Well played Jimbo that was a " Don't panic Captain Mainwaring " moment :)
been reading Alley's queen rearing book today
Old but interesting
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Well played Jimbo that was a " Don't panic Captain Mainwaring " moment :)
been reading Alley's queen rearing book today
Old but interesting
Yesterday I attended an all day course by Graeme Sharpe of Scotland's Rural College on Varroa Management. It was an excellent day and for those who have not been lucky enough to attend a course or talk by Graeme he is an excellent speaker and a font of knowledge, get your local BKA to book him! The views on all of the methods were very balanced and people were given the information so that they could make their own mind up, which is how I prefer anything in my life, rather than "do it this way". I now know how I plan to approach varroa management for the next couple of years. Good price for all day training too.
Drone Ranger, thanks for the helpful reply. To pick up on this section, Graeme mentioned that in his opinion local drones fly faster and harder than imports. In particular he thought that Mellifera Mellifera were the strongest drones. So maybe all is not lost! Food for thought, at least..
Thanks for the balanced thoughts on the OSR too. I think there is some heather within a couple of miles of me, I might ask the farmer if I can move my bees closer, though. Although as I type I remembered the 3 mile rule... Perhaps I won't bother! Hypothetically, when should one move their bees to the heather? How long should they remain there? It is a pity you have to destroy the comb to retrieve the honey too, as a beginner I have hardly any drawn comb!
Edited to ask: Is it true that bees cannot be overwintered on heather honey stores? I think I read somewhere that it causes dissentry..
I'm too lazy and disorganised for moves to the heather Rosco :)
The tips are :-
A young queen.
A hive crowded with bees
Use a tool called a comb cutter and unwired foundation ideally
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...=4987#imgdii=_
then the honey goes in a little plastic tray
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...5QE7MNAgmzM%3A
Heather honey is valuable but bees winter on it fine
Some folk will mention the protein content but I don't think that is a problem
Like any hive where the crop is removed the bees will need feeding before winter
The mating would certainly apply to Italian bees maybe less so Carniolans
Rosco, the time honoured reply to that question is; before man came along (or more specifically before sugar became freely available), what did wild colonies live/overwinter on in heather areas?
You may with benefit read "Having Healthy Honey bees" - an integrated approach by John McMullan. Unlike a self appointed expert who unavoidably springs to mind, John is well qualified and an able writer, the book is without parallel and I commend it highly. Northern bee books are stockists.
Around here the commercial boys move their bees up mid to late July and take them away early October.
Re heather honey - last year was my first, and the bees had spent some time drawing out so I left the same frames on for the heather and extracted all together. Only about 12lbs but it kept fine till finished in Feb. this year bees have been a bit slow to get started so will probably do the same but add a frame of heather honey combs in the middle as the heather comes out.
Hi Bridget
I wonder if you brought your own bees back before the start of October for feeding and treating for varroa prior to winter, or just left them with enough heather stores to see them through.
Any tips would be welcome thanks
VICTORY.!. We went up to the rape this afternoon and succeeded in lifting the supers, brushing out the bees that refused to go down-then storing the supers bee tight in the back of the pick-up. We then added the mesh travelling screens and hive straps. We'll be up there again tonight to uplift the hives and stands. I recon the total harvest about 200 pounds. Then over to my other sites to uplift the frames of Sycamore honey before the bees eat it all. They're working the clover like crazy as well at the moment.
Thanks for all the replies. Will bees draw comb when on heather? As I probably wont have many super frames drawn out before mid-July! I guess Dark Bee's response might cover this one, i.e. wild bees have probably drawn comb on heather for centuries. My worry would be that the bees will fill the available laying space with heather honey and then swarm.
Also, bringing them back in October, is that too late to then feed syrup or ambrosia for overwintering?
I am tempted to try to find a heather site, particularly as I may be moving home soon (only half a mile away) so might need to move the bees >3 miles away anyway. But if I am setting myself up for a fall by doing so with my small colonies I will not take them to heather.
Rosco - If there's heather within a couple of miles they'll find it, but if you could move your bees a mile further away than the 2 miles they'll only have a mile to travel 'back' to it, and will be further than the 3 miles. But at that time of year there won't be much forage apart from heather so they probably won't get too lost. You could always leave one hive on the current site for strays.
I borrowed one of these last year, it got clogged and ended up crushing almost as much comb as it cut. It was easier to cut the whole comb out of the frame, put it on a cake rack over a tray and use a sharp knife. I know some people use dental floss to cut comb honey, using a card template that matches the size of the boxes they've got. They win prizes, so it must work!
edit:
Oh, oops, I took too long writing my reply.
I can only speak from my local experience, and we have quite a long heather season. They will draw comb, if you haven't got thin 'cut comb' foundation then use starter strips in unwired frames. Standard foundation is a bit too chewy.
Overwintering - mine only get fondant. I don't take honey from the brood box, so they keep what they've stored during the year and there's ivy after the heather.
P.S.
Well done Grizzly!
I don't think I'll do a vertical AS ever again. Making the split was easy, and I kept is simple (Jimbo's advice from last year), but then the problems started. I could not inspect the queen at the bottom of this huge tower so did not know what was going on but the worst was splitting the hives. It resulted in a huge fight between mother and daughter hives. That was two days ago. Today I managed to open the mother hive and discovered that she had flown, and probably long ago. Because I did not have drawn comb at the time of the AS, I added a comb of brood with the mother hive and that was probably my mistake. That, and not being able to inspect her part of the hive.
The tower was mother hive, QX, super, swarm board, daughter hive, super. When I inspected the super of the mother hive I found one queen cell in there with a bee trying to get out. I helped it out and found it was a drone. Do they sometimes try to turn drones into queen cells by mistake?
Kitta