tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58892277140666779662024-02-20T18:55:37.047-08:00HomeGrown BeesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-19089189576932968952011-12-14T20:51:00.000-08:002011-12-14T21:25:06.741-08:0050% Hive Loss So Far This WinterIt's been a tremendously busy time for me, and I've not been able to regularly monitor and manage the hives as much as I should have. The result was predictable: I had half my hives crash. The reasons weren't readily apparent.<br /><br />In one case it looks like they were chased out by a massive invasion of red ants. (Ants, both red and black, are probably my biggest problem in this locale; they cause me more work than even the varroa mites).<br /><br />A couple other hives simply look like they petered out. That may have been due to mites, or a failing queen that didn't get replaced, or even an ill-timed swarm. As I said, I was not able to keep a close eye on the hives since the honey harvest.<br /><br />I did selectively treat with <a href="http://www.dadant.com/Apiguard-Howtouse_003.htm">Apiguard</a> this fall, and it appears I only lost one hive that received treatment. That seems to be a pretty good argument for total treatment next year, to try and keep a handle on the lovely varroa (see below).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-28WQU9fgifwjWE_vJWeSQoa3jSqTmRvZwnGvflumlICgrFsM0bsrVpxMVQ7XYJwfgeCQSQp-R3NQg0Xet0vVyW1A1tFKbMteRO0UFTnaPraG8AlMIPrWca8JNeuCwDdw8Btn_IR1iv24/s1600/varroa+mite.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 172px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 201px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686220069968639298" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-28WQU9fgifwjWE_vJWeSQoa3jSqTmRvZwnGvflumlICgrFsM0bsrVpxMVQ7XYJwfgeCQSQp-R3NQg0Xet0vVyW1A1tFKbMteRO0UFTnaPraG8AlMIPrWca8JNeuCwDdw8Btn_IR1iv24/s400/varroa+mite.jpg" /></a><br /><br />At this writing I have 4 strong hives, one fairly healthy hive, and one I just can't get a good read on. Due to our cold weather lately I've waited until mid-day, when the sun is on the hives, to inspect--- and that means the maximum number of foragers are away, so the population within the hives may appear deceptively low.<br /><br />At any rate, we had a pretty good fall flow of eucaplyptus, lavender, rosemary, and various wildflowers, so I haven't fed any hives yet, and their stores look good. That said, we've been getting some rain, so they'll eat those stores up pretty quickly. I'm planning on feeding all hives in January, to get them geared up for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceanothus"><em>ceonothus</em></a> flow in late winter.<br /><br />If I can hit March with all 6 hives intact, I should have another excellent harvest. Plus, I will no doubt add at least another half-dozen hives through swarm captures, and if I get some March calls those swarmers could easily build up some harvestable reserves by August.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-18693039097694974942011-10-11T08:34:00.000-07:002011-10-11T08:59:22.267-07:00Hive CapsizesWe had some fierce Santa Ana winds kick up after a recent 1-day rainstorm, and it appears one of my hives was a bit top-heavy and took a dive.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphHxeIy2trNQdbrSB_ziiT1_PECsM-ug88SaUJeDq0V-_pmgVGdIKH8wp3gQf6GsMjyQOHv1PqP09mTBDLONd-kME4F-GvKFBVpklz3e0r-IKQKtslNl1FFBvZTuf885IrxIjjlDff8-M/s1600/Hive+blown+over+10-5-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphHxeIy2trNQdbrSB_ziiT1_PECsM-ug88SaUJeDq0V-_pmgVGdIKH8wp3gQf6GsMjyQOHv1PqP09mTBDLONd-kME4F-GvKFBVpklz3e0r-IKQKtslNl1FFBvZTuf885IrxIjjlDff8-M/s400/Hive+blown+over+10-5-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662259475861726898" /></a><br /><br />Here's a view from the side. Everything was scattered pretty badly, and the robbing was intense due to one free-standing comb full of fresh honey. I had forgotten I left an empty space about 3 frames wide in one of the supers, and they'd made a beautiful comb.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtALoKLQVCK20T9BTbqhS_3Xn8fhvnmEiAeSLczm02LFbaQIoKMZ23fEd56bhAkLQviDKeU_7s3zyoTlFqN1Umo_3BAmEfboOu2joXsjBnV429UAbFpVC_RJXDJHj7F4vRaOyPdo-dSSq/s1600/Side+view-hive+blown+over+10-5-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtALoKLQVCK20T9BTbqhS_3Xn8fhvnmEiAeSLczm02LFbaQIoKMZ23fEd56bhAkLQviDKeU_7s3zyoTlFqN1Umo_3BAmEfboOu2joXsjBnV429UAbFpVC_RJXDJHj7F4vRaOyPdo-dSSq/s400/Side+view-hive+blown+over+10-5-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662261990040963826" /></a><br /><br />Turns out they had moved their brood-rearing activities up into the middle hive body, leaving the entire deep (at the bottom) empty and light. With the brood and honey on top, and no weight below, the winds just toppled the whole thing over. I did my best to put everything back together, although I took that free-standing comb and set it away from the hive, hopefully pulling as many robbers away as possible. <br /><br />I rearranged by putting the brood chamber (medium hive body) on the bottom, and the deep in the middle. The honey super--- what's left of it, anyway--- is on top.