Feral Hive

sean · July 03, 2007, 05:47:33 PM

Got my first feral hive this morning. The Bees had set up shop in an old concrete tub in a lady's back yard. She had been been stung by them before and was real afraid of them plus somebody was charging her to get rid of them. Anyway cut out the comb put it into a box and will go back this evening to pick it up. Oh got the queen as well.

JP · July 04, 2007, 12:08:17 AM

Sounds like a job well done. ;)

sean · July 04, 2007, 08:11:31 AM

Thanks wasn't bad and i was glad for the experience. Need to gwet myself more organised though. When i reached i realised that i left the frames and rubber bands so i couldnt try attaching the comb to the frames. it was too late when i went back last night so i will it this morning.

JP · July 04, 2007, 11:36:56 AM

Sean, if you wind up doing lots of removals, put a little toolbox together, with all of the necessities, that way you will be prepared when you get a call. Make a list of things you will need the night before, if you have the time, I've learned to do this as well. Be careful, bee removal is addictive.

sean · July 04, 2007, 03:36:05 PM

Well i did it again. Went to try and attach the comb to the frames and oops, left my smoker. turns out i didnt need it though the bees are so docile. think my first attempt at tying in the combs wasn't that good but i think i got(some sort of way).

Its late but after moving a hive what should i expect to see in terms of bee activity. will they just sit around for a while chillin, or do they get clicking once the sun comes up? I did see some doing somthing like an orietation flights

JP · July 04, 2007, 04:05:22 PM

First day or so they will orient to the hive and then get really busy. Make sure they have food, I would feed them sugar water, until they stop taking it. Use rubber bands to secure the comb to frames, it takes less time than tying with string.

sean · July 04, 2007, 05:19:14 PM

Ok thanks. I did have elastic bands but i ran out so i had to start using string. The elastic bands had the comb hanging out in areas though. They have food. My only worry is that i didn't see the queen today i hope she didnt get hurt/killed during the journey.

Cindi · July 04, 2007, 06:02:06 PM

Sean, good for you and a great big, yeah!!!! Have some fun doing those catches, maybe one day I will be doing that stuff too. Have a wonderful day, good luck, Cindi

JP · July 04, 2007, 08:09:39 PM

Sean did you secure just the brood comb in your frames?

sean · July 04, 2007, 08:13:12 PM

nope did everything i saw. honey, pollen and eggs. dont recall seeing any brood

JP · July 04, 2007, 09:59:09 PM

Sean, you have to be careful of securing honeycomb in frames when doing a cutout, most people myself included only secure the broodcomb and let the bees secure honey or feed them. The honeycomb is too heavy and messy and will attract ants, etc...

sean · July 04, 2007, 11:05:35 PM

AaHa. Well you live and you learn. Appreciate the info. I will have to go back tomorrow and check on them. I have the box up on blocks, wouldit make sense to paint the bottom row of blocks with some kind of oil to deter the ants?

JP · July 05, 2007, 02:54:10 PM

Not always, but usually so, when you remove a hive and do a transfer, it puts stress on the bees and they are vulnerable to ants and other things like wax moth trying to set up shop, so it is best to just secure the brood comb. If you don't have enough brood for at least 5 frames, you can use a nuc to set them up instead of a full super.

Kathyp · July 05, 2007, 03:35:45 PM

don't worry to much about the honey comb. if you got a good number of the bees, they'll set to work cleaning it up before it's to much of a problem. it's the stuff that drips through to the ground that will attract the most pests. if you see robbing, you can use an entrance reducer until they are better established. i had a mess with the ones i did last year, but they cleaned it up...unfortunatly, i missed the queen and ended up combining what was left with another hive, but, oh well..... :-)

sean · July 05, 2007, 04:26:43 PM

after i tied in the frames i washed the excess honey off the bottom board so i hope it would not attract many ants. didnt get the chance to go check on them today but my sister says they seem to be ok. I would have put into a nuc box but the hive was too large

sean · July 09, 2007, 02:03:07 PM

just an update. checked on the new hive today, all seems well. Lots of eggs, honey and pollen. I noticed when i did the cutout that i didn't see any brood at the time just eggs. Could it be that it is a new queen? i did see some old queen cells.

JP · July 10, 2007, 09:22:08 PM

Sean, it doesn't sound like the hive had been there that long, because you were able to fit all of the comb in one super, a deep I presume, so the queen may not have had that much time to lay a whole lot of eggs. Your queen could be relatively new or the old queen from the swarmed hive that wound up in the wash tub. How is she laying? What is her pattern, spread out all over the place or tight nit? Lots of drones? These are things to find out. If she is producing lots of drones or a very irregular pattern I'd keep an eye on her and be ready to replace her if she is not a good producer.

sean · July 10, 2007, 10:53:02 PM

a fair amount of drones and lots of eggs. i think i will give them some sealed brood as the amount of foragers seem small. tried doing a count yesterday and only saw about 7 or 8 BPM (BEES PER MINUTE)

JP · July 14, 2007, 02:13:41 PM

Sean, how's the hive doing?

sean · July 14, 2007, 03:23:41 PM

the hive is coming on great. Thanks for asking.The queen is laying up a storm, added some sealed brood, they are finding food(there is a large residential area very nearby with lots of flowers and fruit trees). Iwill be moving them to a second apiary that i am setting up in another two weeks or so. Where they are now is just a quarantine area until i am sure they are disease and pest free