watched the vid with Kato and we are both saying "How good is that, to see how this is done" :Y: :trophy:
Beekeeping
- Thread starter Lesgold
- Start date
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Hi Folks.
Thanks for the kind words. Will try to post regularly in the next couple of months. It is the busy time of year with bee colonies exploding in numbers over a short period of time. Good hive management is critical if a honey crop is to be maximised. (Something that I am still learning.) One of the early steps that I take is to search for the visual clues that colonies are on track. Have a look at what I was up to today. Not overly time consuming but the information gathered tells me a lot.
Cheers
Les
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/yd43TNT88EU[/video]
Thanks for the kind words. Will try to post regularly in the next couple of months. It is the busy time of year with bee colonies exploding in numbers over a short period of time. Good hive management is critical if a honey crop is to be maximised. (Something that I am still learning.) One of the early steps that I take is to search for the visual clues that colonies are on track. Have a look at what I was up to today. Not overly time consuming but the information gathered tells me a lot.
Cheers
Les
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/yd43TNT88EU[/video]
Hi Folks,
First day of spring and its time to start checking the hives. Bee numbers, a laying queen, honey stores and possible diseases are all examined during this inspection. Bottom boards are cleaned and where fitted, beetle traps are cleaned and filled with diatomaceous earth. I made a bit of a clip to show you guys what Im up to in this check. Hope you enjoy it.
Cheers
Les
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/rT_ft1tEcok[/video]
First day of spring and its time to start checking the hives. Bee numbers, a laying queen, honey stores and possible diseases are all examined during this inspection. Bottom boards are cleaned and where fitted, beetle traps are cleaned and filled with diatomaceous earth. I made a bit of a clip to show you guys what Im up to in this check. Hope you enjoy it.
Cheers
Les
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/rT_ft1tEcok[/video]
Thank you Les, for the fascinating look at the bee world and the care you give our planets little pollinators :trophy:
I can almost smell the sweet Stringybark smoke from here :clap:
More please sir
I can almost smell the sweet Stringybark smoke from here :clap:
More please sir
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How often do you get bitten Les?
Goody
Goody
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Hi Les,
Thanks for the video. It was fascinating, and a lovely looking place you have there.
Just wondering... Is there something you do to stop them from swarming? Do you give them a new home to spread out a bit and stay put, rather than swarm?
Cheers,
Megsy
Thanks for the video. It was fascinating, and a lovely looking place you have there.
Just wondering... Is there something you do to stop them from swarming? Do you give them a new home to spread out a bit and stay put, rather than swarm?
Cheers,
Megsy
Hi Goody,
I would prefer not to get stung but it does happen. Had a bee get into my suit yesterday and finally got me on the temple. She wasnt a happy girl. Not long after shooting the video, the girls started to get a bit agitated so the gloves needed to be worn.
Hi Megsy,
Swarming is an issue beekeepers deal with in the spring. Its a natural phenomenon that occurs every year and is in fact the process that ensures the survival of the species. As hives build in the spring, the urge to swarm increases. All sorts of tricks are used to minimise the chances of swarming. Having young queens in the hive, providing more space for the cluster of bees to expand (by adding extra boxes) or splitting hives are some of the methods we use to reduce the swarming urge. Timing is important if you are going to prevent bees from doing what is natural. I often get it wrong as other distractions (such as prospecting) often pull me away from what I should be doing. Im not overly concerned about bees that do swarm as this is a hobby. Loss in production of honey doesnt worry me really.
Cheers
Les
I would prefer not to get stung but it does happen. Had a bee get into my suit yesterday and finally got me on the temple. She wasnt a happy girl. Not long after shooting the video, the girls started to get a bit agitated so the gloves needed to be worn.
Hi Megsy,
Swarming is an issue beekeepers deal with in the spring. Its a natural phenomenon that occurs every year and is in fact the process that ensures the survival of the species. As hives build in the spring, the urge to swarm increases. All sorts of tricks are used to minimise the chances of swarming. Having young queens in the hive, providing more space for the cluster of bees to expand (by adding extra boxes) or splitting hives are some of the methods we use to reduce the swarming urge. Timing is important if you are going to prevent bees from doing what is natural. I often get it wrong as other distractions (such as prospecting) often pull me away from what I should be doing. Im not overly concerned about bees that do swarm as this is a hobby. Loss in production of honey doesnt worry me really.
Cheers
Les
Arrived home today from the airport at around 12:30 dropped the mate at his brother to pick up his car.
About an hour later he is at my house telling me he has been home and a swarm of bees has taken up residence under his wooden balcony at the front door of his house.
