Tuesday 29 May 2018

Tuesday 29 may 2018

Hello readers,


Weather update:

Saturday 26 may 2018: Very hot day today, humid and close to 30°C.  Some local area's got a storm in, but not here.
Sunday 27 may 2018: Same as yesterday.  Very dry and hot! 30°C!  Some lightning in the air in the evening, but I didn't see any real rain.
Monday 28 may 2018: Another hot day of 30°C, but at night the rain poored out of the sky.
Tuesday 29 may 2018: Temperatures today will hit around 21°C by noon after that rain will fall down and cool the air.

Hive Report:

TO 2 2018: I went to do an insepction today, hoping I'd find a (laying) queen.  But I'm confused by what I saw.  Out of 6 frames 2 are totally unbuilt. 1 has a quarter of drone comb in it (I put it there) and one has 4/5 of a frame that had brood in it from when I placed the trapout.  But besides comb there's nothing in there.  Some bees were on the comb that used to hold brood.  Then there are 2 frames totally built and pack full of bees.  On one there's 3 queencells but nothing else!  And this confuses me.   If there were eggs and larvae to make queencells, why is there no other brood left on that frame?  Queens only take 16 days, where workers take 21... so all the other eggs should still be capped brood around the queencell...  What am I missing?  The other frame has some dronebrood on the bottom and some nectar sealed at the top.  No pollen in there at all!  I'm going to ask facebook what's going on...

SS 1 2018: I did an inspection of my split today and boy that hive is packed with honey! Out of 6 frames 5 were filled with honey. 1 had mostly pollen inthem.  I did see a queencell where I think a queen walked out of, but she isn't laying yet.  I hope she's on her mating flight.  I pulled out one frame of honey to harvest and replaced it with a foundationless frame (with wires)  I hope they start building on that so the queen has some room to put her eggs in.  I'll open her up again next week and clean up the frame I pulled out just in case I need to replace another frame.

PC 1 2018: What a nice swarm I got here!  I did not use any smoke or water to calm the bees down at all and they were staying on the frames very nicely!  I was hoping to spot the queen but my guess is she went into hiding as soon as I opened up the hive.  I pulled out 6 frames of bees and 2 frames where they started building foundationless (so 8 in total).  The 6 frames had a lot of bees on them and in at least 3 there are eggs!  Her majesty is doing a good job!


No news for TO 1 2018 (hoping to check up on it next week) or the Simplex Nuc (hoping not to open this one again till 2019)

Video on this checkup will be live on 12 june 2018:




 Bob Out

Saturday 26 May 2018

Friday 25 may 2018

Hello readers,

Oh boy what a day today was...  I'll tell you about it in the hive report, where you'll see a new name pop up!

Weather report:

In spite of the forecast of stormy weather, today was a very lovely day.  Temperatures were just under 26°C.

Hive Report:


TO 1 2018:  I started with checking on this trapout early morning.  The hive I put next to the wall showed activity already, and in one minute somtimes one bee came out of the trapout cone, sometimes up to 3.  I couldn't see any bees returning and going into the cone,  All were lured into the hive.  So that looks good.  It was still cold out (12°C) so I opted not to open the hive.  If my calculations are right there could be a queen there (if my first frame took, or if the queencells I put in there worked) - but maybe she wasn't laying yet.  I hope coming thursday will be a nice day, I might go out and check the bees then.

PC 1 2018: I went out to see a movie today (Solo : a star wars story) and so I missed 2 calls from the firedepartment (they sometimes get called out to get rid of wasps, but then people don't always know the difference and upon arrival they see it's bees instead)  I called them back as soon as I could, but allas, another beekeeper was sent out.  But then, with an almost dead phone, I was sitting at the bar at our local market after shopping with the wife.  I got a call from a person that found my number on the website of his home town.  If I would be interested in collecting a swarm from his property. - And I was!  Here is the proof:

















So as you can see my home project is now populated!  Let's hope they thrive and accept the hive!

No news on my other hives the Simplex Nuc and the SS 1 2018.

