Dead Bees

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Jason

Last week there were some disturbing events that unfolded here at my home hive site.  On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I awoke to large quantities of dead bees on the bottom boards of all three hives.  This was particularly disturbing since two of them have up to this point been among my  strongest hives.

I don’t know what to think for sure.  I have not been off of work on a good bee day to open the hives.  I need a good day to diagnose anything that may be happening internally.   I do know that there has been heavy activity in the fields around here.  The wind has been very strong and I was told that some farmers were spraying.  I have no idea what, or if it is even connected. Continue reading →

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Tuesday’s Trap Out Progress

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Jason

Trap out in progress.

I finally got up to the firehouse today to get the trap out box hooked up.  It required a lot of equipment, but the process went smoothly.  I first set up a walking board using two ladders.  I strapped the board to the antenna tower with a ratchet strap and everything was very stable.

I then attached part of a deer stand to the antenna tower.  After about 1/2 and hour I was able to get the TOB on the platform and everything went together nicely.  Foraging bees were a little confused upon returning, but I think they will find their way into the box.   Continue reading →

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What a great Monday!

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Jason

Toofer!!!! One swarm called turned into two!!!

I finished the trap-out box this morning with good intentions of getting it hung, but my phone rang.  Swarm call number one 2012-04-30 this year.

I grabbed a couple of extra boards and headed out.  Luckily I already had two hives set up for swarm calls.  I was planning on leaving one with my Dad in case  I couldn’t get away from work.   Continue reading →

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Trap-Out Day 1 4/29/12

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Jason
Trap-Out Day 1

Flange attached to form new entrance.

Yesterday I started the process of trapping the bees out of the firehouse.  I went to a friends wood-shop and after a couple of hours produced  something similar to what Cleo Hogan from beesource.com has been using.

After all of the hardware was assembled I went to the firehouse and installed the new entrance to the hive.  In the future I will refer to this piece as the flange.  It basically functions as a tunnel for the bees to access the trap-out box (TOB).  It was pretty cold yesterday morning and very few bees were coming and going from the entrance.  I used a masonry bit to drill three small holes in the mortar between the concrete blocks.  I then used three tapcon screws to affix the flange to the side of the building.  It only took about twenty minutes. Continue reading →

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Firehouse Bees

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Jason

Very populous hive in a concrete block wall.

I got a message Wednesday night that there were bees invading one of our area volunteer fire departments.  I had known about these bees, but was waiting until later this summer once things had settled down to do a trap out.  Apparently instead of using their normal entrance on the outside of the building several hundred bees had made their way inside.

It was dark and raining cats and dogs by the time I got off of work and made it to the firehouse.  I am not sure exactly what happened.  It is possible that the bees swarmed inside.  The Chief had been there and from what he described there had been no cluster just disoriented bees flying all over. Continue reading →

Posted in Feral Bees, Posts, Trap Outs, Uncategorized, What's going on.. | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Trapping Update

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Jason

Currently 23 traps have been deployed and as far as I know there have been no takers.  Given the recent shift in the weather I am actually a little glad.  Up until last Friday weather had been unseasonably warm for my area.  Many plants had been blooming 2-3 weeks ahead of “normal” and thus swarming was early as well.  I have many beekeeping friends who reported already catching many swarms.  Since last Friday (4/20/12) we have had frost warnings for several evenings including last night.  I have not seen frost  at my house, but some low-lying areas could have potentially gotten hit. Continue reading →

Posted in Bloom Dates, Feral Bees, Posts, Swarm Trapping | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Loading Swarm Traps

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jason

My old comb after being removed from storage.

Now that I finally have some Swarm Trap Plans posted it is time to think about the next step.  The traps need to be loaded prior to deployment.

The directions for How I Load Swarm Traps can be found under How To… in the navigation bar.

I use old broom comb and not everyone is going to have it.  Especially if you are new to beekeeping.  If that describes your situation don’t just give up.  I do think that it increases your chances, so try to obtain some if you can.  If you cannot get entire combs small pieces can be rolled into a ball, then rubbed all over the inside surfaces of your trap. Continue reading →

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Not a normal post a.k.a. – My Friday the 13th

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Jason

The guilty culprit.

These last several weeks have seen me obsessed with bees as usual.  I guess it’s been a little over the top, as both my wife (Holly) and my daughter have asked me recently to, “STOP TALKING ABOUT BEES!!!!”  Not that they mind discussing bees from time to time.  However, it has been hard to control my excitement while reading Langstroth – “On the Hive and the Honey-Bee”.  It is a book that every beekeeper should think about reading and/or listening to the audio version.  Anyway last Thursday 4/12/2012 Holly, had had it with me.  She informed me that I was not to talk about bees.  I took that to mean a 24 hour period so I tried to oblige her.  After failing miserably within an hour or two and having to be reminded to shut up, I went to bed and didn’t think about it anymore.  The next day was Friday the 13th.    I got up and went to work as usual.  There was nothing out of the ordinary that occurred ALL DAY!  After returning home I immediately began working on swarm traps.  Holly came outside to say hello and I immediately began talking about ……  you guessed it “bees as usual”.  She reminded me of her mandate, and I quietly continued what I was doing.  That is when Friday the 13th took action to punish me.  I took one step from the driveway into the grass and my foot fell upon a freshly deposited dog pile.  So if your spouse or others tell you to give the bee talk a rest every once in a while, heed this warning.  Friday the 13th may give you a surprise!

Posted in Posts, Uncategorized, What's going on.. | 4 Comments

Swarm trap plans are…. “done”

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Jason

After tracing the entrance disc.

After weeks and weeks of re-examining my Swarm Trap Plans I have to get them out.  Every time I look at them I make changes.  I found a draft laying around from two weeks ago.  It showed that I was changing things in the most current version BACK to the way it had been two weeks ago.  The plans can be found under How To… up in the navigation bar.

Please contact me if anything is unclear.  I will be hanging up traps today, but shortly there will be a instructions on loading and hanging traps.

Have a great DAY!!!

 

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New method of hanging traps

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Jason

Trap 11 chained to a buckeye tree.

I have found a new way to hang many of  my traps.  Instead of driving nails into trees, I began using light duty chain and S-hooks.  It started when my Dad did not want me putting nails into his trees.  After some scrounging we chained Trap11 to a buckeye tree.  It worked exceptionally well.

There are two S-hooks hooked on the same link.

Continue reading →

Posted in Feral Bees, HowTo, Posts, Swarm Trapping, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment