Hi Richard,
In short it is really difficult to get bees out of walls. However if they
have only just gone in, and do not yet have a nest / stores / young to look
after, maybe they can be driven out by a nasty scent or drumming on the
wall.
The only person I know who's done a lot of cut-outs is Richard Anstis, but
I haven't heard from him in a while. He certainly removed a lot of tricky
chimney colonies. He's on this list so may see this email.
There is a household scent bees run from which isn't too pungent to us, but
I can't remember what it is! Can anyone else recall? Not windolene, but
something like that.
Paul
On Sun, 21 Apr 2019, 20:02 Richard Sheehan, <rickysheehan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Paul,
Several quick questions, very much hoping you can help. Happy to report
I’ve managed to successfully take and hive one swarm that was in a tree
near my village church. However, I’ve had a number of calls today from
people who’ve only noticed swarms in the evening, all of which have run
into the walls of their respective houses. I have no idea how to deal with
these. Is there anything I can do? If not, do you know of anyone on the
contact list who would be able to help and whose details I can pass on? All
those who phoned very much want the colonies removed rather than destroyed
but pest controller will be their final port of call if nothing else can be
done.
Very grateful for any advice you can give,
Regards,
Rich
Sent from my iPad
On 6 Mar 2019, at 2:27 pm, Paul Honigmann <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Assorted answers...
Jon (and others) - don't forget to bait your empty hives with old comb and
propolis so they smell like bee homes. Swarms sometimes move in of their
own accord, especially if you already have a colony nearby.
Richard - there are plenty of swarm collectors who don't answer the phone
when you ring, only collect at weekends etc. Bear in mind you can always
say "I will come round this evening". Yes, it is worth registering even as
a part-time swarm collector.
Jeannie - Beetradex is primarily for conventional beekeepers. If you want
a Warre or Top Bar Hive you may not find god quality ones there. (The ones
in my back garden are Warres, made of cedar at least 20mm thick, with
windowed boxes. My first hives were Top Bar Hives and whilst they are still
going they are definitely showing signs of decay as they are made of pine.)
But you will definitely learn loads so worth going. There's no absolute
rule about hive type for natural beeks, some members of this group use
National or other frame-based hives, but they tend to have larger internal
volumes so the bees need to work harder to keep them warm. Hive choice is a
very personal thing, but once you choose a type you get sort of locked in
to it because the modules and tools used in one tend not to be
interchangeable with other types. (Framed hives have one advantage here,
there is a degree of standardisation and interchangeability between them.)
General trick - tell your postman you are looking for swarms and give him
/ her your mobile number.
I'll take some swarm collecting kit to the meeting at Mary's and we will
demo how to use it. Meanwhile, a really good way of seeing how it is done
is to go to Youtube.com and search for "swarm collection".
Paul
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Wednesday, 6 March 2019 11:37, Marc Sheikh <marc.sheikh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi Paul,
I would be interested in being a swarm collector for my area, i.e. Witney,
Bampton and general surrounding area, happy to help.
Thanks
Marc
On 5 Mar 2019, at 23:49, Paul Honigmann <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi folks, some bee news...
*1. Swarms*
We have quite a few beginners and others who have indicated they want
swarms this year. I seem to collect a lot, but there's a limit to how many
I can get. One of my main sources is through my registration as a BBKA
swarm collector. If you're a member of OBKA and are interested in being a
BBKA swarm collector for your area, please contact me. They need to know in
the next few days. We can expect the first swarms in April.
*2. Alternative bee source*
If you have a framed hive and money is no object, you could consider
buying bees from Ron Hoskins in Swindon. He is a large scale commercial
beekeeper who has been breeding local bees with very high varroa resistance
since about 1993, i.e. they thrive without chemical treatments. He can be
contacted at swindonbeeman@xxxxxxxxx . Just to be clear, he is known
internationally for these bees, to the point that a delegation from
Switzerland including their government's chief bee inspector is visiting
him in June; but he has been cold shouldered by conventional beekeepers in
Britain. He's following a parallel path to natural beekeepers - we select
passively for mite resistance; he selects more aggressively by monitoring
mite drops to evaluate which colonies have the highest resistance, then
breeding from those. His bees are also selected for high honey yield so, I
suspect they will be different to ours in one way: continuously high
numbers with no brood gap during the forage dearth we normally see in June.
So they may need feeding then. But will produce masses of honey.
The reason this comes to mind is that a bunch of beekeepers in my village
are just starting / restarting the hobby, and have indicated they want
swarms. I just won't have enough swarms to go round, but it strikes me that
if they want to improve the bee stock round my area I'm not going to
complain! (Note this is different to them buying Italians or Buckfasts
which would hybridise with the local bees and cause aggressive colonies
next year. Swindon is near enough that the bee crosses should be
essentially the same race, thus no more defensive than the parents.)
*3. Some bee research*
Intriguing discoveries have recently overturned assumptions and shown we
know less than we think. I love these paradigm overturning things because
it highlights how some things in beekeeping are just arbitrary articles of
faith:
- Last year it was discovered, varroa mites don't suck the blood
(haemolymph) of bees after all, they feed on the fat bodies of the bees.
The latest results show that if you only feed haemolymph to the mites,
they starve!
- Up to now people have thought larvae develop into queens because they
are fed royal jelly. However it seems it's more to do with the *absence*
of the normal larval diet of pollen and honey! (Summary here
<https://www.wired.com/2015/09/royal-jelly-isnt-makes-queen-bee-queen-bee/amp>,
original article here
<http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/7/e1500795/tab-pdf>)
*4. Stings*
I claim First Sting of the Year! About 3 days ago, put my hand on a bee
which must have been on the soil in front of our hives as I was gardening.
No particular reaction or pain so no sympathy needed for me - just the bee.
Paul