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdvGCbOMNNs1u9AHXsyN__jAbKTiYE3NYWXjpW4UNXeXlDH40UXjigTJSDhih_12Qu8gKevgvLegXOmUFxWu3zZhuMjYva2qVxVmjn7YSSsFnNSZeaMtBR59lTglK0-jArISmFf0AOpTa/s1600/Hive+put+back+together+10-5-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdvGCbOMNNs1u9AHXsyN__jAbKTiYE3NYWXjpW4UNXeXlDH40UXjigTJSDhih_12Qu8gKevgvLegXOmUFxWu3zZhuMjYva2qVxVmjn7YSSsFnNSZeaMtBR59lTglK0-jArISmFf0AOpTa/s400/Hive+put+back+together+10-5-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662263439267725586" /></a><br /><br />The fighting at the entrance was a war, so I also put an entrance reducer into play, using the smallest possible opening. The idea is to give the resident hive a fighting chance at defending what's left of its stores. All in all, I don't think the odds are good for this hive's survival, but I'll follow up after a week or so to see how they're doing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-90819797355881479462011-09-06T09:06:00.000-07:002011-12-14T21:25:59.470-08:00Honey Harvest Done; Sales Going WellBeen awhile since my last post. We've been super busy around here, but in the midst of it all I harvested about 250 lbs of honey, pulling from just 6 of my 12 hives. I left the others alone because they were swarms I captured this spring, and I didn't feel they had built up enough reserves for me to take their honey right before going into our usual Aug/Sept/Oct dearth.<br /><br />Sold about 45 lbs at work (I charge a discounted $10/lb) and I'll be selling a couple cases to a small cafe which specializes in all-natural ingredients. Also sold a case at the boxing gym I attend. The rest I'm selling at our new shop, "<a href="http://www.bubbasantiques.com/">Bubba's Antiques & Mercantile</a>," which just opened this weekend... the reason we've been so busy!<br /><br />Here's a shot of the display featuring my honey:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIweX7hP-JZhyj0aThcQ7IAYL-nMzWerN67vv7hq8GPAJd5SLP6Q7z1maDo3J9Lj2PgetbLQkxa2v5m_AygQhpsci9Ax-sx9Vf1lmcw5PVdxe_Su8HPnA6yzbx7qVlSp8vESR1CMH8BsS/s1600/Local+Honey+from+HomeGrown+Bees.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649280419830856162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIweX7hP-JZhyj0aThcQ7IAYL-nMzWerN67vv7hq8GPAJd5SLP6Q7z1maDo3J9Lj2PgetbLQkxa2v5m_AygQhpsci9Ax-sx9Vf1lmcw5PVdxe_Su8HPnA6yzbx7qVlSp8vESR1CMH8BsS/s400/Local+Honey+from+HomeGrown+Bees.JPG" /></a><br /><br />It's been well over a month since I last took a look at the hives, so I'm about to go do that this morning. Hopefully what I find are strongly populated hives with plenty of reserves to get them through the rest of summer and all of autumn--- until the eucalyptus trees start blooming in early winter.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-72926591413956074832011-06-25T22:46:00.000-07:002011-07-05T20:41:11.862-07:00My First Anaphylatic ReactionWhile doing some bush and tree trimming today, I was suddenly hit on the forearm and stung by a bee. Weird, but I figured I must have startled it off of some trimmed lavender or pepper tree blossoms, and it just reacted. <br /><br />No sooner do I brush away that stinger than another blasts into me, taking no prisoners, and stings my shoulder. I hoof it away from the area, head up to the house to fetch my bee-jacket, and go back down to finish up. <br /><br />But after bending down a couple times I felt my face getting tingly, and I felt a little dizzy. Not good. I hustled back up to the house and looked in the mirror. Sure enough, my face was bright red, and my lips were swelling. My scalp and ears were itching like mad, too. <br /><br />I took two Benadryl capsules, shot a couple blasts of albuterol to make sure I kept breathing, and threw an ice pack on my shoulder. My scalp continued to get hot and itchy, so I took a cool shower. By this point my lower lip was looking like a sausage.<br /><br />It was a scary hour or so, and I came close to hitting the Epi Pen at one point, but things started calming down. I went back outside to do some chores, and eventually the reaction receded to localized swelling (as I write, the one from my shoulder has migrated to the side of my pec, and is itching quite insistently). <br /><br />Lesson learned here: I have only one Epi Pen, in my swarm toolbox I keep in the car. I'm going to get some more, and put at least one down by the main beeyard, another in my house, and another in the Gator (my ranch utility vehicle). I've never reacted like that before, but they say a bad reaction can happen at any time, and I already swell up so badly from any sting, I don't want to push my luck.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-91939594343514598222011-06-25T22:32:00.000-07:002011-06-25T22:46:17.867-07:00I'll Take Pad Thai and Bees to Go, PleaseGot a call from Steve over at the Ventura County Fired Dept in Camarillo, about a swarm that had taken up residence next to a Thai restaurant. The owner followed up with a call to me too, begging me to come get the bees. She told me she'd make me lunch, so we settled on some chicken & shrimp pad thai in exchange for driving out there to get the swarm.