Beez pleezz

[flowerbug]

i wonder if them shifting the brood is a temperature regulation issue? has your shade or location changed much that would change the average temperature?

 

[Trish Stretton]

No, after thinking about it some more, I think it is because they like one of the frames for brood, that I have been trying to move over to the honey side and out. Its an Original frame that the bees came in....Usually, once the brood cells are capped, I've been able to move it out of the nest to the honey side and they just got on with the replacements, but not with this particular frame.......and then, grrr, they start using the ones next door for brood too.
Its a Large cell frame and I am trying to regress them down to small cell, so I dont want them using this one.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

@Trish Stretton
NOT sad to have removed the bees from DD's house!! They were a healthy hive and a BEEKEEPER took them to his place, so they weren't sprayed and killed. The bees had NO BUSINESS in a closet wall.
There was a story with pictures floating around on the INET about somebody finding a hive in their grill and under the cover. (Wonder how long it was since they had grilled?!?!?) The grill owner sprayed with Raid and demolished the entire hive. THAT was a tragedy. I am sure that SOME beekeeper would have replaced their grill with a new one and taken the "Bee Hive Grill" back home.
Good luck and don't get stung!

We start with one or two hives, and position them where many nectar- and pollen-producing flowering plants are found. There should be plenty of shade, no wind and in a separate area where your non-beekeeping neighbors won't be bothered

 

[majorcatfish]

next year will be starting my bee keeping adventure

 

[Trish Stretton]

It looks like the bees have decided that its already spring. I spotted the first drone already.

I kept a number of frames of honey in the store room just in case I needed to return them. This week, I decided that they didnt need them and did the crush and strain method to extract the honey. These frames were the ones that didnt have full frames of capped honey, except for the seriously fat finned frame. I still have that one and a half frame to do.
I dont know why I keep putting off the finned frame, maybe cos I like looking at it too much. lol

With all the wax I have collected this 'year', I finally gt around to rendering it down and separating out the chunky brood cocoons.
To do this I used a tea strainer that I never seem to use for tea. I wasnt too sure how it would go but it worked a treat.
The next day, the wax had solidified into a beautiful yellow disc.

 

[flowerbug]

It looks like the bees have decided that its already spring. I spotted the first drone already.

I kept a number of frames of honey in the store room just in case I needed to return them. This week, I decided that they didnt need them and did the crush and strain method to extract the honey. These frames were the ones that didnt have full frames of capped honey, except for the seriously fat finned frame. I still have that one and a half frame to do.
I dont know why I keep putting off the finned frame, maybe cos I like looking at it too much. lol

With all the wax I have collected this 'year', I finally gt around to rendering it down and separating out the chunky brood cocoons.
To do this I used a tea strainer that I never seem to use for tea. I wasnt too sure how it would go but it worked a treat.
The next day, the wax had solidified into a beautiful yellow disc.View attachment 36326

View attachment 36328

a pic of the finned comb? wow is that yellow wax! can you reuse it or will the bees reuse it if you put it near or in the hive?

 

[Trish Stretton]

I'll take one tomorrow in day light. My camara doesnt seem to like night time pics, they never seem to come out right and no, I am not going out to buy a fancy camera.

What I will do with the wax is slightly melt it again and apply it to the plastic SC frames I have...or rather the strips that I cut. These will get fitted into the tops of the wooden frames and are called Starter strips. I guess I should take a pic of those as well.

I am always surprised by how yellow the wax is. I dont know why it is though. I'd like to think that its because they have a good diet and no chems being put in the hive, but the truth is, I just have no idea why....actually, thinking about it logically. Its most likely because it is new, one year old wax and most of what we usually see is at least a few years old before its cycled out of the hive.
Wax is supposed to be highly absorbent, which is one reason why I like doing the crush and strain rather than just running the frames through an extractor.
The bees have to re make the comb with the wax they naturally produce. Putting some on starter combs makes it alot easier for them to build off the plastic base. This means that only a small portion of the older wax is in the hive.

Even though I dont use hard chems in the hive,they are still exposed to the same things we are and more so when they go foraging on farmland and roadsides- artificial icides, petro-chems. So by cycling it out as quickly as pos, there isnt that build up in there...thinking sub-clinic poisoning.
I might be over reacting, but I want healthy bees.

Does anyone know the old way of making wicks for candles?
I'm thinking of having a go seeing as it looks like I have more wax than I will need to do the starter strips.

 

[flowerbug]

I'll take one tomorrow in day light. My camara doesnt seem to like night time pics, they never seem to come out right and no, I am not going out to buy a fancy camera.

What I will do with the wax is slightly melt it again and apply it to the plastic SC frames I have...or rather the strips that I cut. These will get fitted into the tops of the wooden frames and are called Starter strips. I guess I should take a pic of those as well.

I am always surprised by how yellow the wax is. I dont know why it is though. I'd like to think that its because they have a good diet and no chems being put in the hive, but the truth is, I just have no idea why....actually, thinking about it logically. Its most likely because it is new, one year old wax and most of what we usually see is at least a few years old before its cycled out of the hive.
Wax is supposed to be highly absorbent, which is one reason why I like doing the crush and strain rather than just running the frames through an extractor.
The bees have to re make the comb with the wax they naturally produce. Putting some on starter combs makes it alot easier for them to build off the plastic base. This means that only a small portion of the older wax is in the hive.

Even though I dont use hard chems in the hive,they are still exposed to the same things we are and more so when they go foraging on farmland and roadsides- artificial icides, petro-chems. So by cycling it out as quickly as pos, there isnt that build up in there...thinking sub-clinic poisoning.
I might be over reacting, but I want healthy bees.

Does anyone know the old way of making wicks for candles?
I'm thinking of having a go seeing as it looks like I have more wax than I will need to do the starter strips.

oh, that's too bad they can't easily reuse/recycle it. i would also be concerned about how much other stuff is in the wax besides what you want in there. i suppose without having it tested you'd not know. :/ using it for lotions or candles seems the obvious things but then again if you don't trust it to not have too many chems/etc then burning it is probably not a great move either. so frustrating when you have no easy/cheap way to find out what is going on, but that is modern life with ag-chem poisons all around. i hate to think of what it is like around here.

the local bee keeper did eventually put some hives out back along the property line again as he has the past number of years. it was so late we thought for sure that he wasn't going to put them out at all and then a few weeks later there they were. so perhaps they were on the road and had just come back (he ships his hives all over the country). so far they have not been swarming the birdbaths too much.

 

[Trish Stretton]

You should talk to him. It seems odd to me that he puts the there. He must have a reason for thinking its a good spot.

 

[flowerbug]

You should talk to him. It seems odd to me that he puts the there. He must have a reason for thinking its a good spot.

with all the flowers we grow here it is for sure a good spot for him. we have constant flowers until the frosts get here in the fall. we get free honey from him if we stop in and ask for it. we don't use a lot of it here though so we don't abuse the priviledge. he's a nice guy. i've not talked to him myself, but Mom has several times.

right now the mints and the larger thyme is blooming up a storm along with the usual other flowers like the birdsfoot trefoil (which i'm mostly removing as i get around to it). we also have plenty of small white clover blooming...

one thing i don't have going this year that i normally put in is some buckwheat plants. i don't think i have a single one growing anyplace i normally would have them. outside the fence they attract deer too much and constantly get grazed down so much that i might get a few seeds per plant if i'm lucky. right now i'd like to get some planted in the pea and garlic patch that is mostly empty but i'm stuck for time.