School presentation, observation hive, rustic hive, and a hive move

I did a presentation in my son's 2nd grade class today. They (including the teacher) were fascinated. They asked lots of questions (many about poop) and seemed to enjoy the presentation very much.
I had several pictures that we put up on the "smart board" (hive types, swarms, queens, gear, life cycle). I need to find more pictures for next time to help answer some of the questions (honey cells, pollen cells, eggs, stinger?, waggle dance, pollen).

I had built an observation hive over the winter out of an old fish tank. I designed the roof to support 2 bars from a top bar hive. I must have measured wrong as I was only able to fit 1 bar (still fascinating to 2nd graders). Now that I've used it I'll need to make some adjustments to it. I'd like to get 2 or 3 bars in there. I need to find a way to secure the lid. As it is, the entire lid can just lift off. Perhaps also a way to light up the comb. It's rather dark in the shadow of the roof.


I knocked together a 44 inch tob bar hive last night out of some old cedar fencing. Two and a half hours total (and that included disassembly of the fence. I still need to put some legs on it and devise some kind of a roof. I have plenty more fence boards. I also want to knock together some more bait hives.

I've heard of 3 swarms so far this year and it's still the middle of April. Crazy warm spring!

The idea for this hive is to put it up at the cabin in mountains. There are so many flowers up there. I've always wanted to see how much honey a hive could make in a season. I've wanted to taste it also. The rustic hive will blend well with the old cabin and out buildings. It should also not draw to much unwanted attention from the neighbors (fellow campers). I'll probably not overwinter it there, though I'm not sure. I put the entrances on the end. I also closed the bottom up and will fill the bottom 2 inches with sawdust/pine shavings. Some recent reading on the biobees.com forum suggests that humidity is better controlled without bottom ventilation. It also suggests that mights can not survive in a humid environment. Worth a try.

I used the rustic TBH hive to temporarily house the colony of bees from the Schampell TBH. I wanted to redo the screen on the bottom and I was moving it to the Patterson farm (4 miles away) tonight so it was a good time to get it done.

The bees had closed of (at least partially) all three entrance holes back at the start of winter with propolis. When I got a close look from the inside they have completely removed all propolis from 2 entrance holes but left the 3rd completely closed off. I figure they know what they want so I left it alone.

After getting the girls back in their box, with a shiny new screened bottom and a fancy hinged bottom board, I let them calm down until evening and with some help from Tim, I moved it to the Patterson farm. His peach trees are barely starting to bloom so the timing is good. I had noticed when moving the bars back and forth from the 2 hives that many of the empty bars I had placed between straight comb bars the other day had already had quite a bit of new comb drawn out. One of these combs fell during the hive move. I was being so careful too! I'll go inspect this hive in a few weeks to make sure they are doing good after the move. I'll remove the fallen comb then. They've been through a lot this week.

Catching a swarm

May 12, 2011.

After their "practice swarm" the day before, I was nervous that they'd really swarm and I'd miss it. I was about to return to work from my lunch break and I was explaining to my wife what to look for so she could call me if they swarmed. As I was explaining this, they swarmed. Poured out of the hive as we were watching. I grabbed the camera and caught it on video (see below). They flew around the yard for a while and then headed north west over the fence and down the hill. I was in hot pursuit. They decided to settle on a small chinese elm tree about 100 yards from their hive. I grabbed my bait hive (with a couple bars of empty comb), vail, camera and tripod and went after them. I managed to catch the swarm and they are now settled in a TBH out at the Peczuh farm. They whole process, aside from moving them to the farm, took about an hour. I managed to capture most of it on video.

I love swarms!

I did not take even one sting while catching the swarm, however I made up for that when transferring them into their permanent home. I transferred all the bars (full of bees) to the top bar hive and then shook the rest of the bees out into the hive. Some of them fell on the ground and as I proceeded to put the hive back together, these bees crawled up my legs trying to get back to the hive. Most were on the outside of my levis and I was able to brush them off. Several were inside my levis and I took 3 stings. The first sting was a result of me intentionally squishing a bee against my inner thigh to prevent her from crawling further up my pant leg. The other 2 were a result of me trying, unsuccessfully, to shake the rest out of my pant leg. Live and learn, right?

Midnight Bees Transfer to permanent TBH

Time: 12:30
Weather: 90 degrees, sunny, no wind.

Transfered my midnight swarm on the Peczuh Farm from my swarm catching hive to a permanent TBH (42 inch).

Wasn't sure how they'd behave so I took my gear (just in case). Ended up not using it. Very gentle bees.

They had built 4 combs of wax already (in just four days) and were busy filling them with nectar and pollen.

Slightly cross combed with some attached to the end of the box. Collapsed one comb trying to straighten it. Moved the other three (on four bars) as one unit.
Placed top bars with 1 inch wooden comb guides (rubbed with bees wax) to either side of what they had built - hope this straightens them out. Combs are too new for much manipulation.

Dumped the rest of the bees in (along with dried mud and sand from the bottom of the swarm box (didn't have a proper bee brush). Note to self: Get a proper bee brush. Left way too many empty top bars between the follower boards as I could not get the bees I dumped to move out of the way to place the follower board where I wanted it. Hopefully in a couple of days I can remove them - tighten it up a bit.

Did not see the queen. Nor did I see any eggs.

Placed the new TBH about six feet further north with the entrances on the west (instead of the east)
This confused some of the foragers who returned to where the swarm catching hive used to be. They just started hanging out on the pallet where it had been sitting.

Checked back after work and all had found their way inside.