The Treatment-Free Beekeepers' Forum

GregV

Oh! I can see the logic in this issue. Yes - you need to completely and totally close the bottom entrance. Take the screens of and plug the entrance hole. The partial way out/in is no good - only adds to the confusion. The change should be radical (not a half way). In my recent swarm trap re-hiving ...

GregV

My solution was top entrances only... ......... The long nails are overkill. A simple board would work. The robber screens help as they can't just catch them coming out the entrance so easily. Thanks, Michael. We'll see, I guess. Hopefully, the skunk-screens are sufficient and work for me. It is ea...

GregV

Grappling Coach wrote:....I am curious to see how long it takes The bees to figure out the top entrance. It took them a few hours to figure out the robber screens. The top entrances may take longer

They will figure it out quicker even than the robber screens. A couple of hours, if that.

GregV

Done. Bees were confused with the new obstacle but did manage to get through it. They will have to live in jail hives (or get eaten). Along the way I got this idea to combine both wire screens together the next time. Just attach somehow the both skunk and bee screens into a single unit. Staple the c...

GregV

OK, found something similar to what I was thinking of (pics). I was thinking of similar fixture, but rather vertical and covering most of the hive front wall (if not the entire wall). But clearly, 0.5 inch screen is being used exactly as I was thinking it could. SkunkScreen02.jpg SkunkScreen01.jpg T...

GregV

I suppose I also could move my valuable nuc to a less skunk-infested area (I have options), but I am out time now due to a pending vacation trip. A nuc move needs to wait a couple of weeks if I am to do it. Meanwhile I need to protect the bees the best I can and take the measures quickly and directl...

GregV

Boys did a good job practicing the hammering skills.
I will anchor these in front of the hives.
OR, will it work better to attach these to the hive walls instead (nails will be looking out horizontally)?
What do you, people, think?
Anyone tried this nail deterrent yet in real life?

GregV

Well, over the weekend I concluded that I became a target of a pest specific to North American beekeeping. Talking of skunks... :x This topic about "Requeening" problem turned into a skunk problem, in the end, and was very informative to me (being an Old World expat, until now I mostly ign...

GregV

My second "log" hive also scored a swarm. Going now to re- hive it. 20170722_190359_Small.jpg So now both "log" hives scored a swarm. These particular traps worked at 100% and I like them a lot due to the easy installation (on the ground). (maybe, however, the fact of previous oc...

GregV

Well, IF you do want to keep this hive as a stand-alone unit, I would do a temp split (as Dusty suggested) to ensure you have at least one laying queen in the end. Then combine back the temp split. Maybe even prop this project with more outside resources to ensure good queens. If, on the other hand ...

GregV

I need to get my AŽ hives built so I can get away from all this lifting and moving boxes to get downstairs. I'll prop the bottom to get some additional flow Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I hear you - need to build more hives. :D Same here. PS: if it is not possible to create some shade (or mov...

GregV

So, I am up to 12 colonies at the moment (starting with just one surviving nuc this spring as I reported then). The surviving nuc has been expanded into 4 hives (a large boomer plus 3 growing nucs). I also got 4 swarms so far (2 trapped + 2 free hanging catches). Plus I made 4 more scraped up nucs f...

GregV

It was 89 today. I can't believe those 3 boxes are near full. When I added 2 there was 8 of 9 frames with some drawn comb in 1. The third was added shortly after the 2nd as I had moved the swarm not too far from the trap spot and lots of foragers where still going back to the original, so I put a b...

GregV

Why not add an extra box? Make some shade?
Additional entrance would not hurt..
This is looking beyond normal. What is the temp, anyway?

GregV

...I had plans of making a split of my second hive as well, but I realised I didn't have all the materials I needed. Beginner's mistake due to being badly organised ;) . Well, then get those materials and still do the split. Missed opportunity now will amount to another wasted year - not the best w...

GregV

+1
Totally protect it and save it.
Nothing wrong with the hive.

GregV

This is the ad-hoc replacement for the #1 - pretty good 80 liter summer hive. Cost - under $2-3 (just for the screws). You can see how I dumped the bees in front of the hive; they just crawled in on their own. Did not want to shake the stragglers directly into the hive (the trap was full of trash). ...

GregV

The trap hive #1 has been a popular with me lately. I pulled the #1 back into the stand-by rotation by dumping the swarm into ad-hoc deep 12-framer (from old Lang supers + 3/4'' plywood). Imagine a square Dadant flipped 90 degrees and standing side-ways.. That's what it is (pic in the next post). We...

GregV

When asked about robbing he claimed that if hives are too weak to defend themselves then let'em go. Just for what it's worth. I hope he makes a difference between natural colonies and manmade ones. :) If he means nature I´m with him but if I create a weak hive I will rather protect it . Agreed. I g...

GregV

Grappling Coach wrote:This is what had me confused. Every time I would look into the hive, I would see lots of brood but very few bees. So the queen was laying well, but the skunk was taking down the numbers

Wow!
I honestly did not know skunk could do so much damage.

