Warre guru David Heaf suggests reducing Warres to 3 boxes for winter, and
I've previously argued in favour of laving an empty box at the bottom to
avoid empty comb going mouldy over winter. But in your case -
I noticed a couple of weeks ago, wasps were probing my hive entrances. At
one, they sometimes approached, then backed off rapidly despite no obvious
guards on the landing board.
Looking inside I saw essentially a solid wall of bees: the hive was very
populous and they were chaining in the bottom, empty box.
So I think, as you have wasp problems - remove the bottom box, which you
say id empty, so that raiders are likely to encounter bees immediately
inside.
If you were not having wasp problems I'd advise, naaah, don't bother
changing anything.
So that's my advice this year. Of course I may change my mind again next
year!
Paul
On Sun, 27 Sep 2020, 20:59 Richard Sheehan, <rickysheehan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Paul,
Thank you for all the advice, happily managed to take a box of honey this
weekend with very little fuss. However, I identified why I was having such
trouble - the colony in the hive is nowhere near as big as I thought; in a
five box hive (now four box) the bottom box is completely empty.
This leads me on to a further question. In your experience, would you
recommend removing this empty bottom box prior to winter or, as I was
planning to do, just leave things as they are to give the colony lots of
early room for the spring expansion, as and when it comes?
Thank you very much, I look forward to hearing from you,
Regards,
Rich Sheehan
------------------------------
*From:* oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
on behalf of Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx>
*Sent:* 06 September 2020 4:46 PM
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Re: Bananas, 'shrooms and honey
Hi Richard
well first I would suggest you only take one box even from a 5 boxer
(that's the size of my monster hive, I'm only taking 1 box). But I don't
know what the state of your 3rd box is, maybe that's full of honey too. I
don't think mine is.
You are correct, if bees won't leave those boxes they still have brood in
them and by the sound of it, the queen. Just leave them a couple of weeks
and the nest will naturally contract. You - and I - may even have to wait
until the end of September. See attached graphic (handlily available 'cos I
used it last year!)
Ahhhh, I think I am being a little unclear on the methodology. You tip the
top box back while it is on the top of the stack and smoke them down from
there directly into the hive. Hopefully the majority of bees,including the
queen, retreat down into the boxes below so the Does that clarify the
operation? Tipping it back also allows you to look at the bottom of the
central combs so you can figure out if they are brood or honey. See
attached photos. Please ask if anything is unclear.
Paul
On Sun, 6 Sep 2020 at 16:34, Richard Sheehan <rickysheehan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Paul,
After a little advice - what is the best way to ensure the queen goes down
to the bottom boxes when harvesting honey off a Warre? For the past two
days I’ve tried to take boxes off the top, letting plenty of light in,
allowing time and using a fair bit of smoke. Each time I’ve put the boxes
under a clearer board near the hive and each time the hive has gone
ballistic - the main one evidently in search mode and with bees scrambling
over each other to get into the boxes removed - obviously because I’ve
accidentally taken a box with the queen still in it. The hive in question
has five boxes and am angling to take the top two. Shall I just wait until
the end of the month for the colony to draw down a bit more?
Very grateful for any advice you can give,
Regards,
Rich Sheehan
Sent from my iPad
On 6 Sep 2020, at 3:58 pm, Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi everyone,
if you have a Warre hive now is the time to harvest honey. First though -
check they will have about a box of honey left after your plundering; and
when taking a box of what you think is honey, remember - if the bees refuse
to shift when you smoke it, there are still brood in there.
*Some odd things I've come across recently:*
I have seen a few claims that bees occasionally collect fungal spores.
It's not clear if this is to self-medicate, or a coping mechanism when
there's no pollen (protein). The claims seem to originate from Paul Stamet,
a fungus enthusiast who has a commercial interest in selling fungus extract
as a miracle cure for bee health. (Admittedly his work does show it helps
versus viruses.)
I decided on a quick check and put 5 random fungi from nearby woods near
my hives, clearly visible on a white plate. After a few days I had seen
zero interest from bees. It also occurred to me that if they really do
systematically collect spores, these would show up in honey and people
sometimes use pollen analysis on honey. I've started a few inquiries along
those lines but so far no one has said they've seen spores. I was already
sceptical, and now I'm more so.
Unrelated to the above, I listened to a Zoom lecture by Roger Patterson,
who has 57 years' beekeeping experience. The theme was "things that are not
so":
He said bananas are often said to trigger defensive behaviour because they
smell like alarm pheromone. I've told many people this myself. Well, no. He
got suspicious and tested it, even laying peeled bananas on top of hives.
His bees don't react.
He also discussed "reading comb" and how many conventional beekeepers are
too ready to replace a queen because they see a comb with a spotty brood
pattern. I myself have seen an OBKA trainer point at such a pattern and say
"this queen is running out of sperm, I'll replace her". At the time I
thought "she's probably just reduced laying because there's a forage
dearth" so I know what he means about jumping to conclusions. Well, there
are lots and lots of reasons for spotty brood patterns - for example, what
if that colony is a really hygienic one who are pulling out infested
brood?! He showed us photos of examples. Then he showed us a photo of a
frame full of "perfect" wall to wall brood. "Same hive, different frame.
Obviously nothing wrong with this queen, but some people would kill her
because there is something going on on one frame." He then zoomed in on the
spotty frame and showed how the brood there were different ages, he
reckoned 12 days age difference as "pearly curlies" were next to capped
brood, i.e. some of the holes were where bees had hatched and left. The
fundamental problem in that hive was, not enough room for the queen to lay
so she was wandering around looking for spare cells rather than laying in
patches.
He stressed wild colonies and their swarms are NOT a reservoir for
disease. He has removed several hundred and "overall they are far healthier
than managed bees which are mollycoddled and probs are masked". He has
NEVER seen foul brood in a wild colony; occasionally mild cases of chalk or
sac brood. Winter will kill weak colonies, only health ones survive.
And he also talked about the "fact" that eggs are laid upright, then
gradually bend over, over 3 days. They don't. He's checked this by, for
example, removing a queen for 3 days and the eggs are still upright.
Hope that's of interest,
Paul
