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Something else to try. Put the swarm lure OUTSIDE of the trap.
Most people don't realize, but they often use too much, and it can actually repel the bees. The idea is to attract scouts, to get them inside. Doesn't necessarily apply in your case, since you said you left the top open anyway. |
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"You know how butt ugly people are said to have hit every branch on the way down the ugly tree.
Well, the dumbass tree done drilled you in the butt and laid eggs in ya." -RJinks |
Stories like that keep me from wanting to handle bees at all. I love them near us naturally for our crops, but don’t like being stung to say the least.
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Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
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Originally Posted By turtle2472: Stories like that keep me from wanting to handle bees at all. I love them near us naturally for our crops, but don’t like being stung to say the least. View Quote I don't get stung alot and when I do it's mostly my error. I get to comfortable around my hives sometimes in shorts, flip flops, t shirt and a veil over my head. This swarm was huge and I decided I wanted it. I could've left it and today I was pretty stoked to have them. On Sunday, I opened the top box to put in a pollen patty and some sugar water as fast as I've ever done it and they came at me like rockets. Today(Monday) I opened the front entrance and bees spilled out the front needing fresh air. Some say to keep them inside up to 72 hours because they may leave again. I decided if they did want to leave I wasn't going to hold them up. I came home about 400 today and they were out and swirling about, what appeared to be orienting themselves. I put some branches in front of the hive before opening it because I only moved them a few hundred yards to begin with. Later I filled their sugar water feeder and they were as calm as my other hives and I'll know if they start bringing in pollen soon that they are going to stay. Oh, on Sunday I also split a hive and added a frame with 3 capped supersedure cells along with brood/honey/nectar frames to a box. We'll see what happens. Much of an experiment for me. |
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You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you’re capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Selling dime bags of primers. |
This past week I did some splits and found one of my hives had turned mean. They had seemed a problem last year, but this year they were worse than my feral hive. They had also effectively welded the whole hive together. It took a lot of work with the hive tool to separate the boxes and the frames from each other. Once I had opened the top they were all over me. Prying and yanking on the boxes didn't help. They were thoroughly pissed. It was a two deep and one super set over winter. I added a super last month and they had pretty much filled it. Now I have two single deep with super hives. I didn't find the queen so I have to wait to see which one has new eggs next week.
It is finally sinking in to get started early. I should have been in the hives cleaning up and adding syrup on Valentine's day with a pollen patty the following week. I was late getting that done and I didn't clean up the excess wax on the frames. If there is wax build up on a surface, the bees consider it their space and will build on it. Top of frame, bottom of frame, walls, lids, it all has to be free of comb. They will build comb between frames vertically and horizontally. Vertical bridging is the most destructive to deal with as when you pick up a box you are also picking up the frame(s) below it. That is disturbing to the bees and damaging to your valuable comb. This year I built some two frame mating nucs. I have already used one to requeen a hive that lost their queen somehow. Having an extra queen at the ready is always handy and if you don't use her to make a new hive, you can always sell her or help out a new beekeeper. Being only two frame they will fill up fast so you need a plan before they decide to swarm. I plan to have at least two going at all times. Barnyard bees has videos on them as well as build plans. I'm starting a service to help with ag exemptions for small properties. Texas has provision for small property ag exemption, with as little as five acres. I'm writing up a contract today for a customer. |
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I've seen better riots at Walmart on a black Friday - SrBenelli
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Originally Posted By Cardplayer: On Sunday, I opened the top box to put in a pollen patty and some sugar water as fast as I've ever done it and they came at me like rockets. Today(Monday) I opened the front entrance and bees spilled out the front needing fresh air. Some say to keep them inside up to 72 hours because they may leave again. I decided if they did want to leave I wasn't going to hold them up. View Quote Be careful with the pollen patty this time of the year. They can be breeding grounds for Hive beetles. Also you can place a queen excluder above the bottom board but below the brood box for a few days after catching a swarm. This will let the bees come and go but stop the queen from leaving. I find that closing them up entirely makes them edgy about staying. Make sure to remove the excluder early if the queen is unmated so she can go on her mating flights in due time. |
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A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Be careful with the pollen patty this time of the year. They can be breeding grounds for Hive beetles. Also you can place a queen excluder above the bottom board but below the brood box for a few days after catching a swarm. This will let the bees come and go but stop the queen from leaving. I find that closing them up entirely makes them edgy about staying. Make sure to remove the excluder early if the queen is unmated so she can go on her mating flights in due time. View Quote Thanks, excellent advice. I thought about using an excluder and didn't. I think I got lucky, today they are bringing in pollen. We luckily don't have hive beetles in Idaho. The closest they got was to Oregon and I believe they have been eradicated there as well. |
