essexgary Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Hi all Just a couple of questions Has anyone put the wasp guard in their beehaus yet? I have a few wasps hanging around. I have put a couple of wasp traps out but was wondering if it was too early to put the guard in Also, my bees are being very slow in drawing out super frames and filling them. Just a bit of background, I hived a swarm about 5 weeks ago. They have done really well and after a really fast start, have slowed down quite a lot. They are on 7 frames (about 1.5 of these are stores). Am I expecting too much? Will they get going more towards the end of the month into July? I am guessing the flow has slowed down and that could be the reason, along with the colony still building up. Appreciate your views. Thanks Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 That 'beee guard' is the number two joke (after the 'varroa tray'). It, IMO, is only of any use for the weakest of colonies. Any decent sized colony will repel wasps. On my hives the entry is either hive width or reduced to about 100mm, maybe only 50mm for a lesser colony. That would be an entrance slot 20-22mm in height. Wrt the expansion rate, last year I recall one not over-large swarm filled 12 frames in three weeks. Completely filled from foundation. This year may be different. I am wondering why you have supers on while there are another 5 frames left in the brood area before a couple of those silly sized things would sensibly cover the 14 x 12 frames? Regards, RAB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexgary Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 That 'beee guard' is the number two joke (after the 'varroa tray'). It, IMO, is only of any use for the weakest of colonies. Any decent sized colony will repel wasps. On my hives the entry is either hive width or reduced to about 100mm, maybe only 50mm for a lesser colony. That would be an entrance slot 20-22mm in height. Wrt the expansion rate, last year I recall one not over-large swarm filled 12 frames in three weeks. Completely filled from foundation. This year may be different. I am wondering why you have supers on while there are another 5 frames left in the brood area before a couple of those silly sized things would sensibly cover the 14 x 12 frames? Regards, RAB Hi Rab I guess they are just slow coaches. They really did have a cracking start a few weeks ago. Let's see what happens. I have got 10 frames on one side, they have begun to draw out on the last 3 but slow progress over the last week. You might think that was because they were filling up the supers but they havent been doing that either! So I guess I will forget about the wasp guard for a while! Hope life is good with you Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Would you put a super on if there were still three frames in the brood box to draw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
