TBH Honey extraction.

I got this photo text yesterday from Troy. I've got a hive in his back yard.
BEES!!!!!

I've been meaning to go over to inspect this hive but haven't had a chance lately.
I decided I better have a look.
Today on lunch I made it over. I removed 5 full bars of honey.

There are at least 6 more honey bars that could come out but my bucket was getting full and the girls were getting upset. I was using a peacock feather to brush them from the comb and they got a little ornery. I took a sting to each arm before I put my long sleeves and gloves on. Then I took another sting on the leg. I spaced the honey combs out and left the empty bars between them. there are 12 brood bars. Tons of bees!

I'll go back in a week or so to harvest more. I also removed the bottom board off the hive. It hit 95 degrees yesterday. I'm sure that is why they were all hanging out outside the hive.

Elmo Swarm / Lost Swarm

I got a call a couple days ago about a swarm in Elmo (a small town nearby) that had been in a bush in the back yard for a couple of days. We drove out to get it. It was low in a bush near a fence but was perfect for setting the basket under. I only took 2 stings. One on the thumb during the initial drop and another when I shook them out of the sheet. Must have pissed one off then. She followed me for a bit before finally getting  me behind the ear.

It only took about 30 mins for all the girls to go in the basket after I shook them in.
Video here:
http://youtu.be/s1xNi_-8KTs

I tied the lid on the basket and drove it home without trouble. I placed it behind the shed (after dark now) with plans to put them in a hive the next day.

The next day at lunch there were bees coming and going. I had visions of them building comb inside my swarm basket. After work, there were still bees (many drones) flying around the basket. After dinner I went to put them into a proper hive and they had gone. Only a single drone remained in the basket.
I scouted the neighborhood looking to see if they had landed nearby but with no luck.

I had the thought to put the basket in the shade but I didn't do it. I wonder if it got to hot for them, or if it was too light in the basket, or not closed up enough. Who knows. I guess for future, I'll know not to leave them in there longer than just to get them home. I love the basket for catching them. It's huge and is easy to manage. Catching only - not storage!

Schampell TBH Inspection/harvest

Checked out the inside of the Schampell TBH today.
Last night I noticed that there was a small cluster on the outside of the hive. I wondered if they were out of room. I've been seeing drones also so I wanted to get a look.

The first bar on the south end was a partially drawn out comb with nectar in it (none capped).
The next 10 bars were packed. Mostly capped brood with some eggs and larvae scattered about.
The next bar was solid pollen both sides. This ended up breaking off because the comb guide had detached from the top bar. I tried unsuccessfully to reattach it with aluminum strips and I ended up just removing  (for now)
the next 10 bars were honey - mostly capped. The last 4 were cross combed pretty bad and the last 6 were attached to a mess of comb that had fallen last year and I had left in there.

 I removed the cross combed honey bars as well as another. I removed all the comb from the bottom and sides. This leaves them with 5 bars of honey (mix capped and uncapped). I left several empty bars on the north end, spacing them between full bars to encourage straight comb building. I did the same thing on the south end with the last 2 bars in the nest area.

I did notice many, many drones throughout the hive. I did not see the queen (though I did see eggs). I also did not see any queen cells. I did see a couple of very small cups on the edge of a couple of combs.

I took 2 stings. The first from a bee that crawled up my pant leg. She didn't sting me, however, until I removed my pants to try to free her. Upon loosening my waist, she was able to proceed up and into my shirt and ended up stinging me in my left armpit. Ouch! The other sting was through the shirt on my right bicep. The second one swelled much more than the first.

I did not smoke them (perhaps I should have knowing how invasive I was planning to be. I did spray them with water after they got worked up to try to calm them down. An hour after I closed up the hive, there were still a few that would dive bomb me by the back door.

Also, now 3 hours after the inspection there are quite a lot of bees hanging on the outside of the hive (above the entrance holes). Not sure what they are doing. Many of the bars had bur comb attaching the comb to the side of the hive. This was cut with a serrated knife before removing the comb. With so many bees in the hive, I'm afraid I squished several with the knife each time I cut the bur comb. I hope I didn't injure the queen.

This hive will be moving to the Patterson farm on Wednesday.

Early Spring inspections

The weather was beautiful to day so I decided to check my hives.

The Oscar hive in the back yard is dead. They have starved. I should have paid closer attention. They were a struggling colony for a couple of seasons now. Time to replace them with a stronger colony. I'll likely place this hive at the bottom of uncle Brent's back pasture with a new package of bees in it in April.

