In this video I show 2 methods I use to create a comb guide to help the bees build straight comb. I also give the reasons I choose not to use foundation and show what is meant by "bee space."
Video Link
Showing posts with label foundationless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foundationless. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2015
Monday, June 24, 2013
Bee Vlog - June 22, 2013
A quick inspection for Queens Flora & Beatrice just to check space. Flora is ready for another box, while Beatrice is slowly making progress in the top super.
I moved Queen Helen from Outyard #1 to Outyard #4 so I can have a minimum of 2 hives at each outyard. The move is less than 2 miles so I'm keeping them closed up for 3 days to force them to reorient and reduce the loss of foragers returning to the old site.
Then Queen Isabella gets her first inspection where I get my first exposure to wax moth. Nasty stuff! The wax moths where already invading the comb from the attic where I rescued them. And with more comb than the colony could guard the moths were starting to take over. The bees had done their best to try to chew out the cocoons, but hadn't finished the job yet. So I made it easier on them and just removed the mothy wax and reduced their living space to a more manageable size.
I put the mothy wax into the freezer to kill the larvae and any eggs. I'm debating if I want to just melt down the wax or save it for baiting hives next year. Maybe I'll save the better looking stuff and melt the rest.
Video Link
I moved Queen Helen from Outyard #1 to Outyard #4 so I can have a minimum of 2 hives at each outyard. The move is less than 2 miles so I'm keeping them closed up for 3 days to force them to reorient and reduce the loss of foragers returning to the old site.
Then Queen Isabella gets her first inspection where I get my first exposure to wax moth. Nasty stuff! The wax moths where already invading the comb from the attic where I rescued them. And with more comb than the colony could guard the moths were starting to take over. The bees had done their best to try to chew out the cocoons, but hadn't finished the job yet. So I made it easier on them and just removed the mothy wax and reduced their living space to a more manageable size.
I put the mothy wax into the freezer to kill the larvae and any eggs. I'm debating if I want to just melt down the wax or save it for baiting hives next year. Maybe I'll save the better looking stuff and melt the rest.
Video Link
Monday, June 10, 2013
Bee Vlog - June 8, 2013
Queen Guinevere and Queen Dulce are ready for a new box. In this video I show the details of how I "pyramid up" to expand the brood nest and encourage the bees to move up into the new box.
Video Link
The trap-out experiment is at an end. The hive in the wall appears dead or trapped and will soon be dead. There were a good number of survivors in the hive body, but they are queenless. Rather than take eggs from a strong hive and basically create a split, I decided to just add these bees to another smaller colony (Queen Elizabeth) that could really use the boost in population. I used the newspaper method of combining the 2 colonies and will check up on them again in another 7 days.
It was interesting to observe the difference in behavior of a queenless colony. They still worked together and were loyal to the hive, but they were also less active, less interested in working, and almost seemed melancholy. They were still foraging, but at a less active pace.
I left the mesh cone in place just in case there are still remaining bees in the wall that are alive and work their way out. They'll either find a new hive to move into (there are some hives just across the field) or they'll die off. There won't be many though. I'll return in a couple weeks to clean up the cone and window and seal things off.
Video Link
Video Link
The trap-out experiment is at an end. The hive in the wall appears dead or trapped and will soon be dead. There were a good number of survivors in the hive body, but they are queenless. Rather than take eggs from a strong hive and basically create a split, I decided to just add these bees to another smaller colony (Queen Elizabeth) that could really use the boost in population. I used the newspaper method of combining the 2 colonies and will check up on them again in another 7 days.
It was interesting to observe the difference in behavior of a queenless colony. They still worked together and were loyal to the hive, but they were also less active, less interested in working, and almost seemed melancholy. They were still foraging, but at a less active pace.
I left the mesh cone in place just in case there are still remaining bees in the wall that are alive and work their way out. They'll either find a new hive to move into (there are some hives just across the field) or they'll die off. There won't be many though. I'll return in a couple weeks to clean up the cone and window and seal things off.
Video Link
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Bee Vlog - June 1, 2013
We had another cutout to do today. This one was in the attic space of a townhome. It took a few tries to figure out exactly which wall/attic cavity was being used. It was a huge hive with the potential of getting much bigger.
Removal went smoothly. There was quite a bit of honey, so everything got very sticky. We found the queen, Isabella, and caged her up to keep her safe. In the end we filled 2 medium hive bodies with comb (all 20 frames) and 2 buckets with bees. We moved the hive to their new home, released the queen, and emptied the 2 buckets into the hive, giving them a 3rd box for additional expansion.
One thing I love about doing cutouts is seeing how the bees organize their comb in a "natural" setting. One thing I really dislike is the attitude I sometimes feel towards the bees. When you're working in an uncomfortable situation, struggling against the sticky honey and awkward arrangements, taking stings here and there, you start to feel a little like you're at war. It's you vs the bees. I don't like that feeling and I don't want it to change how I work with the bees, so I try to leave that attitude at the job site and not take it home with me.
Video Link
Removal went smoothly. There was quite a bit of honey, so everything got very sticky. We found the queen, Isabella, and caged her up to keep her safe. In the end we filled 2 medium hive bodies with comb (all 20 frames) and 2 buckets with bees. We moved the hive to their new home, released the queen, and emptied the 2 buckets into the hive, giving them a 3rd box for additional expansion.
