Beekeeping

Just seen on the news that the record high temps. here in SA have wiped out many bee keepers hives and ruined any honey in them... very sad to see

Hi Jaros,

Will look to see if there are any quarantine issues. Postage is the big killer. Will pm you when I find out.

Cheers

Les

I'm having trouble all of a sudden posting Pic's when I work it out I'll post some. Not going up to extract until next week now. Shed is full of supers waiting to give up the sticky gold, lot of Lucerne this time, and we have lost a number of hives to the extreme heat. Very unfortunate when your trying to sell up but it has been an extremely poor year here in SA, Know of commercial beekeepers who are only at 5-10 kilo/hive hard to survive on that. Old beekeepers have told me '63 was a nothing year so it may be equal to that Regards

Hi Harbourmaster,

Sorry to hear about the tough year. Like most forms of agriculture, the workload doesnt reduce much even though the return is only a fraction of what youd expect in an average year. Hope a bit of cooler weather and rain heads in your direction.

Cheers

Les

Hi Folks.

Three weeks ago I put a frame with a starter strip of foundation into a hive just for a bit of fun. Wanted to see what type of comb the bees would build in a honey super above a queen excluder. I expected drone comb (which is a slightly larger cell size) due to the fact that the queen was not going to be able to lay eggs in those cells. The prediction was pretty well spot on.

Apart from a few smaller worker cells in the area of the foundation strip, the remaining cells were drone comb.

As you can see, the cells are quite large. An interesting point to notice is that the comb is very yellow in colour. At this time of year, the bees bring in a lot of flat weed pollen and it tends to stain the wax.

The two splits that I made at a similar time were also checked for a laying queen. Both hives had wet brood and eggs which tells me that there is a mated queen in each hive. Could only find one of the girls to photograph. They tend to be shy and dont like to show themselves for photo shoots.

Both Small hives will be transferred to full size boxes in a few days time to allow the hives to expand.

Cheers for now.

Les

It always amazes me how absolutely perfect they can make the cells. They're amazing. erfect:

Hi Lesgold yes poor years are part & parcel of primary production Tea tree has started here and is producing better than we thought it would due to lack of rain but we do get a lot of dewey morning here on the coast so perhaps thats the answer. out of a load of 96 hives we lost 17 to the heat last week I filled up their water the day before but I think some just exhaust their selves getting water.Son heard a story from one beekeeper of a line of dead bees from the Apiary to the water they literally just fell out of the sky and died many had no honey left in bottom box but had some in the supers any way honey is coming in now and that should get the in good nick to go into winter.Tea tree is excellent to build them up before winter and it looks like they will have new owners by then. we have pushed them down into the bottom box and taken super's so they should do much better that way. I'm still having trouble posting pics need the grand children to help out Anyway life goes on and the bees just keep working like busy bees do

Hi Harbourmaster,

Sorry to hear about the bee losses. Its a sad time when you see hives go down. Hope all goes well with the winter build up. Spent a couple of weeks camping very close to Warooka in autumn last year. Very dry, hot and windy. I can understand why the bees can struggle at times. Hopefully you can sort out the posting of images. Im sure that a lot of people are waiting to see what a larger setup looks like.

Cheers

Les

Hi Folks,

You may remember Strayas post quite a while ago about a double queen hive. When people have good ideas and show them to me I tend to get quite annoyed as it tends to make a lot of work. OK Straya, your idea was like a red rag to a bull. Had to try your design and see what would happen. The two splits that I made were transferred from the nuc boxes into 10 frame boxes that were made specifically for the double queen hive. As both hives needed to be perfectly flat, a stand was made from left over bits and pieces and concreted in place. Bottom boards included two Bluebees vented, slotted boards to improve air circulation and hygiene. Both queens are laying well and bee numbers will start to increase in a couple of weeks. Although late in the season, these hives will flourish due to the flowering that should occur over the winter period. The spotted gum produces high quality pollen and very good nectar. This will mean bee numbers will be strong right through the cooler months. The disadvantage of a spotted gum honey flow is that when spring hits, swarming will be a major issue and will occur very early. How is a man going to find gold with all of these distractions?


Cheers for now,

Les

Oh I have to laugh. O
Les, You are a lesson in tragic I assure you.
We each have our little foibles but i assure you,
You take the cake as if to say.

A most enjoyable afternoon was spent and after the rambles
in the living room were over,
We just had to go and stick our beaks into the shed.

And suit up and go looking at Bee Hives.

What a privilege that was. :clap:

Blew me to bits.

You have hooked me line and sinker so now,
I have to kit up and go bee keeping.

I think I share the same sentiments but,

Thank You.

I have finally found my second calling/Hobby/Distraction/Financial investment/interest/friendship.

:Y: :Y:

You will pay for it,
I assure you. :lol:

Good onya Doug. Totally enjoyed the afternoon. Its great to see someone else with the passion for this special hobby.

Hope you are tall.
When the flow comes keep a close eye on them and hang on I have had up to 3 supers filled from stickies to fully capped in 3 weeks erfect:

May have to be a quick trip to WA in May then. Chasing gold or liquid gold. What a worry. Hope the main flow starts in June. Lol

The liquid gold doe's taste mighty fine :beer:

Goody

Les.... Can you get honey all year round?

Goody

Hi Goody.

Should have honey coming in all through this winter due to the spotted gum flowering. This only happens once in every four years in my location. Most areas dont have much flowering during the winter months and the bees need to rely on their stored honey for food. Some of the areas further north may have a different situation. It depends on the local climate and the plants that flower throughout the year. Next year is shaping up to be a poor one in my area as there is very little budding up.

Cheers

Les

Thank you Les :Y:

Goody

Beehives out the back of our house
4 hives to a pallet we use an avant loader to load pallets on to truck
Supers of honey in the shed waiting to be extracted. There's around 43 pallets waiting to be extracted. They are mostly Manley boxes , left over from some years back SA bee keepers used Manley supers as they are not as high as full depth so weigh less not as hard to lift. But these we used 8 fat frames instead of 10 the bees still draw them out that little bit more so less handling in the honey shed but they have been progressively being replaced with full depth. Mechanisation Makes things a lot easier

Oh Dear,
Another one to liven the thread up. :Y: :Y:
Keep it coming folk's.