The TBH in the back yard is amazingly strong. Still a lot of honey on both ends. Pollen coming in the entrance also. The comb is quite a mess in this hive. Once the nectar is flowing, I'll harvest all the remaining honey and remove all the cross comb.

The TBH at Rosier's is my favorite. Nice straight comb, gentle bees. They still have quite a  it of honey as well. Saw three different colors of pollen coming in today (brown, light gray/white and bright yellow.) Not sure what's blooming this time of year, but they've found it.

The TBH at the Peczuh farm is alive and well also with plenty of stores and pollen coming in also.

I took 4 stings today (all my fault.) I wore my vail, but no gloves. 1 sting to each palm. I've never been stung on the palm before. No noticeable swelling. One sting on the back of the left hand and another on the neck after I had taken off my vail and was observing the entrance of the Peczuh hive.

I knocked together some swarm traps/bait hives today. Two that accept 7 deep frames and 1 that accepts 7 top bars. I will place them soon. One in mom's back yard. One in Castle Dale next to the huge bee tree (if I can get permission.) and one out on ridge road in the lone tree where I caught my first swarm.
I'll make another to place up Hobble Creek near that bee tree. The swarm trap that is there has been unsuccessful for 2 seasons now. I think I need to place it (and another) closer to the creek.

Inspected the TBH at the Peczuh farm today. It's been almost a month since I caught this swarm. They are building up nicely. They have completed 8 bars of comb and are working on the 9th (I had only given them 2 to start). All comb is perfectly straight and nice. Very few attachments to the sides. 1 comb had the comb guide fall out due to the weight of the comb but it was still perfectly straight (just a little lower in the box). Most of the comb was full of brood. Mostly capped. Found the queen (see photo). Saw several drones and a little bit of drone comb. Pretty gentle though I did take a sting to the nose, right between the eyes. I was wearing no protection. It was a little breezy and I think this is what probably upset her.

I added a couple empty bars between some full comb on the north end and they still have 4 empty bars on the south end. The alfalfa in the field was not yet in bloom. I hope when it does bloom, it isn't cut right a way so the girls can work it.

Very happy with the progress of this colony.

May inspections

Got a chance to check on all my hives today. I no longer consider the hives at Jared's mine. He kind of does what he wants with them. I find it harder and harder to get over there.

Schampel TBH
Doing great! Just over a week since the swarm left. Lots of capped  brood and larva. Harvested 2 partial bars of capped honey. Found the queen. Not sure if she's mated yet. Not sure how to tell. Lots of drones around and lots of capped drone cells. No sign of mites. Did not open drone cells to check. Some of my comb guides have fallen out of the bars again with the weight of the honey or brood. I must remember to glue all guides. The wax doesn't hold the weight. Took one sting (while shaking them off the comb I was harvesting).

Schampel Oscar
Hanging on. Found the queen. Still just a small brood area. A Little bigger than last time I checked. The honey stores are more than last time also. There are multiple eggs in some cells. All eggs are on the bottom of the cells though, so I think it's the queen (not a laying worker). Will continue to let them hang on and see how they do. I left the bottom board on but think I'll remove it tomorrow.

Peczuh TBH
First week since catching this swarm (from Schampel TBH). They are booming. The 1st comb (old comb that I gave them was mostly full of nectar and very heavy. The next bar was completed new comb. The next was an old comb again also full of nectar. The next two bars were complete new comb the next two were partial new comb. It's amazing how much they can build in such a short time (just over a week).
All comb perfectly straight. I left the bottom board on.

Rosier TBH
This is by far my most gentle hive. Did not even wear the veil for most of the inspection.
Harvested 3 bars, half full of capped honey. Removed several empty honey combs on account of they were very fat and very crooked. Girls have lots of capped honey above the brood on most of the bars.
Found the queen. Very dark (see pics) Very pretty. Follower board on South of hive is broken in half. Bottom half is sealed in place with propolis. Did not see any queen cells. Only a few drones and not very many drone cells. Some comb attached to sides, but most perfectly straight and easy to inspect. I removed the bottom board for the summer as the weather is nice (nicer) now. On inspecting the debris on the bottom board, I found wax cappings, pollen, and a very small bit of mold. No evidence of mites or mite carcasses. :)

Dark queen (dead center)

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?

A Sting for breakfast.

