Here lately, one of my hives a lot of the bees have been hanging out at the entrance. I don't have an entrance reducer. It has been hot but not as hot as usual. They have been flying thick like when they swarmed(twice before) but they haven't swarmed again. Almost like bearding on the side of the hive but mostly piled up at the entrance even at the end of the day. I'm going to look at the super I added 2 weeks ago that just started to have bees a little while ago. Maybe I'll add another super?(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170821/65150ffcdccd50fdfde11bd18456902a.jpg)
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I took the queen excluders off because there is no movement to the super. Two strong brood boxes with a small amount of honey. Just like last year. My other two hives, one a captured swarm the other a new start, both only have 4 full frames of a mixture of honey, Bee's and some brood. The struggle continues!
G'Day FM....
Here's something to try, just to settle your own mind on what's
normal why.
1. Take frames #1 + #9/10 from the bottom brood box and
replace two empty combs in the top honey super. If there is
_any_ brood in those shuffle through the second brood box
until you get two broodless frames to move up.
Pollen stores and honey is fine, brood, _any_, is not.
2. Place two drawn empty frames in positions #4 and #6 in the
bottom brood box, moving existing towards either side.
What will happen then is those bees "hanging out" will get back
to work.
You can do no harm trying this for yourself, and yes it is work but
may bee the only way to convince yourself what you are seeing is
normal at those numbers. I note it has been happpening for some
time as the same event is happening in your bLog pix.
Cheers.
Bill
Bill,
I'll give that a try this week. I did move two brood frames up to the new brood box to get them going on another brood box a few months ago. I had to do that to get them motivated to move upwards back then! You could be right thinking the expectations are high for the number of bees. They are in the same position as last year ( I have 2 extra ) before they were taken over by wax moths. They are prone to swarm and they do that often, but there are still a number of bees at least in hive #1 and 2. I'll do an inspection with pictures this week to try to figure what's going on.
Thanks,
Art
Quote from: FlexMedia.tv on August 29, 2017, 08:52:07 AM
Bill,
I'll give that a try this week. I did move two brood frames up to the new brood box to get them going on another brood box a few months ago. I had to do that to get them motivated to move upwards back then! You could be right thinking the expectations are high for the number of bees. They are in the same position as last year ( I have 2 extra ) before they were taken over by wax moths. They are prone to swarm and they do that often, but there are still a number of bees at least in hive #1 and 2. I'll do an inspection with pictures this week to try to figure what's going on.
Thanks,
Art
Yeh,, I read your stuff in another place, you are maybe a fella worth the time
laying some basic stuff out for... my bet is you will bee a long time beekeeping.
I'll try not to disappoint (earn a ticket [grin]).
Cheerio...
Bill
Flex, Have you considered that the bees may be in a nectar poor area? My bees seem to be working something almost all the time, they make a decent amount of honey, and throw off a lot of swarms. I have some friends who live apx 25 miles from here and their bees are just so - so.
Flex,
All of my hives have at least twice as many bees on the front of the hives. Some have 4 times as many during parts of the day. I would not be concerned.
Jim
[/quote]
Yeh,, I read your stuff in another place, you are maybe a fella worth the time
laying some basic stuff out for... my bet is you will bee a long time beekeeping.
I'll try not to disappoint (earn a ticket [grin]).
[/quote]
Bill,
I'll keep at this as long as I can. Gave up tickets years ago! *wink!
Quote from: GSF on August 30, 2017, 11:37:45 AM
Flex, Have you considered that the bees may be in a nectar poor area? My bees seem to be working something almost all the time, they make a decent amount of honey, and throw off a lot of swarms. I have some friends who live apx 25 miles from here and their bees are just so - so.
GSF,
You may have a point there. I spent a lot of time placing them in the right direction, near water, shade, etc. I finally saw some carrying pollen today. Maybe you they are going for a strong finish?
Art
Jim, I looked at all of my hives today. I'll try to attach some pics. #1 had no eggs I could find. #2 eggs and brood with some honey. #3 brood and eggs but looks like a laying worker? There are 2 and 3 eggs in cell, big larvae, little larvae, not neat like #2. #4 is doing well and actually moved up into the super now that the queen excluder is gone.
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Quote from: FlexMedia.tv on August 31, 2017, 11:52:31 PM
Yeh,, I read your stuff in another place, you are maybe a fella worth the time
laying some basic stuff out for... my bet is you will bee a long time beekeeping.
I'll try not to disappoint (earn a ticket [grin]).
Quote
Bill,
I'll keep at this as long as I can. Gave up tickets years ago! *wink!
heh... your're in a good place then to help me out with some street advice?
I am wording up some signage for my beeMobile. I have come up with the following
scripted below a 1foot square graphic of a bee with stinger poised;
"alert bees onboard" or "blind bees onboard".
Mounted driver's side above the towbar.
Partly for insurance reasons but also to hopefully deter our more enthusiastic
"troopers" from using my wallet to boost their monthy numbers.
Do tell, back in the day would you step out to a vehicle loaded with a beehive?
Cheerio..
Bill
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170901/3bc2d582808f1b69054c1ec62da3d02d.jpg)
Hive #2
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170901/1a99c9e5f80c964baf969b30b94531a4.jpg)
Hive 3 hard to see but looks like a laying worker?
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170901/116f4204b9bb80e9a847e1e8470016ff.jpg)
Hive #4 making honey
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