<br /><br />Here's what it looked like from a distance:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrKPvfVGSEPjxIwvOB_A3FO-Ic-iTb3kJzy4L-xVbjQAv4FP65XalEHM-L9cBgbUZwkWQ6p9qei2K4PRcDRJCPeGX43HPjcDxfbAIEmvTMR9JIncoOW-MssC7DkJm5HSj4Pb2-YIepqk6/s1600/Camarillo+6-24-11+WA.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrKPvfVGSEPjxIwvOB_A3FO-Ic-iTb3kJzy4L-xVbjQAv4FP65XalEHM-L9cBgbUZwkWQ6p9qei2K4PRcDRJCPeGX43HPjcDxfbAIEmvTMR9JIncoOW-MssC7DkJm5HSj4Pb2-YIepqk6/s400/Camarillo+6-24-11+WA.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622398613770438178" /></a><br /><br />Talk about easy! Right there at about chest level... piece of cake. I took a closer look...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVsdc5hSlBphmNJROSOh44CVRM0uNo-HQ-Mk_69QcyPtblQ_UvPZWqcOz6p56B4BnxQZklOoBrMtlBVaBLIL3KCVo_0uBbzobO4kgyJ5Lk34mRk3nYxQNrSvNdXgO4qiYi85d8qC9_r7ws/s1600/Camarillo+6-24-11+CU.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVsdc5hSlBphmNJROSOh44CVRM0uNo-HQ-Mk_69QcyPtblQ_UvPZWqcOz6p56B4BnxQZklOoBrMtlBVaBLIL3KCVo_0uBbzobO4kgyJ5Lk34mRk3nYxQNrSvNdXgO4qiYi85d8qC9_r7ws/s400/Camarillo+6-24-11+CU.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622399327198543698" /></a><br /><br />Gotta love it when they're this easy. I stuck a box underneath, shook the branch, closed it up and put it in the truck to go home. Ann, the owner, came out with my Pad Thai (unfortunately she hadn't held the peanuts as I asked, and I'm allergic, but oh well) and I was on my way.<br /><br />It was such a small swarm I put them in a 5-frame nuc. A check today seems to indicate all's well; I won't actually open them up for two weeks, to give them a chance to settle in.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-47615544225228104612011-06-10T22:02:00.000-07:002011-06-10T22:31:06.072-07:00Home is Wherever You Find It<div>The adaptability of bees never ceases to amaze me. A recent swarm had gathered on a brick planter, and evidently someone swept it off--- because when I showed up, there was an abandoned broom on the sidewalk, and a load of bees here...</div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVdR3tmRv3hBiThuhgG54JkqTr5hWJryQI8xqhGJ8M8vni5XrNG6O3NPdOFLEtXucoozOd8O9uLC8i8F9QvvFLctRIEm7WfEQuv_Siz9MJpZ84_4HCN7ufA1VK1QxtXnyKM7z5rzgGd4O/s1600/2nd+shot+swarm+under+truck+wheel.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616824116328950370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVdR3tmRv3hBiThuhgG54JkqTr5hWJryQI8xqhGJ8M8vni5XrNG6O3NPdOFLEtXucoozOd8O9uLC8i8F9QvvFLctRIEm7WfEQuv_Siz9MJpZ84_4HCN7ufA1VK1QxtXnyKM7z5rzgGd4O/s400/2nd+shot+swarm+under+truck+wheel.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I figured the swarm was doomed at that point, so I didn't do a capture. that's my friend John's trailer, and he reported later that they actually started building comb inside the wheel chocks!<br /><br />Meanwhile, I got a call from Kate out in Thousand Oaks about a hive in a fence. She didn't want to kill the hive, and it sounded like a fairly straightforward extraction (no ladder involved!), so I took my new bee-vac and decided to give it a try (I just bought one; prior to this I used a homemade version--- plans on <a href="http:///www.beesource.com">Beesource.</a><br /><br />I took a wrecking bar and pried a few fence boards off the middle 2x4 rail, and here's what I found:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8CKwrhm6ht48-mhZ2Y5so9JiXMksblURp_jogatwiwmtzN5WUet-B1m4Zoa1BAmiEnGBWsKF1QDPOFjENDY19T6PbnUUBWpq94P-Xcj9SkRscYTG1dfk_Rfrs_1iml7a74DgrmUO2x3H/s1600/Wide+angle+Fence+Hive+6-10-11.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616825467732564946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8CKwrhm6ht48-mhZ2Y5so9JiXMksblURp_jogatwiwmtzN5WUet-B1m4Zoa1BAmiEnGBWsKF1QDPOFjENDY19T6PbnUUBWpq94P-Xcj9SkRscYTG1dfk_Rfrs_1iml7a74DgrmUO2x3H/s400/Wide+angle+Fence+Hive+6-10-11.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Here's a closer look...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe7erIvvn2-o-oTtov6I214LSoSOeoEQR0C_vpYo7rob6V-uoNlXS8ATOFn5a5R0dUvJRnF69_vBxmgb2rsTIT7WtXyaeAn6tYadUZ7-r4YgtuvrKvjgIdGPsomJvepGMt1s5H15ZsWcG/s1600/Fence+hive+6-10-11.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616825898529947522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSe7erIvvn2-o-oTtov6I214LSoSOeoEQR0C_vpYo7rob6V-uoNlXS8ATOFn5a5R0dUvJRnF69_vBxmgb2rsTIT7WtXyaeAn6tYadUZ7-r4YgtuvrKvjgIdGPsomJvepGMt1s5H15ZsWcG/s400/Fence+hive+6-10-11.JPG" /></a><br /><br />The new bee-vac worked quite well, although I think next time I'll damp down the suction a bit more--- I clobbered a fair number of bees, unfortunately. Still, I was able to rubber band the comb into medium frames, and I installed the crew in a medium with no entrance reducer for the time being, so they can all find their way in.