One thing I love about doing cutouts is seeing how the bees organize their comb in a "natural" setting. One thing I really dislike is the attitude I sometimes feel towards the bees. When you're working in an uncomfortable situation, struggling against the sticky honey and awkward arrangements, taking stings here and there, you start to feel a little like you're at war. It's you vs the bees. I don't like that feeling and I don't want it to change how I work with the bees, so I try to leave that attitude at the job site and not take it home with me.
Video Link
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Bee Vlog - May 25, 2013
It's been a busy swarm season for me. I caught 3 swarms and did 3 cutouts. This video shows the progress all these bee colonies have made so far. We got to see Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Helen. It was quite good luck to see Queen Helen, as we did not see her during the cutout (May 18th), but it looks like she pulled through just fine.
Queen Guinevere seems to have Varroa mite problems. One of the workers had deformed wings caused by a virus transmitted by mites. Quite a few mites were found on the board under the bottom screen. I didn't do an exact count to see how bad the infestation is, but it does look high. Of course, the board has been in there for nearly a month, so it could just be that. I do not apply treatments, but I will be watching this colony to see how well they pull through.
Queen Dulce and Queen Guinevere are growing nicely and will be ready for a 2nd box in the next week or two.
I also plan on building some quilt boxes to place on top of the hives to give that a test.
Video Link
Queen Guinevere seems to have Varroa mite problems. One of the workers had deformed wings caused by a virus transmitted by mites. Quite a few mites were found on the board under the bottom screen. I didn't do an exact count to see how bad the infestation is, but it does look high. Of course, the board has been in there for nearly a month, so it could just be that. I do not apply treatments, but I will be watching this colony to see how well they pull through.
Queen Dulce and Queen Guinevere are growing nicely and will be ready for a 2nd box in the next week or two.
I also plan on building some quilt boxes to place on top of the hives to give that a test.
Video Link
Monday, May 20, 2013
Bee Vlog - May 18, 2013
Someone contacted me about a beehive living in a pillar in the front porch of their house. It has been there for about 4 years and they've tried killing it a few times with bee & wasp killer. Each time it was sprayed it set back the colony a bit, but never completely killed it. They've also had other people out to try to seal up the opening with expanding foam, tar, and caulking, but that never really worked either, as the bees just chewed through and reopened it.
It took about 4 hours just to get the pillar open. We took a great deal of care in removing the cedar siding so it could be reassembled easily. But then we discovered some OSB that was nailed in place and refused to pull free. So cutting it open was the only option.
The hive looked like they had recently swarmed, but with no queen cells to be found. There were no drones, some young larva, but no eggs, and we never found the queen. The comb was very dark. They had very little capped honey. Just for safety, I gave them a frame of eggs and brood of all stages to give them the opportunity to raise a queen, should they need to.
Video Link
It took about 4 hours just to get the pillar open. We took a great deal of care in removing the cedar siding so it could be reassembled easily. But then we discovered some OSB that was nailed in place and refused to pull free. So cutting it open was the only option.
The hive looked like they had recently swarmed, but with no queen cells to be found. There were no drones, some young larva, but no eggs, and we never found the queen. The comb was very dark. They had very little capped honey. Just for safety, I gave them a frame of eggs and brood of all stages to give them the opportunity to raise a queen, should they need to.
Video Link
Friday, May 3, 2013
Bee Vlog - April 28, 2013
After the cutout I still had 2 buckets of bees that needed to be assimilated into the hive. There wasn't sufficient room in just the one box for all these bees, so I added another box with empty, foundationless frames on the bottom, dumped half the bees in there, then dumped the rest into the top box. Wow, what a lot of bees. I'd estimate I pulled out at least 10 pounds of bees in this cutout.
When I released the queen the bees were so drawn up to the cage that it was difficult to get her out and get a good shot of her on camera, but we lucked out there and caught a quick glimpse.
Upon review of the video I noticed how overly excited the bees were to get to her. I know that most of these bees had been in the bucket overnight, and probably thought they were queenless. So I'm wondering if their actions of climbing all over the cage was an act of joy and celebration or aggressive "kill the intruder." I suppose we'll see soon when I do an inspection to see how well things are going.
Video Link
When I released the queen the bees were so drawn up to the cage that it was difficult to get her out and get a good shot of her on camera, but we lucked out there and caught a quick glimpse.
Upon review of the video I noticed how overly excited the bees were to get to her. I know that most of these bees had been in the bucket overnight, and probably thought they were queenless. So I'm wondering if their actions of climbing all over the cage was an act of joy and celebration or aggressive "kill the intruder." I suppose we'll see soon when I do an inspection to see how well things are going.
Video Link
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Bee Vlog - April 27, 2013
I got to put my beevac through the ultimate test and removed a hive of bees from inside an RV. It was a small opening—about 8 inches by 8 inches, to a good sized cavity—about 16 inches on all sides. The last time I was out there the hive was pretty small but looked strong.
This time they were so full I'd say they were about 3-4 days from swarming. I found several queen cells and was able to save some of them in case I accidentally killed the queen.
