2017 Bee hive swarm information, history, lessons, successes, etc.

[Latestarter]

WOW... working the bees at night even! Any time I even got near my hives after dark, they got rather feisty! I'm really happy to hear all this good news your posting and thanks for the pics!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Wow, that was fast! What did you do with the burr comb? Cut it out?

To be totally honest with you, I actually temporarily left it in! I literally used the trap top as the top cover of the hive until I can find some time to clean it up and make a new top cover! So, the wild burr comb is presently in the new hive box!

 

[soarwitheagles]

WOW... working the bees at night even! Any time I even got near my hives after dark, they got rather feisty! I'm really happy to hear all this good news your posting and thanks for the pics!

LS, I used to do most of my my work on bees at night [due to pure ignorance]. Then I listened as some of the top beekeepers in our area spoke with scorn about beeks that work on bees at night...they really put them down and labeled them as ignorant and not very smart...

Of course, I did not dare tell anyone what I was doing, and we immediately switched to day time only inspections and work. But swarms are a different ball game. If we remove the swarm in the daytime, I will often find massive bees at the swarm site for a few days and I think most of those bees die.

At night, the large majority of the bees are in the trap, so that is why we work on them at night.

Yes, some hives get really upset if you go into them at night [as did the swarm last night]. This specific swarm was very upset and many of them attacked us. We have recently switched to bee protective gear that makes it impossible to be stung...so the fear and risk factor are now gone. No matter how upset the bees become, we are super safe and that makes such a massive difference. Before switching to the new protective gear, I was being stung all the time. Those days are over...

 

[Latestarter]

OK, please share what gear you are referring to. I have AHBs here and part of the reason for my delay in getting re-started with bees is I don't want to chance dealing with them and being unprepared.

 

[soarwitheagles]

OK, please share what gear you are referring to. I have AHBs here and part of the reason for my delay in getting re-started with bees is I don't want to chance dealing with them and being unprepared.

LS, getting caught in an AHB swarm can easily cost you your life if you are not adequately prepared. We are fortunate in that they have not made it this far north yet...but I am beginning to see and experience for the very first time what professional beekeepers are calling "hot" hives.

"Hot" = much more aggressive than any of our bees.

I purchased some of the heavy duty full size bee suits on Ebay that also come with the special veil that has wire in it so no part of your head is touching the fabric when you wear a baseball cap underneath it.

Here is what we do to make ourselves completely bee sting proof:

1. Put on jeans.
2. Put on a thick sweater [yes, even in the heat].
3. Put on thick wool socks and boots with thick leather.
4. Put on the bee outfit.
5. Put on thick rubber gloves or the elbow length gloves that Mann Lake sell.
6. Rubber band the cuffs on the wrists and the ankles.
7. Pray like crazy!

Here is what I have experienced:

Even when a "hot" hive goes hostile/aggressive, they will land on us by the hundreds, so angry, so intent on stinging is, but not one stinger gets through. When I wore canvas gloves, at times, I saw a few dozen stingers hanging out of the canvas. So I know for certain, those hot hive bees were not playing around at all! Once, when I was wearing cheapo gloves, I was stung 5 times in the right hand within seconds...

Another time, when walking near a hot hive unprotected, I was stung once on the left shoulder. I am not joking...I could feel the venom works its way into my blood stream within 20 seconds, and somehow it felt as if Mike Tyson had punched me with his hardest punch of all time...I was extremely sore and in pain for an entire week from one bee sting! The upper left side of my body felt as if I was in a terrible automobile wreck with really horrific trauma. I am not joking...somehow [and I still do not how this can happen], the pain from that type of bee was completely different than other bees...I actually prefer to be stung again 25-30 times from the yellow jacket wasps than to be stung once from that type of bee...

The stress of getting stung is now completely gone, and this makes things so much more enjoyable and stress free.

Last: we make absolutely certain we thoroughly check each other for bees before we remove our protective covering. We are super careful to brush off any and all remaining bees on the suits while out near the hives, NOT near our home.

Since putting this method into practice, I have not been stung even one time. Before practicing this method, I have been consistently stung and some of the stings were absolutely horrific. My wife was hospitalized once from a bee sting that went into a horrific infection, and she is as strong as an ox, and healthier than anyone else I know.

Hope this helps!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Do you have a link to this suit? I'm being careful with my jacket/veil and painters pants, but would like to get a more protective suit. Thick rubber dish gloves work well for my hands. And I learned from experience of a crawly up my pant leg to tuck my pants into my socks. I tried to get her before she got me, but nope, she nailed me in the knee.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Do you have a link to this suit? I'm being careful with my jacket/veil and painters pants, but would like to get a more protective suit. Thick rubber dish gloves work well for my hands. And I learned from experience of a crawly up my pant leg to tuck my pants into my socks. I tried to get her before she got me, but nope, she nailed me in the knee.

HC,

We have purchased suits from these three vendors:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141800370175?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Profess...209991?hash=item2eebe5edc7:g:5~cAAOSwuAVWwtOP

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Profess...372034?hash=item58db993182:g:v2MAAOSwH71XPTVf

I can't remember exactly which one, but two of the vendors sold us extremely heavy duty suits that probably do not require sweaters and jeans underneath. But to be 100% safe, my wife and I still put on jeans and sweaters underneath the bee suits...

We have never been stung since then. Oh, before purchasing these suits, we were both using just the upper shirt and veil and I often did not wear any gloves at all. This was a recipe for many, many bee stings...

As I mentioned before, now we use the full suits, rubber bands on the wrists and ankles, a baseball cap, thick rubber or sheep skin gloves, and pants and sweaters under it all...

 

[soarwitheagles]

I think this is swarm #12 [lost count to be honest with you].

Same tree, same swarm trap, different swarm. I am becoming convinced someone nearby is not managing their beehives correctly!

UPDATE: 10 pm. Just finished shaking off two swarms into hive boxes. The large swarms easily fill two deep Langs. The large swarm from last week is already up to 3 deep Langs.

The one swarm trap I left in the tree for 8-10 days was quite a challenge. I so much wish I took pics, but forgot to bring the camera. It had freshly made burr comb in massive amounts. The swarm trap already had massive eggs, larvae, honey and pollen. The flow is on here right now and the bees are working incredibly fast...

Cheers!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Another update: Caught another smaller swarm today, 5.16.17. Now we will focus upon building lots more boxes, nucs, tops, bottoms, and especially the new ant proof beehive stands...

 

[soarwitheagles]

New, smaller swarm today. It is in a different tree, different location, lower height, and a different yet very similar swarm trap.

Enjoy!