Beekeeping - Five Hives Alive, One Not - Did One Swarm? [ 🔴 My Video Inside ]
A couple days ago I posted a video about burning the old dark comb in the smoker. That was just a small snippit of this larger beekeeping experience. This video today shows the progress of an entire bee inspection.
It Was HOT!
It was my goal to inspect, or at least peak into, every hive... but that was cut short. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are a real risk when working the apiary in South Texas in the heat of July. Hives number 5 and 6 were left alone because I felt myself getting overheating. I was satisfied with the fact that they were alive simply by tapping on the hive with my ear pressed up against the side. The sound of thousands of bees sounding alarm was enough for me to say they were ok for that moment.
Lots of Honey
Some honey was taken during this trip, but some was left for another time. I do hope to get out there soon to take a bit more honey to package up and sell to my local market. I'm guessing there is about 20 more frames that can be taken.
One Hive Was Lost
In the first image below you can see me pointing to a dead frame from a dead hive. Hive beetle and wax moths were already moving in to take ownership of the wax comb that was left behind from the hive that died out. These frames will be placed in the freezer for three days to make sure the parasites and pests are dead before recycling these frames for new hives.
Watch the video above. If you have comments or suggestions I would love to hear them! Thank you for sharing this time with me as I share the Daddykirbs Farm experience on Steemit!
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wrote this today for @pennsif but just saw you now, might be of interest: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@ecoknowme/sooo-your-bees-want-to-do-mushrooms-advice-for-bee-keepers-from-the-ecoknowme#comments
I want to get bees but have so many other things that have to come first. I am going to learn as much as possible first, so that it will not be so overwhelming.
learn lots, then be prepared to relearn lots when you get bees :)
I think it's lovely that you keep so many bees!
Thank you!
Those did look like queen cups, but they were really old. When do you think that hive might have swarmed?
I would have had to be within the last week and a half.
The wax on those cups was older than a week and a half. The capped honey on the top of the hive looked like it was in good shape, so they weren't being robbed. What about mites? Have you been doing mite counts? Seen any deformed wing virus?
I have not done mite counts, and no... no deformed wings that I have noticed.
Are the bees from a treatment-free line from a reputable breeder or maybe feral survivor stock? I use feral survivors and Russians without mite treatments. Most beeks who use the common Italian package bees need to treat for mites. This is the time of year when the mite population booms. They were breeding like crazy during the spring buildup and now the mite population is peaking.
I bought an oxalic acid dribble kit a couple years ago but haven't needed to use it yet. It is way too hot for formic acid down in TX now, but that is what my brother uses.
I'd say you have two options. Either compress them down to a small box with a small opening and cross your fingers, or do an alcohol wash to count mites.
I am interested in taking up beekeeping. Up voted and following. We have lots of fruit trees and I would love the symbiotic relationship the bees and our family could have.
@daddykirbs, I posted a comment on your post about your daughter catching the snake asking if I could nominate it to the @ocd Daily content feature if you would like to comment on it and accept!
Thank you.
The first hive I think you did well in reducing it to one box given the limited amount of brood. You can all was ad a box but getting the queen through winter is becoming is not is our main concern.
You made the comment about the fatness of the frame of honey being drawn out. You will likely find that the next frame , towards the nest is a partially drawn comb with the bulging face of the first frame filling the space in the.
Depending on the nest size I will useful turn it around to encourage the facing frame to drawn out properly. They will also move some it if needed to the edges of the brood nest.
Bulging comb is great in the honey box putting 8 frames so they all get bulgy and hold significant ly more honey in the box. Less frames to extract .
In the brood nest it vastly complicates the precess of helping the bees develop a thriving nest.
The nest is a vertical foot ball or tear drop falling up. Each frame is a double sided slice through the hive. When you examine it you want to see a ring of honey up each side of the cluster. On top of the cluster That is the outer sphere the next is pollen and then brood.
With our on again nectar flows I feed all hives drawing comb. It takes the takes the bees a bit to restart and they are not likely to pick up were they left off.
Placement of foundation and empty frames in your hive to encourage drawing what you need. I it is brood intended I like to place then in the brood nest. The brood on both sides of the frame will encourage them to copy it. I also mark the date I put in a hive. Helps me to determining how old the comb.
As I am a follower of letting the bees draw their own come in the nest are I will insert an empty frame there. Foundation I use for honey areas only. Mostly because if you chose to extract it. It will survive the process.
We aim our hives to having the requirements to make it through the winter. I will be expanding on this in a wintering hive video workshop.
what do u do when u get stung ? normally its gets really swollen ... is there a remedy to make sure it does not ?
daddykirbs, I'm sorry you lost the one hive, I guess you should only keep 5 hives. Got one from a swarm, then lost one. We'll keep watching.