Beekeeping
- Thread starter Lesgold
- Start date
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Shouldnt complain, I enjoy doing it. Just a bit of a rush coming up to Xmas.
Hi Folks.
Hope everyone had a relaxing Xmas surrounded by family and friends. Its a good time of year to be with those that you care about. Havent spent much time with the bees but they appear to be happily doing their thing. They seamed to handle the hot days reasonably well with colony numbers now starting to stabilise. The honey flow from the iron bark has slowed down to a trickle so it was time to go out and see what was happening in the bush. Grabbed a pair of binoculars and the iPad and walked through the surrounding forest looking for signs. This aspect of beekeeping is very similar to prospecting in that small visual hints can supply a lot of information. When I walk through the scrub I tend to look for information in relation to flowering plants from three perspectives:
1) the flowers that are providing pollen and nectar to the bees at this moment in time,
2) the plants that will be flowering in the near future and
3) plants that may provide nectar and or pollen in the next year or two.
This information can help with activities and planning for up to a year or so in advance. Do I rob the bees at the end of the month or will that honey be needed for winter stores? Will hive numbers be increased or decreased next year? They are the types of questions that can be answered by observations made when out walking and looking. Obviously things can change dramatically with seasonal or weather issues but at least there is a loose plan of attack that can be formulated.
OK, lets have a look at point number one. The pollen and nectar sources keeping the bees going at this point of time include the iron barks that are still flowering and a range of wattles that are providing plenty of pollen. There are also quite a few native plants that give a pick for the bees.
The next group of plants are the ones that will start to flower in the near future. Found a different species of iron bark that was budded up and should start flowering over the next month or two. This is a shot of the first of these that Ive seen where the buds have burst.
A few other species of eucalypts will be flowering over the next three or four months:
Pollen should be coming in for about three months courtesy of the many lillypillies growing in the area.
And finally, in about twelve months time there should be some black butt providing bee food.
The information that was gathered this afternoon gives me an idea as to what may happen in the next year or so. I will now be able to harvest honey towards the end of January and may be lucky enough to rob the bees again in February. There should be sufficient nectar and pollen coming in during the winter months for honey to be taken from the bees during the colder months as the spotted gum will be flowering. The net result of all of this flowering will be a bucket load of honey and a big swarming season in the spring of 2019. Time for a beer to calm the nerves.
Cheers for now
Les
Hope everyone had a relaxing Xmas surrounded by family and friends. Its a good time of year to be with those that you care about. Havent spent much time with the bees but they appear to be happily doing their thing. They seamed to handle the hot days reasonably well with colony numbers now starting to stabilise. The honey flow from the iron bark has slowed down to a trickle so it was time to go out and see what was happening in the bush. Grabbed a pair of binoculars and the iPad and walked through the surrounding forest looking for signs. This aspect of beekeeping is very similar to prospecting in that small visual hints can supply a lot of information. When I walk through the scrub I tend to look for information in relation to flowering plants from three perspectives:
1) the flowers that are providing pollen and nectar to the bees at this moment in time,
2) the plants that will be flowering in the near future and
3) plants that may provide nectar and or pollen in the next year or two.
This information can help with activities and planning for up to a year or so in advance. Do I rob the bees at the end of the month or will that honey be needed for winter stores? Will hive numbers be increased or decreased next year? They are the types of questions that can be answered by observations made when out walking and looking. Obviously things can change dramatically with seasonal or weather issues but at least there is a loose plan of attack that can be formulated.
OK, lets have a look at point number one. The pollen and nectar sources keeping the bees going at this point of time include the iron barks that are still flowering and a range of wattles that are providing plenty of pollen. There are also quite a few native plants that give a pick for the bees.
The next group of plants are the ones that will start to flower in the near future. Found a different species of iron bark that was budded up and should start flowering over the next month or two. This is a shot of the first of these that Ive seen where the buds have burst.
A few other species of eucalypts will be flowering over the next three or four months:
Pollen should be coming in for about three months courtesy of the many lillypillies growing in the area.
And finally, in about twelve months time there should be some black butt providing bee food.
The information that was gathered this afternoon gives me an idea as to what may happen in the next year or so. I will now be able to harvest honey towards the end of January and may be lucky enough to rob the bees again in February. There should be sufficient nectar and pollen coming in during the winter months for honey to be taken from the bees during the colder months as the spotted gum will be flowering. The net result of all of this flowering will be a bucket load of honey and a big swarming season in the spring of 2019. Time for a beer to calm the nerves.
Cheers for now
Les
Hey Les, another great article ands thanks for your continued, informative posts.
