Bee Hives

[Pickelfarmer]

How many bees did you get in the swarm.I've read that you can put the swarm in a hive box and place a queen excluder between the bottom board and the box and that will keep the queen in there and the bees can make thier way in. The only problem is if the queen hasn't been bred, then she can't get out.

No the queen that goes with the swarm is the old queen and she has been mated with already. She will never mate again so you see this is the same thing your dealing with when you talk about your hive that you got from your buddy.When you got an old queen you have the chance of her petering out and laying only Drone eggs (Drone eggs are Unfertil eggs). I would be willing to bet that alot of the eggs you see in your stugling hive are going to turn out to be drones. Drones are not really a productive part of the hive so if all you got is drones the hive will die.

No I will not use Queen excluders in my hives. I feel they hinder the natural flow of things in a hive and if the hive needs the extra room they are not able to use it due to the excluder. Let them go and see what happens.(My 2 cents)

[leechmann]

Yeah the more I read and talk with people, the more I'm thinking I'm going to leave the excluders in the box they were shipped inn.

Yeah, now that you have said it, and you told me before that the queen that swarms is always the old queen, so the mating flight doesn't come into play. Well, I guess the up side is that the queen left in your hive is brand spankin new.

How far from the hive did you find the swarm. How high was it in the trees. I think I read somewhere that the average swarm is caught, only 8 feet off the ground.

[Pickelfarmer]

The swarm I got was only about 4 feet off the ground. I put an empty box under it and shook them off the limb they were on into the empty box. I had to do this about 3 times. right after I shook them off I used my smoker and smoked the limb they were on so the smell was covered. I just went down and checked and they are still in the box so I'm sure they will stay put. I'll let you know what happens.

[Jameson]

Very cool thread! Thanks for sharing.

Has the heavy winds the last couple of days slowed the bees down? Are they affected by the heavy winds?

[Pickelfarmer]

I just went down and checked and they are still in the box so I'm sure they will stay put. I'll let you know what happens.

Boy did I ever call that one wrong. I went down this morning and the swarm was gone. I walked around the property to see if I could find them but no luck. O' Well. I guess maybe someone else will find them. Some you win some you lose I guess.

Yeah the wind I think will keep the bees closer to home but they still fly. It has to be pretty windy to stop them from flying.

[Dotch]

I have a question for you beekeepers and hopefully you can help me: As a part of our scouting services, we scout soybeans for soybean aphids, primarily in late July and August. There are times when the soybean fields are attractive to honeybees, apparently when temperatures are high and humdity is low, the soybeans produce some nectar the bees are after. This was the case last year around Mankato and the fields were just humming with honeybees several times when we were scouting them. When the aphids reached thresholds and spraying was warranted in the soybean fields, we tried to figure out who the owners of the beeyards we knew of but with no success. What we did do was try to limit our spraying in fields within a mile of the hives until after 6 - 7 p.m. We really don't want to harm the bees or their keepers livelihoods; they're the good guys. I've seen their activity and importance over the past 30 years in field crops and the vegetable crops we raise at home. I also know it's not possible to close the hives up but understand it's possible to move them out of harms way. How can we determine who they belong to in case this happens again? Thanks in advance.

[Pickelfarmer]

Its nice to see people like you looking out for the other guy!!

One way would be to ask the prop owner who the bees belong to. If that doesn't work and you know where the bee yard is located you could leave a note with your name and number on it a few weeks before you think you will be spraying.Leave the note where you think the beekeeper will see it.I have found notes in some of my bee yards on top of a hive with a rock holding it down. Works best if you put it in a plastic sandwitch bag.

One other thing is sometimes the beekeepers will stencel there name and number into the side of a box or two in each yard. Hope one of these helps you out.

I beleave that the maker of most pestacides, has to state on the bottle or package what steps need to be takin to spray. I know that the later in the evening you spray the better it is since the bee's all go home to Cure the days nectur haul.

[leechmann]

Thats some good information there.

I've been gone for a few days, doing some training for my day job. Sure is good to be back home.

Sorry to hear that the swarm left. I was thinking they were going to stay in the box you put them in. Wondering, do you think that a queen excluder beteen the bottom board and the deep box would have done the trick?

I just got back from moving my bees. I am spread out into 3 different locations now. They are approx 4 miles from from the first group to the second, and another 4 miles to the third group. Hope they all produce.

