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Bee successful!

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chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 07 11:00 pm Post subject: Bee successful!

We took forty pounds of honey off our beehives the day before yesterday! It was only two super's worth and very late in the season; but given that we've done virtually nothing with them since we got them in February, we are both really, really chuffed. We've now shut them down for the winter, put in the apiguard and tomorrow I am going to feed them.

We got four hives in February and had five swarms from them at the beginning of April which in retrospect really weakened them. We lost one hive completely during the wet summer and now have two strong and one weak hive. We took a super each off the strong hives.

Our plan for next year is to try to build up the colonies, and to look for somewhere else to keep a couple of them; they are really a bit close together for comfort and the garden is a bit too small for four hives of busy bees on hot summer days ...

Here are some pics, mouse-over for description:

Yay!

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 07 11:02 pm Post subject:
Congratulations. What's the wheelbarrow for in picture two?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Nov 01, 07 11:24 pm Post subject:

Ah, well ... our two options to catch them, were

a) put the box in the tree over the bees and try and smoke them up in to it - or
b) put the box under the tree on the ground and hit the branch with a hammer and hope they all fell in to it.

Both of them were quite difficult to do because of the way the ground sloped away and because I was so fat I couldn't get in to the only other bee suit we possessed at this point. So we were using the wheelbarrow to kind of wedge the boxes and the brooms up.

Oddly, of the five swarms, three of them chose to hang in this tree ... the first one Arvo caught by method a), the second one I caught by method b) and the third one I pretended I knew nothing about when it flew off down to the village; I was here on my own and past the tree-climbing stage of pregnancy.

FiddlesticksTim

Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Posts: 104
Location: West Oxfordshire

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 07 12:52 pm Post subject:
Well done! Tim

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 07 12:59 pm Post subject:

Well done Chez - Did you take off all the honey the hives had or did they have more than one super each ?

I didn't think you could feed this late in the season - because the temperature needs to be high enough for them to process the sugar

What are you feeding them ? - Asking all these questions as I need to take off the Thymol treatment tomorrow and if I think they need feeding I'll give them some

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 07 2:55 pm Post subject:
We left one super on one hive, that had two - the other one only had one. The brood chamber was pretty heavy though. I'm not sure about feeding now, I thought it was okay - I will need to check because I'm in trouble if that's the case .

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 07 2:57 pm Post subject:
Excellent post Chez, well done

pookie

Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 4984
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 07 10:08 am Post subject:
That very jar of honey is now sitting in my larder, it is delicious too!

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 07 10:12 am Post subject:
Pookie, you can do my advertising . I have taken some advice from my Bee Guru (aka my mum) and she says that it IS a bit late to feed them - BUT because it's warm, they are still working and it should be okay. I am just off to do it now, before the weather breaks ....

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Sat Nov 03, 07 10:16 am Post subject:
Thanks Chez - I'm going to go and have a look at mine and give them a bit of a feed if they need it

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