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<mailto: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<mailto: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
