I recently purchased and read "Swarm Traps and Bait Hives" my McCartney Taylor.
A fairly good read. Very informative and entertaining.
I knocked together a few bait hives over the weekend. Two of them hold 7 deep frames each. The third holds 7 top bars. I plan to build a few more as I have quite a list of places I want to put them.
• Near the CEU campus (2 swarms that I know of near there in the last year).
• Near the Castle Dale Bee tree (if I can get permission.)
• Mom's back yard.
• Lone tree south of Ridge Road (caught a swarm there a few years ago).
• 2 near my bee tree above Springville. I've had one there for 2 swarm seasons with no success but I plan to enlarge the entrance and reposition it.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
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.
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.
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