I did find the queen completely by luck. I was taking a break from vacuuming the bees and just sat and watched inside for a minute. Then on one wall, down low where the light was good, the bees all parted like a curtain and revealed the queen to me. She was just sitting there calmly cleaning herself. So I gently scooped her up with the queen clip and stowed her safely away in the hive box. Welcome Queen Flora!
The beevac performed well. Although it did kill about 10-20% of the bees. I think it's due to the ribbed hose. I'd like to find a smooth wall hose to see if that is more gentle. I filled 3 buckets about 4-5 inches deep. I only brought 2 with me, so one had to be emptied into the hive box and refilled. There were so many bees.
The whole process took about 4.5 hours. It was a very messy ordeal. I had a thin coating of honey all over my bee suit, and a thick coating on my gloves. I got a few "accidental" stings from bees that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 2 through my gloves and 1 on my ankle. But I think I'm starting to get used to them. It's not that the pain or swelling or itching is diminishing (although that can vary depending on the intensity of the sting), I think I'm just not as bothered by them. They happen, I get over it.
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| Photo taken March 22, 2013 The hive was tucked up inside the opening and wasn't easily visible from the outside. |
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| Photo taken April 27, 2013 After just 1 month the hive has boomed into a massive wall of bees and lots of comb. |
This time they were so full I'd say they were about 3-4 days from swarming. I found several queen cells and was able to save some of them in case I accidentally killed the queen.
I did find the queen completely by luck. I was taking a break from vacuuming the bees and just sat and watched inside for a minute. Then on one wall, down low where the light was good, the bees all parted like a curtain and revealed the queen to me. She was just sitting there calmly cleaning herself. So I gently scooped her up with the queen clip and stowed her safely away in the hive box. Welcome Queen Flora!
The beevac performed well. Although it did kill about 10-20% of the bees. I think it's due to the ribbed hose. I'd like to find a smooth wall hose to see if that is more gentle. I filled 3 buckets about 4-5 inches deep. I only brought 2 with me, so one had to be emptied into the hive box and refilled. There were so many bees.
The whole process took about 4.5 hours. It was a very messy ordeal. I had a thin coating of honey all over my bee suit, and a thick coating on my gloves. I got a few "accidental" stings from bees that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. 2 through my gloves and 1 on my ankle. But I think I'm starting to get used to them. It's not that the pain or swelling or itching is diminishing (although that can vary depending on the intensity of the sting), I think I'm just not as bothered by them. They happen, I get over it.
Video Link
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Bee Vlog - April 26, 2013
I got a swarm call that sounded too difficult to get (40 feet up a tree) so I passed on it. But I spread the word to a few other lists I know of. After I got off work I stopped by to see if someone had come to get it or if it moved on. When I got there I found that the home owner had contacted someone else who was willing to give it a try. They had an extension ladder leaning against the tree and were using a very long fishing net to scoop up the bees.
It turns out the home owner who called was the beekeeper who's bees had swarmed. He wasn't interested in having a 2nd hive so he didn't want to collect the swarm. But the beekeeper who answered the call had lost all 3 of his hives over winter, so he was starting over again. It looked like a lot of work trying to scoop up those bees and putting them in a hive body, so I was content with just observing.
There were still a lot of bees on the branch when I arrived, but within a couple minutes they all took off. At first they flew out over some neighbor houses and trees. We thought they were leaving for sure. We went around to the street to see what direction and how far they had gone, but then we noticed they were returning and were descending on the hive body.
I think they took off, then realized the queen wasn't with them so they headed back. When they got back they caught the "homing scent" down in the hive and moved right in. It was spectacular to watch the cloud moving like that.
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Queen Beatrice
It's been a month since Queen Beatrice's last inspection. I needed to see how well they've been filling out the frames, check for queen cells, and see if they need more room. They had fully filled out all the new frames from last time so I added another box. The bottom box was getting filled with honey, so I moved it up to the top (under the new empty super).
They were pretty calm and tolerant of my "invasion" during most of the inspection. It wasn't until the end they became more defensive. A couple guard bees really started warning me and trying to push me back by buzzing at my face. Not bumping, just taking a defensive posture. I think it was because I was rushing things a little too much. It was late in the day, I hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I was hungry and trying to get through it as fast as possible. Because of my rush I was probably crushing more bees than I should while putting the boxes back together and my movements were probably less than fluid.
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Queen Catherine
When we did the cut-out on this hive we secured the comb into the frames with rubber bands. Now that the comb has been braced by the bees we can cut out the bands. We tried being gentle and carefully remove the bands, but that wasn't as easy as we thought. It's also less gentle than you'd expect. We tried gently breaking the bands, but that's also not easy or gentle. It turns out, that just cutting them is the quickest, easiest, and actually most gentle way of doing it. Do some bees get flicked by the rubber bands in the process? Probably, but it's much less harmful than the squishing and rolling that was happening with our other clumsy methods.
Video Link
It turns out the home owner who called was the beekeeper who's bees had swarmed. He wasn't interested in having a 2nd hive so he didn't want to collect the swarm. But the beekeeper who answered the call had lost all 3 of his hives over winter, so he was starting over again. It looked like a lot of work trying to scoop up those bees and putting them in a hive body, so I was content with just observing.