Bob Out

Thursday 24 May 2018

Thursday 24 may 2018

Hello readers,

Weather Report:

Monday 21 may : Temperatures were under 25°C it was dry all day.
Tuesday 22 may: Temperatures were under 26°C again a dry day.
Wednesday 23 may: Temperatures dropped to 22°C it started raining during the evening, heavily.
Thursday 24 may: Temperatures up to 24°C today, it did rain a bit during the afternoon and at night.



Hive Report:

My Simplex Nuc: Normal activity near the hive, the BuzzBox app tells me I have a healthy colony at 17:24.  Color of pollen being brought in : Bright yellow, some orange.  I did not open the hive, nor did I look inside through the windows.



My SS 1 2018: Some orientation flights in front of the hive at 17:22.  The app also tells me the colony is healthy.  I put my ear next on the side of the box during the recording and tap the hive. (You can hear me tapping)  The bees respond with a small hiss that dies down.  Now I could be mistaken but to me that means they have at least one queen growing in the colony.  It's no longer that panic buzz I hear. I did not open the hive.



TO 1 2018: Shortly after 18:00 it started drizzling a bit.  I was out near the trapout so went over to take a look.  I could see normal activity near the hive and some bees coming out of the cone.  I did not see the bees go inside the cone.  Still returning bees did not seem to panic so I might want to climb a ladder soon to see if the bees found another way into the hive or not.




TO 2 2018: I last went out to the hive at tuesday 22 may around 14:30.  The hive showed normal activity and there was a clump of bees on the tree.  A lot of bees came out of the cone, but no bees went in.  I did not spot any other enterance to the hive.  I've also measured on the map how far this location is from my apiary.  And it's just above 2,5 km.  This means the forager bees might go back to the wrong place...


Bob Out

Tuesday 22 May 2018

Sunday 20 may 2018

Hello readers,

Weather update:

Temperatures today were very nice and going over 20°C



Hive Report:

Split (SS 1 2018): I finaly saw some action near my split! A small group of bees are flying in front of the hive to look at their home, some are crawling on the surface.  Still the amount of bee-poo on there concerns me a bit.  I haven't opened the hive yet to check for queencells.

My hive (Simplex Nuc): (I call it that since the originated from one) Normal activity.




Bob Out

Saturday 19 May 2018

Saturday 19 may 2018

Hello readers,

Weather update:

Friday 18 may 2018:  Temperatures did not reach 18°C
Saturday 19 may 2018: Checked the beehives early (10:20) still cold outside - 11°C



Hive report:

Split (SS 1 2018): No activity whatsoever.  I was hoping to see at least some bees come out in the time I made the observation, but no... Nothing.  Tapped the hive and only a light buzz came out.  This could mean to few bees, or a queencell is in the making.  I do think all forager bees went out and returned to the motherhive.  Hoping this split makes it.  On the outside there are some signs of my bees having the shits...  So not optimistic.

Trapout number one (TO 1 2018):  I went out to a beekeeper that cut out some queencells on wednesday 16 may 2018.  The cells look dried up and dead but I took them anyway, not knowing how the status would be at  trapout number 1.  Arriving at the scene I was pleased to see no activity near the cone, but some activity near the hivebox.  I placed the ladder and opened up the hive.  Bees were all very calm, I put in the queencells (even though I don't think anything is in there)  There might be a queen in there - even though I did not check.  When I tap the hive only a wave of buzzing bees follows, not a roar like I'd expect from a queenless hive.  I did see some bees leave the cone (a total of 4 in 20 minutes) but no bees came back through there.  So I'm hoping the trap-out worked and they got a queen going.  I did not pull out any frames but saw bees on 4 of them and there is building going on.

My hive (Simplex Nuc): Normal activity, looking through the windows I can see building going on in box 2 (middle box) and no activity on the bottom box.  I'll leave them on 3 boxes (As I plan on doing year round) and hope the summer flow comes sooner than later.



  Bob Out

Thursday 17 may 2018

Hello readers,

Weahter update:

Wednesday 16th: Just under 19°C
Thursday 17th: Under 17°C

Hive report:

I didn't go out for to long since I had a trapout to check.  The split did not have any activity at all.  I listened to the bees and there was some buzzing inside.  I did not open them up.

My hive (I call it the Simplex Nuc - even though there are no longer any simplex frames in there) showed normal activity.

