

Well..it is adviseable to put feeder on with sugar syrup as soon as possible..ideally straight away..where there is snap they are unlikely to go away.. ;)..the immediate food supply also means that they are able to start building honey comb straight away..without stores they are not able fuel themselves and get home ready for youngsters...and where there is food and even little bit of comb, queen is usually eager to start laying eggs. As soon as queen is happy and started, colony will stay put..few eggs are like magnet for the colony...they WILL look after 'their' off spring as long as there is means to do so.
Hive without food is not any better for the bees than any other 'hole' where swarm settles and few 'perks' may well decide that they want to stay put.
One of the main jobs of beekeeper is to keep check that bees don't run out of food..they can die of starvation in hive during bad weather as they cannot forage food and sometimes bees can leave hive in desperation for finding food and/or better home.
As for getting the bees back... :-\..if he has brought the bees from location that is within bees 3 mile forageing area..he could ask the beekeeper who he had his bees from, if any unwanted bees has turned up on his 'doorstep'.. :-\
« Last Edit: July 10, 2012, 09:43:09 by goodlife »

goodlife

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #218 on: July 10, 2012, 09:37:01 »
A gentleman on my allotment site has recently bought a hive and some bees.   They only stayed a few days and disappeared.   He has joined the bee society and gone into things so I suppose there is nothing he could have done to stop them.  We are all gutted.   The weather was so bad for the days after they arrived.   Any suggestions please?

It is easy to be 'clever' after the accident happens..but to avoid mishaps like this and other possible easily done things..new beekeepers are always encouraged..or should be, to have good session or course where basic theory of beekeeping is taught and top of that have first year hands on with experienced beekeeper to learn the basics. I also think that is responsibility...or good manners of seller to advise newbie what to do with the new colony to get them settled.
Saying that..after all bees are wild creatures and we can only do so much and guess rest when trying to 'keep' them where we want them.

grannyjanny

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Re: Bees and Beekeeping
« Reply #219 on: July 10, 2012, 16:00:21 »
Sorry to hijack this thread but is all this rain going to have a knock on effect on honey production this year.

 

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