There were still a lot of bees on the branch when I arrived, but within a couple minutes they all took off. At first they flew out over some neighbor houses and trees. We thought they were leaving for sure. We went around to the street to see what direction and how far they had gone, but then we noticed they were returning and were descending on the hive body.
I think they took off, then realized the queen wasn't with them so they headed back. When they got back they caught the "homing scent" down in the hive and moved right in. It was spectacular to watch the cloud moving like that.
Video Link
Queen Beatrice
It's been a month since Queen Beatrice's last inspection. I needed to see how well they've been filling out the frames, check for queen cells, and see if they need more room. They had fully filled out all the new frames from last time so I added another box. The bottom box was getting filled with honey, so I moved it up to the top (under the new empty super).
They were pretty calm and tolerant of my "invasion" during most of the inspection. It wasn't until the end they became more defensive. A couple guard bees really started warning me and trying to push me back by buzzing at my face. Not bumping, just taking a defensive posture. I think it was because I was rushing things a little too much. It was late in the day, I hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I was hungry and trying to get through it as fast as possible. Because of my rush I was probably crushing more bees than I should while putting the boxes back together and my movements were probably less than fluid.
Video Link
Queen Catherine
When we did the cut-out on this hive we secured the comb into the frames with rubber bands. Now that the comb has been braced by the bees we can cut out the bands. We tried being gentle and carefully remove the bands, but that wasn't as easy as we thought. It's also less gentle than you'd expect. We tried gently breaking the bands, but that's also not easy or gentle. It turns out, that just cutting them is the quickest, easiest, and actually most gentle way of doing it. Do some bees get flicked by the rubber bands in the process? Probably, but it's much less harmful than the squishing and rolling that was happening with our other clumsy methods.
Video Link
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Bee Vlog - April 8, 2013
It's been 2 days since the cutout and Queen Catherine needs to be released from the cage. I also needed to make sure no major damage occurred to the comb during transport and push all the frames into the center to maintain proper bee space.
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Video Link
Monday, April 8, 2013
Bee Vlog - April 6, 2013
I got a call about some bees living in a chicken coop. I was told the hive has been there for 2-3 years, which seems about right judging by the color of the comb. The bees looked strong and seemed to be in good health. I'm really excited to be adding these survivors to my apiary.
This was my first time doing a cutout. I had some help from a friend (Tara) and family (Tammie & David). There was a lot of comb to cut and fit into frames and they helped things go much faster. We ended up filling 20 frames nearly full, with a little bit of leftovers. We spotted and caged the queen near the very end of an over 4-hour ordeal. We were very fortunate to have found her the way we did. The bees were hiding in the cracks and corners of the walls and we were gently trying to scoop them up and get them to the new hive. As I was doing a little sweeping in one corner she just suddenly appeared. She wasn't running too fast, so with a little help from a feather I was able to get her into a cage for safe keeping. Welcome Queen Catherine!
Video Link
This was my first time doing a cutout. I had some help from a friend (Tara) and family (Tammie & David). There was a lot of comb to cut and fit into frames and they helped things go much faster. We ended up filling 20 frames nearly full, with a little bit of leftovers. We spotted and caged the queen near the very end of an over 4-hour ordeal. We were very fortunate to have found her the way we did. The bees were hiding in the cracks and corners of the walls and we were gently trying to scoop them up and get them to the new hive. As I was doing a little sweeping in one corner she just suddenly appeared. She wasn't running too fast, so with a little help from a feather I was able to get her into a cage for safe keeping. Welcome Queen Catherine!
Video Link
Monday, April 1, 2013
Bee Vlog - March 30, 2013
Queen Beatrice is doing really well. There was a mess of burr comb filled with drone brood that I destroyed while going through the boxes. This is what happens when proper bee space is violated, they fill up the gaps and make it messy to do an inspection. I cleaned things up as best I could and left them some empty frames and an additional box to build up more comb. So instead of raising drone brood between frames they can just fill a frame if they need to.
When I was closely inspecting the drone larva (later, after doing the inspection) I did find mites. So it should be interesting to see how well this hive does and how they deal with them. I don't treat for mites. My desire is to have bees that don't need treatment. So far, this colony has been doing very well and hasn't shown any signs of weakness.
Video Link
When I was closely inspecting the drone larva (later, after doing the inspection) I did find mites. So it should be interesting to see how well this hive does and how they deal with them. I don't treat for mites. My desire is to have bees that don't need treatment. So far, this colony has been doing very well and hasn't shown any signs of weakness.
Video Link
Monday, January 28, 2013
Bee Vlog - January 26, 2013
Season 2 is starting and I have more equipment to build. In the dead of winter nothing is happening at the hives, so it's a good time to put together all those new hive boxes and frames. I usually buy locally at Ruhl Bee Supply but I wanted to try out Kelley Bees. In this video I review both suppliers and the difference in quality I see in the woodenware.
TL;DR - I'm very impressed with the quality of Kelley Bees, but the shipping cost is a deal-breaker. Ruhl Bees disappoints me every time I go there, but for now they'll stay my supplier.
