I always wondered what happened when you made a nuc...
If you remove young bees from a hive for example by relocating one or more frames of bees to a nuc box, the older bees on those frames will fly back to their original home, the donor hive. So, you would therefore expect to have a surplus of older foraging bees in the donor hive. I always assumed that some of these older bees went off and did some other jobs for a bit; at least until there were more new bees. But I didn't know what actually happened. It appears it's all to do with patterns of chemicals that latch on to and regulate certain genes in the bees brains...
So here we have the answer!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
BeeMatch.com...
Here's a neat idea reported in the Guardian the other day. If you're an aspiring beekeeper, or a beekeeper wanting to help or assist others then you can take a look at this map and see who is in your area. It was pos
OK, so this is an iniative from the UK but there's no reason why it shouldn't be adopted and applied elsewhere. It's supposed to provide an outlet for people who want to keep bees but do not have the space, and for people who have space but do not have bees!
BeeMatch.com! or something like that! I hope it takes off. Check out the map.
OK, so this is an iniative from the UK but there's no reason why it shouldn't be adopted and applied elsewhere. It's supposed to provide an outlet for people who want to keep bees but do not have the space, and for people who have space but do not have bees!
BeeMatch.com! or something like that! I hope it takes off. Check out the map.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Vacation
This week my observation hive spent a week at Tillman Elementary School, in the attentive care of Helen Ermel's 3rd grade class.
The kids asked loads of great questions and wrote me some brilliant letters! Thank you guys!
We're already planning a spring break in the class in 2013!
The kids asked loads of great questions and wrote me some brilliant letters! Thank you guys!
We're already planning a spring break in the class in 2013!
Honey Harvest - Update
It's been a while since I last posted. I have treated my hives for mites and have lost two queens! Is my queen loss related to the treatment? I don't know, but My feeling is that it is. Next year I will be trying a different non-chemical method of mite management. My preference right now is to cage the queen, but this needs research.
Anyway last Sunday I took off the final supers from my hives at the gardens. Two supers yielded 35lbs (16kgs) of honey. That's a total of about 90lbs (40kgs) in total from one hive - I'm happy with that.
Soy overall haul for 2012 is 255lbs (116kgs) from 3 hives. Great going given the dry mixed up weather.
Anyway last Sunday I took off the final supers from my hives at the gardens. Two supers yielded 35lbs (16kgs) of honey. That's a total of about 90lbs (40kgs) in total from one hive - I'm happy with that.
Soy overall haul for 2012 is 255lbs (116kgs) from 3 hives. Great going given the dry mixed up weather.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Honey Harvest!
I spent an excellent (and enjoyable Saturday and Sunday morning) harvesting my honey. It was reasonably hard work lifting the frames and picking away at the combs removing the cappings, but with the help of others (and a few beers) the time passed quite swiftly!
However, before I could enjoy myself and conduct all this fun stuff I had to go and take the supers off my hives. I first went to the Botanical Gardens and removed 3 supers on the afternoon of 4th July. What a nice way to spend the day you might think... I'd agree, if it wasn't 41C (105F) and I didn't have to do all that lifting and hauling around of the supers! I was soaked with sweat within minutes! The good news was that my girls didn't seem to mind me doing it!
While I was at the gardens I checked my nuc and found the "squashed" swarm cell was still in place but that the bees in the nuc had started to form a new queen cell. I removed this as I found the queen and I plan to combine the hives sometime later this week.
I removed 5 supers from my hive at home on Saturday morning; at 6.30am it was already about 30C (85F) and again it proved to be really hot and really unpleasant. by the time Sunday came and I had to remove my final 2 supers I really didn't have the appetite to get fully kitted up. Anyway, thankfully, the hot weather here broke on Saturday evening (daily highs had been over 38C for 10 days running) and it was a much cooler 20F (70F) at 6.30am. It was still hot but I managed to remove the supers easily enough. Who has a good idea for a refrigerated beekeeping suit?
Once again the honey from the three sources was quite different in colour and flavour. The Botanical Garden Honey being quite "strong", the honey from home "sweeter". To summarize:
Botanical Garden Honey = 24.5 kgs (54 lbs)
"Big" Hive Honey = 50 kgs (110 lbs)
"Small" Hive Honey = 22.5 kgs (50 lbs)
"Observation" Hive = 3 kgs (7 lbs) - from one deep frame.
Total = 100 kg (220 lbs)
Nice Job Girls!
However, before I could enjoy myself and conduct all this fun stuff I had to go and take the supers off my hives. I first went to the Botanical Gardens and removed 3 supers on the afternoon of 4th July. What a nice way to spend the day you might think... I'd agree, if it wasn't 41C (105F) and I didn't have to do all that lifting and hauling around of the supers! I was soaked with sweat within minutes! The good news was that my girls didn't seem to mind me doing it!
While I was at the gardens I checked my nuc and found the "squashed" swarm cell was still in place but that the bees in the nuc had started to form a new queen cell. I removed this as I found the queen and I plan to combine the hives sometime later this week.
I removed 5 supers from my hive at home on Saturday morning; at 6.30am it was already about 30C (85F) and again it proved to be really hot and really unpleasant. by the time Sunday came and I had to remove my final 2 supers I really didn't have the appetite to get fully kitted up. Anyway, thankfully, the hot weather here broke on Saturday evening (daily highs had been over 38C for 10 days running) and it was a much cooler 20F (70F) at 6.30am. It was still hot but I managed to remove the supers easily enough. Who has a good idea for a refrigerated beekeeping suit?
Once again the honey from the three sources was quite different in colour and flavour. The Botanical Garden Honey being quite "strong", the honey from home "sweeter". To summarize:
Botanical Garden Honey = 24.5 kgs (54 lbs)
"Big" Hive Honey = 50 kgs (110 lbs)
"Small" Hive Honey = 22.5 kgs (50 lbs)
"Observation" Hive = 3 kgs (7 lbs) - from one deep frame.
Total = 100 kg (220 lbs)
Nice Job Girls!
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| The 2012 Haul! |
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| My Motley Crew |
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Two weeks of hard work!
I came home from vacation last week to find the girls in my large hive at home have been working hard and packing in the honey! In the last 2 weeks all 5 supers have been almost filled! I need to check my other hives ASAP to see when I will harvest, but it all looks rather good for July 4th!
The Hunt for Drone Congregation Areas!
Well we did manage to go and hunt for the DCAs near Selborne. My Dad, Matt and I went for a lovely 4 mile walk through the gorgeous Hampshire countryside looking in three locations for the DCAs. Sadly we didn't find any drones, but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed ourselves as the photos testify!
Here are some other views from our walk!
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