What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

[Lesgold]

Ran out of time late yesterday afternoon and only had the chance to recycle 12 frames. Will continue to steam frames this morning and scrape them to remove any slum gum or propolis that is left behind. I was actually a bit slack and left these dead out boxes outside for quite a while and the wax moth really did a good job on them. It is surprising how much wax the larvae actually consume. I did remelt the wax that was recovered from the frames. Got exactly 1000g from the 12 frames. A little less than what I usually get but it?s all profit. Steaming does give a nice clean wax and recoveries quite a bit that is locked up in the black comb.

[FatherMichael]

Ran out of time late yesterday afternoon and only had the chance to recycle 12 frames. Will continue to steam frames this morning and scrape them to remove any slum gum or propolis that is left behind. I was actually a bit slack and left these dead out boxes outside for quite a while and the wax moth really did a good job on them. It is surprising how much wax the larvae actually consume. I did remelt the wax that was recovered from the frames. Got exactly 1000g from the 12 frames. A little less than what I usually get but it?s all profit. Steaming does give a nice clean wax and recoveries quite a bit that is locked up in the black comb.

Steaming!

What a great idea!

I've got a lot of frames from dead outs to recondition.  This is just the solution.

Thank you!

[beesnweeds]

I was actually a bit slack and left these dead out boxes outside for quite a while and the wax moth really did a good job on them. It is surprising how much wax the larvae actually consume.

Do you use plastic frames and boxes?  Wax moths here do quite a number on woodenware.  They chew up the frames and boxes and leave a ton of canoe shape holes in them.

[Lesgold]

The wax moth are very artistic carvers of wood. Wooden frames and boxes are what I use. I do use some plastic foundation but not plastic frames.

[Terri Yaki]

And another hive inspection is in the books. I have a couple of questions regarding this inspection. In the deep box, is that building of comb normal? They're not filling out the frames too well. And should a new colony like this be building practice queen cells? Was I wrong to just leave them there? And on a frame or two, for some reason I was unable to determine if it was honey or brood. That would be to the outside in the medium box. I ask about it in the video. It should be easy for me to determine but I wasn't able to.

Yesterday, I cut a new entrance blocker and gave them a second door on the other end of the porch and I installed it this morning at sunrise. Both openings are smaller than the large one was but combined, they have more room. They are slowly using the other door more as the day goes on.

Thanks

https://rumble.com/v4vldic-may-16-2024-hive-inspection-part-i.html

https://rumble.com/v4vllxw-may-16-2024-hive-inspection-part-ii.html

[NigelP]

My opinion for what its worth and only  having only seen first few minutes of video, is you are using too much smoke, those are very calm bees, you don't really need to smoke them so heavily. Also too much space for the number of bees you have. They aren't covering all the frames you have in there.. I'd reduce to single brood box and stop feeding. Give them a bit more time to get on with they want to do.
A good indication of bees filling space and wanting more is when they start drawing comb on the bottom of the frames then it's time to add a second brood box.

[Terri Yaki]

I don't know, myself. My nuc came in medium frames so that's why it's a medium on the bottom. I had quite a consensus that it was time to add the upper box and to keep feeding. The queen has been in the upper box for two weeks now and I'm thinking that when it's time to clean out the medium box, I'll put it on top, above a queen excluder. I'm all ears for input and willing to learn though. Thanks for the input, I like hearing the thoughts on it. Oh, and they were building comb on the bottoms of the frames when it was just the medium box.

[FatherMichael]

I don't know, myself. My nuc came in medium frames so that's why it's a medium on the bottom. I had quite a consensus that it was time to add the upper box and to keep feeding. The queen has been in the upper box for two weeks now and I'm thinking that when it's time to clean out the medium box, I'll put it on top, above a queen excluder. I'm all ears for input and willing to learn though. Thanks for the input, I like hearing the thoughts on it. Oh, and they were building comb on the bottoms of the frames when it was just the medium box.

You might want to put the medium box on top.  They will build themselves down into the deep.

[Terri Yaki]

I don't know, myself. My nuc came in medium frames so that's why it's a medium on the bottom. I had quite a consensus that it was time to add the upper box and to keep feeding. The queen has been in the upper box for two weeks now and I'm thinking that when it's time to clean out the medium box, I'll put it on top, above a queen excluder. I'm all ears for input and willing to learn though. Thanks for the input, I like hearing the thoughts on it. Oh, and they were building comb on the bottoms of the frames when it was just the medium box.

You might want to put the medium box on top.  They will build themselves down into the deep.

I wonder about that. I worked with my mentor in early spring when he was going through his hives and his all built up. So much so that he moved the almost empty bottom boxes to the top. And when I put the deep up top, the queen moved up into it. If I had three or four hives, I could conduct all kinds of experiments.