[Dotch]

Thanks picklefarmer. Anything we can do within reason to cooperate we want to do. Soybean aphid populations tend to explode suddenly but we can probably gauge within a week or so based on aphid days about when an insecticide application may be warranted. We're still trying to learn what makes this Asian import tick. Any advice for us non-beekeeper types on do's and don't's around the hives so as not to rile the bees?(or beekeepers? )

Listened to Marla Spivak speak last December at the CPM shortcourse and it was very enlightening to one who is trying to learn more about how bees operate in an agricultural environment. Felt good about the mix of native prairie wildflowers on our acreage afterwards and planted more flowering berry shrubs this spring. Lots of flowers to plant yet this weekend too. I find this whole process absolutely fascinating and thank you and leechmann for all the interesting info.

[leechmann]

Another good day for the bees. I added the second deep super to my hives. They look really good and strong. They had used up all the sugar syrup, and it looks like they are producing honey. Also noticed lots of brood.

Whats the word over your way picklefarmer?

[Pickelfarmer]

Well........ Thank God for the rain. Things were geting very

dry here in DL. I finally got all my hives unwraped from the winter wraping and was able to take a good look at them all. I had 5 hives that I over wintered and up until 2 weeks ago they all were alive. When I unwrapped them I found one dead. I still feel pretty good with only one lost (Stuff happens you know).

I will be making up any kind of splits this week and My father finally has some good queen cells started in a breeder hive so now I can go through and make up some new hives and requeen some of the hives that I know have older queens in them. When I say older queens I mean 2-3 year old queens.

I think I should be able to make about 6-8 hives out of the 4 I have left.

Thats the thing about Beekeeping. If your not carefull it can turn into a monster. 5 gets you 10, 10 gets you 20,20 gets you 40......... well you see how it can go

We really needed the rain here and I'm glad it came now. I think its really shaping up to be a good bee year here in my area.

Sounds like you got your secounds on just in time leechman. Now you need to start looking for some honey suppers to put on in the next few weeks. Things happen fast this time of year and you need to be ready for whats coming next. I'm sure you know when to get your honey suppers on but if you put on your secounds a few days ago I would be going back in about 1 1/2 TO 2 weeks with your honey suppers. It doesn't take long at all for them to fill that secound box.

Leechmann, It looks like Your doing everything right on track. Good job and Now is the time for the fun part. Stop feeding and wait for the honey to start rolling in!!!! Don't monkey with them to much now. The less you dig in the hive and disturb them the more they just do there thing and make honey. Pop off the lid once a week for the summer months and see where they are for room to store honey. If you see the tops of the frames in the top box turning white with NEW wax add another box or two. But don't dig around anymore in the hive. I'm not sure if its true but I can see how it would be, but I was told one time that every time you dig around in the hive it takes 24 hours for that hive to resume there natural way of things?? like I said not sure if thats true but I don't ever dig in the hive this time of year if I know there set and ready to make honey. Good job so far as I can see.

[leechmann]

I popped the tops of the hives today to take a peek and see whats happening. 4 of the 7 hives had bees covering all the frames in the 2nd deep super. Looks like they were drawing out comb and packing honey and pollen in the corners of the frames, waiting for the queen to move up. I have to say that I was really impressed by the sheer number of bees in these hives. Being that the queen lays up to 2000 eggs a day, I imagine that the hive is getting 1500 new bees a day. Although I think the mortality rate is pretty high on the forager bees too. But one thing is certain, the hives are getting stronger by the day.

Whats new on your end Picklefarmer?

[Pickelfarmer]

Took a few pics today and thought I would share them.

Tools of the trade so to speak

Pics of My 4 hives before I so Rudely interupted them.The taller stacks of boxes in the back are just empty stuff. The four in the front are the live hives. I had to add another box to the hive that is stacked 3 high. Found out a few minutes after I took this pic that it was a good thing I added that box.

Getting started.

Looking for the Queen and setting up the box to Divide the hive.

Found her!!! Can you? Took me two times looking through both top and bottom box but she couldn't hide all day .

I started with 4 hives in my modest little bee yard and now I'm proud to say I have 9. I decided to keep all 4 original queens so you will be happy to hear leechmann that I did not SMASH any of the queens into the frames. They are all alive and well. My Dad is going to bring down 5 queen cells to add to the 5 new hives I made up today. Lots of bees and lots of drones. I found a few queen cells but no swarms yet. Looks like I got to them just in time.

[leechmann]

Great pic's Picklefarmer. The queen picture is awesome. So you are doubling you bee yard. Between you and I, we should be able to control the price of honey.

I have to say, of all the smokers there are to chose from, I bought one just like yours. I like the round top.

