Easy
Thiss.
7 years ago in #beekeeping by professorbromide (59)
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Easy
Thiss.
Thiss.
Hey Professor, great stuff. I have a Langstroth and did a Warrè this year. I recently had an interesting observation. If you don't know, the Warrè has stacking boxes like the Langstroth, but just slats of wood like the Top Bar so bees can build their own comb.
The first two boxes I did, I painted a strip of wax on the pieces of wood, for what I thought was something to make it easier for them to adhere their comb to and get started.
Then I put a third box on the bottom without doing that to the slats. When I checked it last week, the bees had cross-combed across the slats in that bottom box, making a terrible mess. So, it appears that the painted wax strip served as a guide in the top two boxes, which did not have any cross-combing.
Happy harvesting!
Here's my one bee-related post:
https://steemit.com/permaculture/@anarchrysalis/winterizing-honeybees-under-a-solar-halo
I've read a little bit about Warre hives. The idea of putting on a full box of foundationless frames seems like it would tax the ability of your guides to encourage straight combs.
In my foundationless Langs I shift a few frames of drawn comb into the new box to get things going right.
I like it. Being disabled the Supers get heavy quick. I was looking at doing some Top Bars, this looks easier for me since I have a few existing 10 and 8 frames. thanks.
This design should work well for you. There are some management differences that you will have to adjust to. Let me know if I can help.
Can't wait to see the honey harvest with an old fruit press I have always wanted to try that with my few TBH's
Ok. I'll make sure to shoot some video of it next time. One hive gave me 3 gallons after the spring flow -- they are overachievers compared to the others. I'm pretty sure we can pull some more off of them. Last summer's honey was reddish and very rich tasting. I like it more than the mild spring honey.
Reddish? Humming bird feeder flow? Lol that's the only way we get red honey here
Love this. I wish I could keep bees but our lot is way too small unfortunately. Question - In the old house that had 2 colonies, do the bees in colony A stay in colony A, or do they switch around? Also, it's amazing how they will fly around in figure 8s to memorize their new home. Such brilliant little creatures. It's pretty amazing. Thanks for this :)
When the bees share a box each colony has its own entrance. The entrances are on opposite ends of the box so the bees don't get confused. They memorize the position of their entrance down to an inch or two. If you move the entrance a little you can watch them reorient to the new position.
Sometimes workers will drift from one colony to the other. Some of their navigation is done by pheromones that are released by bees near the entrances of the hives. Stronger hives have a stronger smell, so the bees tend to drift toward them. It doesn't really cause a problem unless you have two mismatched hives right next to each other. The weaker hive will probably struggle due to the loss of workers to the stronger hive.
This is truly fascinating! I am in awe of these little creatures- so much precision and pattern- little engineers!
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