I was watching my hive (Schampell TBH) this morning (like I always like to do). Just crouched near the entrance watching how much pollen was coming in. I had a tulip in one hand and a frisbee (for the dog) in the other.
One of the girls got stuck in the tulip and started to panic. Immediately a bee was frantically buzzing in my face. She focused on my mouth area for a minute as I calmly stood and walked away but then she moved to my eyes (which were shut). I took a sting near the right eye. After I brushed her offm with her stinger still pulsing in my cheek, she (or perhaps one of the others) proceeded to chase me all the way to the house.

Not sure if the bee stuck in the tulip was sending panic messages to the others.

Late swarm

Got a call yesterday from an fellow beekeepers wife. They had a swarm on their fence and they didn't want it. He's been threatening for years to "get out of the business". I grabbed an empty box and went to get them on my lunch break. They were on a low weed. The old beekeeper gave me his old swarm catching box to use. It was a lightweight box with 1 frame in it and screened windows on all 4 sides. I was able to cut the weed at the base and put it right in the box. I placed the lid on leaving it cracked open on the one side. The rest of the bees were on the ground and in the short weeds. They quickly started marching up the side of the box. I thought that by the time I got off work, they would all be inside the box. They weren't. Most were but there were many that were still clustered on the outside of the box on one of the screened windows. I dumped them all out of and off of the swarm catching box directly into my langstroth. Came back in a couple hours and they were all neatly inside.

I took them home to combine them with another weaker hive. The huge swarm I had caught a few months ago absconded after a few weeks and left a small number of bees (and some Ginormous combs). I placed the box containing the swarm on top of the other hive with some newspapers between.

I think I also figured out why the other colony absconded. I went out to check on these bees last night after dark. There were ants all over the hive. Huge ants. They were gone this morning when I looked. They must just come out at night. I'll have to remedy that and soon. It's curious that they were not on my other two hives (top bars) just a few feet away.

I got some pics and video of the swarm that I should be able to post later.

Also - I took 2 stings for this one.

Good news and Bad news!

I got a chance at lunch today to peak in the hives at home (2 of them anyway).

The first was the TBH that was from a package at the end of April. Very strong colony. 9 bars drawn out and starting on the 10th. I added 3 more for them to work on (between some of the others to encourage straight comb). Didn't see the queen but did see eggs. Only looked at the first few bars. Took a sting to the arm  but for the most part they were very gentle.

Took a loot at the other TBH. Not so good. This is the colony that was split from the Schampel TBH a few weeks ago. I did see the queen and I did see eggs and larva and capped brood. Even saw bees that looked fresh from their cells. Not a whole lot of activity here. Saw a few dead larva. Didn't notice any foul smell. Not much by way of stores. Wondering if I didn't bring enough stores when I did the split. Might start feeding this one.

I've noticed that the activity at the entrance of my Perone style Lang has gone way down. Could be this crappy weather we've had. This colony has a large number of bees. Only had my veil on (shorts and tshirt) so I didn't want to open this one. They seem to take notice more than my TBH colonies.

Might suit up and peak in tonight if the weather holds out.

Swarm catching

I got a swarm call about 3:30 this afternoon. There was a swarm in the backyard of a friend of a friend and they wanted them gone. I took off immediately (I love my boss) and went home to get my stuff. All of my TBH hives are occupied so I grabbed an empty lang. I've decided to manage it Perone style.

The bees were about 4 feet off the ground in an apple tree. I had permission to prune the tree but decided a good shake would work and I wouldn't have to do any cutting.

I placed some landscaping paver stones under the tree to set the box down on after shaking the bees into it. I held the box in my right hand and vigorously shook the branch with my left. I took one sting on the right arm as the bees fell. Most of the bees went in the box and the rest were on the ground in the grass around the stones. I set the box down and placed the lid on it, leaving it cracked. I did not remember however to put in my top bars until several minutes had gone by and the bees were already beginning to cluster on the lid. I placed the bars all on the one side (1 inch bars - with waxed wooden strips for guides) and closed the lid completely, knowing that I'd have to reposition the bars when I put the hive in it's final place at home.  I shook the branch again as there were bees starting to cluster again in the tree. I took another sting, this time to the face (first face sting - ever). Within just minutes you could see the bees in the grass begin moving towards the hive, climbing up the bricks. Many were waving their nasonov around at the entrance so I knew I had the queen. It was so cool to see them "marching" up the bricks and into to the hive.

The weather was rather nasty. Cold and windy.