Video Link
In this video I build 1 box without a jig. But I prefer the ease the jig provides. This jig design comes from Michael Bush. I rapidly assemble the jig and build up 3 boxes. Unfortunately the follower boards in my jig are just a tiny bit tight which makes getting the boxes out of the jig a little problematic. I need to see what I can do to give them some more space...
Video Link
I have a non-standard (from what I've seen) way of assembling frames, but I think it has a few advantages.
Video Link
TL;DR - I'm very impressed with the quality of Kelley Bees, but the shipping cost is a deal-breaker. Ruhl Bees disappoints me every time I go there, but for now they'll stay my supplier.
Video Link
In this video I build 1 box without a jig. But I prefer the ease the jig provides. This jig design comes from Michael Bush. I rapidly assemble the jig and build up 3 boxes. Unfortunately the follower boards in my jig are just a tiny bit tight which makes getting the boxes out of the jig a little problematic. I need to see what I can do to give them some more space...
Video Link
I have a non-standard (from what I've seen) way of assembling frames, but I think it has a few advantages.
Video Link
Monday, November 5, 2012
Bee Vlog - November 4, 2012
Hive weigh-in: Both hives weigh 117 lbs. It's interesting that they are at the same weight now when, previously, Queen Anne was significantly out weighing Queen Beatrice.
It's been nearly a month since I've been able to observe the bees on a nice, sunny, warm day. Today it was 63 F when I paid them a visit. Activity levels between the hives have seemed to switch patterns. Queen Anne was relatively quiet while Queen Beatrice was the busy one.
Queen Anne has been fighting a bad case of varoa mites. I've been seeing dead larva that have been pulled from their cells and deposited outside the hive. They've had dead mites attached to them. I suspect (or hope) that this is actually a good thing: that the bees are dealing with the infestation by removing the larva and thus breaking the mites' brood cycle. In the process though, they are also seeing a drop in population as the summer bees die off and new winter bees are fewer due to their culling methods. It should be interesting to see how well they do over winter.
I have no inclination to apply any kind of mite treatments. I don't believe it to be a beneficial long-term solution. I'll be very saddened to lose them of course, but I'd rather have good genetic stock that can handle mites themselves than start treating. It's better, not only for my bees, but the other bees in the area. If this colony can survive the infestation then they have superior genes and they will pass on these traits to other neighboring colonies. Otherwise their weaker genetics will die off. It's harsh, but that's really the way of nature. If I treat the mites then I encourage the survival of weaker genetics, and also breed stronger mites. Both results are contrary to the goal.
Video Link
Photos featured in the video:
It's been nearly a month since I've been able to observe the bees on a nice, sunny, warm day. Today it was 63 F when I paid them a visit. Activity levels between the hives have seemed to switch patterns. Queen Anne was relatively quiet while Queen Beatrice was the busy one.
Queen Anne has been fighting a bad case of varoa mites. I've been seeing dead larva that have been pulled from their cells and deposited outside the hive. They've had dead mites attached to them. I suspect (or hope) that this is actually a good thing: that the bees are dealing with the infestation by removing the larva and thus breaking the mites' brood cycle. In the process though, they are also seeing a drop in population as the summer bees die off and new winter bees are fewer due to their culling methods. It should be interesting to see how well they do over winter.
I have no inclination to apply any kind of mite treatments. I don't believe it to be a beneficial long-term solution. I'll be very saddened to lose them of course, but I'd rather have good genetic stock that can handle mites themselves than start treating. It's better, not only for my bees, but the other bees in the area. If this colony can survive the infestation then they have superior genes and they will pass on these traits to other neighboring colonies. Otherwise their weaker genetics will die off. It's harsh, but that's really the way of nature. If I treat the mites then I encourage the survival of weaker genetics, and also breed stronger mites. Both results are contrary to the goal.
Video Link
Photos featured in the video:
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| A dead larva with 2 dead mites attached, and half of a dead bee. |
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A view of the larva where the mites are visible.
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Queen Anne's bottom board: lots of dead bees and larva. Looks to me like the workers aren't able to keep up with the cleaning work, either because of all the rain or the death rate...or both.
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| Queen Beatrice's bottom board, just to show the contrast between the 2 hives. |
Monday, October 1, 2012
Bee Vlog - September 29, 2012
I built a portable hive scale from the design over at beehacker.com, but had not used the originally intended L-brackets of the design and had used some narrower ones instead. This didn't work well at all, so I upgraded my build to use the correct, stronger L-brackets, which works much better.
Video Link
I've had a lot more practice and experience lighting up the smoker now. I had several failures early on and was quite frustrated with it. You'd think it to be a simple and easy thing to do. Well, it is if you do it right and I was doing it wrong. After some more YouTube research and advice from a comment on one of my other videos I finally got a much better technique. Now the smoker lasts me a good hour or more. I could also extend that time if I filled it even more. Sometimes if I leave the smoker for 10-15 minutes it can look dead, but I just give it a couple puffs and it comes right back to life.
Video Link
Hive weigh-in -
Queen Anne: 130.4 lbs (probably a more reliable weight after fixing the scale)
This is the final "open hive" inspection for Queen Anne this year. I went through the lower 2 boxes, but didn't go through every frame. I still got to see the queen though, which is very surprising and lucky. Everything looked good. I have no concerns about them surviving the winter. But I also don't really know what to expect.