Looks like you need to mow in front of your hives. The russian bees are tuff, but maybe they would be a little friendlier if they could find the sidewalk. Just kidding.

Great Pic's

Talk Later, Take care.

[Pickelfarmer]

Great pic's Picklefarmer. The queen picture is awesome. So you are doubling you bee yard. Between you and I, we should be able to control the price of honey.

I have to say, of all the smokers there are to chose from, I bought one just like yours. I like the round top.

Looks like you need to mow in front of your hives. The russian bees are tuff, but maybe they would be a little friendlier if they could find the sidewalk. Just kidding.

Great Pic's

Talk Later, Take care.

Yeah Hopefully the Gov doesn't come in and shut us down because of our Monoply on the honey market .

No I got sucked into mowing around them last year and got the you know what stung out of me. I pack the grass down in front of them when it gets to tall but no more mowing for me .

Got my queen cells in yesterday and my seconds added to the old queens hives. I will start looking at puting on honey suppers in about two weeks for the old queen hives and maybe three weeks for the new hives. I amagine your hives are about ready to start storeing some honey pretty soon??? Won't be long now.

[leechmann]

Yeah, I bees don't seem to like the lawn mower. I looked at mine the other day. Looked like the bees were really getting after the second deeps. drawing them out and cleaning them up. I imagine the queens will run out of room in the bottom boxes and move up. I think you are right though, it won't bee long. The bees are moving at a furiuos pace now. The bee traffic in front of the hives is incredible.

Say Picklefarmer, I've been putting my entrance reducers in place at night, to keep the hives warmer in the cool night temps. Do you think I need to keep doing this, or should I just leave them out.

[Pickelfarmer]

I would say you should be fine takeing out the reducers now. I don't use them but I know a guy that does and he takes his out when he unwraps his hives in early May.

[leechmann]

Boy, when the sun came out today, and the temp warmed up, the bees really got after it.

[Pickelfarmer]

Nice pic leechmann. Yes the bees are sure going now. I added my secounds today to all the hives and have dicided not to even go back and check to see if the queen cells my Dad put in took or not. I think its better to not dig around this time of year. I might have a miss or two but I think the risk is worth it.

I'm not sure what it was they were bringing in today but they had some very white pollen on there legs. I'm sure theres no clover blooming yet but its coming soon. We need more rain... How are things over your way??? very dry here.

[leechmann]

Hey Picklefarmer, I've noticed the white pollen too.We are getting a little rain shower right now. Just got home from work. I'm thinking I'm going to add some shallow supers to my hive in a few days.

I think I have a new queen lined up for that hive that was failing. I'll find out tomorrow. I know the numbers in the hive are way down, but I want to see if I get can them turned around. Even if I don't get any honey out of that hive, it would be very gratifying to get them back on track.

Talk later, I need some sleep.

[leechmann]

Picklefarmer, my Itailian bees were going to ask your Russian bees if they could borrow thier fur hats, due to the recent weather conditions. I didn't see to many bees leave the hive today. They stayed pretty close to home. Hope things warm up, for the bees and the garden.

[Pickelfarmer]

Yeah I hear ya leechmann.... This kind of weather is the kind that you really need to keep a close eye on your hives for swarming.Not so much in your case with all new Queens but with old queens in the hive and they don't have plenty of room they will swarm because when its cold out and the bees don't get a chance to fly and there all cooped up in the hive they get the swarming bug. We NEED rain and warm weather to get things going.

As for fur hats........ Sorry my bees are using all theres for the time being

[leechmann]

I'm installing fire places in my hives. This will preform a dual function as it will heat the hive, as global warming is failing to do its job, and it will help on the resale value. What do you think Picklefarmer?

[Pickelfarmer]

It's going to warm up. Hang in there. Its all good. I just put on the last secounds for my hives and soon I will be putting on the honey suppers. Good rain we had the last few days.. Its all wait and see now.

[leechmann]

I think your right Picklefarmer, with the break in the weather today, I was able to open up my hives and take a peek. The queens have moved up into the second deeps on 6 of the 7 hives. The hives are wall to wall bees, so I put 2 honey supers on each hive. The other hive is somewhat puzzeling. The bees have filled the second deep in that hive almost completely with honey. The two outer frames in that hive were not full so I moved them to the middle. I hope they leave enough room for the queen to lay. Things are looking great.

Lastley, my wild hive died. I found the queen dead today, along with most of what was left of the workers. Kind of a sad ending.

Talk later, take care Leechmann