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Beekeeping
Topic Started: Apr 28 2011, 09:55 PM (1,021 Views)
Phaedrus
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Sadly my feral swarm hive failed this week. I watched it dwindle and was waiting for the bee numbers to increase (letting me know the virgin queen was successful), but it never happened.
There ware no signs of brood present, (no pollen coming in), and the workers were dying off.
Adding to this wasps were taking advantage of the weak colony, entering and robbing the hive.

Although I was lucky to attract the swarm (and even luckier to be there when it arrived) I am still disappointed with my first hive loss.

The regional bee inspector is coming over this morning, so I have left the post mortem hive inspection till then. I expect there will be no signs of brood and the hive will have failed simply because the queen didn`t make it.

On the wasp front I have developed a distinct dislike for the robbing little sods. I did put wasp traps up there and also reduced the hive entrance to make it easier for the bees to defend, but this colony was so small it was easy pickings for the wasps.

There are wasps raiding hive 1 as well, although this is a much stronger colony. I have reduced the entrance on this hive too.

I`m working on designing more effective wasp traps.
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Ray

I had no idea that wasps would invade a hive! Sorry to hear about the feral swarm thouogh Trev.
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Phaedrus
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The dead hive turned out to have (dead) brood present. It was queen right after all and should have made it. The wasps simply robbed it out.
I am gutted.
A few wasps still raiding whats left of the deadout hive, and several wasps buzzing around hive 1.
I have reduced the entrance of hive 1 further.

Hive 2 can stay out as a bait hive - you never know i might pick up another swarm. I have added a 2nd empty box with the theory that a bigger box would suit a bigger colony.
Dunno how slim my chances are now of attracting a second swarm? Maybe i will manage to get another colony from somewhere.

I hate wasps.
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Ray

Not keen on wasps myself, but that's because of the sting!

I assume attracting a new swarm is seasonal Trev? How late is too late in the year?
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Phaedrus
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I think you are lucky to catch a swarm anytime, but the chances are seriously slim now. Any swarms will have settled and be in well built comb by now rearing brood and harvesting nectar and pollen and building stores ready for winter.

I really would like to see that hive up and running this year.

Did some work up there today preparing the area where the apiary will finally be situated and sorting it out ready to be fenced off from the rest of the orchard. I moved hive 1 a little bit closer to my chosen spot. Placed a couple of breeze blocks and sat a paving slab on them as a new base for hive 1.

Did the same for hive 2 which is in final position as a bait hive. Still one or two wasps clearing out the remnants of that hive.
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Phaedrus
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I`m going to assist on a chimney cutout tomorrow.
Also, if the swarm is viable it will be going into my empty Warré. :thumbsup
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chrislane62

Good luck with that :thumbsup
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Phaedrus
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Cutout went pretty well. A couple of pieces of comb were lost down the chimney, but all in all a good job.
Some of the comb retrieved contained brood - eggs, larvae and sealed brood. Some was hatching. Lots of nectar/honey comb too.
We cut and tied large pieces of the comb the the top bars in my hive.
We used a bee vac to remove most of the bees, and they were later transferred to my hive.

Not sure if we have the queen?
They have brood to make a new one if the queen is lost. I am feeding their own honey through a top feeder.

All I can do now is wait and see if they take.

I reduced the entrance to 1 inch to help keep out the bloody wasps! They are everywhere. There were wasps robbing when we were up the chimney.

Heres the cutout report:
http://www.dheaf.plus.com/beeremovals/penrhos_byb.htm
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Ray

Hope the new lot 'take' OK

Did you eat some honey? :)
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Phaedrus
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Yes I have tasted some. Believe it or not I am not really into honey. I suppose I will acquire a taste for it.
I have a bucket full of broken comb saturated and dripping with honey and pollen. I am feeding this to the bees, but it gets everywhere and its impossible not to taste it when its on your hands.

There has been some criticism of the Warré hive in the beekeeping press recently. As I mentioned before there is some resistance to this method from some conventional beeks, who see this minimalist intervention method as a threat to their very hands on approach. Two articles in particular have been quite dismissive of the Warré and it is clear from some of the criticisms, that the authors do not understand how the Warré hive works. The F.U.D. is starting to spread.

I decided to write an article about the Warré hive methods, from a new beekeepers perspective, in an attempt to redress the balance. I contacted the editor of biggest beekeeping magazine, in the hope of getting my piece published.
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Ray

Good for you Trev.. anything new is always resisted by convensionalists.
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chrislane62

I have half a jar of honey which has crystallized. Will it recover to runny if I give it a blast in the microwave? :shrug
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Ray

Place the jar in simmering water & stir.. according to this site's advice Chris

http://www.ehow.com/how_5816369_fix-crystallized-honey-quickly.html
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Phaedrus
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Dunno Chris. I would probably chuck it. I don`t really eat honey (although I am acquiring the taste).

What do you eat with honey? Do you put it on toast?
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chrislane62

Cheers Ray.
I put it on toast occasionally, or it is nice in a whisky and hot water.
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Phaedrus
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Oh yeah I forgot about drinks.
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Phaedrus
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Its serious wasp wars at the apiary now.
There are thousands of wasps in the orchard where the hives are.
There seems to be a wasp trying to get into one of the hives every few minutes. The bees are on full alert and there are about a dozen guards around the entrance on hive 1 and about 30 or 40 on the entrance to hive 2.
The wasps still try to get in and the fights are really intense. Often they roll over and over and sometimes a guard bee will fly off carrying a fighting wasp.
Occasionally a wasp succeeds in getting in past the guards and a few minutes later gets dragged out again.
Some bees are getting injured and killed and some wasps are getting killed too.

Don`t know if these two colonies will make it over winter. i guess theres only so much help you can give them and then its down to nature to decide how they fair.
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Phaedrus
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I got my camera out today. Took some shots inside and out, and used iPhoto to create a slideshow.
http://kungfu23.myzen.co.uk/MyBees-Display_2.m4v
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chrislane62

Link doesn't work for me. :rolleyes
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Phaedrus
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Working for me on my machines? Although the slideshow may take a while to load up.
Basically a flashy version of some of the shots from here:
http://kungfu23.myzen.co.uk/Warre_Photos/Photos.html
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