I installed an entrance reducer. The hive entrance is only 1/2 inch tall, so I'm not worried about mice getting in, but the yellow jackets are getting really aggressive right now. I'm just giving them a smaller entrance to guard.
It's going to be tough not getting to open the hive up for the next few months. I'll still be doing external inspections and taking hive weights, which don't require opening the hive.
Video Link
I signed up for a free hive tracking website (HiveTracks.com) that has some cool features for mobile, on-site, record keeping. In this video I do a quick overview of some of the mobile features and demonstrate creating a hive inspection record.
It's a pretty cool site with many convenient features. However, I would like it if there was a mobile app available that would work offline and sync with the online database. This would make it possible to do onsite records without a data plan or if you're in an area that did not have data service.
I didn't cover it in the video, but I also like the map feature on the website. You can have the option to publicly share your location with other users. It doesn't share any details publicly, just a pin on the map. The nice thing about this is you can see how many other sites are in the vicinity. Although, it would be nice if there was an of indicator of how many hives are at each site. Having 20 neighbors with 1 or 2 hives is very different from having one neighbor with 500 hives.
Video Link
Hive weigh-in -
Queen Beatrice: 104 lbs (probably a more reliable weight after fixing the scale)
This is the final "open hive" inspection for Queen Beatrice this year. I lucked out here too and got to see the queen. Their population is smaller than Queen Anne, but they still seem strong and capable. It should be interesting to see how well they do through winter.
Video Link
(This post added to Beeline Buzz Hop #1. Check it out to see what other beekeepers are up to.)
Video Link
I've had a lot more practice and experience lighting up the smoker now. I had several failures early on and was quite frustrated with it. You'd think it to be a simple and easy thing to do. Well, it is if you do it right and I was doing it wrong. After some more YouTube research and advice from a comment on one of my other videos I finally got a much better technique. Now the smoker lasts me a good hour or more. I could also extend that time if I filled it even more. Sometimes if I leave the smoker for 10-15 minutes it can look dead, but I just give it a couple puffs and it comes right back to life.
Video Link
Hive weigh-in -
Queen Anne: 130.4 lbs (probably a more reliable weight after fixing the scale)
This is the final "open hive" inspection for Queen Anne this year. I went through the lower 2 boxes, but didn't go through every frame. I still got to see the queen though, which is very surprising and lucky. Everything looked good. I have no concerns about them surviving the winter. But I also don't really know what to expect.
I installed an entrance reducer. The hive entrance is only 1/2 inch tall, so I'm not worried about mice getting in, but the yellow jackets are getting really aggressive right now. I'm just giving them a smaller entrance to guard.
It's going to be tough not getting to open the hive up for the next few months. I'll still be doing external inspections and taking hive weights, which don't require opening the hive.
Video Link
I signed up for a free hive tracking website (HiveTracks.com) that has some cool features for mobile, on-site, record keeping. In this video I do a quick overview of some of the mobile features and demonstrate creating a hive inspection record.
It's a pretty cool site with many convenient features. However, I would like it if there was a mobile app available that would work offline and sync with the online database. This would make it possible to do onsite records without a data plan or if you're in an area that did not have data service.
I didn't cover it in the video, but I also like the map feature on the website. You can have the option to publicly share your location with other users. It doesn't share any details publicly, just a pin on the map. The nice thing about this is you can see how many other sites are in the vicinity. Although, it would be nice if there was an of indicator of how many hives are at each site. Having 20 neighbors with 1 or 2 hives is very different from having one neighbor with 500 hives.
Video Link
Hive weigh-in -
Queen Beatrice: 104 lbs (probably a more reliable weight after fixing the scale)
This is the final "open hive" inspection for Queen Beatrice this year. I lucked out here too and got to see the queen. Their population is smaller than Queen Anne, but they still seem strong and capable. It should be interesting to see how well they do through winter.
Video Link
(This post added to Beeline Buzz Hop #1. Check it out to see what other beekeepers are up to.)
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Bee Vlog - September 10, 2012
After about 48 hours with the bee escape in place, the honey super still had 100+ bees in it. I'm not sure if it was because the weather had cooled a little and activity slowed, or if it's typical for so many bees to just stay behind. I tried blowing them out and brushing, but the method I finally ended up using was "blasting" with a leaf blower. That's not something I'll be doing ever again. It didn't really seem that effective (the bees can hold on really well) and it seemed to be doing more harm than necessary. Next time I'll be more prepared with an empty box and just use the brush.
A couple frames of comb were extra thick, so to restore proper frame spacing I tried "thinning" the comb by cutting off the faces. Another big FAIL. I ended up just harvesting that entire frame via "crush and strain" and I'll save the honey for any emergency feeding during the winter. (Yes, I tasted it. Yes, it's DELICIOUS!) The rest of the frames were given as-is to Queen Beatrice.
After I got the honey super into the kitchen I spotted a nasty little varoa mite. So there's no doubt that Queen Anne's hive has mites. Every beehive has mites, so I'm not too worried. I don't know how bad the infestation is, but I don't see any signs of weakness or disease in that hive. Again, I won't be treating and I'll just leave it up to the bees to deal with them their own way. It may seem cruel to just let it happen, but I think it's more cruel to treat with pesticides that can also harm the bees. I also believe there's no real helpful or effective treatment.