Trapout number 2:

I opened up the nucleus box and pulled out the frame with eggs I put in two days ago.  There's one queen cup on there!  So at least they're trying to make a queen.
I did not check any other frames.
I did notice the bees coming back to the tree weren't looking for an enterance at all, so I figured they must've found a new way in.  It wasn't the cone.  I added some more tape once I located the little gap in between the tape and the tree and sealed off everything again.

The home owner was trying to help out and a bee got stuck in his hair.  Off course he got stung.  Not to badly I hope...

 Bob Out

Tuesday 15 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today should reach 23°C but as it stands we're still at 17°C out.

I didn't go out yet to check the activity near the hive, but I expect it to be normal.

I'm writing a report today since I'm planning another trip towards trapout number 2

Here's a picture of how it looked like yesterday:


I did change it around, since the tube was not working.  And I also left the box there for any bees that did find the hive box.

I hope the bees took to the 5-frame box I put out.  If not, well...  I'll go back with a frame of brood/eggs.

And if I do have to go back (or not) I'm planning on working in the hive this afternoon anyway to do my split.

I'm hoping to find what I need to do the split and am reading up on how to do splits as we speak.
But to put it simple I'm hoping to get some queens out of the deal that I can move to the trap-out locations if needed.

So to draw up a calender I should have this happening:

Day 1: Today - There are eggs in the hive + young larvae!!. - I split the hive and make sure both have eggs and larvae.
Day 2: Wednesday 16 may - the bees without a queen are feeling queenless from the get-go and are looking for a sollution - might even start creating rescue cups on day 1!
Day 3: Thursday 17 may - Check the hive (whithout queen) for Queencells.
Day 4: Friday 18 may - Larvae in the cells get fed royal jelly
Day 5: Saturday 19 may Queencells might be capped, could be tomorrow (don't check)
Day 6: Sunday 20 may - Cells are closed off for sure.
Day 7: Monday 21 may - Don not disturb the hive
Day 8: Tuesday 22 may - Don not disturb the hive
Day 9: Wednesday 23 may -  Don not disturb the hive
Day 10: Thursday 24 may - Cut out some of the queencells to use in your trapouts if needed
Day 11: Friday 25 may -
Day 12: Saturday 26 may -
Day 13: Sunday 27 may - Queens should hatch (since the larvae of 1 day old will have been picked for queenrearing by the bees)
Day 14 : Monday 28 may - safetyday for hatching
Day 15: Tuesday 29 may - New Queen is sure to be walking around!
Day 16:Wednesday 30 may -
Day 17: Thursday 31 may -
Day 18: Friday 01 june - Queen should be out for mating
Day 19: Saturday 02 june - Queen could be out for mating
Day 20: Sunday 03 june - Queen could be out for mating
Day 21 - Day 31: 04 june through 14 june: do nothing
Day 32: Friday 15 june: there should be eggs (check)
Day 33: Saturday 16 june
Day 34: Saturday 17 june
Day 35: Sunday 18 june
Day 36: Monday 19 june
Day 37: Tuesday 20 june - Check for Larvae. If not, your queen got killed during mating or is otherwise lost.  -> join this hive witht he old one using newspaper method. OR requeen with a bought queen.

- - - - continuation - - - -

I went to the trapout place number 2 and found some bees inside the hive.  I also changed the way I trapped the bees and did it with a mesh cone again taping it up and stapling it to the tree.  I must remember to sneak in a picture for you guys. So you can see how it is now instead of the picture above...

I decided to come back to my apiary and get that 2nd frame I needed (eggs and young larvea).

First off I did the split, I removed all 6 frames from the different (Simplex) size from my hive and put them in a 6-frame nuc.
There were 2 frames of Honey, 1 frame of pollen and 3 frames of brood in all stadia (eggs, larvae, capped)
So they should be able to make a queen for themselves.
I looked for the queen on the frames but didn't find her.  I'm quite sure she's not in there.

I also found a frame with some eggs in for the trapout box number 2.  I took it over there and put it in the hive.

Here's the video on youtube on that: (release date 05 june 2018)



Let's see what happens!

 Bob Out

Tuesday 15 May 2018

Monday 14 may 2018

Hello readers,


I have decided to not do daily updates on here if I didn't spend any time in the apiary, or working with or for the bees.