[The15thMember]

And another hive inspection is in the books. I have a couple of questions regarding this inspection. In the deep box, is that building of comb normal? They're not filling out the frames too well.

I don't use foundation, but it looked normal to me.  Comb building is a lot of work, it may take them some time if your flow isn't strong.  You mentioned at the end that you saw bees hanging onto each other.  That could be bees festooning, where they make kind of a scaffolding with their bodies as they build comb.  I'm assuming bees on foundation still do this behavior.

And should a new colony like this be building practice queen cells? Was I wrong to just leave them there?

Some colonies build a lot of queen cups seemingly just to have them in case they need them.  I have several colonies that keep cups built for most of the summer, but they are never charged (they don't have an egg or larva in them).  I was a little surprised that they had made so many, but until one has an egg or larva in it or is drawn out into a full queen cell, I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

And on a frame or two, for some reason I was unable to determine if it was honey or brood. That would be to the outside in the medium box. I ask about it in the video. It should be easy for me to determine but I wasn't able to.

It can be a bit tough if the wax is very light, but to me it looked like that frame had brood in the middle. 

[max2]

I'm 2/3th through my Autumn check...but the rain is hanging araund...again.
I made about 300 tealights. A great rainy day job.
I make 9 hr tealights.
They sell quite well at the markets.
I strated to melt down this years cappings.
The first batch was absolutely perfect - very clean wax.
The second batch looked dirty - I will leave it in the wax melter to cool down. The dirt will settle.

I'm looking for Beehive ( skep) candle moulds ( molds?) like Les makes. They are so lovely.

I also used a mould which makes 6 candle sticks in one go.
A bit tricky to keep the wick in the center but I did manage eventually.

getting the wick though the mould was not as smooth as I had hoped.

Market in the morning - the car is packed. Hoping for nice weather.

[BeeMaster2]

Max,
Check Mann Lake?s catalog. Pretty sure they have a skep mold. That is where I bought mine from. Pretty sure I have seen our down under members talking about ordering from them.
Jim Altmiller
https://www.mannlakeltd.com/education-crafts-gifts/candles/bee-hive-skep-candle-mold/?sku=PM275&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_azT4w1y5GYmzA0k2WnxsX2r1fV&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgJyyBhCGARIsAK8LVLPx3E2-XOLFDk9nmLJBeVZXtArt9HHoRMzPzj4gdtlqWPSfptli8BMaAlg3EALw_wcB

[Ben Framed]

Market in the morning - the car is packed. Hoping for nice weather.

Good selling at the market!

[max2]

Max,
Check Mann Lake?s catalog. Pretty sure they have a skep mold. That is where I bought mine from. Pretty sure I have seen our down under members talking about ordering from them.
Jim Altmiller
https://www.mannlakeltd.com/education-crafts-gifts/candles/bee-hive-skep-candle-mold/?sku=PM275&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_azT4w1y5GYmzA0k2WnxsX2r1fV&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgJyyBhCGARIsAK8LVLPx3E2-XOLFDk9nmLJBeVZXtArt9HHoRMzPzj4gdtlqWPSfptli8BMaAlg3EALw_wcB

Thanks - Les found me a local one. Postage is a real killer these days

[The15thMember]

It was supposed to rain today, but when I checked the weather this morning, it had changed and now isn't supposed to rain until this evening, so I inspected 2 hives before lunch.  Good thing I did too, my favorite hive was CRAMMED full and very much in need of more space.  I gave them two new boxes and also did a sugar roll since I saw my favorite queen Snow White in there.  I also checked a hive that swarmed recently to see if they had a new queen.  No brood and didn't see a queen, but I'm going to give them one more week.                   

[Caashenb]

Built 10 more deeps and frames and 20 more mediums and frames so I will have enough woodenware when I go into the yard Monday.

[.30WCF]

That swarm nuc I?m using to draw some foundation for my neighbor is doing ok.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[max2]

We had a very good market on Saturday - lots of honey was sold and we sold all of the Pecan Nuts we had with us.We also sold a few Strawberry Plants  in pots.Today I went to one of my yards to do my Autumn's check.Less honey here, fewer SHB, No varroa.. Most hives are powering  on with lots of brood.Sadly i had a dead out. More to clean up.
I also washed and sterilized the jars we had returned.  We took back about 50 of them and it takes some time as the labels need to be soaked to come off.
I had enough time to take a walk in the bush to look for buds on trees.
Also, a quick check on the cattle - perfect Autumn day.

[AustinB]

Took a picture of a beautiful fuzzy queen who made a safe return after her mating flight, enophallus attached and all. Too bad posting pictures is such a pain here, otherwise I'd post the picture 

[Terri Yaki]

I haven?t had any problems posting pictures on my laptop but never tried it on my phone.