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Bees
Topic Started: May 2 2013, 04:36 PM (277 Views)
Phaedrus
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After another bad year for bees, I had two colonies go down at the start of winter last year.
That left me with one colony, plus a second small late cluster to over-winter.

Last time I looked, the small cluster had gone, and the last colony looked like it was dying too.
i meant to go and give more feed to try and save it, but I didn't get round to it, and accepted that I would be starting again this year with no bees.

Today I went down to sort out the deadout hives and prepare them, ready to take bees.
I was amazed to see bees flying to and from the last hive! :thumbsup

Wow! Made my day :cool


Hope to get a swarm or two in the next few months to colonise my empty hives.



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Ray

I was going to ask how the bees were doing, I've seen a lot of news that they are having a tough time. That's great that your colony survived, does that mean that they will be more hardy this year.. or doesn't it work like that?


[sorry for the delay, I didn't see your thread... for 3 days! I don't know if I'm going blind or the board s/w is playing tricks on me! :) ]
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Phaedrus
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I don`t know about the hardiness ? They obviously managed to survive the harsh winter, where others didn't. I dont treat my hives with chemical pesticides, so they have also managed to cope with Varroa mites too.

All bees have the Varroa mite now. What I am trying to do by NOT treating, is to help propagate bees that can live with the mites....and if a colony is weakened and killed by them...better to let those bees die off.
Pesticides, apart from being bad for the bees in themselves, are actually creating Super Varroa, that are becoming resistant to the pesticides.

"Natural Beekeepers" (like me), sometimes treat by dusting bees with icing sugar. the bees start to intensely groom themselves and each other to get all the sugar...in doing this they dislodge many of the mites which fall through a mesh screen at the bottom of the hive. (and are unable to get back on the bees).
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Ray

The bee equivalent of a spoonful of sugar, like all the best ideas it sounds simple and effective. I must say I like the ethos of natural beekeeping, it's sounds more in tune with what it's all about :)
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Phaedrus
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Yes. It is bee-centred beekeeping, rather than beekeeper centred.

Unfortunately "conventional beekeeping" has become an institution here, and much of what "natural beekeepers" do, is not in line with their thinking. They dont like what we stand for and criticise our hands off methods.
Natural beekeepers point out that their conventional methods may well be partly responsible for the decline of the honey bee.
Its a different mindset.
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Ray

I can see that, a bit like farming using traditional methods rather than overusing chemicals to increase yields I guess?

My wife was saying in a book she read there was a beekeeper and when the winter came they 'gave back' some of the honey collected during the summer to feed the bees and keep them going through the winter. Sounds like a nice idea.. but is it something that actually happens?
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Phaedrus
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It is (or should be ) standard practice for all beekeepers.
Conventional beeks, put one or more boxes on top of the main brood box, and exclude the queen from going up there. The workers can pass through the excluder, and fill the comb in those boxes with honey. These "honey supers" are then available for the beekeeper. (hopefully they will leave one super on for the bees to use in winter).

In Warré hives, its different. We allow the queen to go where she likes. As the bees fill up each box, another box is added underneath, and the queen, and bees, move downwards, as they would in a natural situation. (In a Warré hive, the bees make their own natural comb, and the queen will move down onto the fresh comb to lay, leaving the used comb above to be polished, by the workers who then re use it to store honey).
In theory as the bees move down into a 3rd or 4th box, the top one should be surplus to their requirements, and can be removed, and the honey pressed out.

Most beeks I believe calculate how much the bees need to see them through winter, and take the surplus.....Some just take a box and feed sugar to the bees to help them overwinter.

Its always best to leave them their own stores.

Personally I have not taken any honey from my hives. If all goes ok this year, I may just take one bar of comb.
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Ray

It's a fascinating subject, I can see how you got into it and I had wondered if you had been able to collect any honey yet :)
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Phaedrus
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I have 3 bait hives out, in the hope of attracting a swarm. All 3 have scout bees interested in them. One in particular has lots of scouts visiting and focusing on it.

Its exciting...l like fishing for bees!.. You watch them flying round and landing on the hive... Some of them go inside and then come out again.

These scouts will report their findings back to their colony... If the colony is ready to swarm, they will encourage other scouts to check it out. Then if it is chosen as the new home, the whole swarm will take to the air and fly straight to the bait hive.

Thats the theory. :)
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Ray

That must be quite something to see... from a safe distance! :)

Didn't someone decode or partially decode part of the Bee's 'dance' giving directions to others?
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Phaedrus
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Bees in swarming mode are not aggressive at all. When they swarm they have all filled up with honey and are focused only on their queen and relocating.... Thats why you can pick up an entire swarm in your hands if you are gentle.

Its only after they arrive at their chosen destination, they will start to become defensive of their new home.

The waggle dance has been decoded:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waggle_dance

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/05/67494
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Ray

Fascinating, they really are quite something aren't they :)
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Phaedrus
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Its been swarmy weather. I've had two swarms in the last week!
Here's a video of one of them being "run-in" to one of my Warré hives.
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Ray

Amazing.. I've never seen anything like that! Thanks for the vid Trev :)

Will you be getting more hives do you think?
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Phaedrus
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I have four Warré hives. Three occupied so far. Hope to get another swarm soon.

I'm converting two or three of them to a modified version of the Warré, known as Frerés & Guillaume, or Warré-FG. Its the same as a standard Warré, with windows in each box, a different ventilated roof, and modular quilt and feeder boxes.
No one has them yet in the UK. A very good Warré builder has agreed to build me one to the FG spec, so I will have 5 hives soon. :thumbsup
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Ray

Belter... I'd be interested to see some photos when it's ready :)
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Phaedrus
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I took a sting to the calf running them in. (I forgot my gaiters so its my own fault).
Anyway over the next few days I reacted badly to the venom. The area around the sting about 5", went red and purple and started to blister badly. My leg from the knee to my toes went pink with cellulitis and swelled up so that I couldnt move my ankle and couldnt walk. I finished up at the hospital with it.
They gave me two lots of antibiotics (which was a mistake..the cellulitis wasnt due to bacterial infection, it was caused by the allergic reaction). And a anti histamine.

I went to see my GP who agreed with me re the antibiotics. The reaction I have isnt full blown anaphylaxis, Breathing and heart rate were/are normal, so theres no point in me carrying an EpiPen.
Luckily for me, my mrs is a qualified nurse and midwife, so he could prescribe antihistamine injections.
They are in the fridge. Next time I get stung, the mrs can give me a jab.

Also he referred me to see if I can get desensitisation immunotherapy. That means I would go for a jab of bee venom every month, increasing in dose for 3 years.
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Ray

Sounds painful and scary mate! The desensitisation immunotherapy sounds like a good idea long term, meanwhile that's a very handy sort of Mrs to have around! :)
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Phaedrus
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Yes indeed. Shes a star my mrs. :)

My previous run in hive is dwindling fast and the strongest hive started robbing it!
I made a robber screen to keep them out.
Today I had a look and it seems the weak hive is queenless. I tried to introduce a queen (coincidently my beek mentor happened to find a rejected queen outside one of his hives, yesterday).
Sadly the procedure didnt work. The new queen was found outside my hive and the robbers have completely overrrun the weaker hive......thats nature I guess?

I will shake out what bees are left in the apiary and move that hive out. The stray bees will then go to the other hives on bended knees and ask nicely if they can come in.

So I'm down to two colonies again....still time for more swarms to come though.
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Ray

The whole thing is fascinating, they really have a complex society don't they? I had no idea really! :)
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