BULLDOUG 199 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 Thought i would chuck this in the air, what you guys doing regarding swarm control?? Do any of you clip the Queens?? Anyone using swarm traps?? Im plannind on artifitialy swarming a few new hives this year but i do need to pay attention to swarms as i am next to a park. D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 I'm personally not a fan of cliping queens and swarm traps just seems unnatural to me, I normally try a remove the first swarm cells ( never supersedure cells )then artificsal swarm and if I don't need the extra colony I will reunite later on in the season. Artifidal swarming is nice and easy and you know you still have all your bees and don't suffer too much loss in honey production Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BULLDOUG 199 Posted March 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Thanks Ash, thats the method im gonna go for this year, although i do have a very aggressive hive and would hate to miss a queen cell, i wouldnt want these going AWOL, I THINK IM BEST DESTROYING THIS QUEEN AND REPLACING WITH A CARNOLIAN OR SOMTHING?? I LIKE MY MONGREL BEES AS THEY ARE GREAT AT PRODUCING AND ALSOP PROTECTING THEMSELVES BUT I SUPPOSE I HAVE A DUTY TO NOT LET THEM GET TO ANGRY. ATB D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 How angry are they, to be honnest I think it's all too easy to blame the bees. I'm not saying you don't know what angry bees are I've had a few hives where someting has happend to the queen and belive me they get really angry then. how old is the queen that you've got, It may be time to re queen anyway. Where in the midlands are because your more than welcome to come and get a queen or a couple of queen cells from me. If you've only the one hive you could get a few cells from me and maybe get 2 or 3 splits if the hive is strong enough then worry about re queening the main hive a bit later in the season after you have a couple of early splits which would help you out next season. If your worried about swarming when you do a split put a couple of empty frames in the middle of the brood nest about one frame apart this will usually keep them from swarming. I keep Buckfast strain bees, nice and docile good production and they seem to fly at fairly low temps aswell ATB Ashley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BULLDOUG 199 Posted March 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 How angry are they, to be honnest I think it's all too easy to blame the bees. I'm not saying you don't know what angry bees are I've had a few hives where someting has happend to the queen and belive me they get really angry then. how old is the queen that you've got, It may be time to re queen anyway. Where in the midlands are because your more than welcome to come and get a queen or a couple of queen cells from me. If you've only the one hive you could get a few cells from me and maybe get 2 or 3 splits if the hive is strong enough then worry about re queening the main hive a bit later in the season after you have a couple of early splits which would help you out next season. If your worried about swarming when you do a split put a couple of empty frames in the middle of the brood nest about one frame apart this will usually keep them from swarming. I keep Buckfast strain bees, nice and docile good production and they seem to fly at fairly low temps aswell ATB Ashley Right this was originaly X bees that were quite angry and that hive was sold to another Beek, what i have is a queen reared from that hive last summer, when the hive arrived it was seriously pissed after the journey and followed us for some distance and time . To be fair it did calm down after i owned it for a month or two, it had calmed right down but any accidental knocks or slips and these buggers are vexed again, they dont just attack if im outside inspecting and if i go in and out with a little smoke then THEY WILL BARE IT BRIEFLY, Im based in the Black country, i have 4 hives in total and the other three hives are mint, do you suggest that i rear a queen from one of my tamer hives?? Like i said shes not a problem for me its just that i dont want any complaints. Thankyou very much for the offer of queens thats really good of you buddy, if ever i cant return that gesture in the future i'll be sure to do so. THANKYOU Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Keswick 119 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 How angry are they, to be honnest I think it's all too easy to blame the bees. I'm not saying you don't know what angry bees are I know what angry bees are, i picked up a swarm last summer, hived them, for the first 3 weeks they were nice as pie, then for no reason went ballistic. You couldnt do feck all with them, even if you took the crown board off the whole lot would just pile out stinging like crazy, quite scary if your not expecting it. They were queen right too! I killed the lot. and used the brood to help another colony that was struggling to produce a queen. Touch wood so far they are ok, a bit frisky but not too bad and well out of the way of people. Later learned that the swarm had come from a beekeeper known to someone else, he was selling a hive Dont know if he was selling the bees with the hive or not, but it would irresponsible of him to do so. They were fecking maniacs! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 How angry are they, to be honnest I think it's all too easy to blame the bees. I'm not saying you don't know what angry bees are I know what angry bees are, i picked up a swarm last summer, hived them, for the first 3 weeks they were nice as pie, then for no reason went ballistic. You couldnt do feck all with them, even if you took the crown board off the whole lot would just pile out stinging like crazy, quite scary if your not expecting it. They were queen right too! I killed the lot. and used the brood to help another colony that was struggling to produce a queen. Touch wood so far they are ok, a bit frisky but not too bad and well out of the way of people. Later learned that the swarm had come from a beekeeper known to someone else, he was selling a hive Dont know if he was selling the bees with the hive or not, but it would irresponsible of him to do so. They were fecking maniacs! Thats what I like to hear, VERY responsible beekeeping, it dose make you wonder what people have forsale when they are selling a whole hive and bees in it. was good you could make use of the brood to help out other hives, I do this all time (not kill bees ) pinching a frame of brood from hear and a frame from there it also helps open up the brood nest in hives that are preparing to swarm. I wonder what made them suddenly get soo angry, a bit worrying if your like me and feed the hives at night when they need it as i'm normally too lazy to put on suit to do it. ATB Ashley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Keswick 119 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 I dont know why they turned like that, as i said they were queen right, i asked a friend of mine his opinion, he has been at it years and he didnt know why and was shocked at the reaction of them. So i took all the frames out, and shook the bees back into the box, and soapy watered them with a backpack sprayer! Kills them in seconds! I was wearing chainsaw trousers, wellies, padded top and beesuit, sweating like a nun at a cucumber stall Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 I dont know why they turned like that, as i said they were queen right, i asked a friend of mine his opinion, he has been at it years and he didnt know why and was shocked at the reaction of them. So i took all the frames out, and shook the bees back into the box, and soapy watered them with a backpack sprayer! Kills them in seconds! I was wearing chainsaw trousers, wellies, padded top and beesuit, sweating like a nun at a cucumber stall LOL you went in well prepared mate, christ they must have been bad. I think I must be lucky with all the hives I have and swarms that I've picked up I've always been able to sort out the odd angry colony. The worst ones I've ever had was a queenless hive and they just wouldn't accept anothe queen even put in 15 queen cells in the end and they just built them into the comb and they were lost, in the end I let the colony dwindle away to about half size then combined it with anther one using the sheet of news paper method, I will say that while they were queenless they didn't half produce some honey. ATB Ashley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 How angry are they, to be honnest I think it's all too easy to blame the bees. I'm not saying you don't know what angry bees are I've had a few hives where someting has happend to the queen and belive me they get really angry then. how old is the queen that you've got, It may be time to re queen anyway. Where in the midlands are because your more than welcome to come and get a queen or a couple of queen cells from me. If you've only the one hive you could get a few cells from me and maybe get 2 or 3 splits if the hive is strong enough then worry about re queening the main hive a bit later in the season after you have a couple of early splits which would help you out next season. If your worried about swarming when you do a split put a couple of empty frames in the middle of the brood nest about one frame apart this will usually keep them from swarming. I keep Buckfast strain bees, nice and docile good production and they seem to fly at fairly low temps aswell ATB Ashley Right this was originaly X bees that were quite angry and that hive was sold to another Beek, what i have is a queen reared from that hive last summer, when the hive arrived it was seriously pissed after the journey and followed us for some distance and time . To be fair it did calm down after i owned it for a month or two, it had calmed right down but any accidental knocks or slips and these buggers are vexed again, they dont just attack if im outside inspecting and if i go in and out with a little smoke then THEY WILL BARE IT BRIEFLY, Im based in the Black country, i have 4 hives in total and the other three hives are mint, do you suggest that i rear a queen from one of my tamer hives?? Like i said shes not a problem for