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You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you’re capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Selling dime bags of primers. |
Originally Posted By Cardplayer: Thanks, excellent advice. I thought about using an excluder and didn't. I think I got lucky, today they are bringing in pollen. We luckily don't have hive beetles in Idaho. The closest they got was to Oregon and I believe they have been eradicated there as well. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By Cardplayer: Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Be careful with the pollen patty this time of the year. They can be breeding grounds for Hive beetles. Also you can place a queen excluder above the bottom board but below the brood box for a few days after catching a swarm. This will let the bees come and go but stop the queen from leaving. I find that closing them up entirely makes them edgy about staying. Make sure to remove the excluder early if the queen is unmated so she can go on her mating flights in due time. Thanks, excellent advice. I thought about using an excluder and didn't. I think I got lucky, today they are bringing in pollen. We luckily don't have hive beetles in Idaho. The closest they got was to Oregon and I believe they have been eradicated there as well. |
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I've seen better riots at Walmart on a black Friday - SrBenelli
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Originally Posted By Cardplayer: Thanks, excellent advice. I thought about using an excluder and didn't. I think I got lucky, today they are bringing in pollen. We luckily don't have hive beetles in Idaho. The closest they got was to Oregon and I believe they have been eradicated there as well. View Quote How did they eradicate the beetles? |
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A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: How did they eradicate the beetles? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Originally Posted By Cardplayer: Thanks, excellent advice. I thought about using an excluder and didn't. I think I got lucky, today they are bringing in pollen. We luckily don't have hive beetles in Idaho. The closest they got was to Oregon and I believe they have been eradicated there as well. How did they eradicate the beetles? Great question. I may be wrong but, I think I read at some point a few years back they were eradicated. On the other hand, I do know Idaho has never seen them. |
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You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you’re capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Selling dime bags of primers. |
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!!!
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Count your blessings! In Illinois we have hive beetles and corrupt politicians. View Quote Isn't that redundant? I moved to MO before the '08 election just because of that reason. My son still lives in CHI [but moving in a year or so] because when I asked him who he was voting for in the NOV election, ... his reply "Dad, I'm pretty sure I've already voted" |
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Neighbor called me up, one of her hives swarmed and if I came and got it, I could keep it.
So I did. Sketchy ladder work in a pine tree, but it went smoothly. They are going gangbusters. |
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You should move to the right lane, where the rule of vehicle and traffic law still exists. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and the left lane is the land of wolves now.
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While I no longer work bees.. (used to do all field work for 1000+ hives over 40+ yrs ago)..
I most definitely have a true respect and admiration for anyone that works honey bees. It's a fascinating and painful job. I thought swarms were a trip. It's amazing, to me, that if a queen was not good for the hive.. Then, occasionally the bees would create their own queen, or queens in a hive. Some hives would even have 8 or more areas of the royal jelly cocoons where the queens grew until hatching.. Then it was either total war in the hives, as several of the bees would unite / rebel and lots of dead bees. Or they would swarm, and haul ass, to a tree branch waiting to be collected. |
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Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
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View Quote Holy crap that's a nice swarm! |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
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Originally Posted By DUX4LIFE: Be careful with the pollen patty this time of the year. They can be breeding grounds for Hive beetles. Also you can place a queen excluder above the bottom board but below the brood box for a few days after catching a swarm. This will let the bees come and go but stop the queen from leaving. I find that closing them up entirely makes them edgy about staying. Make sure to remove the excluder early if the queen is unmated so she can go on her mating flights in due time. View Quote Great advice!!! |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe |
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
KY, USA
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe |
Well, it finally happened. I finally got around to marking this years queens and was on my 2nd hive, found her and she shot to the edge of the frame and flew. I watched her leave in slow motion. Although I do love to watch queens move about on the frame, this time I wasn't screwing around and she shot out like a cannon. I looked for her for a bit in the grass and later that night in the dark hoping workers would find her and nothing.
Well she was a 2 year queen and she didn't seem to be laying a great of a pattern so, I'm not completely disappointed in myself. It's still a gross feeling. Not wasting time, about 100am I combined the hive with another small hive with a good queen with the newspaper method. To end the night I got stung on the neck under my ear and decided I'd had enough. |
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You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you’re capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Selling dime bags of primers. |
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