Beekeeping

[MegsyB007]

It should have been the boys in hospital, not the girl who said don't hurt the bees.
If that was me, I'd make them feel guilty at every opportunity - for the rest of their lives...
But that's just me... ]

And yes, very lucky to be alive. Glad you were tougher than the doc gave you credit for, Goody

 

[Straya]

If ever they are reluctant to go into the hive ... 2 drops of lemongrass oil inside the hive works a treat. Not too much.
It smells close to the queen pheromone

 

[Lesgold]

Good idea Straya. Never thought to try that. Have used it in bait hives but never thought to use it when collecting a swarm. Thanks for that. Will experiment with it next time a swarm comes my way.

 

[goody2shoes]

They made kids tough back then :lol:

But I still love my honey

Goody

 

[goody2shoes]

How long do bee's live for?

Goody

 

[Lesgold]

Hi Goody,
Depends on the time of year. If they are working hard through a honey flow, the experts say six to seven weeks. Through the winter when they are not working much at all, they may actually last a few months. They reckon that a worker bee collects about half a teaspoon of honey in its entire life. Not much really (lets say about 3 grams) but if you multiply that amount by a field force of 10,000 worker bees, you would end up with 30kg in that period of time. Obviously the nectar coming in would change those figures dramatically.

Cheers

Les

 

[Mackka]

Great question Goody, I know if they sting you they die quickly.
Mackka

 

[Lesgold]

Same problem for drones (the male bee) He has sex once and its good night Vienna.

 

[goody2shoes]

Hi les,

That is not much honey from one bee,

But like you said multiply that by 10,000 that is a lot of honey,

So the more hive's you have ,means more honey

Even tho I got bitten bad,

I still like bee's,

Specially the Honey,

Goody

 

[goody2shoes]

Omg poor drone bee's,

Went out with a smile

Goody

 

[RM Outback]

If ever they are reluctant to go into the hive ... 2 drops of lemongrass oil inside the hive works a treat. Not too much.
It smells close to the queen pheromone

Interesting Straya :Y:. Begs a question though from a complete stranger to bee keeping and their behaviour.

Where would someone put the two drops, At the opening of the hive or somewhere inside it.

 

[RM Outback]

I've just text my neighbour with your info regarding lemon grass oil Straya and he says he uses a similar process. Instead of lemon grass oil he wipes lemon verbena leaves inside a new hive to encourage the bee's to stay in it.

Ya gotta love this forum for sharing of knowledge :Y:.

Looks like I've found the answer to my question :Y:.

 

[Straya]

About 3 inches or more. They will smell it

 

[Lesgold]

Interesting stuff RM and Straya. More good info to lock away. Thanks heaps for that. The queen pheromone seems to control so much that happens in a hive. The bees know how to react when her smell weakens or disappears altogether and they will try to replace her. The strength and power that the queens pheromone has over the bees is quite obvious when a hive swarms. When the bees cluster on a a tree branch and you shake them into a box, a lot of the bees will fly straight back to the same spot. They can do this many times while that smell of the queen remains. If you hose that spot down with water or remove the branch altogether, the chances of the bees going straight into the box improve.

 

[Lesgold]

A couple of hives were getting very strong and were showing signs of being on the verge of swarming. I said to the coach two days ago Im going to have to split a couple of hives as they are getting too strong. Yesterday end up being a drizzly day with no chance of doing anything about it. Today only got to about 17 degrees so I decided it would be safe to head out for a detect for a couple of hours. It was overcast and cool so the chances of swarming were quite low. Wrong again. Got home to find both hives had swarmed and they had both clustered quite close to each other. One hive had settled on exactly the same spot that a swarm had settled three days earlier. It just shows how strong the queen feremone smell is and how it can attract bees. This swam took about a minute to collect. Put a box under the shrub and shook it. Put the lid on the box and walked away. Two hours later, this is what the hive looked like.

It doesnt get much easier than that.
The second swarm settled high on a lillypilly. It was in an awkward position and was quite high on a vertical branch. Tried to get a bucket under the swarm and shake the branch. Dumped the bees into the box but did not have the queen. They took off and eventually came back to the same spot and settled again. This time I put some lemon grass oil into the hive (as suggested by Straya) and threw the bucket of bees in front of the hive. Was very pleased to see the bees walk collectively into the hive. A real buzz (pardon the pun) was to see the queen walk in with the other bees. Many bees flew back to the branch where they initially settled but I knew that they would eventually return to the hive to follow the queen. I took this photo Twenty minutes ago.

After two poor choices over the past couple of days, Im going to call my self gunna. Should get in and do things rather than just talk about it.

Cheers for now,

Les

 

[Tathradj]

Thanks Les,
This thread is getting more and more interesting.
I am over thinking about it. Will have my hives built for next year in between
doing other things.
Modified KTB's.
6 of them
2 NUc's,
2 on standby for emergency's etc.

 

[Lesgold]

You poor thing Tathradj,

Looks like youre hooked. Plenty of work ahead of you but its all good fun. You have planned things very well. Give me a yell if you need a hand with any aspects of your project. As Ive said to many people lately, Im not retired, Im just unemployable. Lol.

Cheers

Les

 

[goody2shoes]

Clever little Bee's indeed erfect:

Goody

 

[Mackka]

Oh no! Now. I have to eat a gallon a day
Mackka

 

[Lesgold]

Thatll keep you looking trim Mackka.