<br /><br />Noteworthy about this hive: lots of brood, capped and otherwise. But very little food stores, and literally no capped honey in spite of the huge flow going on right now. Leads me to believe this hive is a reasonably recent (within 21 days) swarm who took up residence in the fence and has literally been living hand-to-mouth, without enough resources to build up any reserves yet. Tomorrow I'll probably steal a frame or two of honey from one of my strong hives to help this one along.<br /><br />All in all a fairly easy extraction, took about an hour total, so I only charged the show-up rate of $50. I do swarm captures at no cost, but I charge for hive extractions primarily because only 50% (at best) actually stay where I relocate them, and those that do stay--- well, it's not a sure thing that I was able to get the queen, while with swarm captures I nearly always get her.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-34410855438817575102011-06-05T21:00:00.000-07:002011-06-05T21:18:24.582-07:00Tremendous Honey Flow On<div>I haven't posted in awhile, mostly because this is fire clearance time and I have very little spare time to check on the hives. When I do, it's mostly to throw on supers, because thanks to a long rainy season and mild temperatures this spring, we've had a huge sage, yucca, salvia, hollyleaf cherry, and lemonadeberry bloom. And now, the buckwheat is coming out in full force. I'm out of frames; I'll be making a run into L.A. on Tuesday to pick up 40 medium frames, as I've still got 4 spare supers I can use.<br /><br />One of the hives filled up a shallow super in 10 days! That was a swarm I caught in a swarm trap last year. The other hive that's going super strong is the one that used to be in the community garden; I've got three supers on them right now, and they'll need another soon.</div><br /><br /><div>Of the three swarms I've caught this season, two are doing quite well. In fact, I had to throw another deep onto one of them, making them a double-deep hive. The other is kind of stagnating as a small hive; we'll have to see how they do.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-21348572862501102492011-04-23T20:18:00.000-07:002011-04-23T20:36:02.627-07:00Swarm HighwayClearly the intersection of Moorpark Rd and L.A. Avenue is a popular rest stop for Moorpark swarms. Got a call yesterday from Charlie at the Fire Dept out there (same guy who called me on the swarm down below, the one draped around the small tree) with a swarm about 12 feet high in a shopping center immediately across the street from the previous one.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV90iiTj4h7rbTE5Rc5X3-_MhEv_nIaxLJ4YTwM0tJGg2UzcEmA0D47tckrOFohQ6_4kJN6VlMhC_JF883LRtOFZvbWtLcJjq1bw3q_8fURcCq1KzgSTe2KWyV-7QXqr3M06-l6uon9fgm/s1600/data%253DLtgX-e3f8ctI3U5dJtbt7EJ1ZfRneYme%252CBZ6ljqeyrqpGYgALmtmfX_MJYt1-5rpcN84F3UKqqsV33So8e2wZYiXZJNo3gFEGJsFtAelcX5Y5zN36_atVFho27zChawZBY11WgqJKDvZ22IoLNg.gif"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 270px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 185px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598987935892626130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV90iiTj4h7rbTE5Rc5X3-_MhEv_nIaxLJ4YTwM0tJGg2UzcEmA0D47tckrOFohQ6_4kJN6VlMhC_JF883LRtOFZvbWtLcJjq1bw3q_8fURcCq1KzgSTe2KWyV-7QXqr3M06-l6uon9fgm/s400/data%253DLtgX-e3f8ctI3U5dJtbt7EJ1ZfRneYme%252CBZ6ljqeyrqpGYgALmtmfX_MJYt1-5rpcN84F3UKqqsV33So8e2wZYiXZJNo3gFEGJsFtAelcX5Y5zN36_atVFho27zChawZBY11WgqJKDvZ22IoLNg.gif" /></a><br /><br />I didn't take any pix, but Charlie did so hopefully we'll have some. The short story is, they provided me with a 10-ft ladder, I used my limb saw to get rid of a few obstructive branches, and then I put a box under the swarm and shook them in.<br /><br />Naturally I lost a lot of bees as I climbed down the ladder, before I could tape the box closed. So, I closed one up, waited a few minutes, and went up with another box and captured the sizeable glob of bees that had re-congregated in the same spot.<br /><br />All in all a good capture, probably 4 lbs of bees or so. I hived them in a single 10-frame deep in my "remote" yard; a neighboring ranch. While I was there I checked in on the newly hived swarm from the chair (see below) which was just around the corner from this swarm's location (near the middle school, at the top of the map). They're hanging in, and appear to be doing well.<br /><br />It's getting to where I'm getting at least one bee call a day. It's 50-50 between swarms and people calling because a swarm has already set up shop inside their walls, or hollow gazebo roof, or under the Spanish tile shingles... and I don't touch those. Just not worth it, no matter what I'd be able to charge.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-62816751926046923652011-04-19T20:25:00.000-07:002011-04-19T20:39:25.668-07:00Swarm Could've Used MapquestSo, you're a fresh swarm of bees newly thrown off a crowded hive, and you're out trying to find a nice location to rest while your scouts seek out a new home. You pass parks with nice tall trees, you pass houses and barns with inviting eaves, and instead... your fearless leader (whomever that might be) decides that this is the perfect place to hang out...