Part 0800.0005

[MedusA]

I bit the bullet and did my first solo inspection today. It was very nerve-wracking, but I got through it.

 

I was really pleased to find the queen on frame 3. Maybe the green dot made it just a bit easier!

 

Plenty of sealed brood, larvae and eggs seen. Some capped honey and loads of nectar-filled cells. Some of these were on my new frames of foundation, which made me feel really happy. It shows my colony is expanding. I didn't see any queen cells, so by the time I got to frame 5 (out of 11) I decided to call it a day and stop annoying the bees further. Next time, I'll go through the frames from the other side, so I get to cover all the brood box.

 

I hope that was OK? Or should I have carried on and gone through every frame?

[Daphne]

No I think you did the right thing - we were told that you can generally tell whats going on a)look down on the frames and the bees are 'supposed' to build brood in a rugby ball shape from the middle frame outwards b) if, by some chance they haven't read that bit, and/or you can't see, then you should still be able to deduce the frame/s where all the action is by lifting the frames out and as you move away from those very active ones there will be less and less to see. We've also found that the bees get a bit annoyed if we prolong the inspection.

[Olly]

Sorry to hear about your laying workers, Kermit - what a blow! Hope you can get a swarm soon.

 

I've yet to do my first inspection ... waiting for a sunny day, actually tonight would be ok but I want my friend to be there and she can't do tonight. She's going to be my 'assistant beekeeper' - I know that next year, if I get any honey, I won't be able to lift the supers on my own so I want her to get used to the bees now.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Olly are you leaving this year's honey for the bees or do you intend to extract and feed? my mentor says I should leave it and feed them later if needs be, which was what I was thinking too.

 

I did my first inspection with Roy on Friday....well he inspected & I lifted one frame to look at ...fascinating little things....and I was very pleased to note my own reaction in that I didn't feel at all concerned with the bees flying around my head, only that I might drop the frame!! Lots of capped brood & larvae with honey & pollen building up too

 

I was very concerned to note yesterday that a few wasps were "bothering" the girls...there were several dead wasp bodies in front of the hive and I think the bees were seeing off the ones who tried to get in. I stuffed dry grass in the outer edges of the entrance to reduce their area of entry so the bees have a better chance to protect themselves....should I do anything else? They calmed down within a very short time after I did the grass stuffing. Although I have a glass quilt I didn't open the top of the hive. (BTW, I was still calm in my suit despite the bees being very agitated by the wasps...long may it last !!)

 

Whilst "suited & booted" I checked along the bank where the hive is, in case we have a wasp nest in evidence, which we don't seem to have, but I will keep an eye out. We had one near the chook run last week which we treated...pesky things (or whatever you would prefer to call them !)

 

Sha x

[Olly]

I'm going to leave any stores for them this year, as they won't have much time to build them up. I gave them a feed when I put them in the hive last weekend, and I may add another one depending on how things look tonight. As the guy who gave them to me had had them in a travelling frame for a few weeks, they already had some stores built up.

 

Do you have an entrance block on your hive? I am unsure whether to put mine in place or not at this time of year, but I know it makes it easier for them to guard it.

 

Was that the first time you'd seen inside a hive? You're very brave to take one on, then!

 

I made sure I'd been on an apiary visit before I ordered the kit, and my 'mentor' (who's an agent for Thornes) says he won't sell anyone a hive until they have seen inside one. Every year apparently there is at least one person who is really keen to have bees but who then freaks out completely when they see a hive with the roof off.

 

It is a bit scary when they are buzzing around your head, I'm quite a calm person which is useful in situations like that. I've told my friend that if she screams when I take the roof off, she's not going to be allowed to handle them!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Ooops, guess which twit went too close to the hive and ended up being seen off by a scout which got caught up in her hair & stung on her hand

 

I have to confess that it did hurt (more then I let on to DH!!) but quickly settled after applying baking soda made to a paste with water & followed up with lavender oil. Dear old "granny's remedies".

 

Sha x

[Olly]

ouch!

 

If I get stung again, I'll take anti-histamines, pronto.

 

Opened up the hive tonight, and it is still full of bees (phew!) and they've used the litre of syrup I left them last week. I had trouble getting the smoker to light, and it kept going out, so I got a bit panicky after I'd done a couple of frames, and didn't really observe whether there was brood or eggs or anything, but they all look very active.

 

I'll have another go next week and try and look a bit more carefully for signs of activity.

[MedusA]

We all seem to be at the same stage with our beekeeping at the moment.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was nervous doing the first inspection. I talked to my mentor about only looking at half of the frames. He agreed that was fine, but that next time I look through the hive from the other direction, to check the ones I missed. Fortunately the bees seem to have recovered from their ordeal.

 

I am feeding them 1:1 syrup in a rapid feeder, constantly topping it up, as my apiary manager says that's good to get them drawing out wax on the new frames.

 

I also plan to leave all the honey for the bees this year. They need it more than me and it will give me something new to look forward to next year.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Mine hasn't said anything about feeding yet, I'll ask the question tomorrow at the association meeting and order a feeder..........and the subject of the evening is.........honey extraction!!

