2023 Bee Thread

[wolverine1]

I haven’t tried the single brood method yet. Glad it’s working out for you

Going to get into them Friday afternoon and see how the honey is coming along

 

[wolverine1]

My new bees could knock out Rocky Balboa. I opened the top and almost instantly about 50 bees hit me in the face net. My Weiner dog was 20 ft away and he took off yelping getting multiple stings. Few days later I pulled the SxS up about 15-20 ft away to observe them and they started instantly attacking me. Smoking them good does help a little, but man these things are vicious.

Question: My bottom brood box has about 8 frames that have some type of action going on in each frame (brood, honey production, etc). I think it is time to add another 10 frame box on top. Thoughts? When do you know when it is time to add the next box?

Been down that road and I wont tolerate mean bees now. I would kill that queen and re-queen with a gentler one. So far, the Carniolan's have been best for me in terms of being gentle. All of my hives right now are gentle, I can mow around them and they dont pay a bit of attention to me.

 

[Nock]

Been down that road and I wont tolerate mean bees now. I would kill that queen and re-queen with a gentler one. So far, the Carniolan's have been best for me in terms of being gentle. All of my hives right now are gentle, I can mow around them and they dont pay a bit of attention to me.

Yes. She would get the hive tool test.

 

[Shellback]

So, I installed three packages this spring. One of them, I got 5 queen cells and nothing else. But the bees weren't acting pissy or anything, so I decided to just let them bee...

Weekend before last, about 10 days ago, I added a frame of brood from each of the other hives just to keeping them going. Inspected them today, I got a laying queen!

One of life's little victories. I'll take my wins when I can get them!

 

[Velvet ears]

My 2 hives now have condominiums. I took everyone's advice and went ahead and added the 2nd 10 frame brood box this afternoon. They weren't too pissy today, but I smoked the heck out of them. Brood frames are looking good filled solid and capped for most of them with capped honey on some in the upper corners. Honey and pollen in the outer 4 frames. I have been in these hives twice and never found the queens, but she is laying fresh eggs so I guess she is good at hiding.

 

[wolverine1]

Guess I spoke too soon about gentle bees... Caught a decent swarm about a month ago, filled up a 10 frame deep. Put a queen excluder on, then a medium of drawn comb above. Added two more mediums a couple weeks later. Got into them yesterday evening, super defensive and mad. It had clouded up and rained shortly thereafter, could have been the issue, but who knows. Found the queen in the bottom box, only had a few frames of capped brood and larvae. I suspect they supersede'd the queen shortly after I hived them as there should have been more frames of capped brood and larvae. At any rate, they are filling the mediums with honey!

I may have a record for honey on one of my hives if they keep going like they are. One 10 frame deep, 3 10 frame mediums, all nearly full of honey.

 

[Drahts]

My 2 overwintered hives swarmed so my honey production is lacking for sure. Got back from MD day before yesterday and got in em yesterday. All doing good but honey will be lacking this year. I'll be patient and see what happens.

 

[drakeshooter]

Learn something new everyday.

Summer Tanager - male (Piranga rubra)
Land Between the Lakes,
W. Kentucky, USA – 5/27/2023

Interesting Tidbit: The Summer Tanager's stout, pointed bill allows it to easily capture and neutralize its preferred prey, bees and wasps and their larvae. Its predilection for stinging insects earned this songbird the nickname "Bee Bird." When foraging, the Summer Tanager darts out from a perch to snatch a bee or wasp in mid-air, then subdues the insect by beating it against a branch. Before eating its catch, the tanager first removes the stinger. Summer Tanagers also rip into wasp nests to eat the larvae inside. Many beekeepers consider the Summer Tanager a pest, but it rarely takes enough insects to pose a significant threat to a hive.
~American Bird Conservancy~