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0DqLIQuwVY0eEEEBgZKR3bvd0bO5JwtHExUPDzm5bZ_2oy3PKe5kqhyphenhyphenDKLxwdN5BBrMEuCQxbl_qPn5s8M4ETGrh7xXDdDmTVtGO-OYQgLUpfrlAzpvlC-rqdvJIKkfkijla6WeB25iNE/s1600/Swarm+in+Moorpark+4-18-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0DqLIQuwVY0eEEEBgZKR3bvd0bO5JwtHExUPDzm5bZ_2oy3PKe5kqhyphenhyphenDKLxwdN5BBrMEuCQxbl_qPn5s8M4ETGrh7xXDdDmTVtGO-OYQgLUpfrlAzpvlC-rqdvJIKkfkijla6WeB25iNE/s400/Swarm+in+Moorpark+4-18-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597503725612694706" /></a><br /><br />Easy enough swarm to catch. I just held the chair over an open cardboard box, did a quick downward snap, and they all fell into the box. Tape up the box, head home, dump them in a hive body (with bottom board, inner and outer cover, and done.<br /><br />I put them in one of my remote yards, at a nearby ranch. I'll check in a week to see if they decided to stay or if they took off, which sometimes happens with newly hived swarms.<br /><br />Thanks to Patty in Moorpark for the call, and for her desire to keep the bees alive after they decided to use her patio furniture for a temporary home.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-26510737084186900722011-04-16T22:06:00.000-07:002011-04-16T22:31:33.654-07:00Swarms and SupersA very bee-zy day today, starting early by taking a look at a swarm that I was called on the night before in Moorpark. the Fire Dept said a swarm was hanging out next to a Walgreen's, and they taped the area off. I decided to swing by early in the morning to see if I could get them before my day got started, but the sun had already hit them and they were too active... not to mention, there was no way to get them into a box, as you can see:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCvIbmRhTWGzWBcyW6KE3piznVWbLB5MT1lJL0kooWbqjaWRCPemE-AYHl27h1nd8vUaQDg09rmYan0RgPEmZk4Cbt2YotQyle9ZDZ3GHCw8_N9HSte2yB0lpxgrwPvkwtC2wQtyyw4Tk/s1600/IMG_0956.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCvIbmRhTWGzWBcyW6KE3piznVWbLB5MT1lJL0kooWbqjaWRCPemE-AYHl27h1nd8vUaQDg09rmYan0RgPEmZk4Cbt2YotQyle9ZDZ3GHCw8_N9HSte2yB0lpxgrwPvkwtC2wQtyyw4Tk/s400/IMG_0956.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596420148438005474" /></a><br /><br />They were literally wrapped around the trunk of this immature little tree, so I wouldn't be able to sweep them all at once or shake them into a box.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qAFLMaZIPPmQBThXmBhuNFYNULI77K8c8M2Ml_oIx-2qNoWqy1xLdENahsDTy0-cNo5FzW4I7FoGHwWR1oEq7tWkFng90kNMlszJhwwTE0ye5fFQjW2LhjutT2bhweKMqw76djwKh9gM/s1600/Swarm+in+Moorpark+4-16-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qAFLMaZIPPmQBThXmBhuNFYNULI77K8c8M2Ml_oIx-2qNoWqy1xLdENahsDTy0-cNo5FzW4I7FoGHwWR1oEq7tWkFng90kNMlszJhwwTE0ye5fFQjW2LhjutT2bhweKMqw76djwKh9gM/s400/Swarm+in+Moorpark+4-16-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596418152440387954" /></a><br /><br />I figured I could come back in the late afternoon and vacuum them. In the meantime, I spent the morning supering 8 out of my 10 hives, because the sage flow has started, the hollyleaf cherry is starting to bloom, and the hive populations are VERY high.<br /><br />In fact, they're so highly populated that one of them swarmed right before my eyes, and headed into an inextricable location high in a scrub oak on a slope. To make it even more challenging, they mimicked the Moorpark swarm, clinging to a thick bough instead of hanging cooperatively where I could shake them into a box. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qOI8PsvY5ksU7iArD-1zX0i3R7kf2DLw3HTP36vT3HdwEHpJ_ayTPUSeoXNgD69KnZxbWDITZ_y_gIHLfZCwmCdP3035H5DarE9N4DcFcOvKQuKoVwuhhB-CTjq8wkRcVHQ7PF3deduZ/s1600/My+hive+swarmed+4-16-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qOI8PsvY5ksU7iArD-1zX0i3R7kf2DLw3HTP36vT3HdwEHpJ_ayTPUSeoXNgD69KnZxbWDITZ_y_gIHLfZCwmCdP3035H5DarE9N4DcFcOvKQuKoVwuhhB-CTjq8wkRcVHQ7PF3deduZ/s400/My+hive+swarmed+4-16-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596419209848085362" /></a><br /><br />Interestingly, this swarm didn't stick around for more than a few hours. I checked later in the day as I was brush clearing, and they were already gone. I put a phone call in to the Walgreen's, and that swarm had taken off as well. So... no free bees today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-89097079138501880862011-04-12T21:20:00.000-07:002011-04-12T21:37:16.001-07:00Splits and SupersBack in February I decided to do some early splits of three very strong hives. The results: 1 hive perished almost immediately, while three survived the unusual spate of cold snaps we suffered and, as of April 10 when I checked, seem to be going strong.<br /><br />All of these splits were "walk-away" splits; meaning I went through the strong hives, picked out at least three frames of brood (all ages, most importantly some eggs or larva less than 3 days old), another three or four frames of food, the remainder in foundation frames, loaded them all into a new deep, and shook a mess of nurse bees in. It appears I got lucky and the surviving hives each raised a queen by feeding royal jelly to the eggs all the way through the larval stage (instead of stopping after three days, as they would with worker brood). And my luck held, it seems, as each of the queens successfully completed a mating flight and returned to the hive to start laying eggs.