 

Sha x

[Olly]

Well I asked about feeding, as mine's only a nucleus. The verdict from the guy who gave them to me was that it would help them to build up more quickly, and another beekeeper commented that bees don't get overweight!

 

I only put a litre in to start them off, but there seemed to be quite a bit of brace comb building up so I take it they're getting some stores. I'm kicking myself for not looking a bit more carefully last night, don't want to open it up too often. This week's task is to practise lighting the smoker! What are you burning in yours?

[Chook n Boo Mum]

My mentor loaded mine with the packaging that came with my glass quilt from Thornes.....made very acrid smoke though, so maybe I won't do that again! The bees didn't seem to mind, but it made our eyes water !

 

I was recommended rotten wood, dried grass, cardboard........almost anything that won't go out in seconds really !

 

Mine's a nuc too, but had been put into the hive rather than a nuc box for a while before I received it, don't know how much if any difference that makes

 

Sha x

[Daphne]

corrugated card rolled into a tube. It works fine (well for our one hive at least). One of the old guys swears by it pre-soaked in saltpetre. I think this is used to make explosives but he seemed to think you could still get hold of it

[Peaches]

We've got dried wood (actually ended up drying it in the oven) because it smells so nice. Cardboard smells hideous. Actually, I'm not being as pretentious as that may sound, because unless you keep your smoker away from the house, the smell permeates for days afterwards. Ours is stored in the back room and the smell of burnt cardboard is horrid, but wood is quite nice.

 

By the way - we are definitely queenless - so have bit the bullet (ie me and Kermit ie Dave) and have bought a nuc off a fellow bee club member. Dave went to look at them a week ago and they are thriving, buzzing, happy bees. So we are forking out £100 and they are being delivered tonight.

 

Hope this goes a bit better than our swarm.

[sam42]

I have two hives, one small swarm that I helped collect and a large swarm that I picked up from someone in the association. The small swarm has been slowly building up but I have now found a sealed queen cell which freaked me out slightly. I have spoken to someone in the association and they believe it is a supersedure cell, so I will have to see what happens next.

My larger swarm built up really quickly and last weekend I managed to extract 30lbs of honey even though I had only had the bees about six weeks. It was very exciting to have my own honey and it tastes delicious. Looking at them the other day, I think I am going to have to extract again this weekend unless weather turns and then they may last until next weekend as I have no more spare supers to put on.

 

I have had a couple of stings which have been fine but the day after I extracted the honey, I got stung in the elbow and it blooming well hurt! It went like Olly's and got to about 8" in length and was very red and hot. Luckily it has now disappeared. I got stung again at the weekend, which I think was my fault as I believe I squashed a bee and that sting was fine.

 

I am finding the whole thing so interesting and think the bees are amazing but sometimes when checking my bees on my own seems quite scary whereas when I am at a meeting I am really confident and nothing fazes me. I guess it's just an experience thing and I will get more confident as time goes on. It's really nice to have this thread where we are all beginners and can discuss our different experiences.

[Olly]

I have two hives, one small swarm that I helped collect and a large swarm that I last weekend I managed to extract 30lbs of honey even though I had only had the bees about six weeks.

 

WOW! I am not expecting to get any honey this year, but that's amazing!

 

I got two of those cardboard smoker rolls free with my 'Bees on a Budget' kit. Unfortunately I didn't recognise them and threw them away as I thought they were part of the packing!

 

I've been collecting rotten wood and grass, and I'm drying it in the greenhouse - I think I just hadn't got the cardboard starter alight properly yesterday, and I was in a bit of a rush as I had visitors coming round. It is an experience thing - like you I was fine at the apiary visit our group had last week, but it's different when you're on your own isn't it. This thread is proving very useful to me, thanks for all the shared experiences.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I have two hives, one small swarm that I helped collect and a large swarm that I last weekend I managed to extract 30lbs of honey even though I had only had the bees about six weeks.

 

WOW! I am not expecting to get any honey this year, but that's amazing!

 

I got two of those cardboard smoker rolls free with my 'Bees on a Budget' kit. Unfortunately I didn't recognise them and threw them away as I thought they were part of the packing!

 

I've been collecting rotten wood and grass, and I'm drying it in the greenhouse - I think I just hadn't got the cardboard starter alight properly yesterday, and I was in a bit of a rush as I had visitors coming round. It is an experience thing - like you I was fine at the apiary visit our group had last week, but it's different when you're on your own isn't it. This thread is proving very useful to me, thanks for all the shared experiences.

 

Ditto ! Thanks for all the support, it really is very comforting to know that I am not alone!

 

Re the honey, the previous owners said that they expected me to be able to take 30lb+ off this year too.....mentor says leave it.....I am slightly torn as my children are now devouring the jar of honey that came with the hive at every opportunity! "what are you having for breakfast?" "homemade bread & honey""...lunch?" "homemade bread & honey" Even I am hooked and I didn't think I even liked honey . Maybe I could put a couple of frames of unwired wax & hope the bees fill it with honey so I can remove that & DH would be very happy with honey in a comb too.

