Anybody know of any feral hives in Melbourne? I'm interested in having a crack

OzBuzz · March 21, 2010, 02:57:44 AM

Hey Everybody,

Does anybody know the whereabouts of a feral hive in the general Melbourne area but can't be bothered doing the work to get it? I'm interested in having a crack...

Cheers

philinacoma · March 21, 2010, 09:00:42 AM

I know of one, I'm just waiting for the woman to call me back. It's in a possum box 3 metres up a tree.

See my post for "more than I can chew" for the pics.

OzBuzz · March 21, 2010, 09:23:38 AM

Quote from: philinacoma on March 21, 2010, 09:00:42 AM
I know of one, I'm just waiting for the woman to call me back. It's in a possum box 3 metres up a tree.

See my post for "more than I can chew" for the pics.

Yeah, i saw that! very impressive! but you already have dibbs on it :) don't wanna cut your comb :-D sorry! couldn't help myself - bad joke i know

philinacoma · March 21, 2010, 11:49:03 PM

I heard this morning of another possible swarm at my daughters school. I saved one late last year from there. If I get out of work early enough, I will have a look tonight. You can have that if you like. :)

My wife had a quick look this morning saw plenty of bees, but could see where they had their base.

OzBuzz · March 22, 2010, 12:02:45 AM

Mate that would be awesome! would have to wait a few days though as i don't have any of my gear yet :(

OzBuzz · March 22, 2010, 07:03:39 AM

Quote from: philinacoma on March 21, 2010, 11:49:03 PM
I heard this morning of another possible swarm at my daughters school. I saved one late last year from there. If I get out of work early enough, I will have a look tonight. You can have that if you like. :)

My wife had a quick look this morning saw plenty of bees, but could see where they had their base.

Any joy with this one Phil?

philinacoma · March 22, 2010, 11:52:48 AM

Well, I dropped in this evening (about 7) and didn't see a single bee. :'(

I'll ask them to be a bit more specific as to where they thought they saw bees. Unless it was a late swarm and they had moved on by the time I got there...

OzBuzz · March 22, 2010, 06:33:44 PM

Quote from: philinacoma on March 22, 2010, 11:52:48 AM
Well, I dropped in this evening (about 7) and didn't see a single bee. :'(

I'll ask them to be a bit more specific as to where they thought they saw bees. Unless it was a late swarm and they had moved on by the time I got there...

Bummer - why can't warms just stay put! i mean we're going to put them in a warm happy place where they don't have to worry about much! albeit we will pinch their food every now and again but some kids pay board when they live at home - they can just consider that board!

OzBuzz · March 28, 2010, 09:02:19 PM

So does anybody know of any feral hive removals that people want done?

OzBuzz · March 28, 2010, 11:19:37 PM

Quote from: OzBuzz on March 22, 2010, 12:02:45 AM
Mate that would be awesome! would have to wait a few days though as i don't have any of my gear yet :(

I've got all the gear now so ready to roll!

philinacoma · March 29, 2010, 09:21:08 AM

Unfortunately you're at the end of the season for swarms, unless you've got a mandarin and macadamia next to each other...

You will probably have to wait for spring now. The bee club link I sent you earlier has a listing of people who will collect swarms. You could sign up for that. I don't remember there being anyone up your way offering to collect. No competition!

OzBuzz · March 29, 2010, 06:37:31 PM

Thanks Phil,

I'll do that - cheers...

I was also meaning any hives that had overtaken weird objects around their property that they wanted gotten rid of :) me has the hive numbers 'growth' bug :-D

OzBuzz · April 11, 2010, 06:23:21 PM

Went to get, what i thought, tobe my first ever swarm/cut out yesterday - turned out to bee European Wasps! Didn't even fire up the smoker!

philinacoma · April 12, 2010, 01:05:52 AM

Yeah, I've seen a lot of those around this year.

OzBuzz · April 12, 2010, 01:51:20 AM

Quote from: philinacoma on April 12, 2010, 01:05:52 AM
Yeah, I've seen a lot of those around this year.

Yeah they reckon there's a plague of them! how annoying though going out pumped to have my first feral collection - and it's european wasps!

Did you ever have any joy with that feral in the bird/possum box?

philinacoma · April 13, 2010, 04:47:00 AM

Nah, She hasn't called again. Don't worry there'll be plenty more where that came from in Spring!

If I can find somewhere to house them, I'm thinking of building up my hive number this year.

OzBuzz · April 13, 2010, 07:07:14 PM

Quote from: philinacoma on April 13, 2010, 04:47:00 AM
Nah, She hasn't called again. Don't worry there'll be plenty more where that came from in Spring!

If I can find somewhere to house them, I'm thinking of building up my hive number this year.

Bummer - and i can't wait for spring! i'm looking forward to getting in to the nitty gritty of bee wrangling

That offer is still open mate once i get the a-ok from the council... there's more than enough land there for a few hundred hives!

philinacoma · April 14, 2010, 08:23:12 AM

Sweet! 8-)

iddee · April 14, 2010, 10:58:42 PM

Hey, you guys come on over, We've got plenty enough spring to share some with you. :evil: :-D :-D

philinacoma · April 16, 2010, 02:24:32 AM

darn! Just had a call to "come out and remove bees out of my back garden". It only took about 3 seconds to decide they were those darned European wasps again. And I was just thinking it was time to get another hive going. Oh well, spring is not THAT far away!

Anyway I need time to build another couple of boxes to put them in. Seems like I am always building boxes.