<br /><br />The sage just started to bloom this past weekend, so this Friday I'm going to super all the hives for honey flow. Woo hooo!<br /><br />I'm also starting to get swarm calls, although the bulk have been out of my area so far. I'm sure I will soon be collecting some swarms and adding to my second beeyard, one I established (which now only has two hives) at a neighboring ranch. <br /><br />Finally, I had to remove both of the hives I had in the Community Garden. When I split one of the hives the original bees became very ornery and defensive, and caused a lot of problems for the gardeners. I moved them, but was prevented by bad weather and other issues from moving the second hive for a few weeks. Evidently one of the gardeners ran a roto-tiller near the hive for an extended period, and they eventually got fed up and came after him. So, I went out last Saturday night and moved that hive back to my home yard as well. Both of these hives seem to have adjusted well, and the bigger garden hive (the one I split) has a tremendous supply of garden honey going into the flow, so they've got a great head start.<br /><br />With all the rain, I'm hoping for a really strong flow this spring and lots of production from all the hives.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-27436524883937153892011-03-06T21:53:00.000-08:002011-03-06T22:15:57.948-08:00Second Swarm- Weirder Still, Dazed and ConfusedGot a call about a swarm very near my Community Garden hives, at a condo complex in Thousand Oaks. I took a look, and immediately decided against catching it. It was located about 20 feet up, on the corner of a roof...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcd4AH1-LleTtdyczMqHtx9xlkKTAZhVlYDh_qfNILpnuUW-Zr09oXVWHyrWuN09PRNqzw7lkJRpxJZSTpR26pzEPwuNtbeGldhEkD0S2nkcKe9PVrl9Pj9Xis8oUyqkWFs920rcyuEy-Z/s1600/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+first+position.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcd4AH1-LleTtdyczMqHtx9xlkKTAZhVlYDh_qfNILpnuUW-Zr09oXVWHyrWuN09PRNqzw7lkJRpxJZSTpR26pzEPwuNtbeGldhEkD0S2nkcKe9PVrl9Pj9Xis8oUyqkWFs920rcyuEy-Z/s400/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+first+position.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581213872811839490" /></a><br /><br />The next day, I was called again. Seems the swarm did something very unusual in my experience--- they moved, not as a new-forming hive, but still as a swarm, into an orange tree just below their previous perch.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApkeg7y7G_h27jIc72KlNRwn3Agsggk9dnkVl01YeoJsUNGoNj_6LIeD_hCq7M03hiRhztR7aX7h_HB3EoEgpQbfPR52WAu6Ap_u_dfw06CP3nN5QwqXCIGJvkQ47WZq49lr0Gfc6e_Lr/s1600/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+next+day.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApkeg7y7G_h27jIc72KlNRwn3Agsggk9dnkVl01YeoJsUNGoNj_6LIeD_hCq7M03hiRhztR7aX7h_HB3EoEgpQbfPR52WAu6Ap_u_dfw06CP3nN5QwqXCIGJvkQ47WZq49lr0Gfc6e_Lr/s400/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+next+day.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581214533340849074" /></a><br /><br />I shook them into a box, took them home and installed just as it was getting dark and starting to rain. It all went smoothly, so I expected things to go well... but the next sunny day (about two days later) I saw all kinds of strange activity around the hive, and went up to take a look. Turns out the majority of the bees had left the hive and gone into a swarm ball on the ground...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEU1477QSu9USKf_BN5z4AxP5SUllkXOozX0p-camJjZa_ieu-GaW4s9gWdSNyyt_tErm-J65ee3fswG1kTpCLgmB1EqBoev3lqo9Mnyb8viGOZG5XSJ6jh70xzH0ndf9Tb-Q3tmwrEnFu/s1600/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+on+the+grass.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEU1477QSu9USKf_BN5z4AxP5SUllkXOozX0p-camJjZa_ieu-GaW4s9gWdSNyyt_tErm-J65ee3fswG1kTpCLgmB1EqBoev3lqo9Mnyb8viGOZG5XSJ6jh70xzH0ndf9Tb-Q3tmwrEnFu/s400/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+on+the+grass.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581215677077996018" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQgqSbFiQLZOmzx__jn8VDWSWYOWK0Kd9Rafrz8JNdhBS5qUXde9cYexfziokfZPUkpDK0yV-b1ycap8asgF1orNYV_FQa-JrUBOoOoea4LgT8TWfvXeg_ZJg-PFfH3OmU8kt4KKXzLUC/s1600/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+Dazed+and+confused.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQgqSbFiQLZOmzx__jn8VDWSWYOWK0Kd9Rafrz8JNdhBS5qUXde9cYexfziokfZPUkpDK0yV-b1ycap8asgF1orNYV_FQa-JrUBOoOoea4LgT8TWfvXeg_ZJg-PFfH3OmU8kt4KKXzLUC/s400/Swarm+capture+3-1-11+Dazed+and+confused.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581215980381356514" /></a><br /><br />As you can see, others were randomly sitting on the hive. Meanwhile, I was watching bees drop out of the sky and onto my driveway, where they'd spin around in circles, evidently unable to take back off. Something neurologica?