I read the other day that millions of bees were dying due to the heatwave conditions in some parts and I immediately thought the following, if we dont have bees then there isnt any pollination of the food crops and that is the end of civilisation as we know it
I hope your bees are safe, well and happy.
Happy New Year mate and to all Apiarists
Mackka
arty: arty: arty:
I read the other day that millions of bees were dying due to the heatwave conditions in some parts and I immediately thought the following, if we dont have bees then there isnt any pollination of the food crops and that is the end of civilisation as we know it
I hope your bees are safe, well and happy.
Happy New Year mate and to all Apiarists
Mackka
arty: arty: arty:
Hi Mackka.
Same to you and your family. With 2019 now with us, we will all be making resolutions about doing things better and of course losing those couple of extra kilos acquired over Christmas. Hopefully the sad situation with the declining bee numbers doesnt get to a time where there is a point of no return. Governments tend to be reactive rather than proactive and unfortunately in some countries the chances for making the changes needed to reverse this situation are disappearing quickly.
Happy new year to all PA members. May the year bring you all many good times and rewarding days in the bush looking for that special find.
Cheers
Les
Same to you and your family. With 2019 now with us, we will all be making resolutions about doing things better and of course losing those couple of extra kilos acquired over Christmas. Hopefully the sad situation with the declining bee numbers doesnt get to a time where there is a point of no return. Governments tend to be reactive rather than proactive and unfortunately in some countries the chances for making the changes needed to reverse this situation are disappearing quickly.
Happy new year to all PA members. May the year bring you all many good times and rewarding days in the bush looking for that special find.
Cheers
Les
Hi Folks.
Well its been a while since Ive posted on this thread. Cool weather, rain, grand kids and some detecting seemed to get in the way. Cant complain though, its all good. Pulled out the experimental honey comb rounds this afternoon just after a storm went through. Expected the girls to be a bit temperamental but in reality, they were extremely well behaved. Apart from a few side roads, all comb was drawn and filled with honey.
Instead of overlapping the rounds and stapling them, this time they were only butted together. Wanted to see if I could save a bit of time and hoped that the comb would hold the outer cover in a circular shape. The end result was quite good.
Put an empty frame with a starter strip back into the hive as the honey flow is basically finished. Wanted to see how long the bees would take to make some comb with only limited nectar coming in.
Looks like another extraction coming in a week or so. Hope the weather heats up and dismisses any thoughts of getting out into the bush for a scratch with the noisy stick.
Cheers
Les
Well its been a while since Ive posted on this thread. Cool weather, rain, grand kids and some detecting seemed to get in the way. Cant complain though, its all good. Pulled out the experimental honey comb rounds this afternoon just after a storm went through. Expected the girls to be a bit temperamental but in reality, they were extremely well behaved. Apart from a few side roads, all comb was drawn and filled with honey.
Instead of overlapping the rounds and stapling them, this time they were only butted together. Wanted to see if I could save a bit of time and hoped that the comb would hold the outer cover in a circular shape. The end result was quite good.
Put an empty frame with a starter strip back into the hive as the honey flow is basically finished. Wanted to see how long the bees would take to make some comb with only limited nectar coming in.
Looks like another extraction coming in a week or so. Hope the weather heats up and dismisses any thoughts of getting out into the bush for a scratch with the noisy stick.
Cheers
Les
Hi Folks,
Made a split off the hive containing the starter strip as it is quite strong. Was impressed with what the bees had done in only three days.
Looks like they are still finding a bit of nectar around the place. Will post up some details of another split that I will be making later today.
Cheers for now.
Les
Made a split off the hive containing the starter strip as it is quite strong. Was impressed with what the bees had done in only three days.
Looks like they are still finding a bit of nectar around the place. Will post up some details of another split that I will be making later today.
Cheers for now.
Les
Hi Folks.
Just completed making a couple of splits from a strong hive. Normally I would do this earlier in the season but this year there will be a honey flow through the winter months so I Thought Id take advantage of this. Really like Strayas double queen hive so hopefully the splits will be used in one of those. Thanks for the idea and info mate. Really like what you have done with type of hive. Reckon it will have a bit of an advantage when a short honey flow is taking place. The splits were set up about 10 days ago. A strong, three frame hive was used to make the split. (Decided to use a special division type of board called a Snelgrove Board.)
