Beekeeping

[purplewalt]

I looked on-line and found there will be a Texas Beekeepers Association Summer Clinic in nearby Arlington next weekend, June 10.

Texas Beekeepers Association

Almost always better to relocate a bee hive (swarm) than to exterminate.

Wasps/yellow jackets are probably a different matter.
Yes, they are a part of nature's plan.
All I DO know, they are very aggressive and if they do bite you, it hurts like a son-of-a-gun.

 

[nwdiver]

Almost always better to relocate a bee hive (swarm) than to exterminate.

Unless they're africanized

I flew my drone over the hive and it wasn't attacked by 10k angry bees to I don't think these are hybrids... they seem pretty mellow

What's your take on leaving this colony alone and collecting any swarms it spawns? They're in a good spot.

Here's an interesting video on how they exterminate giant hornet nests in China. Giant Asian hornets are nasty... but this miiight be a little overkill...

 

[kaufen]

The ones I have aren't really selling worth a crap, so a lot of them are ending up on the ground. And they're providing sweetness for the bees.

 

[wdolson]

The ones I have aren't really selling worth a crap, so a lot of them are ending up on the ground. And they're providing sweetness for the bees.

What are you growing?

 

[kelly]

Unless they're africanized



What's your take on leaving this colony alone and collecting any swarms it spawns? They're in a good spot.

I would not leave them in your attic. Nothing good can come from letting a hive expand in your attic. If anything happened that caused the bees to die off, you could end up with a huge wax melting mess on a hot day with no bees to cool the wax down.

I would try to remove the bees as soon as is practical. If you can find the single hole they are entering and exiting from, you can make a cone (small end the size of a dime, pointing away from the hole) out of hardware cloth and nail it up over the hole. The bees will come out but won't go back in. I've only done this once, fairly quickly after a swarm moved into an eave and as I recall the queen did not follow the rest of the bees out. The objective in that case was to get the bees out before they established themselves. Good luck.

 

[wdolson]

I would not leave them in your attic. Nothing good can come from letting a hive expand in your attic. If anything happened that caused the bees to die off, you could end up with a huge wax melting mess on a hot day with no bees to cool the wax down.

I would try to remove the bees as soon as is practical. If you can find the single hole they are entering and exiting from, you can make a cone (small end the size of a dime, pointing away from the hole) out of hardware cloth and nail it up over the hole. The bees will come out but won't go back in. I've only done this once, fairly quickly after a swarm moved into an eave and as I recall the queen did not follow the rest of the bees out. The objective in that case was to get the bees out before they established themselves. Good luck.

One of our neighbors when I was a kid had a wild hive in his attic and he didn't do anything to it until the weight collapsed the ceiling into his living room. I heard things got pretty freaky when the house was suddenly filled with bees really ticked off at having their home suddenly destroyed.

 

[kelly]

One of our neighbors when I was a kid had a wild hive in his attic and he didn't do anything to it until the weight collapsed the ceiling into his living room. I heard things got pretty freaky when the house was suddenly filled with bees really ticked off at having their home suddenly destroyed.

Exactly. The longer you let them go, the worse it can be.

 

[purplewalt]

OMG.

I attended the Texas Beekeepers Association meeting(s) today.
Very informative and motivating.

About five years ago, they had 20 - 50 people in attendance, and today there were over 600 people, multiple Rooms and experience Levels (near complete Newbie here).
Most of the attendees were from Texas, a couple from Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Randy Oliver from California was one of the (excellent and very knowledgable) speakers, and he shared a lot of his strategies on how to maintain healthy hives.
According to Randy, the amount of money earned pollinating Almond Orchards is greater than the amount for selling honey.

Scientific Beekeeping

It is too late to start a hive this year, but with proper planning, next year I plan on getting a couple of starter hives going.

 

[nwdiver]

I bought an endoscope and located the hive... I was really hoping that they were isolated to the eave of my house... no such luck They're definitely in my ceiling...

This is the kit that the local bee keeper has recommended. Any input? Seems like a full suit would be better than a jacket...