Video Link
A couple frames of comb were extra thick, so to restore proper frame spacing I tried "thinning" the comb by cutting off the faces. Another big FAIL. I ended up just harvesting that entire frame via "crush and strain" and I'll save the honey for any emergency feeding during the winter. (Yes, I tasted it. Yes, it's DELICIOUS!) The rest of the frames were given as-is to Queen Beatrice.
After I got the honey super into the kitchen I spotted a nasty little varoa mite. So there's no doubt that Queen Anne's hive has mites. Every beehive has mites, so I'm not too worried. I don't know how bad the infestation is, but I don't see any signs of weakness or disease in that hive. Again, I won't be treating and I'll just leave it up to the bees to deal with them their own way. It may seem cruel to just let it happen, but I think it's more cruel to treat with pesticides that can also harm the bees. I also believe there's no real helpful or effective treatment.
Video Link
Monday, September 10, 2012
Bee Vlog - September 8, 2012
Hive weigh-in:
Queen Anne: Unknown (very heavy)
Queen Beatrice: 89 lbs (+4.4 lbs from 2 weeks ago)
Today's inspection involved mapping out the hive and relocating a couple frames to move the drone comb out of the center of the nest. I'll be moving some honey from Anne to Beatrice, so to clear out the extra honey super on Queen Anne I'm using a bee escape board. I'll come back after 24 hours to check on it.
If I just wanted to keep the 2 hives and not do any expansion in the spring then I'd be fine with leaving the honey where it's at and leave Queen Beatrice as is. It would be a good experiment to see how well they were able to survive through the winter with just the stores they gathered themselves.
However, I do want to expand next spring and I want to make sure Queen Beatrice makes it through the winter. It seems like Queen Anne has enough stores to spare so I'll be taking some of it and sharing it. Of course, doing this also runs the risk of taking too much away from Anne, so I'll be keeping a close eye on them through the winter to make sure they don't starve.
Video Link
Queen Anne: Unknown (very heavy)
Queen Beatrice: 89 lbs (+4.4 lbs from 2 weeks ago)
Today's inspection involved mapping out the hive and relocating a couple frames to move the drone comb out of the center of the nest. I'll be moving some honey from Anne to Beatrice, so to clear out the extra honey super on Queen Anne I'm using a bee escape board. I'll come back after 24 hours to check on it.
If I just wanted to keep the 2 hives and not do any expansion in the spring then I'd be fine with leaving the honey where it's at and leave Queen Beatrice as is. It would be a good experiment to see how well they were able to survive through the winter with just the stores they gathered themselves.
However, I do want to expand next spring and I want to make sure Queen Beatrice makes it through the winter. It seems like Queen Anne has enough stores to spare so I'll be taking some of it and sharing it. Of course, doing this also runs the risk of taking too much away from Anne, so I'll be keeping a close eye on them through the winter to make sure they don't starve.
Video Link
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Bee Vlog - August 25, 2012
Hive weigh-in:
Queen Anne - (Too heavy to get a good reading, but I got individual readings of the boxes)
Boxes 1 & 2 together containing the brood nest, some food storage, and the bottom board: 72.4 lbs
Box 3 alone: 62 lbs (about 50 lbs of just honey)
Box 4 alone: 43.6 lbs (about 30 lbs of just honey)
Queen Beatrice - 84.6 lbs (+4.2 lbs from 2 weeks ago)
In today's inspection I talk a little about my efforts in treatment-free beekeeping. I do some cell size measurements and explain the importance of cell size to maintaining a healthy treatment-free hive. Queen Anne's cells are still measuring at 5.4mm...the same as the foundation they came from. Her daughters are the 1st generation to be raised in a foundationless hive, so they are still drawing out cells to the same size. It's going to take a few generations to get them to regress to a smaller cell.
Queen Beatrice's cells are a little smaller though - ranging in size from 5.1 to 5.4mm. This tells me they were either a feral hive, once managed a few generations ago, or came from a managed foundationless hive that has had a few generations since they have used foundation. Either way they're likely from strong survivor stock. A very good sign.
Housel positioning seems to be a controversial subject. Here are two differing opinions/resources.
BeeSource: Housel Positioning – How I View Its Importance To Beekeeping!
Bee Natural Guy: Housel Positioning – Seeing is believing. Or is it?
Some beekeepers swear by it while others seem to notice no difference. I was curious to see if I could observe my bees creating a Housel pattern naturally. But that just doesn't seem to be the case. I saw on a few frames that the pattern can vary across a single frame. There doesn't seem to be any uniformity. I believe that the bees don't really seem to care about such things. I suspect there's some placebo effect at play for the beekeepers that notice improved behavior when positioning their foundation in a Housel pattern.
Video Link
Queen Anne - (Too heavy to get a good reading, but I got individual readings of the boxes)
Boxes 1 & 2 together containing the brood nest, some food storage, and the bottom board: 72.4 lbs
Box 3 alone: 62 lbs (about 50 lbs of just honey)
Box 4 alone: 43.6 lbs (about 30 lbs of just honey)
Queen Beatrice - 84.6 lbs (+4.2 lbs from 2 weeks ago)
In today's inspection I talk a little about my efforts in treatment-free beekeeping. I do some cell size measurements and explain the importance of cell size to maintaining a healthy treatment-free hive. Queen Anne's cells are still measuring at 5.4mm...the same as the foundation they came from. Her daughters are the 1st generation to be raised in a foundationless hive, so they are still drawing out cells to the same size. It's going to take a few generations to get them to regress to a smaller cell.