 

BTW, did your stings itch? I treated mine last night with baking powder & lavender oil as I said, no pain no swelling & today it's been itchy around the sting area, no swelling or anything nasty, just a couple of itchy sessions. Is this normal?!

 

Sha x

[Daphne]

Hi All - like everybody says this is a very helpful thread! You can say/admit all sorts of daft things

 

Top tip re the cardboard smell - I actually quite like it (!) but I do notice it as its kept by the back door with chicken stuff. Maybe we'll try drying some twiggy undergrowth to go with dried grass.

 

Re stings - its not happened to me yet, but for insect bites (ie after its happened with the swelling and itchiness) I swear by Tiger Balm. You buy it in chemists (most independents have it, not sure about Boots etc). It comes in red or white (get white, red can stain). Its from Singapore, has a very strong smell (some people adore it!) but is very effective - it sort of heats the area up but I don't really know how it work. Its in a little pot and you smear it on. Clean your fingers thoroughly afterwards - there is no way you want it near your eyes

[MedusA]

I agree. This is a very helpful thread. Fortunately, I still haven't had to contend with a sting, but know it is just a matter of time.

 

I use a ball of paper to start my smoker off and then wood shavings to keep it smoking. This is what we use at the apiary and seems to work. I agree, it can be a bit acrid though. I also need to practice keeping it alight better, as it did go out half way through my inspection.

[Old Speckled Hen]

I intend to keep bees making a start maybe the year after next and I have been so encouraged by this thread. It's wonderful

I was thinking of getting a weeping lime ...Tilia Petiolaris ... but have read somewhere that the intensely scented flowers are so intoxicating for bees to the point of being toxic.

Has anybody any information on this?

Is there any bee mentor you can ask?

Thanks,

Dani xx

[Peaches]

Don't know about that tree, Dani, but will have a read of my bee books and see if I can find any info for you.

 

And ....... I'm so HAPPY Last night OH (kermit), moved the hive away to another part of the garden , shook out the queenless bees and watched as the bees flew back to the site - where the nuc is now located - and were allowed into the nuc!! So they have joined the colony.

 

He said they flew up to the entrance, hung around, the guard bees licked them, and then they were let in. How nice is that? They will now have a queen. The nuc bees are very well tempered and our old bees have a new happy home. Aahhhhh

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I'm glad this worked so well Peaches

 

Sha x

[MedusA]

Brilliant news Peaches. Congratulations on a successful merger!

[Kermit]

As Peaches says, it was great watching the bees go into the nuc. After I shook them off the frames the sky was full of bees. I was worried they were just flying around the old hive and not returning to where it originally was. So, I walked over there expecting the worst - only to find the back of the nuc covered in bees trying to find the entrance (nuc facing opposite direction to old hive).

 

Thursday we moved the nuc into the hive. Checked every frame and even found the Queen . Added a couple of extra frames for them to draw out and a dummy board, as there are only 8 frames in the full size hive (takes 11). I made the dummy board myself out of offcuts of wood I had lying around - saved £5 .

 

As I'm a teacher holidays start today . One of my main tasks is to build a couple of hives - got some plywood from the wood yard this morning. I'll keep you posted on how this goes.

[Daphne]

Congrats Peaches and Kermit - you must be thrilled, you're really getting in amongst it

 

Yesterday our mentor came by and confirmed all is well even tho we still haven't seen the queen (thats about 4 weeks now) - there's plenty of eggs and larvae. We have a jumbo brood box (14x12) and there's a lot of nectar/pollen being stored. But because the frames are larger than normal the bees haven't made many inroads into the supers - so we may/may not get honey this year. This hasn't been helped by the fact we've had the guard on the entrance all this time so they've been queuing up to get in or out

 

But on the plus side he said we may not need to feed this winter.

 

We've also got to make a dummy board to stop so much brace comb. Neighbour is a handyman so we're looking for plywood too!

 

Both my joint bee-owner neighbour (what abbreviation can I use for him?) and my mentor got stung. He said you should remove sting asap by s"Ooops, word censored!"ing it off (he used the hive tool). Don't pull it out or poison will be released. He also said we should use more smoke to subdue them - and not to worry about it. This morning one of the bees got tangled up in OH's hair. Another beekeeping neighbour happened to be there and hit it/him on the head to kill it off...well that was his story anyway

 

My neighbour's wife swears by aloe vera for stings, bites, burns. Either gel in a tube or if you happen to have a plant, cut off a bit and apply the juice that comes out directly.

 

Sorry this is a bit long - just thought it might be useful to share wisdom from someone who knows what he's on about, ie not me!!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Very useful Daphne, thanks for all that info........as long as the BKN didn't hit OH with a hive tool I'm sure he'll be fine if a little surprised I'd be worried to do that in case the bee was pointing outwards & stung the head in question when it was hit.....obviously something you can do much easier when you can actually see the bee before you hit it (ie don't do it to yourself for preference I'd have thought!)

 

I look forward to seeing your hives Kermit.....are you using a specific "pattern" or measuring your hive & producing a "clone"? I may detect a holiday project for DS who loves working with wood & as we will be confined to barracks by chicks for a fair bit of the hols he might appreciate the project........or maybe not !

 

Sha x