Hard headed bees!

Fishing-Nut · June 25, 2019, 07:04:59 PM

Long story short I did a removal. I do construction work and this was one hard job to say the least. I got the bees home 2 days ago. I put a queen excluder on them and let them be. Today I'm outside near the hives and heard a loud humming that was obviously a bunch of bees. I look over and those bees appear to be absconding. There is a massive amount of bees in the air. They went back in the box. Then 5 minutes later all came out and cluster about 30 or 40 feet up an oak tree. I put out a nuc box with some old comb and lemon grass oil about 50 yards from the hive. They then left the oak tree and went back into the box they originally came out of. Now there are hundreds of bees all over my front yard flying around in large circles. My yard where the bees are flying around is also about 50 yards from where they got started. Why are they doing this?

ed/La. · June 25, 2019, 08:30:07 PM

I will guess they were absconding but the queen is above the queen excluded. Locking the queen in is your best bet. I had 5 hives abscond last week in a 15 hive yard. When a hive abscondes it seems the whole apiary takes notice.

Nock · June 25, 2019, 09:37:46 PM

Ed were yours established hives?

ed/La. · June 26, 2019, 12:16:20 PM

2 were nucs and 3 were full hives. The nucs were struggling to build up. I gave one a frame of capped brood and the next day they absconded. Plenty of bees predators here, hot humid a weak flow ants etc. When a hive abscond the bees rob that hive and can cause a large robbing issue causing other hives to abscond. I watched a large one abscond. Amazing how they pour out of the hive. After circling they settled in a tall tree. About 1/2 came back with many going back in their hive. Then they poured out again a united in tall tree where they stayed until next morning. On a few I caught and caged the queen and introduced to nucs that needed them. At this point I don't let things like that bother me anymore . I am doing my best.

Fishing-Nut · June 26, 2019, 04:26:58 PM

These bees are actively balling their queen. Is there anything I can do to stop this? I'm not sure that any brood that they have from the cutout is any good anymore. I'd really like to save these bees.

ed/La. · June 26, 2019, 06:45:56 PM

The bees probably have another queen. If you want to save the balled queen cage her. Capped brood needs little help to survive in the summer. There is not much you can do but see what happens.

Fishing-Nut · June 26, 2019, 07:56:02 PM

I went back up there going to spray them with some sugar water and try to isolate the balled queen. They either killed her or stopped the balling action. They had made some new comb (small amount) and there was eggs in it. I added a frame with all stages of brood in it from one of my strongest hives and closed them back up. Didnt really know what else to do.

ed/La. · June 27, 2019, 08:03:12 PM

If there is eggs you are good to go. In 9 days those eggs will be capped. I would leave them until then. There was nothing more to do.

Fishing-Nut · July 01, 2019, 12:39:57 PM

Here is the queen. Glad to see she's still alive and kicking. Sorry for the blurry picture I had to resize it to post here. Shes a big ole striped girl.

Ben Framed · July 01, 2019, 12:52:32 PM

Quote from: Fishing-Nut on July 01, 2019, 12:39:57 PM
Here is the queen. Glad to see she's still alive and kicking. Sorry for the blurry picture I had to resize it to post here. Shes a big ole striped girl.

Nice queen! Good job

Fishing-Nut · July 01, 2019, 01:24:44 PM

Thank you sir! I wish I could figure out how to post better pictures. This hive that was in this wall was absolutely massive.

texanbelchers · July 01, 2019, 02:17:30 PM

In my purely anecdotal observations, it seems that the larger the cutout, the more they try to abscond. I rarely move all or even most of the brood due to the SHB threat; too much and they don't always cover it in the confusion even when they have the bees. I try to give them sufficient space, but they have a lot less drawn comb. My guess is that there is a huge reduction in pheromones with the shift and they perceive something is wrong. I have resorted to using queen Includer on every cutout for several weeks until they have fresh brood in all stages indicating a re-established nest.

Ben Framed · July 01, 2019, 03:53:49 PM

I always put the queen in a queen clip and leave her for a couple days until I see the bees coming in with pollen. I also make sure I keep only enough cut out comb with open larva, that the bees can totally cover and saturate, I also add a beetle trap. Place this combination over an oil tray to insure that most beetle larva which may hatch, will more than likely end up in the oil tray. In my opinion, Every effort must be made to make sure the bees have a fighting chance against pest. My opinion is never take a cutout out straight to your apiary. If you have a friend, a non beekeeper which lives several miles from any other beekeeper, place your new colony there, ( sort as an Ellis Island for bees 🐝), Leave them there for an adequate time. Treat the colony for mites and check for diseases, then and only then bring them home. Now there will be some here that may or may not not agree what I am saying, saying that all this is not necessary, but I believe I am giving you good solid advice.
Phillip

PS Don?t forget to make sure they have a substantial amount of feed.

Fishing-Nut · July 01, 2019, 08:02:08 PM

Bees are eating feed and building wax as fast as I can give it to them. Its amazing how much sugar water a couple of hives can take in a day.

CoolBees · July 01, 2019, 08:42:32 PM

Quote from: Fishing-Nut on July 01, 2019, 08:02:08 PM
... Its amazing how much sugar water a couple of hives can take in a day.

Thats the truth! I was using quart jars upside down on the inner cover to feed. 1st one jar, then 2 side-by-side. Got tired of filling them daily. Mid-flow this year, I ordered more boxes from Mannlake. They mistakenly sent me 3 8-frame hive-top feeders instead. I contacted them about it - I still needed my boxes. They offered to let me keep the feeders at a substantial discount. MUCH BETTER! It's nice to drop in 2 gallons instead of 2 quarts.

Ben Framed · July 01, 2019, 11:17:32 PM

I am amazed at how fast they can down a quart of sugar water also!!

BeeMaster2 · July 02, 2019, 09:27:43 AM

My observation hive with only 4 frames of bees is using one pint of sugar water a day. Most is being used for brood. There are 3 empty drawn frames in the bottom and after a week of feeding most of the cells are still empty.
Jim Altmiller

Ben Framed · July 02, 2019, 09:45:14 AM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 02, 2019, 09:27:43 AM
My observation hive with only 4 frames of bees is using one pint of sugar water a day. Most is being used for brood. There are 3 empty drawn frames in the bottom and after a week of feeding most of the cells are still empty.
Jim Altmiller

It is amazing how much they can collect and it amazing how much the need to prosper. Thanks for sharing that Jim
Phillip