me its just that i dont want any complaints. Thankyou very much for the offer of queens thats really good of you buddy, if ever i cant return that gesture in the future i'll be sure to do so. THANKYOU Yes mate you've got plenty of scope to rear a queen to re queen that dodgy one. You could do it without even putting any effort in, if I was you I'd wait untill another hive is getting ready to swarm ie. queen cells present but only just layed in, then I'd kill off the dodgy queen and leave them queenless for about 10 days then just after the queen cells have been capped take the frame without any bees and swap it for a frame in the othe hive. You will have to remove ALL emergency queen cells as they appear in the dodgy hive and jobs a good un. At the same time you can in the same way make a split from that good hive. ATB Ashley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BULLDOUG 199 Posted March 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Thanks Ashly, that makes a lot of sence to me. Its quite daunting being only my second season but very exciting all the same. Will there bee any of you guys at the Stonleigh bee convention?? it would be good to have a coffie and chat. ATB D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Thanks Ashly, that makes a lot of sence to me. Its quite daunting being only my second season but very exciting all the same. Will there bee any of you guys at the Stonleigh bee convention?? it would be good to have a coffie and chat. ATB D Some books and people seem to have this thing that making a split is quite involved, it's not at all and I too many newcomers struggle with it. By the time you to the end of this season you'll know the crack a bit more mate, things start to come naturally then you start to understand what your own bees are telling you. I'm not sure if I'm going yet but will let you know if I am. ATB Ashley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BULLDOUG 199 Posted March 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Thanks Ashly, that makes a lot of sence to me. Its quite daunting being only my second season but very exciting all the same. Will there bee any of you guys at the Stonleigh bee convention?? it would be good to have a coffie and chat. ATB D Some books and people seem to have this thing that making a split is quite involved, it's not at all and I too many newcomers struggle with it. By the time you to the end of this season you'll know the crack a bit more mate, things start to come naturally then you start to understand what your own bees are telling you. I'm not sure if I'm going yet but will let you know if I am. ATB Ashley I do see what you mean, alot of the bee forums like to blind you with science, im fairly confident anyway. This is why i posted here so i could get an ordinary answer instead of X=SQ2 OF THE RADIUS BLAH BLAH. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Keswick 119 Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 I do see what you mean, alot of the bee forums like to blind you with science, im fairly confident anyway. This is why i posted here so i could get an ordinary answer instead of X=SQ2 OF THE RADIUS BLAH BLAH. I think ALL forums are the same, you get the odd few people who are full of piss and importance and will try and baffle you with what they dont know! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ashleybee 7 Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 I do see what you mean, alot of the bee forums like to blind you with science, im fairly confident anyway. This is why i posted here so i could get an ordinary answer instead of X=SQ2 OF THE RADIUS BLAH BLAH. I think ALL forums are the same, you get the odd few people who are full of piss and importance and will try and baffle you with what they dont know! Thats a spot on statement. Don't get me wrong there is alot of science around bees but half of it just confuses new comers of the 2 hive man. To be honnest with you when I do a split I usually just wait untill the bees are producing swarm cells and take 2 frames with swarm cells on them and 2 frames of stores and pollen and put one of each in the middle of a 6 frame nuc box and 2 frames of drwan comb on each side and let the bees do the rest, SIMPLE. 2 good nucs and usually 2 good queens ready for over wintering for next season. and to make sure the original colony dosent swarm I pu 2 frames of foundation on each side of the brood nest and 2 empty (no foundation) frames in the middle of the brood nest with a frame of brood seperating them, the bees will usually build thier own comb which occupies them and usually won't swarm. Oh I normally try to put the 2 nucs side by side where the original colony was and move the original along the stand about 3 feet or so and then after a few days swap the nucs for the original hive just to make sure they are all getting foraging bees going to them, and feed the nucs as usual untill well established. I think thats about as simple as making splits can get and it works. John how many hives do you keep? Ashley Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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