<br /><br />The ball of bees died on the ground, as did all the bees scattered on the hive. I checked the frames, and it appears they had originally started to draw out some comb on the plastic/wax foundation I'd given them. I wonder if there was something wrong with the plastic? I'd temporarily stored some frames in a shed along with some gas cans for awhile--- maybe the fumes had leeched into the wax on the frames? <br /><br />At any rate, very, very weird.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-81965960549607579882011-02-21T21:32:00.000-08:002011-02-22T22:22:16.397-08:00First Swarm of 2011--- Early and Weird!Had President's Day off from work, and a good thing--- because lo and behold, I got my first swarm call of the year! Very early, and in the midst of a cold, rainy spate of weather. We get a clear day and this hive was pouring out of a hole in the ground (next to one of those water company meter/access compartments; I suspect they were tired of being wet with all this rain) and attaching to... well, take a look:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvPS6200vzWJtTjSTrFxC8WTmXMScm-gVMwVgvePkL93LTQWpPbkcFnweHQepD6ZXw8is4Uz25ykmJFI_p6vMp4mieZ5EI3MaisSjOPjjsr5Ynm_KbSBoxHcJLBCRwkQwqHqomSu2BqMJ/s1600/Simi+1st+swarm+2-21-11.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvPS6200vzWJtTjSTrFxC8WTmXMScm-gVMwVgvePkL93LTQWpPbkcFnweHQepD6ZXw8is4Uz25ykmJFI_p6vMp4mieZ5EI3MaisSjOPjjsr5Ynm_KbSBoxHcJLBCRwkQwqHqomSu2BqMJ/s400/Simi+1st+swarm+2-21-11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576383962184525458" /></a><br /><br />I decided the best way to handle this swarm would be to vacuum them with my homemade bee-vac, <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ekVo2HZTo8KRUzzYRBJ__i7cYDKTtSXwZl76-RJ7yPvAXIEvwl3fSA-6L68wm6MMgz_BLPOfH3fLLiZyTc3THQ5Z5xG_rhycjo1I2n73Z5s1t84hKOz1-W-YqdyycYTNQ6_mAJUvgmKo/s1600/Breaking+out+the+vacuum+2-21-11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ekVo2HZTo8KRUzzYRBJ__i7cYDKTtSXwZl76-RJ7yPvAXIEvwl3fSA-6L68wm6MMgz_BLPOfH3fLLiZyTc3THQ5Z5xG_rhycjo1I2n73Z5s1t84hKOz1-W-YqdyycYTNQ6_mAJUvgmKo/s400/Breaking+out+the+vacuum+2-21-11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576763075935982930" /></a><br /><br />but for some reason I wasn't able to get enough suction with it. No idea why, it worked fine last time I used it. At any rate, I ended up sticking a small box down by the tire (fortunately I'd stopped to buy a box just in case) and swept the mass down into the box. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1U-omloJU0aNTbDSPh3yioMjdv_n3hMKtWSAhKr9mIkxxiqBliEprACvB8SFnByx7XeXnuRpqEomF0wAjufuIMNTo-B6zCK-F3pJy70IVzFZPBNr04K_jxyF5R6WFUFAFkin7MLl8ROS/s1600/Brushing+the+swarm.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1U-omloJU0aNTbDSPh3yioMjdv_n3hMKtWSAhKr9mIkxxiqBliEprACvB8SFnByx7XeXnuRpqEomF0wAjufuIMNTo-B6zCK-F3pJy70IVzFZPBNr04K_jxyF5R6WFUFAFkin7MLl8ROS/s400/Brushing+the+swarm.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576764242232862002" /></a><br /><br />The challenge, as always, was to get the box closed up before too many could escape.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgFU-ovCCmTK6HiwSL4UCNUY-BF-L484eruAlRAA-4sZLHGX_rK4zizpcoQ3NXKWSDsPDxn34xflkc-KMbIPWw6SNZUnegf8VowQ_zokdmnOeTBYINum7yX0RNdts9T5RBZPrF-hteJid/s1600/Closing+it+up.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgFU-ovCCmTK6HiwSL4UCNUY-BF-L484eruAlRAA-4sZLHGX_rK4zizpcoQ3NXKWSDsPDxn34xflkc-KMbIPWw6SNZUnegf8VowQ_zokdmnOeTBYINum7yX0RNdts9T5RBZPrF-hteJid/s400/Closing+it+up.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576764893315520482" /></a><br /> <br /><br />Now, here's what I don't know. I don't know if this group had a queen, because there wasn't the customary ball that most swarms form around their queen. I'm concerned the hive was in the midst of absconding, and the queen hadn't left yet... but time will tell. Here's what was left on the car once I did my sweep...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFBVkXVUVjt1PJgrgeveb8VmBy7oPgm1r5NCAfbnLRCmJ01eLbqk9_jT-bl3mG2fkwZ2zaQOAQ-bA9QE1I8aszvzzx9HR42uWV-Xq4RqNlteXVDHNXY1oPbiXYOPviVI5iBrVeWvd70IZ/s1600/Simi+After+Capture+2-21-11.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIFBVkXVUVjt1PJgrgeveb8VmBy7oPgm1r5NCAfbnLRCmJ01eLbqk9_jT-bl3mG2fkwZ2zaQOAQ-bA9QE1I8aszvzzx9HR42uWV-Xq4RqNlteXVDHNXY1oPbiXYOPviVI5iBrVeWvd70IZ/s400/Simi+After+Capture+2-21-11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576385331896021954" /></a><br /><br />I put the captured swarm in a deep hive body with ten new frames/foundation, and placed an entrance reducer in front so they can more easily defend their new turf (if they decide to stay, and IF they have a queen).<br /><br />We'll see...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-33093979085133570942011-01-23T20:43:00.000-08:002011-01-23T21:05:17.156-08:00Using Deadout Leftovers to Feed HivesI had another deadout last week--- unfortunately one of my best honey producers, too--- and if was kind of a mysterious one. The queen was on the comb, barely alive, as were a handful of bees on a couple frames. But there were no OLD bees; just young ones. Very typical of CCD; Colony Collapse Disorder, the unexplained malady that has caused such a high rate of hive loss over the past few years in the beekeeping industry.