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!

Peach Tree Swarm

I got a call tonight about a swarm of bees in town. I got the call just as the sun went down. I checked them out and decided to catch them tonight (tomorrow's schedule wouldn't allow it). They were on a peach tree about 4 feet off the ground. I know of 1 swarm a year within a block of this swarm for the last 3 years. One of them I caught out of an apple tree. It can bee seen here. The other was dead before I got to it. Sprayed by wasp killer by an ignorant neighbor. Large swarms all three.

I took sheet and a large basket. The bees were huddled pretty tight. I placed the sheet on the ground under the swarm. I held the basket directly under the swarm and shook the tree. Those girls were hanging on tight. I was amazed at how tight they were hanging on. I got most of them but there were still a bunch that would not shake off the tree. I scooped up some small clusters from the sheet with my hand and put them in the basket. It was dark so none of them were flying. I took a sting to my right pinky finger. Ouch. Didn't swell much though. We brushed as many bees from the tree as we could.

I drove the basket home and shook it into my rustic cedar TBH. I will place it at the cabin in the mountains in the next week or so. I'm curious how much and how good the honey will be with all the wild flowers up there.

Small video of swarm capture here:
http://youtu.be/oKMPvbSR1ow

Chickens

I turned the chickens loose in the garden the other day. Apparently they couldn't find their way back through the gate to get to their coop (They don't call them "bird brains" for nothing). They decided to put themselves to bed on the top of one of my bee Boxes.

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?

The little colony that could

I inspected the Schampel Oscar hive today. This is a hive I didn't expect to survive the winter. They were so light going into it. These girls are the remnants of a small swarm caught late last year that were added to the stragglers from a large swarm who absconded. They didn't have much time to build up for winter. I had decided to let them give it a shot. If they make it, they make it! If not, oh well.

I have been watching them bringing in pollen. Have also noticed a bit of dysentery (brown spots all over the front of the hive). Yesterday while watching the hive entrance, I noticed a large red and yellow wasp land on the front and walk right in one of the entrance holes. I tried to squish her with by shoe but was not fast enough.

Today at lunch the weather was nice enough (at first) that I decided to open it up and have a look.
There are still 3 frames in the top box about 1/3 full of capped honey. Bottom 2 boxes are large combs hanging from top bars (measured one of them at 14 inches long). I pulled them all out for a look see.

The first thing I noticed upon removing the only 2 bars without comb on them was a large red and yellow wasp dead on the hive floor. Yes! The hive bottom needed some serious cleaning. The entrances are about half way up on the bottom box (no bottom entrance). There was about 1/4 inch of chewed up newspaper bits (from when I combined the two colonies) on the bottom. Mixed into this were dead bees, bits of chewed wax cappings and of course a large DEAD wasp.

 I Found the queen on the first brood bar. Small queen (perhaps not mated?). Also noticed what appears to be the remains of a supercedure sell. Opened up on the side. Not sure what that means. I found a small cluster of capped brood with some uncapped brood. Did not notice any drones or eggs. the total brood area was only about the size of a softball.
I cleaned up a bit of cross combing that had happened. Rather easy to do at this point as those 2 combs were empty.

I'm happy that the girls survived the winter. I'm a bit concerned with the dysentery and also the small size of the colony. I guess We'll see what the do now the the flowers have their bloom on.

Death to the wasp!

Queen

Large Comb

Spring pollen

Had a very beautiful day today. Got a lot of yard work done. Attempted my first apple tree grafts. Spent some time with the bees. All three of my colonies had girls out today. They are bringing in some light yellow pollen. Lots of light yellow pollen (see pics). I'm not sure what it is. The willows are barely beginning to bud. I've seen a crocus here and there but the dandelions aren't even up. Whatever it is, I'm glad they have it.

The TBH at Rosier's was especially busy (and quite friendly).