But today is different, there is a report!

Weather report for the missing period:
Wednesday: At their peek temperatures reached 24°C around 16:00.
Thursday: Well above 15°C
Friday: Flirting with 20°C
Saturday: afternoon peek of 25°C
Sunday: Under 15°C
Temperatures today were under15°C, as a result activity near the hive was rather low.
Color of pollen being brought in is still yellow for the most part.

13 May Sunday


I do write up a report today since I went to do my second trap-out.
I failed to make a one way exit for the bees.
The board with the foam I made left too many gaps and the bees found their way into the tree some other way.  Trying to seal of those entries took me the better part of the afternoon and I feel sorry for the frame of eggs I took out of my hive.
On the bright side, finding that frame went super fast!  And I'm happy it went ok.

I might put up a report on youtube, but I didn't film on site.

Edit: here's the search for a frame of eggs on youtube (release date 29 may 2018)




I'm going back there tomorrow to try my hand at another cone.  I'll also go and check on my first trap-out location to see what's what overthere.



Today I'veBob Out

Tuesday 8 May 2018

Tuesday 08 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today were going where they couldn't yesterday, almost 29°C! The picture is from early morning and it's already over 20°C!



Good activity near the hive. Although you can still see I made a mess looking for that frame of eggs...

I might show you what I did yesterday in the hive whilst looking for a frame of eggs in a video on a later date...  Say 22nd may?  Episode 8 - remember the cut out?



But because I didn't find a frame of eggs I decided to call the people with the apple tree (see yesterday's post) I'd come to look into their problem next week.  If they wanted to call somebody else up I would understand and asked them to let me know I was no longer needed.

I did make some preparations to close off the tree enterance (Although I didn't do any measurments when I was out there).  Let's hope I can install this device on the tree next monday 14th of may.

First up I bought a plastic bee extractor





















As you can see in the first picture I already made a hole in a board where I'm going to stick this onto:

 



















On top of that closing it all off will be a plastic box:

But that's for later in the design.

First up sticking the device on the board:



And then nailing it into place:


Since a board can't seal off a rugged surface like a tree all that well we'll stick some foam on the backside of this board:






















Now the extractor should work.

I want to try something new and lead the bees through my hive instead of letting them walk into it when they try to get back into theirs.

This might lead the queen bee into the hive box sooner - where they might fight it off if there's a new one in there already... But if she comes out before one is hatched she might kill them and stay in my box!

The idea is to fit a tube from a water hose onto my plastic box, using the old and trusty ducktape method:

Inside of the box with the hose sticking throug. (I hope the bees find it)

(Don't mind the white hoola-hoop in the background, it's sitting behind my surface there)
So the idea is to ducktape the box on top of the board with the extractor and put the tube into the hive enterance so the bees have to go through the hive to go out and forage.

I'll keep you posted when I use this, which hopefully is monday the 14th!

After all this was done I also fitted the buzzbox on one of my Zander Boxes, but there seems to be something wrong with how I set up the kit.  I have to reconfigure the WIFI settings, that too is a tale for later!

Bob Out

Monday 7 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today were trying to get to  28°C but didn't make it there.  Believe me, it was hot enough.
Good activity near the hive, white and yellow pollen being brought in.

But then...

The Trap out!
Man what an adventure.

It is difficult to do it right.  I set everything up and needed the better part of the day doing it.  Then, before getting my kids from school I tried to find a frame of eggs.  I didn't find one.  I took some broken off comb with larvea and rubberbanded it.  Then brought it up to the hive.  I hope it's enough to lure them in.

The footage will be up next week (15 may)! So come back and watch this video:



And if that trap out wasn't enough to deal with I got another swarm call!  Again the bees were already in their home, this time it's an old apple tree.  But that's a story for tomorrow!

 Bob Out

Sunday 6 May 2018

Planning for the trap out

Hello readers,

This post will be my preperation for the trapout.

1st off: the materials I'll need.


1) a hive or nuc to lure the bees in.
Make it myself or get some from a shop?
Since I don't have any around I might go for what's available in the shop.

