The girls are back!

[rubato]

And I couldn't be happier. We received our package bees on Friday eve. and I went out and set up the new hive boxes and got the cute n' fuzzy little girls all settled in on Sat. Morn. We have smaller hive boxes this year which will make moving supers a lot easier. These are 8-frame supers. I've been recovering from a brachial plexus injury for months now and shifting less weight is only a good thing.

I couldn't mow the lawn (I have a push-mower) for the past month so it was pretty out of control, I had to use the string trimmer to knock it down to a reasonable level before the bees were unleashed and my arms are feeling it today.

I'll have to open it up and make sure the queen was released by her 'attendants' and laying eggs in a day or two but for now I'm just happy to see the girls flying in and out of their new home.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

[rubato]

Did I say 8? 9-frame supers.

The queen is out but I didn't actually get to see her. The candy plug in the queen cage was gone so they let her out. I pulled a few frames and they're busy making wax and stocking the cells with nectar and pollen.


yrs,
rubato

[Econoline]

Here's a bumper sticker for you, rubato!

[rubato]

I'll sneak one on my wife's car to give her a smile.

We should have new bees emerging just about now (21 days). I'll open the hive today or tomorrow and see how they are. The activity level looks good and I replaced the anti-skunk device in front of a hive entrance, a barrel cactus. Otherwise skunks will eat the bees like popcorn.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

anti-skunk device

Nope, not gonna go there...

Just too easy...

[rubato]

Well they were on their own for two weeks but are doing great. Lots of capped brood, the outer frames a full of honey and pollen and the hive is doing very well. I popped the top off today and had a look. I took out the entrance excluder so they could open up the whole front to help cool the hive on the warmer days coming in the next weeks.

We'll need a new super by next weekend and I'll have to order a new and smaller queen excluder to put on some honey supers...

Happy bees!

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Keep up the good work, bees. We need you!

[TPFKA@W]

I wish you would take a few pictures of the girls and post them. It would be the bee's knees.

There is a honey farm near here with a glass enclosed hive attached to the main building. They are intersting to watch.

[Gob]

Trained beekeepers had to tackle a 5,000-strong swarm of honeybees surrounding a central London store.



The insects were smoked out after gathering around a sign in front of a store in Victoria Street earlier.

Tony Mann, a trained beekeeper, said the bees were flying around the areas "like scouts".

The bees were moved to nearby Westminster Cathedral, where they will be looked after by beekeepers on the church's roof.

[rubato]

Might be too few to make a successful colony. We usually get a 3 or 5 lb package of bees (with mated queen and a few drones) to start a new hive which runs about 12,000 bees on up.


yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

A beekeeper had to capture thousands of honey bees that had swarmed around a parked car at a Bournemouth shopping centre.

Shoppers outside Sainsbury's at Castlepoint saw the swarm cluster on the black car around midday.

Shopping centre manager Nick Staton said the beekeeper arrived fully dressed and "teased them into a basket with smoke".

[Lord Jim]

Looks like this is what happens when irresponsible amateurs release swarms of bees into populated areas....

People ought to have more respect and concern for their neighbors than to do that.

[Lord Jim]

Santa Cruz (city) An apiary permit for a residential property costs $1,300 and requires a hearing so neighbors can complain ahead of time. The limit is two hives, and they must be 25 feet from the property line.

http://www.santacruz.com/2011/04/26/avoiding_the_sting/

I assume you're all paid up on your fee rube. How'd the hearing go?

[Sue U]

Looks like this is what happens when irresponsible amateurs release swarms of bees into populated areas....

People ought to have more respect and concern for their neighbors than to do that.

This actually happens all the time with wild populations of honeybees, much less so with a managed hive. A few years ago I had a very large colony living in the hollow of an ancient tree in my yard. One day a big portion (maybe all?) of the colony de-camped and swarmed on another tree nearby. We called a local beekeeper who came over and basically just knocked the swarm off the tree branch with a broom handle. It fell into a cardboard box he had brought, he put the lid on and put them in the trunk of his car. As he worked we were chatting and it turned out that he is also a local public defender and his wife is a PI attorney who I had known professionally through the trial lawyers association. Of course one thing leads to another, and that's how I became friends with The Beekeeper's Wife.

[Gob]

Of course one thing leads to another, and that's how I became friends with The Beekeeper's Wife.

Sounds like the script for a porno.

[Joe Guy]

They say the beekeeper's wife is the one with all of the money...

[rubato]

Looks like this is what happens when irresponsible amateurs release swarms of bees into populated areas....

People ought to have more respect and concern for their neighbors than to do that.

This actually happens all the time with wild populations of honeybees, much less so with a managed hive. A few years ago I had a very large colony living in the hollow of an ancient tree in my yard. One day a big portion (maybe all?) of the colony de-camped and swarmed on another tree nearby. We called a local beekeeper who came over and basically just knocked the swarm off the tree branch with a broom handle. It fell into a cardboard box he had brought, he put the lid on and put them in the trunk of his car. As he worked we were chatting and it turned out that he is also a local public defender and his wife is a PI attorney who I had known professionally through the trial lawyers association. Of course one thing leads to another, and that's how I became friends with The Beekeeper's Wife.

Swarming is the normal mechanism for hives to multiply. When they become too crowded the workers sense it and begin making queen cells. Meanwhile the existing queen will take a large portion of the adult workers and go off looking for a new place to put a hive. The swarm will often land on a branch not too far from the existing hive while workers scout around for something suitable. The swarm will then move here and there for a while. The swarm is living off of stored energy they got by gorging on honey right before they took off and which they will need to synthesize wax for comb in their new hive. Swarms are not generally aggressive but then honey bees are not aggressive.

We control swarming by keeping additional room in the hive, which is why I added a super last Saturday. When we had a hive in a more rural area at a friend's house there was so much forage (and so few hives) that they swarmed several times in one spring.

I'll be getting 3 more supers soon because there is a lot of capped brood right now which means more bees in the near future. We have not decided whether these are 'pets' or 'working bees' this year. If they're working bees we'll need a new queen excluder to fit the new hive boxes.


yrs,
rubato

[Jarlaxle]

I got rid of a good-sized hive of hornets yesterday.

Liz took one out 10' away from that spot a couple weeks ago.

And I got another one in mid-May.

Persistent little %(%^&^%$#*^%$!@#@!#$, aren't they?

[Lord Jim]

I got rid of a good-sized hive of hornets yesterday.

Liz took one out 10' away from that spot a couple weeks ago.

And I got another one in mid-May.

That's why God invented flame throwers...