More good - more bad

Checked on the Schampel TBH this evening. Very gentle bees. went through the whole thing. Found the queen. This is the first time I've been in this hive since her mating flight. She's laying like crazy! Eggs and larva everywhere. Very strong colony. Lots of stores pollen and capped honey above the brood. Also 2 bars (out of 10 fully drawn) were full and partially capped honey. I added 5 bars. 2 on the north (between straight bars) and 3 on the south.

Look in the cells at the bottom center of the picture.

Checked my other half of this split again. Found the queen again. Found many cells with multiple eggs in them. Not sure if she's just not laying or what. I decided to feed. Put a feeder on the other side of the follower board. Gonna check to see if I can find another queen. Not sure what to do with the laying worker. I've heard (or read rather) that they are hard to get rid of.

Also checked on the Perone style Langs tonight. The one on the Haddock farm is very active. Also very calm tonight. They are starting to build comb in the 3rd box but they are not using the top bars. They are building swirls up from the bottom. Not quite sure how to handle this.

The Perone land at the Prazen apiary is doing good also. Activity at the entrance has been slower than past weeks but it could be the weather. They've drawn out 6 bars now. Most of the way across the bars and about half way into the bottom box. Huge combs. Lots of nectar in the last 2. Couldn't pull out the rest as they were burred to the sides. With such new comb, I didn't want to risk separating the comb from  the sides to have a better look. Very gentle this evening. Didn't even wear gloves.

Surviving the heat (so far)

The last few days have been rather hot (mid 90s). This colony from a huge swarm has only been in the hive for 2 weeks now. I knew they were building large combs. I also knew they were filling them up as they were very heavy when I checked a few days ago. I was nervous that the heat might cause the heavy and very new combs collapse. The bees have been hanging out on the outside of the hive quite a bit during the heat of the day.

Hanging in the shade.

Early on they had (for whatever reason) decided to seal of 1 of they 3 entrance holes with propolis (far left hole - hard to see in picture). It was comical to sit and watch them during the day. The foragers would return with pollen or nectar and since the left hole had no bees around it, they would invariably try that entrance first. After finding it blocked on the inside, they would then crawl over to the middle hole to enter the hive. Last evening I poked a hole through the propolis with a stick and today they have cleaned it all up. They now have 3 fully open entrances. I don't have any other entrances to this hive. I am also worried about proper ventilation. My plan is to build a screened bottom board to replace the solid one that is in place now. I do not want to use a bottom entrance because of a theory I have about mites hitching rides back up into the brood nest after they drop. Hopefully I can get this built in the next couple of weeks. It's supposed to cool down again this weekend.

I peaked into the hive tonight to make sure none of the new comb had collapsed. It hadn't. whew! I had many aggressive bees come after me. Probably due to the time of night (dark) and the fact that all bees were home. There's no gentle way to open this hive up. I've poked my head in my KTBH at night and they barely seem to notice me.

They were not happy with me tonight. I find that I don't like the way this hive closes up. Seems I squish a few every time I put the lid on. I guess once I put the other supers on (like a true perone) I won't be in it as much (if at all) and it won't be an issue. I'm still amazed at the size if this comb. 

Castledale Bee Tree

Had a chance to find the bee tree I'd heard about in Castledale (30 mins South of me) over the weekend. We were in the area and took a small detour to look for it. It wasn't hard to find. I had heard that the bees were very aggressive and that anyone walking near the tree was attacked. I didn't find this to be the case at all. I did see evidence though that someone (damn kids) had been throwing rocks at the entrance. And they wonder why the bees get ornery?! I should have asked the neighbors how long the bees had been living in the tree. Aside from the fact that there are bees living in the tree, it's quite an impressive plant all by itself. Huge burls all around. I'd love to get a few chunks off that tree when she finally comes down.

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.

Bait Hive Check

Well the girls haven't found my bait hive yet. It's only been a weak. I guess I can't expect much. Perhaps they have found it and are just waiting for the weather to cooperate.
It's a good hike anyway and the  company was great!

I can't get my head around to peek into the tree but I can reach around with the camera and take pics. You can see comb in this first pic (towards the top). I'm so curious about the size of the tree cavity. The tree doesn't even look that big.

