When its 30+*C by 10 am and daylight at 4:30 am ?
About then
Mick
4:30 am is good all the girls would be there to greet you
4:30 is a bad time. I am getting old and I need my sleep. I usually start 8:30 to 9 since it takes a better part of the morning and early afternoon. Lunch. Then on to extraction. -Mike
Whenever I have the time to get in there. Not late in the day. As the sun goes down, the bees will get pissy.
Jim
Earlier, but not too early and well before the end of the day. +/- 10am - 4pm
Mid day. Most of the girls are out and the nurse bees are pretty calm.
John
This season I used an escape board with success. Other years no success. The advantage of the north east is we have temperatures that force the bees to cluster. So they have to leave the supers in order to cluster. All I got to say is you got to love that they have to cluster. Harvest when they cluster, time doesn't make any difference.
I have always had great success with an escape board - leave it on for 24 hours, remove the super(s) and brush/blow off the very few remaining bees. Easy peasy, and the 'when' is hardly an issue.
I've heard escape boards free SHBs to do their thing. Anything to that?
I have not had that problem, but I am up north and see very few SHB. However, I do try to extract immediately - or within a day after removing supers - just to avoid any unwanted problems.
Quote from: Dallasbeek on December 13, 2015, 06:35:37 PM
I've heard escape boards free SHBs to do their thing. Anything to that?
I do believe where this beekeeper is located at they do not have SHB or varroa mites.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
Quote from: Dallasbeek on December 13, 2015, 06:35:37 PM
I've heard escape boards free SHBs to do their thing. Anything to that?
If I did that, by the time I get to extracting, the larvae are starting to hatch and slime the frames. I built 3 extractor boards. All of them are covered with terry cloth and used as fume boards.
Jim