The plan is to get a flow super next year once the colony is situated. I plan to leave them alone for a year or so once we get them out of my house and into the hive. They're fascinating creatures... it's fun to just spy on them with my endoscope.

I know the temperament of the hive can change but right now they seem super mellow. I'll get the occasional guard bee when I walk under their hive but for the most part they don't seem to care. They get a little agitated when I fish around with the endoscope looking for eggs and brood but they calm down quick. I've only seen empty cells so far... hope that's not a bad sign...

 

[nwdiver]

Today was moving day for my bees. They sure seem to be really mellow. I only got stung twice. Once was because I squished a bee with my arm accidentally and the other was a bee that found a spot where my gauntlet was close enough to the skin that she could get her stinger through. Apparently I'm pretty immune. It hurt but the welt was gone in less than an hour.

I was disappointed that my hive didn't come with a 10" deep brood box. It's two 6s. I probably should have waited since I only had room for 80% of the brood. ~10% of the honey and pollen. I didn't realize the hive was so big. I left the comb I couldn't fit next to the hive. Hopefully the bees will collect it. I'm gonna order a 10" deep brood box tomorrow. They're probably going to use up the other box fast.

How long does it take for a transplanted hive to settle in? Really hoping I have the queen. I saw eggs so she were there somewhere. Really healthy colony with really good brood pattern.

 

[Denarius]

I use all medium in my hives. That way I can move the frames anywhere, and they are not too heavy when full of honey. They will quickly rob out the comb left outside this time of year since the main nector flow is slowing down (at least in Utah).

 

[nwdiver]

Question to the Group...

I don't think I got the queen... about half the bees returned to the original hive site and they're bearding the gaping hole where I removed the comb. There's a little honey left but really no brood or eggs.

I transferred at least a full frame of eggs and 3 or 4 frames of capped brood and larvae to the hive. There's honey and pollen too. Sounds like worst case is I've basically split the hive.... the bees in my hive will sense that there's no queen and start making queen cells and feeding some of the eggs royal jelly so even if I didn't get the queen I'll probably have a queen in a few weeks. There really isn't room for the rest of the original hive anyway. I ordered 2 more brood boxes but I won't have them until Wednesday.

Should I wait until I get the brood boxes to bother what's left of the original hive or basically 'nuc' them to keep them from swarming to another home?

If I'm queen-less what are the odds that my hive makes a new queen? They've got a lot of eggs and young larvae.

 

[Denarius]

Question to the Group...

I don't think I got the queen... about half the bees returned to the original hive site and they're bearding the gaping hole where I removed the comb. There's a little honey left but really no brood or eggs.

I transferred at least a full frame of eggs and 3 or 4 frames of capped brood and larvae to the hive. There's honey and pollen too. Sounds like worst case is I've basically split the hive.... the bees in my hive will sense that there's no queen and start making queen cells and feeding some of the eggs royal jelly so even if I didn't get the queen I'll probably have a queen in a few weeks. There really isn't room for the rest of the original hive anyway. I ordered 2 more brood boxes but I won't have them until Wednesday.

Should I wait until I get the brood boxes to bother what's left of the original hive or basically 'nuc' them to keep them from swarming to another home?

If I'm queen-less what are the odds that my hive makes a new queen? They've got a lot of eggs and young larvae.

How close is the box to the original hive site? If it is relatively close, its very common for bees to fly out of the new hive, and go on autopilot back to their original site. Putting a branch in front of the entrance can be helpful.

If the queen is still inside they will definitely congregate back at the original location, but they will not leave brood behind.

I’d check for eggs to see if you are queenless. Eggs only last for 3 days so you should see new eggs popping up if you got the queen.

If you didn’t get a queen they will make a new queen if they have eggs or young brood. There is a 100% chance of them making a new queen if they need one.

Other’s can pipe in if they disagree. By now, I’m sure this has resolved itself. How are things looking now?

 

[nwdiver]

Other’s can pipe in if they disagree. By now, I’m sure this has resolved itself. How are things looking now?