I left the hive there and went back to work (3 blocks away), telling the homeowners that I'd come back to get it later. After work there were still many bees in the grass and a few still in the tree. I decided to leave it until after dark. Even after dark, there were quite a few bees left in the grass, showing no signs of moving into the hive. I ended up leaving them there as I wasn't sure how to get them into the box. I took another sting on the leg while rearranging the top bars after getting them home. She had crawled up my pant leg.

Note to self: get a sheet and keep it with my stuff. It would have made my job (and the bees job) much easier if I'd had a sheet spread out under the swarm instead of letting them fall in the grass.

The homeowner told me that they had been in the tree for at least 3 days. His little girls had been telling him about the bees in the tree and he didn't think much of it. Figured they were just wasps. When mowing his lawn yesterday, he finally saw for himself what the girls had been trying to tell him.

Three stings and a bit of time for a large bunch of bees (10 lbs?). Not bad at all. I figure the weather and the amount of time they had been there already contributed to their grumpy mood. Had I known they had been there that long, I might have suited up.

Good Idea - just not thought out.

Had a chance to look into the Prazen TBH today. They are starting on the 6th bar of perfectly straight comb. Very gentle bees. Except for the one who got to close to Ibrahim and got swatted at. I had told E not to move quickly or swat. It's hard not to, even for me. The swatting pissed off the bee and she got him. Right on the ear. I felt terrible. He seemed so interested watching me pull the combs out and look at the bees.

With my experience with cross comb last year, I had made up my mind to give them some comb guides this year. I had cut strips of wood 3/4" tall 1/8" wide and about 13" long. These strips slid perfectly into the 1/8" kerfs I had sawed into the top bars. Most fit snuggly so I didn't glue them. I hadn't figured on the weight of the comb. I assumed that the bees would glue it all together with wax when they drew their comb out. As it turns out the bees are just hanging their comb on the bottom of the strip. The 2 most drawn out (and full of brood) combs have detached the strip from the top bar They had fallen into the hive and are dangling by the ends of the strip. The weight of the comb is keeping the bar straight however I'm afraid that the comb might be soon bur combed to the sides. Not sure what to do about it at this point. Thought of tying the strips back to the top bars but I don't know.

I will certainly replace all unused top bars with top bars that have had the strip secured with wood glue or bees wax. I finely grated some wax and put the grated wax on the joint between the top bar and the strip of wood. Using a lighter I was able to melt the grated wax until it ran down the seem hopefully securing the two together.

As I had seen both eggs and capped brood, I removed the queen "includer".

Schampel TBH

Took a peak in the Schampel TBH today. I was worried about honey stores as the Peczuh TBH had starved. There were plenty of bees coming and going. Again the gray polen. The honey combs on the south end of the hive were gone. There were still 3+  bars full of honey (cross combed) on the North end.
The brood nest is very cross combed and I didn't really want to get into it anyway. I did pull out one bar (see photo) and noticed some white junk in several of the cells. Looked like cottage cheese almost. Not sure what that is. Disease? The bees were rather ornery (I think it was the breeze) so I closed her up (but not without taking a sting to the back of the right hand). I pulled the bottom board and found a bit of mold and also many dead mites. The mold isn't too bad and I didn't see any mold in the hive itself.
Left happy that they wouldn't starve.

Midnight bees TBH inspection (brief)

Time: 7:30 ish

Weather: 80s slightly breezy

Drove out to the farm (Peczuh's) on my way home to check the bees. Lots of bees coming and going. They were noticeably irritated even before taking off the lid. Tylor got a sting to the side through her shirt.

Because of their current foul mood I only looked a bit in the north end. The 2 partial combs that have been drawn out on the north of the aluminum comb guide are perfectly straight. Happy to see that it's working.

The comb that had collapsed last time was now fused to the side/bottom. Didn't want to stick my hand in there today to get it out so it'll stay right where it is for now.

Peaked underneath to see if i could see anything. There appears to be some scratching in the screen bottom. Almost like something with claws was trying to get in. This might explain their moodiness. I Saw no scratching marks near the entrance at all. I'll have to watch this to see if it gets worse. If so, I might just close the bottom board.

Lang updates again

Time: 10:00 am

Weather: 80ish degrees

Hive1 - no activity at all outside the hive. Opened it up and found plenty of bees inside (including a few drones). The girls were clustered up over the middle 5 frames. No sign of excrement all over like before.

