Keeping Bees

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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Wed May 27, 2015 9:30 pm

So you trapped the swarm and gave them a new home, but they didn't like it? If you had the queen in there I am very surprised that they took off so quickly. Maybe you should have taken a cotton ball and put a few drops of that lemon grass extract on it inside the box, I have hear that it makes it smell like home to the bees. Just like us walking into a house with the smell of fresh baked bread in side, it just smells like home. I have bought supers and frames from 2 different suppliers now, Better Bees out of New York state, and this year from Mann Lake Ltd because they had a dealer fairly close that I could go and pick up my package of bees. And by fairly close I mean 1 1/2 hours away. I bought the supers from him as well, they were in pieces and I had to put them together, Better Bee sent me the frames and suppers already put together. It was good to see how everything went together, and cheaper to buy them apart. Both companies are very nice to deal with and I would give them both high marks , having a dealer in your area I feel is a plus. Both companies are listed on the net. Better Bee might be a little bit cheaper.
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby DrewInToledo » Thu May 28, 2015 12:15 am

I've been looking at Mann Lake... I tried calling them earlier but no answer.

Funny you mention lemon grass oil. I DID use that. Maybe I should have put some small frosted mugs in there with beer beer. I don't know what they didn't like, but I suspect it might have been the heat. I'm still kicking myself but need to let it go. I have been convincing myself that I helped the ecology.
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu May 28, 2015 1:49 am

Now that you mention it the heat or ventilation could have been what caused them to leave. It didn't make sense to me before that they would vacate the home you gave them so quickly, but that might explain it. Every thing I have heard about a swarm of bees is that they are simply looking for a home, and if you were giving them one, that had frames, and
honey, and smelled like home, what more could they want? Being able to breath could be the answer.
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:15 pm

I worked the Bees today. Smoked them up and opened the box, removed the feeder, moved the full frames to the side and added to empty frames in the middle. Then I added 2 more medium supers to the top. They had filled out most of the frames and there were many bees on every frame. I think this is what is supposed to happen. It appears to me that the hive is strong, and multiplying, with every frame filled. I am very pleased with the Bees progress. The one thing I did not do was open the bottom super to see if there were any queen cells there. I am always in a hurry to close the hive when I work the bees, it seems hard for me to take my time and do a proper job. It will take the bees at least 3 days for them to put their home back the way they want it from this little venture, so I am reluctant to mess with them again too soon.
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby DrewInToledo » Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:44 pm

Good work! It sounds like you have a very strong hive! I wouldn't worry about queen cells just yet if you just put a package in this year, but watch out for next year! That is something I'd like to become proficient in... they say you can just prop up each box and look at the bottom, but... I did observe something interesting--my swarms have happened between 11:00am-noon on nice days. I think there's something to that time frame.

I had a secondary swarm occur 2 weeks ago. I used my bee vac (overkill) and captured them. I'm unsure if I have a queen in there. I haven't been messing with them, as sometimes less is more. I plan to open it this week sometime... if the rain ever quits. I'm color blind--err I guess they call it deficient--at any rate, I really have a hard time seeing color changes if there is not a lot of saturation, like a small little egg in a large sea of royal jelly. It makes things difficult. My plan is to take a frame of fresh eggs and put them into the suspected queenless hive so they can build a queen before time runs out.

I'm glad everything is going well for you!
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Mon Jun 15, 2015 10:01 pm

Thanks, it does seem to be much better this year. The hive is prospering and there is a lot of activity. My son who is also keeping bees is moving to Milwaukie and does not want to take the bees with him. I plan on moving them, hive and all, strapped down in the back of my little PU truck. We have figured out hope we plan to get that done, just waiting for a good day now. This could be one of those Learning Experiences, I will keep you all posted.
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby DrewInToledo » Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:46 am

I just moved a hive a few miles down the road. I waited wil dusk when all the beez were in then i used duct tape iver the top inner vent and the entrance. I also strapped it all together with a come along. I had no issues. Good lick. We want pictures!