I was/am almost certainly queen-less. I inspected yesterday and found 3 emergency cells and one was open. I was surprised to find queen cells since when I had inspected a week ago the eggs and brood I had seen when I transferred the comb into the hive appeared to have vanished... I guess there was some I didn't see. I was about to order a new queen but I'd prefer to keep these genetics since it's a native feral colony with a gentle temperament and a new mated queen would essentially replace the colony one bee at a time.

I'll check again in a few days but unless I see a queen running around I probably won't know for sure until September. I'm leaving for WA next week and I doubt a new queen would be laying by then....

 

[bonnie]

I was/am almost certainly queen-less. I inspected yesterday and found 3 emergency cells and one was open. I was surprised to find queen cells since when I had inspected a week ago the eggs and brood I had seen when I transferred the comb into the hive appeared to have vanished... I guess there was some I didn't see. I was about to order a new queen but I'd prefer to keep these genetics since it's a native feral colony with a gentle temperament and a new mated queen would essentially replace the colony one bee at a time.

I'll check again in a few days but unless I see a queen running around I probably won't know for sure until September. I'm leaving for WA next week and I doubt a new queen would be laying by then....

I always purchased a mated queen -- Africanized bees had been identified in the area and if the virgin queen mated with one of those, well, so long 'gentle temperament'.

 

[Denarius]

I always purchased a mated queen -- Africanized bees had been identified in the area and if the virgin queen mated with one of those, well, so long 'gentle temperament'.

Yea, that is very area dependent. I let my hives requeen all the time since we don’t have Africanized strains this far north (yet). I’ve found the generally survivability to be far superior to what I can get from the mated queens I can order. Since I don’t use foundation, there are a large number of drones in the area as well.

 

[nwdiver]

I always purchased a mated queen -- Africanized bees had been identified in the area and if the virgin queen mated with one of those, well, so long 'gentle temperament'.

I'm certainly new to this but I'm reading A LOT of conflicting info in regards to the AHB 'thing'. From what I understand there's a very high probability that my bees DO have african genes. It's hard to tell but in all the AHB vs EHB photos my bees look more like the AHB.... Some of the data I've seen from southern states indicate that upwards of ~90% of the hives in most apiaries have acquired african genes but remain manageable because the defensive traits have been so diluted. One article I read even suggested that the genetic diversity offered by AHB could be the savior of honey bees in the face of colony collapse disorder.

It appears that the best way to curb the AHB threat is to 'breed' it out. Instead of re-introducing European bees into a AHB area we need to find AHB that are less defensive and breed those. If my bees do get 'hot' I'll pinch the queen and buy a new one. Probably from a local breeder which means there will still be a high probability of African Genes but from a stock with less defensive traits.

Here's an interesting video of how 'Killer Bees' are losing their killer instincts...

 

[nwdiver]

I had my first encounter with either an africanized colony or a REALLY aggressive colony. I told one of my friend about the bees I had found in my eave and he became interested. His brother has some connections and in a few days he learned the location of 3 feral hives. One was under a trailer.

I knew that an africanized hive would be more likely to nest under a trailer but supposedly these bees had been there a while and hadn't bothered anyone. It was only AFTER I was swarmed by hundreds of aggressive bees that the neighbors told us these bees had sent two people to the hospital. At one point I took a break and walked away from the hive. I still had dozens of bees on me ~200 yards from the hive.

So sadly we had to kill the colony. I'll tell you what... soapy water with a pump sprayer does an incredible job

There was surprisingly little honey. A TON of pollen. I've got a cooler full of soapy comb... is there anything useful I can do with it? Is there any way to filter out the dead brood and pollen to render the comb into wax? There's probably 10 lbs of wax.

 

[kaufen]

Good news is it's present in a low enough quantity that it's not a problem.

 

[Denarius]

Get a really big pot/drum and an old pillow case. Fill the pillow case with the comb + a big rock. Boil water in the pot and drop the pillow case in, the rock should make it sink to the bottom. The wax will melt in the water and filter through the pillow case, floating to the top. Let it cool very slowly and you’ll have a big lump of wax floating at the surface. Repeat a couple of times if the wax is still dirty.