It a board that can be placed between boxes to divide the hive into two parts. You can see that there is some mesh in the centre of the board. This is a double screen that allows heat from the mother hive to move up to the higher box to keep the temperature stable. Pivoting entrances can be opened and closed to move bees around between the boxes if required. The first step in the process was to use a queen excluder to isolate the queen in the bottom box. (I generally dont use excluders in my hives) after finding the queen and placing her in the brood box below the excluder, a box containing honey was then placed on top. A new box containing foundation was then added. Finally, the Snelgrove board was added with a box containing eggs, open and sealed brood and attached bees placed on top of the board.
The hive was closed for 10 days. The top box of bees was isolated from the queen and therefore assumed that they had no queen. A number of queen cells were then created to replace the queen that they thought theyd lost. Here is one example of what they made.
This queen should hatch is about four days.
Today, the frames were divided up into two small nuc hives with each having a couple of queen cells.
Will check on these hives in a couple of weeks. Hopefully there will be a laying queen in each of the new hives.
Cheers for now
Les
Just completed making a couple of splits from a strong hive. Normally I would do this earlier in the season but this year there will be a honey flow through the winter months so I Thought Id take advantage of this. Really like Strayas double queen hive so hopefully the splits will be used in one of those. Thanks for the idea and info mate. Really like what you have done with type of hive. Reckon it will have a bit of an advantage when a short honey flow is taking place. The splits were set up about 10 days ago. A strong, three frame hive was used to make the split. (Decided to use a special division type of board called a Snelgrove Board.)
It a board that can be placed between boxes to divide the hive into two parts. You can see that there is some mesh in the centre of the board. This is a double screen that allows heat from the mother hive to move up to the higher box to keep the temperature stable. Pivoting entrances can be opened and closed to move bees around between the boxes if required. The first step in the process was to use a queen excluder to isolate the queen in the bottom box. (I generally dont use excluders in my hives) after finding the queen and placing her in the brood box below the excluder, a box containing honey was then placed on top. A new box containing foundation was then added. Finally, the Snelgrove board was added with a box containing eggs, open and sealed brood and attached bees placed on top of the board.
The hive was closed for 10 days. The top box of bees was isolated from the queen and therefore assumed that they had no queen. A number of queen cells were then created to replace the queen that they thought theyd lost. Here is one example of what they made.
This queen should hatch is about four days.
Today, the frames were divided up into two small nuc hives with each having a couple of queen cells.
Will check on these hives in a couple of weeks. Hopefully there will be a laying queen in each of the new hives.
Cheers for now
Les
Hi Folks.
Well the warm weather has arrived at just the right time. Have been extracting honey for the last few days and still a few more to go. Couldnt delay any longer. Some of the hives were so full of honey, they were building comb under the lids. Had it get it sorted and quickly. A bit of a ground hog routine really. Get into the hives early, take off the frames and bring them back to the shed and then swallow a belly full of water. Remove the perspiration drenched clothes, shower and then extract the honey. Another change of clothes and shower again before putting the frames back on the hives in the late afternoon. One last change of clothes after the third and final shower for the day. Crickey it was hot. The bees were extremely passionate. Plenty of love and kisses all round. I now know why I get such a buzz out of this hobby. One hive today was bordering on being unworkable. They wanted to kill every thing in front of them. Smoker, hive tools, bee brush, gloves and of course me. When a hive is that cranky, they work really hard at trying to find a hole in your defences. They bury into pockets, find gaps in boot gaters and slight holes between zips. Ended up with a dozen bees inside my suit which created a few issues. Found it difficult to concentrate with the girls buzzing around my eyes trying to find the best place to inflict pain. Nothing much I could really do except walk back to the shed and strip off. No fast movement, no panic, just a slow stroll in the park hoping that they couldnt sense any fear. All went pretty well until the gear came off. Dont know how bees get into your undies but they do. Theres really only so much a man can take. Theyd found my weak spot and I lost it. Flicked and shook all sorts of things in an absolute panic. The girls enjoyed my moment and two of them ended up stinging me in the top of my head. (The one that sits on my shoulders) Arrrr such is life. Tomorrows another day.