A little tidying up

I opened Prazen TBH1 tonight and inspected all the comb. 7 bars so far (with three emptys). I removed the queen cage that I had left in there. I saw the queen. Very dark. I took a picture of my fallen comb guides. The girls have drawn comb from the bars down to the comb guide, making it one sturdy comb. Not sure how to remove the guide at this point so I'm leaving it there. Two bars are like this. I did prune the ends of the guide strip back so they aren't tempted to bur comb it to the side of the hive.

The Split

I inspected Schampel TBH1 today. All is very well. 10 bars of brood and eggs. Good laying pattern. Drones present. Whatever was in before that I thought might be EFB is cleaned up and gone. I personally think it was partially rehydrated crystalized honey. I pulled out all the empty (and crooked) honey comb.

Look at how fat some of those combs are!

Also pulled out the 3 bars of honey on the other end since they were severely cross combed.

I took the 4 bars that were fused (due to the girls drawing their comb out between the bars rather than centered), put them in a nuc box and brought them home (with the queen). This leaves 6 full bars of brood and eggs in the hive. Can't decide if I should let them grow their own queen or order a new one  (A russian perhaps).

All in all they were very docile considering how invasive this visit was.

The nuc box had the comb that was centered between bars. I used strips of aluminum (printer plates) as straps to hold the comb centered under the bars after I cut it off and adjusted it. Saw the queen. Also saw many eggs and capped brood. Left the 4 bars of brood and eggs with an empty comb between them and 3 empty bars on the side. Also left some of the honey that I had removed from the Shampel TBH on the other side of the follower board (with a hole in it) for them to feed on if they need it.

Got the remaining honey comb crushed and straining right now.
Also melted down all of the wax (plus other wax that I'd been sitting on.) I put the wax in a pot of water and bring it to a boil. I then poor it through a paint filter into another large pot and let it cool. The wax floats to the top and hardens.

Bee Lining (without bees)

I had posted a month or so ago about some dark bees that were cleaning out some honey from some old combs. See previous post here. Now that there is plenty of natural forage everywhere, I can't get them to come back to a bait station.

They had flown off in a South West direction when they left before. I checked with the land owner of the first farm in that direction and got permission to tromp around looking for bees. Plenty of huge old cottonwood trees (some of them dead) that I thought might be perfect for a feral colony. My search turned up nothing. I even spent some time at the pond looking to see if I could catch some drinking and follow them home from there. Not a single bee.

It turns out that the next land owner in that direction used to keep bees commercially (at least his dad did) about 25 years ago. He gladly gave me permission to tromp around on his farm and instructed me that, should I find any bees living in the trees, I should "box them up and take care of them." He then gave me a bit about wild bees left to themselves would just get (and spread) disease.

Before leaving his house to check out the farm, he pulled apart an old bee box by the fence (3 deeps) that had been sitting empty in the back yard for years apparently. There was not even a bit of paint left on it. The bottom box had obviously housed mice for who-knows how long. All three boxes housed wasps. He offered me the frames if I was interested and then pointed out some cells that he said contained foul brood and said it might be best not to take them. He'd "hate to pass on the disease to my bees."

I didn't see a single bee on his farm either. Though I did find this:

And this:

Stacks and stacks of old hives, some of them complete with frames and comb.

Many had been mouse infested. Saw no sign whatsoever of bees.

I found it curious that he was worried about the diseases that the "wild bees" would have but he wasn't concerned at all about what diseases all this old equipment might be spreading. Especially when he knows the one hive had foul brood. I know of at least three of us beekeepers within a one mile radius of his farm. 

Very nice fellows, both of them. Gave me open permission to tromp around whenever I'd like. The weather wasn't the best on the 2 days I looked and it was rather late in the day so I might try it again on a nicer, calmer day and try to go out mid day rather than in the evening. Perhaps they were all at home just quietly buzzing in their colony somewhere and I missed them.

I still want to find those dark bees!