Aught OH this isn't good

Acebird · December 26, 2015, 10:44:43 AM

This crazy weather got me in trouble I think. Because of the unseasonably warm weather I decided to let the bees clean out my wet supers from extraction so I put two supers on two hives maybe a week ago. They were put above an inner cover with a hole in the center so the bees could access the supers. Today it is down in the 40's so I was going to pull those boxes off and put a couple of more on. They are clustering in these supers! If they stay there they are dead because there is nothing in them. Why did they cluster in these supers? Could there be another queen in this hive? No way for me to tell. We got more cold weather coming next week and that means the bees will not be able to fly so shaking them out is out of the question. It wouldn't seem like an escape board will work if they won't go down and cluster in the brood box.

Anybody got any bright ideas?

rwlaw · December 26, 2015, 11:19:42 AM

Chances are that it's just a column of bees extending out of the inner cover I would think. If it were me I'd pull the empty frames and move the clustered frames apart to make it less hospitable to be up there, then go in on a chiller morning and pull some more till they're out of the box.

iddee · December 26, 2015, 11:32:32 AM

Just move the super to the bottom board. They will move up.

GSF · December 26, 2015, 08:42:38 PM

What about bee quick? That'll run them back down.

divemaster1963 · December 26, 2015, 09:23:05 PM

Know what you mean. Today first day no rain and sunny temps near 80. Had two hives swarm on me. Man this weather is going to kill me.!cherry trees are budding and some are blooming. This might destroy the spring bloom.

John

Dallasbeek · December 27, 2015, 02:43:36 PM

Yeah, we had about 80 yesterday and last night tornadoes -- IN DECEMBER?! At least 8 people killed in Dallas area by the storms, most apparently from traffic accidents when vehicles were blown away. Lots of houses destroyed and lives messed up because of el Nino.

GSF · December 27, 2015, 09:26:30 PM

John, did you say swarm? maybe absconded instead? you're making me nervous..,

Acebird · December 28, 2015, 09:51:12 AM

Quote from: iddee on December 26, 2015, 11:32:32 AM
Just move the super to the bottom board. They will move up.

I have a feeling that if I pick up the box a large number of bees will be right on top of the inner cover. If it wasn't pouring for the last 3 days I would have tried to pull off the box and smoke them in. Then pull off the inner cover and shake the bees in the hive. Now I am afraid it is too cold.

Moving the box all the way to the bottom board means screwing around with the mouse guard.

Lesson learned, wish I hadn't done what I did.

divemaster1963 · December 28, 2015, 12:25:00 PM

Quote from: GSF on December 27, 2015, 09:26:30 PM
John, did you say swarm? maybe absconded instead? you're making me nervous..,

They swarmed from to of my big hives and went 100 guards into a stack of swarm traps I had next to shed.gave them each three frames honey

John

GSF · December 28, 2015, 02:32:38 PM

I just looked at google maps and you're probably due east of me, and maybe even a little north. Do you still see drones?

divemaster1963 · December 28, 2015, 07:52:08 PM

Did not have time to check. I have seen drones flying around house so i hope for best.
John

GSF · December 28, 2015, 08:41:43 PM

Friend of mine just emailed me and said a guy in the county (Chilton) north of me had a swarm this week.

Acebird · December 30, 2015, 02:50:24 PM

Well it turned into a disaster ...

They were not happy at all that I opened the hive. I tried to dump them into the open hive and hundreds of them spilled off into the snow to their eventual death. No way of knowing where the queen is. About all I accomplished is getting the inner cover out from between the empty boxes I put on to have the bees clean up. I managed to get one box off from one hive and broke out a piece from the top of another box trying to shake them into the hive.
If they somehow make it through this winter it is going to be an interesting spring. Sorry to see so many bees die because of my screw ups.

divemaster1963 · December 30, 2015, 05:01:38 PM

Sorry to hear that. I know its to late but have seen bees that I have dumped on snow recover if you sweep them up and put them back on top of hive . They go into a hibernation before they die. You normally have about five mins before they die.

John

Acebird · December 30, 2015, 05:51:43 PM

There was one clump that I scooped up with my hands and threw them on top of the frames and just about that many came out of the hive to get me so I am not sure I saved any. I had to step on a bunch of them just to get the inner cover out and the hive back together. With any luck the queen was not one of the casualties.
Maybe the casualties will work out in their favor ... less mouths to feed. One can only hope.

GSF · December 30, 2015, 10:04:28 PM

Hang in there Ace, we've all been there. Trying to help sometimes we hurt.