My first hive

[wiifm]

I'm gonna name all my queens Martha.  Thanks for the welcome Bill

[Bamboo]

I'm gonna name all my queens Martha.  Thanks for the welcome Bill

I know there is a joke in here but I am missing it, can you in the words of a  QLD "politician" "Please explain?"

[eltalia]

I'm gonna name all my queens Martha.  Thanks for the welcome Bill

I know there is a joke in here but I am missing it, can you in the words of a  QLD "politician" "Please explain?"

Hanson is no politician, more like a rager with no clothes!
But yeah... "please explain" fits well. :-))

[Bamboo]

Hanson is no politician, more like a rager with no clothes!
But yeah... "please explain" fits well. :-))

Exactly the reason I put the quote marks.....I knew you would get it.

[iddee]

Thread hijack.... Please explain for the rest of us or get back on track. 

[eltalia]

Thread hijack.... Please explain for the rest of us or get back on track. 

Yer had to be there Wally ;-))
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pfNoto58fQM

IF you can handle some truths the excerpt of her story is here;
https://m.you  tube.com/watch?v=0rtNlYUezIU

Cheers.

Bill

[wiifm]

I'm gonna name all my queens Martha.  Thanks for the welcome Bill

I know there is a joke in here but I am missing it, can you in the words of a  QLD "politician" "Please explain?"

It was a reference to a joke Michael Palmer makes in more than one of his videos.  He names his queens.  They are all named Martha.  If Martha is not performing, he replaces her with Martha.

[Bamboo]

@wiifm
Ahh I get it now. When I kept bees in NZ my daughter was only 3 and she wanted to know what their names were so I decided on Mary. She was quite happy with that and from that day forward every bee was Mary.
I like your moniker as well, you don't have to explain that one to me

[eltalia]

I'm gonna name all my queens Martha.  Thanks for the welcome Bill

I know there is a joke in here but I am missing it, can you in the words of a  QLD "politician" "Please explain?"

It was a reference to a joke Michael Palmer makes in more than one of his videos.  He names his queens.  They are all named Martha.  If Martha is not performing, he replaces her with Martha.

ahhh..Letterman humour. (nods)

https://www.google.com.au/url?q=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Letterman&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjOpIai2fXaAhUBy7wKHbbAB_cQFgheMAo&usg=AOvVaw0zx0hQf9pF13Okz7-U7Ff2

That's a relief, for a minute there it was touch 'n go as to whether you were havin' a go!

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Not%20know%20whether%20one%20is%20Arthur%20or%20Martha

All good, no worries ;-))))
Let us know how you get on with Wednesday's meet, good luck :-)

Bill

[Bamboo]

#wiifm
Just noticed your hive stand which I must say looks pretty nice.

When you join your local beekeepers club it might pay to ask what height works best up there. I understood from my conversations with other beeks that a minimum of 600mm off the ground is necessary to stop the cane toads having lunch and dinner at your hive!
At heights less than that they can either jump onto the landing board or get their mates and pyramid to get a feed.

@eltalia would know.
Cheers
Mark

[wiifm]

@Bamboo, I plagiarised a stand I saw at the local association meeting last month.  It would sit about 300mm above flat ground (maybe more), but I had to knock it into the uneven ground to make it level in this spot.

[wiifm]

Swapped boxes with the seller today. He swapped one of my foundations for one of the frames in the first nuc and shook some bees into the box that I am keeping.
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[wiifm]

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@Bamboo, he did tell me I need to raise my stand because the cane toads will have a feed.  I'll make it a project for the weekend.

[Acebird]

They can't be screened out?

[Bamboo]

They can't be screened out?

It is not so much that they get in to the hive and cause problems , although this has been known to happen with fatal consequences to the toad. It is more that they sit at the entrance and gorge on the bees and are smart enough to jump onto a landing board if it is not high enough. They are also known to pyramid to get to landing board however at a height of about 600mm these issues are overcome.
These cane toads were introduced to wipe out a beetle in the sugar cane industry back in the 1930's. As is the case when man tries to fix one problem with a predator he creates an even worse one, so it is with the cane toads they started off in the north of Queensland and are now such a pest they have been found as far south as Sydney in New South Wales. They are predator free as they are poisonous to all animals.
Just one of the vagaries of keeping bees in Queensland.

[wiifm]

Thanks for the explanation @Bamboo.  I will add that the Northern Territory has had them for years and they have been seen in WA also.

[max2]

Cane toads do have some predators: som opposums will eat them, Meat Ants will kill the, Crows, some of our native frogs will predate on the, some snakes...nature adapts

[Acebird]

We have bears that not only eat the larvae and honey they tear up the equipment.  Only solution is electric fence or move the hives.  Maybe a couple of hot wires on the landing board would deter them.

[moebees]

Cane toads do have some predators: som opposums will eat them, Meat Ants will kill the, Crows, some of our native frogs will predate on the, some snakes...nature adapts

Is there anyway to block them from getting near the entrance?

[wiifm]

Cane toads do have some predators: som opposums will eat them, Meat Ants will kill the, Crows, some of our native frogs will predate on the, some snakes...nature adapts

Is there anyway to block them from getting near the entrance?

I'd say the least complicated solution is to raise the hive stand. I bought some more steel today and will cut lengths to sleeve the existing legs.  This will allow me to have telescopic legs for uneven ground.