GregV

BTW, while back I stopped trapping rabbits/racoons in my backyard because of fear to catch a skunk (there are around).
I just don't know how to handle a skunk in a trap in a suburb.
The darn thing will bomb the enter neighborhood; people would hate me...

What is a practical skunk plan for suburbs?

GregV

I'll be darn!
So the skunk decided that hive had the tastiest bees?
Or the entrance was the easiest to get to?
What kind of an entrance is it? How other do hives differ?

GregV

Did you consider a possibility loosing a swarm there? If a lost swarm case, this is what left of it and it is an OK case (for next year). There is nothing to do and just let them be. Otherwise, who know.. For SW MO, not too late to do the re-queen. Drones should be available - why not? Flying drones...

GregV

Our own Nordak on this exact forum sells packages (obviously, next year now).
And his bees are as TF as you can get.
So...

GregV

But even the best stand ever will not stop a cow or a deer from scratching against your hive. One must account for the hive to tip over. Agreed but it doesn't take a cow to tip a nuc sitting on milk plastic milk crates. Soft ground or a good breeze would be enough. Here is the stands I build. Strap...

GregV

Just now remembered...

A good friend lost few good TF hives last winter due to poor disaster planning.

His TBH's got tipped over by high wind. The top covers fell off. Bees froze. Sad.

GregV

Btw, car tires make excellent hive stands. Especially, if a metal rim is still inside (adds weight and robustness). I am now looking for them and pick up if I find any tossed around. But even the best stand ever will not stop a cow or a deer from scratching against your hive. One must account for th...

GregV

......at least one of you might be horizontal deep beekeeper? I'm reading about that... . I am. See my relevant rants under the Layens' hive areas. This year I am being slammed by my expansion and so keep making all kinds of ad-hoc equipment just to stay afloat. One thing I have been doing - making...

GregV

BTW, this brings another discussion point back to live - do we need landing boards that stick out? Guess what, IF a piece of wood is attached under the entrance and is sticking out even by one inch, that would save the hive that fell on with its face down. That inch of wood would prop the hive just ...

GregV

Just reviewing some old topics (of interest to me). Most of my hives are in out-yards and some of those I check bi-weekly only (no time to run about). Some I check weekly (the closest yard). But in all cases, I would not know for up to a couple off weeks if anything bad happened. I have been doing t...

GregV

Hmm... I am a big fan of Wyatt too and read his website A-to-Z long ago... Time to revisit. Anyway, if he says the swarm can "usurp" then it must be so indeed. http://americanbeejournal.com/summer-swarms-far-frequent-bees-changing/ https://honeybeesuite.com/usurpation-when-one-colony-takes...

GregV

Sounds as-if the "usurpations" have to do with absconding the existing hive in a fall and trying to join some other existing hive. Which may have some logic in fall where a colony is better off joining some other bees vs. dying in winter. The issue above is taking place mid-July, however, ...

GregV

.......So is it possible that since we are in our summer dearth here in North Carolina, is that swarm hanging on that colony slowly robbing it or trying to take it over? Don't think they are trying to "take over" anything. They are just attracted by a hive smell. By the intent, the swarms...

GregV

Well, you are lucky they did not abscond from such a small trap. They often just leave if the space is too small. :D Anyway, of course, you should have moved them into a larger hive ASAP. Now - it would likely make a terrible case of a cut-out if you look inside, I would not do it. Especially with t...

GregV

There is one important disclosure about the screens (from experience) - it is best to get the bees trained to them during the warm weather. Saying this because I learned of screen usage during September robbing onslaught. The nights were too cool for the bees to be stuck outside and they would die. ...

GregV

What´s your temps just now Greg? My hives look the same, 28°C, high humidity. Part bearding, part traffic. Seems to me not much chaotic. They must learn about the robber screens. This changes the normal traffic. My current weather forecast is attached. Robber screens create a temporary challenge an...

GregV

Well, alternative design of the same is well known and is called - slatted rack. The same basic idea - additional air cushion below the nest; used for ventilation and excess bee holding area. Makes sense to me. Here: https://honeybeesuite.com/how-to-build-a-slatted-rack/ https://honeybeesuite.com/ho...

GregV

But also, really, why do you care?

You have robbing screens installed on your smaller hives (if not yet installed - then do so).

This makes the issue of entrance reduction irrelevant.
Keep them wide as-is behind your screens.
This provides for better bottom-based ventilation.
Do nothing.

GregV

Consider the additional ventilation box under your hives. Details are posted under the "Ventilation" topic. Simple and effective method, and you are free to reduce your entrances at any time to any size while still providing maximum bottom-based ventilation. PS: sorry for repeating myself,...

GregV

Welcome to the forum! Incidentally, the Family and I spent the last summer vacation in Tennessee/Kentucky (Smokies, etc). All the mountains/forests/non-farm land make for a great feral bee habitat since corn/soy are impossible to grow there. I noticed bees in many remote places we took hikes in (no ...

Search found 396 matches