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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Lorrainelovesplants
Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 6521 Location: Dordogne
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Cathryn
Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 19856 Location: Ceredigion
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sean Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 42219 Location: North Devon
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Cathryn
Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 19856 Location: Ceredigion
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15972
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15972
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Posted: Mon Jul 01, 13 9:52 am Post subject: |
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Mistress Rose wrote: |
I would suggest that you now leave them in there as they will have produced comb and brood. Some people do run skeps, and if yours is large, you can get a crop off. I did quite a lot of study on this for some work on 17th century beekeeping a few years ago, and there is also a way of getting a crop without killing the bees. If you make another small skep that will go on the top, and make a hole in the top of he current one big enough for a bee to go through, you can use the smaller skep as a 'super' as he bees prefer to put the honey up there.
Getting them out once they are established is quite a performance, especially if they have brood. It was traditionally done about midsummer, both to get a crop (I suspect oil seed rape as 'stone honey' is talked of and osr was grown then), and give them time to build up again for the winter as the brood would be left. |
These are now in my friends WBC.
I'm tempted to try a colony in the skep.
Read A. Pettigrew's "The Handy Book of Bees" last year & love the Heather skep apiary videos from Germany.
If I get time this winter to make a couple more skeps might give it a go next year.
I'm more interested in getting a couple of colonies running in Warre hives, & I have another HTBH to populate as well, so not on the top of my priority list. |
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Lorrainelovesplants
Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 6521 Location: Dordogne
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Posted: Fri Jul 19, 13 5:26 am Post subject: |
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Well, hive 1 in the orchard that overwintered poorly and i dont rate the queen are ticking over but still on 2 and a half frames.
hive 2, my black bees - having made a quen cell last week, this has now disappeared (?) and they are working like mad. The super I had on last week is full and Ive given them a 2nd one, lots of capped brood but I cant see any young uncapped. Will be going in again this morning to look.
Hive 3 at St Kew, have been back on Monday - cant see a queen, no brood at all, loads of honey, very little pollen, but they are calm as you like, so Im thinking there must be a queen she just hasnt started laying.
Thinking - take a frame of uncapped (possibly from hive 2) and move to St kew? |
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Lorrainelovesplants
Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 6521 Location: Dordogne
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Lorrainelovesplants
Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 6521 Location: Dordogne
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