There were 3 capped queen cells on the brood frame that was placed in here on July 16. Though I did not see attendant bees all over them like I've read I should. The inside feeder had lots of dead bees floating on top. Dumped it all out. Didn't put it back in. Added a frame of mostly capped brood from Hive3 (wild lang). Added all worker bees as well (after thorough inspection to make sure the queen wasn't on that fram). Observed for a few minutes - did not see any fighting amongst the bees. We'll wait another week and take another look. Noticed 1 worker bee with a mite on her back. Caught her and put her in a jar for later observation. I'd like to get the might under magnification.

Hive2 - plenty of activity outside the hive. Peaked inside to see if they've started drawing out wax in the empty super yet. They had not. I suspect that since there are 2 completely empty frames in the brood box (where I've taken out brood) that they are busy drawing those out and filling those. Though I did not open it up to look.

Hive 3 - these girls are HOT. Took a sting on the inside right elbow. Through my shirt. Very little work going on in the top box. Barely a hint of wax being drawn out. Took a frame of brood for Hive1. Replaced it with an empty frame from the top box leaving an empty space in the top box.

Midnight Bees

I got a call yesterday afternoon at about 5:30. My buddie's wife had seen a swarm of bees across the street from the their house (likely from one of our three langs in his back yard).

I've been waiting for this moment for over two months now. I've kept a small 9-bar TBH in my trunk all the time so I'd be ready when the call came.

When the call finally came, however, I was three hours away on work and no where near finished with the task at hand. It'd be at least another two hours before I could leave and then a three hour drive to get back home to where the swarm was.

He told me they were still flying and hadn't settled on anything so he'd keep an eye on them. He also told me that he didn't think they'd go far as it was just starting to lightly rain.

I had bees on the brain but went back to work. He texted me a while later to let me know that the bees had finally settled down and that they were now on the ground. I was worried that they might be queenless. I couldn't figure out why they'd bee on the ground with plenty of trees in the area. I'd heard of swarms losing their queen and becoming disoriented and "lost".

By the time I got home and over to his house it was midnight... and raining steady. The temperature was in the 50's. It would have only been worse if it were windy. I guess I can be grateful for that. We grabbed the flashlights and headed up the hill. The girls were in an area of tall grass balled up on a culvert in a ditch. They weren't even inside the culvert but rather balled up on the end of it and on a water gate to the side, out in the open and in the rain. They were completely drenched. I'd never seen such a sorry bunch of bees. At first glance they weren't even moving. I had to look close to determine that they were even alive.

Nearby and just up the hill, there was a large cottonwood tree with many low branches that, in my mind, would have made a much more suitable swarm site. I wonder if the scouts that chose the culvert were fired.

If the situation wasn't sorry enough, I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and did not have my veil. I did however borrow a pair of gloves from my buddy.

I attempted to take a photo with my camera phone and the light from a flashlight but it didn't turn out very well (see photos). I then used my digital camera but without a working flash, it didn't turn out much better. As bad as the photos are though, they still show the sorry state of things.

I set up the TBH next to the ditch and went to work. Holding the flashlight in my teeth, I placed a piece of curled up cardboard into the culvert under the bees and began brushing them off the pipe and onto the cardboard, dumping the cardboard into the TBH about half a dozen times. I then was grabbing wet handfuls of bees from here and there and dropping them into the TBH. I cleaned up as many as I could (some had fallen into the ditch) but many were in the mud and tall grass and I could not get them. I placed the TBH as close to the ditch as I dared and covered it and the surrounding area with some pieces of cardboard to keep the rain off the remaining girls, hoping that they would find their way into the TBH.

After about twenty minutes, it was clear that the bees in the mud and grass were not interested in moving at all. I picked up a few more small clumps that I could reach, and packed things up hoping that I had the queen. I placed the hive in my trunk and drove it about 5 miles to a small farm where I had arranged permission to place the bees. It was now 1:00 am and still raining.

I set up the hive on a pallet that I had set as visibly level as I could in the dark and the wet. Not having a proper roof, I covered the top with an aluminum sheet (from the printshop) and placed a cinder block from the farm on top to hold the sheet in place.

I checked on the hive at about 7:00 am this morning and they were fanning at the entrance (a good sign). I took another couple of pictures and left them there to see what they do. I won't be able to return to check on them for three more days. I'll take one of my 42" TBH to transfer them into next week sometime.

So... I hived swarm of bees at midnight, in the cold and rain in shorts and without my veil and I only got 2 stings. Both stings are on my left leg (about an inch apart). They must have crawled up my bare leg out of the wet grass as I worked. Not a bad price to pay though, if the bees survive.