I agree. However, once in a bluemoon, I understand a disturbed queen just leaves. Heck. You erred on the side of safety, She had time to calm down. She got out...
... Yes, that was a stupid oversight. Duh! I'm restarting my look at this project, and after a serious family pause, am just regaining my bee-legs, LOL! So at...
Is there is any chance the failures could have been caused by the materials used. For example maybe wood that came from a wrecked out place that might have...
The largest swarm I have ever seen was last year. I lost it in about 18 hours. I determined that the frames had rat urine on them. The rats got into the garden...
The Saturday Herald Saturday, January 17, 1885 Decatur, Illinois A Vermont man has discovered that the bee travels from three to ten miles to change his abode...
Sorry bout that, this post was meant for the ‘Historical Honeybee Articles’ site. But it does fit in with catching ferals, so maybe I can get a pardon. ;) ...
Here I thought that very soon, in about two weeks, the bees would be bringing in pollen. But early this morning we got between 4 to 5 inches of snow. A little...
I was painting some new hives today and I managed to paint the bottom board on one of them. Then to make matters worse I accidentally painted the inside of...
It's been one week and the swarm that I harvested shows no indication of any eggs, even though I gave them plenty of drawn comb and even stores. There is...
Hi, Just incase the queen is a virgin from an after swarm I would wait at least two to three weeks to give her time to mate and start laying, four weeks to see...
I'd give her a few weeks as well. She may be a virgin, or more likely in my opinion is that she was not fed prior to the swarm leaving to put her on a...
Hey folks, The swarms are settling into their new hives. I've been watching them to see how many workers are bringing back pollen to the hive. My most...
... It is a good sign, in that it can indicate brood is being reared. I do like to see pollen being brought in and entrance activity, but one can occasionally...
Just my inexperienced opinion here... But I believe a better option would be to do and inspection and be sure about productivity and if you are not satisfied...
A question for all you experienced feral bee collectors: When you find an actual wild bee colony -- as in a tree or other hollow -- how is the entrance located...
In my experience they are neither the "cold way" (running in line with the entrance) nor the "warm way" (running at right angles to the entrance) but rather at...
Interesting idea. Let me through a couple of other anecdotal observations into the mix. I've noted on cut-outs of feral hives that (most of the time) the...
Here's a few of my thoughts. First, you have to remember that productivity is a combination of genetics and environment. Even the best pedigree won't excell...
... Interesting. We didn't do all we should to prepare our bees for overwintering. Our strongest hive died (with lots of stores), and our weakest hive made it...
First of all, thanks for your observations, Michael. I wonder whether they might be possible to fit them in with Grant's observations below? ... If that's so,...
... Hello Inga, There have been studies that show swarms building comb in the same orientation as the mother colony. Here, a swarm from a bee tree in my yard...
I can see how this could be applied to doing a cutout having an idea of which way the comb is likely to run behind a wall to increase the probability of...
BlankLast week when one of you told me about advertising on free cycle I made a note of it but did not get around joining unit day before yesterday. Early ,...
Thanks much for your reply and the picture, Joe. :) Since I'm in a "northern" climate, perhaps an entrance "the warm way" would be best here. I like the idea...
Virtually all my hives face east so all the comb runs east and west. They draw it fine. Michael ... observations into the mix. I've noted on cut-outs of feral...
Those particular combs were running from Northwest to Southeast. Michael ... whether they might be possible to fit them in with Grant's observations below? ......
Jim, it was the topbars that died out, and they were made from new untreated wood. I think they actually starved out. One of the Langs seems to be dead now...