2) something to set up the replacment hive on fixed against a brick wall.
I have two options here.  If I go with a wooden hive I can fix a board on the side that sticks out, and fix that to the wall.  Or I can make a platform to put a new hive on.
Depending on what is available in the shop and what the prices are I'll still have to make a choice here.

3) Tools to do the job.
Drill, saw, screws, plugs, ...
A ladder to get up to the spot the bees have nested: there is one on site, so no worries there.

4) Equipment to seal off the enterances to the wall.
I have some silicone around so that should do.

5) Equipment to make an 'exit only'
I hope the shop has some mesh I can buy to twist into a cone.  I can drill a hole (5cm diameter) through a small board and fix the cone in there.  The cone will have a small opening at the end where the bees can fly out of.
If not there are some excluders on the market that prevent bees from coming back into one box once they left it.  I might tinker around with that.

6) a frame of eggs. - frames for the bees to build out (with or without foundations, some drawn out, some not drawn out.


2nd the how to go about my business.

After collecting all that I need (apart from the frame with eggs) I'll go on site and start with closing off all but one enterance to the hive.
At that point I can start building the exit cone or excluder and check if there are other ways the bees go in and out.
If not I can test where the cone will come and fix a stand for the replacement hive and put it in place (without putting the cone up yet).

Once all that is done I'll come home to collect a frame of eggs and return on site.  Put the frames in the new hive and install the exit only cone/excluder.

Done.

oh, In case I have to work with an excluder I'll have to make sure the bees go through my hive to leave into open space.  With this method it is more likely that the queen will come into my hive!  I'll also need a method to seal off the way towards the excluder as soon as I'm sure the queen is in there. and then use the cone.

3rd following the process.

One week away from the job I'll go back to check inside the new hive I placed.  Are there queencells?Is the queen in there in case of the excluder?  In case of the cone: are the bees going in and out, or only out?  (If they go both ways, the trap out has failed)  If there are any other enterances, seal them off!

2nd week away from the job check again, or if you did see queencells you might want to come back the 16'th day after you spotted them.  If not check for eggs (old queen in there)

4th week check if there is room enough for the bees in the hive and if there are eggs (at this point there should be).  Also check traffic through the cone if you used that method or install a cone if you didn't and the queen is in your box.  (no traffic is what you want) To be sure there is no more bees in the wall use the cone method and wait 2 weeks before removing the cone.

6th week Let's say this is the time you should be able to remove the cone.  Don't move your hive yet.  If any honey or pollen are still inside the wall the bees should now rob it clean.

7th week  (or 8th or 9th) Check for activity near the wall enterance.  You shouldn't see any activity before you remove your hive.  If you do spot activity make sure it's bees coming in with nothing and leaving preferably towards your hive.  If you spot any bees going in there with pollen...  Your trap out failed.  Restart (using only the cone method)

I might make a new page on this blog with actual tips on how to do this so this does not get lost in time ...  But no promisses there...

Bob Out

Sunday 6 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today were up to 27°C.  As I woke up to feed the birds and check the activity near the hive my daughter came outside; I got a call for a swarmsighting.

The activity near my hive was good, but I left my bees bee and returned the call to ask some more questions before actually heading out.

Arriving at the scene I could see normal activity one would expect near a beehive.  I asked the lady who called it in what she saw before I arrived and it sounded like the swarm arrived and walked into the wall of a building through some small holes.  It is my opinion she saw a swarm arrive that had swarmed earlier today (or yesterday) and already went through the decision making process.  This house was to be their new home.

I tracked down the owner of the house and he didn't want the bees to stay there.  Breaking down the wall was not an option, so as a newbee I decided to try a trap-out!

For people that don't know what a trapout is I'll give a short summary of it :

First you seal off all but one enterance of the hive.  Then you make a one way only 'exit' for the bees.  They go out to forage and can't get back in so start building up at the enterance.
Those bees you lure away with another hive where you put a frame with eggs in.  They'll find the eggs and start taking care of them.  At this point one of two things can happen.
The first and least likely is that the queen will come out of the hive and walk into your replacement at some point.
The most likely to happen is that the queen will realise there are no bees returning to her, upon that point she'll stop laying eggs as in a dearth (if she even started - depending on how far the comb is being drawn out).   Meanwhile in your replacement hive the eggs will give the queenless hive an opportunity to build out queencups around some selected eggs/larvae.  (should be around 6)   So basicly you do a split from your best hive and create a hive with those genetics.  The queen, losing bees constantly, will decide to leave her hive at some point and search for a new home with very low chances of survival.
In the off chance the queen does go into your replacement, she'll - if already present- kill off the unborn queens in the cells or fight it out with the queen in there. (in that case you don't really know what genetic pool you're bringing home).