Went around there with the Bee suit on thinking ,If its a swarm I can find the queen and get them in to a hive box.
Wasn't to bee sadly. The bees had been busy bees maybe there since just after we left 4 weeks ago.
Removed all the combs and could not locate the queen , found most of the brood combs were infected with European foulbrood.
Was able to save about 4 kilos of honey comb but had to abandon looking for the queen and spray the remaining hive .
Disappointing but sometimes things dont always work out the way you hope.
:|
Also got bitten on the neck when I got home and opened the plastic bags full of honeycomb.. :awful:
Bee revenge :/
About an hour later he is at my house telling me he has been home and a swarm of bees has taken up residence under his wooden balcony at the front door of his house.
Went around there with the Bee suit on thinking ,If its a swarm I can find the queen and get them in to a hive box.
Wasn't to bee sadly. The bees had been busy bees maybe there since just after we left 4 weeks ago.
Removed all the combs and could not locate the queen , found most of the brood combs were infected with European foulbrood.
Was able to save about 4 kilos of honey comb but had to abandon looking for the queen and spray the remaining hive .
Disappointing but sometimes things dont always work out the way you hope.
:|
Also got bitten on the neck when I got home and opened the plastic bags full of honeycomb.. :awful:
Bee revenge :/
Bad luck nucopia. Its a shame that foulbrood raised its ugly head. Had it in a couple of hives a few years ago. Took a bit of work to get it under control. At least you scored some honey out of the process.
Yep its nasty stuff , Its Just a shame we couldn't save the hive .
Hey Lesgold, my son has just collected the first lot of honey from his hive, 9 kgs and he is sending some to dad. Cannot wait.
Sorry about the hive Nucopia.
Mackka
Sorry about the hive Nucopia.
Mackka
Can I ask, what is foulbrood?
Manpa said:
I had no idea myself Manpa, but while we are waiting for an answer, I found this:
https://beeaware.org.au/archive-pest/european-foulbrood/#ad-image-0
Thanks Billy, can understand now why it would be difficult to eradicate
Billy said:
Thats it , nasty stuff when it infects a hive the other beekeeper and I think the infection was in its early statges and not yet infecting all the brood combs so we hoped we could remove the infected combs and seperate them from the uninfected combs ,locate the queen and save the hive.
But we couldn't locate the queen up between the ceiling and floor bords of the house , we assumed she had gone further in where we could not reach.
. We wanted to locate the queen, so we could put her in a box with a few uncapped frames that the friend had that morning uncapped and removed the honey ( one of his own hives) and hopefully coax the rest of the hive to join her in the box , but that proved impossible.
Only good result, was that I was able to harvest about 8 kg of honey ? and some wax.
Good stuff Mackka. Youll enjoy the stuff straight from the hives. Sorry Manpa, we should have explained the disease. Thanks Billy for providing the link. There is a more serious foulbrood disease called American Foulbrood. Again , it is very infectious and can wipe out all of your bees. This disease is one that requires you to report it to authorities and the general control method is to kill infected hives, burn and bury all hive material. I had a couple of hives become infected with European fb a few years ago. One hive was too far gone so the bees paid the ultimate price. Equipment was then cleaned and sterilised. Was able to save the other hive by compacting the bees into one box. Removed the infected combs and fed the bees. As the hive was then much smaller in physical size, the bees were able to control the disease and eventually overcame the problem. From memory, it was a very wet spring. Poor nutrition and high humidity levels enabled the foulbrood to develop.
No need to be sorry Lesgold, interesting reading, I had never heard of it. Learn something new everyday.
Yesterday my eldest called me at work asking if I have any bees in the backyard..derrr, no I do not.
Anyway, seems a swarm of them decided to settle in the shed. Couldn't be bothered looking last night but checked not long ago and there are quite a few of them. I've captured smaller swarms that went on to become bad bees..hahaha
Hopefully they'll still be there Saturday as I'll get another hive and move them on in there.
Looks like they are settling ok for the time being making comb and all.
Sigh....didn't really want another hive as the four I have are enough for me. But I'll see how it goes. When I requeen this bunch I may sell the hive and colony.
Anyway, seems a swarm of them decided to settle in the shed. Couldn't be bothered looking last night but checked not long ago and there are quite a few of them. I've captured smaller swarms that went on to become bad bees..hahaha
Hopefully they'll still be there Saturday as I'll get another hive and move them on in there.
Looks like they are settling ok for the time being making comb and all.
Sigh....didn't really want another hive as the four I have are enough for me. But I'll see how it goes. When I requeen this bunch I may sell the hive and colony.
Cool
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