I went to go swich the hive bodys and check for queen cells and the girls were M A D !!!!! I got stung probably 12 times. It was probably something I did I tried not to squish them but there were so many!! Is it the wrong time of the year to check them or was it just my day in the barrell? They still have 7-8 FULL frames of capped honey so they are good and they were bringing in lots of pollen but I never got around to swiching hive bodies I just added another super for the dandelion flow I feel is coming on as I have them sprouting up all over my yard. I hope this was the right thing to do. Please comment where you see fit.
Thanks
Dave
http://img532.imageshack.us/g/p1090567.jpg/ (http://img532.imageshack.us/g/p1090567.jpg/)
Mine were seriously ticked when I checked them a couple weeks ago, too. I was a little offended, as I was so glad to see THEM! 8-) Didn't smoke, though. I wonder if they are a bit defensive right now, as this would be a pretty vulnerable time of year for them, it seems.
Might be...... theres not alot of things blooming right now but I did find out that they have PLENTY of honey that was a good thing I really ticked them off trying to seperate the two deeps. which I still couldnt do 100 lbs of honey is heavy. lol Oh well I shouldnt have worn shorts either :-D
Smoke, wait 1 minute, smoke, open hive.
OR open hive and count stings.
YOUR CHOICE
I had one very strong hive get a little pissy on my about 3 weeks ago. I've kept this and several other hives strong in anticipation of the honey flow and I think they may have started to think about swarming which sometimes puts them on edge. I rearranged the brood boxes and added an empty super to break the swarmy thing and within 2 days they calmed down. Keep your eye out for swarm cells, and for God's sake man....put some britches on! :-D
Scott
Quote from: hardwood on March 30, 2010, 07:23:35 PM
and for God's sake man....put some britches on! :-D
Yeah, that is pretty brave!
Yeah I smoked them and I had one explore my nether region (I like the danger--- or Im stupid one, Im not sure which one yet) but I only got stung on my arms and hands. I was amazed as to how much honey they still had. It was a first year swarm and we even took a med. super worth of honey from them. If I can keep them from swarming they will be wall busters this year. I couldn't get the deeps apart they were stuck to the frames I think that's where I ticked them off. But I did get a super put on so we will see I have swarm catchers all over my street so we will see if they do swarm I cant hive them again anyways.