This entire process can take up to 9 weeks.

I'll get to it tomorrow morning and hope to report with a video!

Bob Out

Saturday 05 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today were flirting with but not reaching 24°C.  There was good activity near the hive, color of pollen being brought in is mostly white-ish.

Had a nightshift so didn't get much free time to spend in the apiary.

Bob Out

Friday 4 may 2018

Hello readers,

May the 4th bee with you...

Temperatures today were up to 21°C, I had a working day and left before the bees showed any activity near the hive.  When I came back the weather was still nice, but I had people coming over so no time to go into the apiary to make observations.

Bob Out.

Thursday 3 May 2018

thursday 03 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today were around 15°C, although it felt higher without the wind to cool us down. Activity near the hive was splendid;  Color of pollen being brought in: yellow to white (same'ol same'ol...)

I had some personal stuff going on and went to help another beekeeper so didn't take the time to film or even just look at the bees for a longer period of time.

A little voice inside hoped I'd get a swarm call, but ... nope, nothing.

I also picked up a BUZZBOX at the post-office (had to pay 70 euro's worth of taxes, sheesh)



Hoping to get the wifi going soon in the apiary (maybe next tuesday) and fire up that buzzbox.
It's a monitoring device that listens to the bees and derives from that sound what's going on inside the hive.  If you want to know more, go visit : https://www.osbeehives.com/

It's the same application I use on my phone to listen to the bees, but this device is mounted on a hive and listens to it in intervals  ( 20 - 60 min. depending on battery life).  It sends the data over WIFI so you have a 24/7 update on what's going on inside the hive.

I'll give this puppy a testrun and if I like it I might get more... although I hope there will be EU friendly shipping by then.

Bob Out

wednesday 02 may 2018

Hello readers,

My bees were still 'asleep' as I went to work.  I didn't see any activity near the hive in the morning and didn't come home till past midnight...

It was a rather cold day with temperatures climbing up no higher then 13°C

Bob Out

Wednesday 2 May 2018

tuesday 1 may 2018

Hello readers,

Temperatures today were around 13°C,



activity near the hive was rather calm when I checked, but steadily improved when the sky cleared in the afternoon.  Color of pollen being brought in yellow to white pollen.

I shot another video of my bees and I've been thinking how difficult it will be for me to remove frames from my boxes.
In the top most box everything has tilted to the sides after I did the cutouts and didn't have any rubber bands at hand so strung the comb up with wire.
In the middle box there's 6 frames Simplex size, where mine are bigger (Zander size) and the bees have been building out comb in the room that's inbetween the hive and the smaller frames.



I finished up my long hive project but I'm not very happy with the outer cover.  It keeps the hive dry, but it's clumsy to take it off the hive.

Here's what I did First I measured up the inner measurments of the hive so I could make a space-reducer preventing the bees access to the entire hive.  Then I cut out a piece of thin wood and stapled it to a frame :





Then I tried fitting it into the hive:




First I couldn't fit the frame in, but after I cut a bit off it went in to easy:





I'm afraid there's too much space on the one side and bees might get trhough there.  I'll have to fix that somehow.

I also put the inner cover on top of it to see if any gaps were visible there.  But that seemed to fit ok.







I'm wondering if I'll use some foam to stuff in between the hive wall and the frame to close the gap or if I could find some sort of strap of bristle.

I'll be on the lookout for that.

After this was done I put some foundation (full sheets) in some frames and filled the hive alternating frames with foundation and foundationless.

I also stapled a landing board of sorts on the hive:




Some of it is not protected by the outer cover, so I don't think it'll last very long.
Might have to put some plastic there instead.

Bob Out

Sites to visit - Nine Lectures on Bees - lecture one.

Hello readers, Today I'm having a look on another site that was gathering dust in my 'must browse here later' list. Today thi...