Queen Beatrice's cells are a little smaller though - ranging in size from 5.1 to 5.4mm. This tells me they were either a feral hive, once managed a few generations ago, or came from a managed foundationless hive that has had a few generations since they have used foundation. Either way they're likely from strong survivor stock. A very good sign.
Housel positioning seems to be a controversial subject. Here are two differing opinions/resources.
BeeSource: Housel Positioning – How I View Its Importance To Beekeeping!
Bee Natural Guy: Housel Positioning – Seeing is believing. Or is it?
Some beekeepers swear by it while others seem to notice no difference. I was curious to see if I could observe my bees creating a Housel pattern naturally. But that just doesn't seem to be the case. I saw on a few frames that the pattern can vary across a single frame. There doesn't seem to be any uniformity. I believe that the bees don't really seem to care about such things. I suspect there's some placebo effect at play for the beekeepers that notice improved behavior when positioning their foundation in a Housel pattern.
Video Link
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Bee Vlog - August 11, 2012
Hive weigh-in:
Queen Anne - Unknown, too heavy for scale
Queen Beatrice - 80.4 lbs (+7.4 lbs from last week)
I put out a call to some of my friends to see if any want to host a hive or 2 for me next spring. I had a few responses. One of the families was with me for today's inspection so they could see what typical hive activity looked like. The kids were really interested so I wanted to also give them a chance to see inside a hive and learn a little about bees. Knowing that I wouldn't be doing a full inspection, and that nobody else would be suited up, I went ahead and tried this inspection without a suit or veil (I had one in the car just in case things went bad though). No problems at all. Nobody was stung and everyone enjoyed seeing and learning. Queen Beatrice's hive is finally growing really well and they've been making good progress expanding the brood nest.
Video Link
Queen Anne - Unknown, too heavy for scale
Queen Beatrice - 80.4 lbs (+7.4 lbs from last week)
I put out a call to some of my friends to see if any want to host a hive or 2 for me next spring. I had a few responses. One of the families was with me for today's inspection so they could see what typical hive activity looked like. The kids were really interested so I wanted to also give them a chance to see inside a hive and learn a little about bees. Knowing that I wouldn't be doing a full inspection, and that nobody else would be suited up, I went ahead and tried this inspection without a suit or veil (I had one in the car just in case things went bad though). No problems at all. Nobody was stung and everyone enjoyed seeing and learning. Queen Beatrice's hive is finally growing really well and they've been making good progress expanding the brood nest.
Video Link
Monday, August 6, 2012
Bee Vlog - August 4, 2012
Hive weigh-in
Queen Anne: Unknown (very heavy)
Queen Beatrice: 61.5 lbs before adding the 2nd box (+2.9 lbs from last week)
It's been a few weeks since I checked the brood, so a full inspection was done today. Even though they're really back-filling the brood nest in the 1st box (bottom) with bee bread (pollen), the brood nest in he 2nd box is looking very good. Lots of honey coming in still. The 4th box (top) is starting to fill out even more. And this time I get a little taste of their honey and comb from some burr comb they built between boxes.
Video Link
Queen Beatrice had a population boom and has finally filled up the 1st box. The comb I straightened up last week has been re-attached very well. Now everything is nice and straight and orderly. I pyramided up the brood nest like I did with the other hive previously. I moved 3 of the brood frames up into the 2nd box in a checkerboard pattern, replacing the removed frames with empty foundationless frames. My previous concerns about the relatively slow growth of this colony are now gone. They're bringing in plenty of food and are functioning very well. Even though I didn't see the queen I can tell from the brood pattern that she is healthy and doing well. Also, the site of eggs in new drone comb tells me that the bees are also feeling confident with their situation.
Video Link
Queen Anne: Unknown (very heavy)
Queen Beatrice: 61.5 lbs before adding the 2nd box (+2.9 lbs from last week)
It's been a few weeks since I checked the brood, so a full inspection was done today. Even though they're really back-filling the brood nest in the 1st box (bottom) with bee bread (pollen), the brood nest in he 2nd box is looking very good. Lots of honey coming in still. The 4th box (top) is starting to fill out even more. And this time I get a little taste of their honey and comb from some burr comb they built between boxes.
Video Link
Queen Beatrice had a population boom and has finally filled up the 1st box. The comb I straightened up last week has been re-attached very well. Now everything is nice and straight and orderly. I pyramided up the brood nest like I did with the other hive previously. I moved 3 of the brood frames up into the 2nd box in a checkerboard pattern, replacing the removed frames with empty foundationless frames. My previous concerns about the relatively slow growth of this colony are now gone. They're bringing in plenty of food and are functioning very well. Even though I didn't see the queen I can tell from the brood pattern that she is healthy and doing well. Also, the site of eggs in new drone comb tells me that the bees are also feeling confident with their situation.
Video Link
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