Cheers
Les
Well the warm weather has arrived at just the right time. Have been extracting honey for the last few days and still a few more to go. Couldnt delay any longer. Some of the hives were so full of honey, they were building comb under the lids. Had it get it sorted and quickly. A bit of a ground hog routine really. Get into the hives early, take off the frames and bring them back to the shed and then swallow a belly full of water. Remove the perspiration drenched clothes, shower and then extract the honey. Another change of clothes and shower again before putting the frames back on the hives in the late afternoon. One last change of clothes after the third and final shower for the day. Crickey it was hot. The bees were extremely passionate. Plenty of love and kisses all round. I now know why I get such a buzz out of this hobby. One hive today was bordering on being unworkable. They wanted to kill every thing in front of them. Smoker, hive tools, bee brush, gloves and of course me. When a hive is that cranky, they work really hard at trying to find a hole in your defences. They bury into pockets, find gaps in boot gaters and slight holes between zips. Ended up with a dozen bees inside my suit which created a few issues. Found it difficult to concentrate with the girls buzzing around my eyes trying to find the best place to inflict pain. Nothing much I could really do except walk back to the shed and strip off. No fast movement, no panic, just a slow stroll in the park hoping that they couldnt sense any fear. All went pretty well until the gear came off. Dont know how bees get into your undies but they do. Theres really only so much a man can take. Theyd found my weak spot and I lost it. Flicked and shook all sorts of things in an absolute panic. The girls enjoyed my moment and two of them ended up stinging me in the top of my head. (The one that sits on my shoulders) Arrrr such is life. Tomorrows another day.
Cheers
Les
All of the above. Plus being a good lookin rooster, the girl just love a bit of a cuddle and kiss.
Cough Cough. :awful:
Cough Cough. :awful:
Hi Folks.
Just finished cleaning up after the honey extraction. Wow, what a task. The heat and humidity made the job quite warm. The girls worked well and produced 650kg for me. Its the best haul Ive had since starting this hobby. Should have a break now until the winter run of spotted gum. Time to get back into the veggie garden, do a bit of fishing and wait for some cooler prospecting weather.
Combined with last months pails, theres quite a few peanut butter and honey sandwiches in that lot.
Cheers for now
Les
Just finished cleaning up after the honey extraction. Wow, what a task. The heat and humidity made the job quite warm. The girls worked well and produced 650kg for me. Its the best haul Ive had since starting this hobby. Should have a break now until the winter run of spotted gum. Time to get back into the veggie garden, do a bit of fishing and wait for some cooler prospecting weather.
Combined with last months pails, theres quite a few peanut butter and honey sandwiches in that lot.
Cheers for now
Les
Fantastic haul Lesgold. Great going plus fantastic informative posts.
Thanks
Thanks
My wife and I started a commercial Beekeeping business about 20 yrs ago until I hurt the old back and after a couple of stay's in hospital finally could see why the medical people kept telling me to give up. My eldest son come home and took it over and now has the business for sale. 700 hives including 100 of ours that are out the back at the moment waiting for the Tea tree which is just starting to flower I'll go out and get a pic for you. The back has recovered as long as I'm careful I still help and just love it. I'm going up to help extract next week & will take some photo's of commercial extracting to post.
Hi Harbourmaster.
That would be fantastic. Dont know how you commercial folk handle it with all those hives. Obviously a little more mechanised and organised. It would be great to see some pics of the extraction plant as well. Cant wait to see what you come up with.
Hi Megsy.
Just bottle the honey up and sell it to who ever wants some. Our old work places and a few Facebook and gumtree adds seem to help sales along. Need to sell all of this before next springs crop comes in otherwise Ill run out of storage space. It just gives me a bit of pocket money to buy a few tools and detecting gear etc.
Cheers for now
Les
That would be fantastic. Dont know how you commercial folk handle it with all those hives. Obviously a little more mechanised and organised. It would be great to see some pics of the extraction plant as well. Cant wait to see what you come up with.
Hi Megsy.
Just bottle the honey up and sell it to who ever wants some. Our old work places and a few Facebook and gumtree adds seem to help sales along. Need to sell all of this before next springs crop comes in otherwise Ill run out of storage space. It just gives me a bit of pocket money to buy a few tools and detecting gear etc.
Cheers for now
Les
Is it possible to send some up to Brisbane-say 1 ltre for a start-depends on your minimum container size?
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If I lived closer I would buy my honey from you Les..
You look like you have happy Bee's....
Goody
You look like you have happy Bee's....
Goody
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2550.JPG/
some hives at the house as well make up 25 pallets 4 hives to a pallet
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2551.JPG
dry land tea tree (melaleuca lancelota)
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2553.JPG
pallet of bees note: snails down here are a huge problem I need to get out and bait again
we sweep them off with a broom before going to next honey flow or pollination site
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2554.JPG
the workers getting water
some hives at the house as well make up 25 pallets 4 hives to a pallet
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2551.JPG
dry land tea tree (melaleuca lancelota)
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2553.JPG
pallet of bees note: snails down here are a huge problem I need to get out and bait again
we sweep them off with a broom before going to next honey flow or pollination site
/Users/gordonbrooks/Desktop/IMG_2554.JPG
the workers getting water
damn pics haven't loaded haven't got time now will sort it later
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