Heres a peek in mine. This is before the swarm. You can see the bees were putting comb everywhere, most likely trying to get their genitics up to swarm.

http://youtu.be/MVmzRfPBFHk

I ended up with over 2 gallons of honey from 1 medium box.
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:05 am

I worked the Bees today, I have been letting them alone as much as possible. Last week I bought some more equipment from Manns Lake, 5 new supers and frames, some sugar water supplement, and an " Organic " bee treatment strip for treating Varoa Mites. These strips come 2 in a tightly sealed plastic container and are wrapped in plastic. The warnings on the pac say that you should not put them on the metal top cover because they will eat a hole in it, don't get it in your eyes because it will make you blind, don't get it on your skin, and what ever you do don't eat it. :lol: Maybe their idea of Organic is different than mine. Anyway, The Lady who I spoke to over the phone said this was the least of the poisons I could use to control mites so I bought it, it will kill 95% of the mites in your hive, some of the more powerful stuff kills 99% of the mites. A normal treatment said to use the 2 strips in your hive box between the 2 brood supers once a year. She told me that because my hive was new maybe I should just use one strip now and the 2nd one in 6 weeks. I decided to follow her advice. I took all the supers off, took the bottom entrance restrictor out of the hive [ Ventilation is very important during this process, if you don't allow enough air ventilation the bees can go crazy and kill the Queen , Like I said, this stuff is very " Organic " ] Oh, the stuff does not work if it is too hot and this is Aug, but this week looks good here though, today was 80* and the rest of the week is in the 70*s it works best below 84* and is no good above 95* . So I walked up tonight to see how they were doing, The Bees were all clustered at the bottom of the hive and around the entrance. One of the side effect they mentioned [ Besides possible killing the Queen ] is a thing they call Bearding, all the bees cluster together and look like a thick beard. That is what the bottom of the hive looked like tonight. Its either that or they were gasping for air because there was a strong smell and vapors coming from the strip when I put it in there. Either way they did seem to be alive, not moving a lot, but alive. I will see what tomorrow brings, I hope this stuff works. :roll:
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby DrewInToledo » Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:48 pm

Hey Guy,

Does that strip contain oxalic acid? That's what the popular treatment is these days, and it's unregulated for the most part. I don't use anything, I try to let the bees deal with the issues as I want my honey as organic as possible.
I'm excited to see you with bees. I think in the case of bees--less is more. Staying out of the hive is probably a great thing, in my opinion.

This year, I extracted 12 lbs of honey so far. I've been putting it in everything, from coffee to mead to sourdough bread. I'm not sure if I can steal any more this year since I'm pretty new too. I never harvested honey before this year.

I also received a call from a friend who told me they had a swarm in their tree, so I took the bee vac and I *think* I got the queen. Time will tell. Before you know it, your bees will be swarming... lots to learn!
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Re: Keeping Bees

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Aug 06, 2015 2:37 pm

I have been going up there twice a day to look at them. There are a lot of dead bees out front and the rest all seem to be clustered at the bottom board like they were bearding. It has been 2 days and I think they should have moved back up into the supers at this point. I did take a brick and opened up the top for ventilation yesterday to give them some oxygen, but they are all still clustered at the bottom board. I used Mite Away Quick Strips, they are 47% Formic Acid. There was a very strong smell when I put them in the hive, and the instructions said that ventilation was important, so I removed the restrictor board at the entrance of the hive entirely, and now I have the top cracked open so I should be getting an up draft. I am worried about the dead bees, that did not seem right to me. I am glad that I only gave them 1/2 a dose and not the full recommended dose. It seem that it has been very hard on the bees and I am just a bit worried. Of course if the bees have mites that would eventually kill them anyway. I took an action, I just hope it is the right one. The package said that I could compost the strips when they are done, I think that is where the ' Organic ' part comes in.
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