Beez pleezz

[Trish Stretton]

My experience with bumblebees is that if you leave them alone they leave you alone. I've been stung a few times, mostly as a kid. That was usually when I was messing around their nests. They typically built their nests in the ground and I might be mowing over it or just doing something in that area. They do hurt.

I was a cruel kid. We had an apple tree in our back yard. We had several others in an orchard but this one was right in out back yard where we played a lot. Great cooking apples. Yellow jackets would hang around the rotten apples that fell off. When I as around 11 or 12 I'd coat my hands with dust when it was dry and toss a handful of dry dirt on the yellow jackets on a rotten apple. I could pick them up without getting stung, mostly showing off to my younger siblings.

I still remember the very first time I got stung by a bumble bee....I was little!! and sat on one.

 

[Trish Stretton]

@trish, could you just add some fresh yeast? I am a bread maker, and I have done that successfully. I would HATE to see you lose this batch!

I did and then I just did again today.
I'm starting to wonder if I hadnt clean the jug out properly. Its one of my mom's Kombucha jugs...but it is still winter and still quite cold.
Its a learning curve at this point and while it would be awesome to get some home 'grown' booze, I'm not going to get too upset if it doesnt pan out.

 

[flowerbug]

I still remember the very first time I got stung by a bumble bee....I was little!! and sat on one.

ouch!

 

[Trish Stretton]

Today, I finally had some decent weather so I could inspect both hives.
Before I inspect, I like to think about what it is that I want to achieve and/or expect to have to deal with.

With Tahi, it was that I could see through the window that some frames were spaced too far apart and needed to be put closer.

With Rua, it was put a follower board in at the entrance side so it would be easier for my official AFB inspector to do his job quickly and efficiently.

With both hives, it was, check the brood both capped and uncapped was healthy, which they were thankfully.

Rua had two Queen cells, or what I consider to be nice looking Queen cells in the making.
They were high on the frame, within the brood nest and had that nice light beige color and that peanuty looking texture to them.
I think they still have the same queen that they had when this hive was created...and while hives often do not replace their Queens every year, I think they know more about when they need to do this than I do....so I left them in place.

With Tahi, it was a different story, they looked like play cups. A darker color, more chestnutty, rounder and on the bottoms of the frame.....and over on the honey side of things, so these got cut off and removed.

I still take too long inspecting- about an hour per hive, but I have isolated one thing that I need to change that will help spend things up.

These are both long hives, not the normal langstroth hives, so they do not need to have the gaps at the top of the frames, like the other sort do.
So, I am starting to think about how I can change things without causing too much disruption.

 

[flowerbug]

i didn't think they replaced the queen that often? interesting!

i'm not sure what you mean by the gap or what function it might serve in any hive other than a way for the bees to crawl around and for air circulation?

 

[Trish Stretton]

[/QUOTE]

i didn't think they replaced the queen that often? interesting!

i'm not sure what you mean by the gap or what function it might serve in any hive other than a way for the bees to crawl around and for air circulation?

The gap- Beespace. They have a specific amount of space they like between the frames that allows them to do their thing. If its too big, most often, they will fatten one or both combs so that its back to how they like it.

What I am finding at the moment, is that the gap between the top of the frames and the inner cover is too deep, so they are building whats called burr comb between them. The other day, there was alot of drone brood being raised in this burr comb.

With a long hive, I dont actually need the gap at the top of the frames cos there is no box for them to move up into, instead, they have to go sideways to build more brood or honey comb.

So this year, I'm going to think about how I can change things so they arent building the burr comb. That should speed up my inspections quite a bit.

 

[flowerbug]

The gap- Beespace. They have a specific amount of space they like between the frames that allows them to do their thing. If its too big, most often, they will fatten one or both combs so that its back to how they like it.

What I am finding at the moment, is that the gap between the top of the frames and the inner cover is too deep, so they are building whats called burr comb between them. The other day, there was alot of drone brood being raised in this burr comb.

With a long hive, I dont actually need the gap at the top of the frames cos there is no box for them to move up into, instead, they have to go sideways to build more brood or honey comb.

So this year, I'm going to think about how I can change things so they arent building the burr comb. That should speed up my inspections quite a bit.
[/QUOTE]

oh, ok, i think i get it.

 

[Trish Stretton]

Today, My inspector came over to do my legally required AFB inspections.
Both passed. I did think they would, but there is always that little niggle in the back of the mind that says you might just have missed something.

He has done my inspections for the last 3 years and was obviously pleased at how well the hives were doing= best they have ever been!

I got some timely instructions- this time of year, I need to inspect no later than every 10 days or there is the increased risk of them building out and capping unwanted Queen cells and/or Swarm cells.

So really happy today with what we found.

 

[flowerbug]

glad that worked out great for you!