<br /><br />Also typical of CCD--- there was still capped honey in the hive. So, I thought I'd give my surviving hives a treat, and hung them on this frame hanger I've got in one of the beeyards.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAeSXYfslhCO-C_eqSrzCra1QDLr5l3uRfqeU3Nv-cHBODL9BUVDaOZj9gtQTIk2MXYh4D7jcyk3xLLhcw4wdGPQiXEDJauEZQsK2HZLaScg2uHU8jDW2t513M5eG65ZKJtqVqTDdmWdF-/s1600/Feeder+station+001.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565611102199027410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAeSXYfslhCO-C_eqSrzCra1QDLr5l3uRfqeU3Nv-cHBODL9BUVDaOZj9gtQTIk2MXYh4D7jcyk3xLLhcw4wdGPQiXEDJauEZQsK2HZLaScg2uHU8jDW2t513M5eG65ZKJtqVqTDdmWdF-/s400/Feeder+station+001.jpg" /></a><br />It didn't take long for the gals to find this, and within 30 minutes after I took this picture these frames were absolutely covered. </p><p>I also put a couple of other capped frames into one of my weaker hives, to hopefully give them a boost. </p><p>It's been a little disheartening this winter--- I've lost quite a few hives in the unusually wet and cold winter--- but I think we're turning a corner. This past week the weather heated up and the white ceonothus just exploded into bloom all over the hillsides, and today I watched a number of bees hit their hive entrances heavily laden with yellow pollen. Good sign--- hopefully the brood build-up for spring has begun!<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-6323188447687437562010-12-12T21:08:00.000-08:002010-12-12T21:37:41.749-08:00Another Round of Feed; Another DeadoutAfter the November feeding--- where I put roughly 4 gallons of sugar/water syrup onto each of my hives--- we had a number of cold, blustery days where the bees weren't foraging much, plus I've been seeing an unusual number of dead bees outside one of my stronger hives. So, I figured it couldn't hurt to throw on another couple gallons per hive, which I just did this weekend.<br /><br />In the meantime... a few months ago I removed a hive from a friend's house. I did it the easy way--- it was in a birdhouse, and my friend let me simply take the entire birdhouse. Unfortunately, I had removed a portion of the roof and never repaired it, and when we got some unseasonable rains I think the poor hive got too cold and didn't make it. Also, per my concerns regarding foragers, it looks like those that didn't succumb to the cold just plain starved to death.<br />Here's what it looked like when I opened the roof:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPsYwxz012Hkl8VTX3SDdxWKT1atcKk4zzmwOMHl_LiTvcmwRFGaZxVPPZF2f5CsNgnfolX29Zzjyb8f4gTSqoinXk8rNyUplyKdLEti3iuNO-hId2O5ngRFB821rtx2MWOuhpfeofTSO/s1600/Dead+Hive+inside+a+birdhouse.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550032724311370066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPsYwxz012Hkl8VTX3SDdxWKT1atcKk4zzmwOMHl_LiTvcmwRFGaZxVPPZF2f5CsNgnfolX29Zzjyb8f4gTSqoinXk8rNyUplyKdLEti3iuNO-hId2O5ngRFB821rtx2MWOuhpfeofTSO/s400/Dead+Hive+inside+a+birdhouse.jpg" /></a><br /><br />And here's how I can tell some of the hive starved. If you look closely, you can see the little bee butts sticking up. That's indicative of starvation; they're literally licking the bottom of the cells as they perish. Obviously, this provided the impetus I needed to feed the other hives right away.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-j1audwfwSH8ApRfKJfQa1Iwr35FASQOiBJKN8Xt_GJ_ex5ha19zhvIbqYh0sm-a7F8SCTUtSRyCoO-2p9y5tgma4jfSim6ycZvb73sxu1k8edGoobsE-S3hQaNi2cjRLpq4aDsDTvHId/s1600/Good+example+of+bee+starvation.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550035922829847426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-j1audwfwSH8ApRfKJfQa1Iwr35FASQOiBJKN8Xt_GJ_ex5ha19zhvIbqYh0sm-a7F8SCTUtSRyCoO-2p9y5tgma4jfSim6ycZvb73sxu1k8edGoobsE-S3hQaNi2cjRLpq4aDsDTvHId/s400/Good+example+of+bee+starvation.jpg" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-85708133229124977642010-11-07T10:36:00.000-08:002010-11-07T10:57:55.376-08:00One Hive Starves; Sugar Feeding CommencesWell, I was trying to get by this year without artificially feeding the bees; that is, mixing up some one-to-one sugar syrup and feeding each hive to help them get through the dearth, as I did last year.<br /><br />Backfired on me, unfortunately, as one of my hives (the one I cut out of that garage in Venice, CA, see archives) simply starved to death. I opened up their hive to find a pile of dead bees, and a number of bees with their butts sticking out of the cells--- a sure sign they were scraping the cells for food when they perished. Here's a somewhat blurry photo, but you get the idea...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lApEAuae1kL-l3t4zOGiPF3QGGCq_YJifPVmKLgpkHyOGSmVvmBqGKJJYiWy-tnm4COqgV1zg5FxzXmNuwKh3vNH-xqsD2cucY9sv6L-mwB44USwgoYWb_c3WFsyl_QZQAXcYgMogxeG/s1600/Dead+Out+10-29-10+003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lApEAuae1kL-l3t4zOGiPF3QGGCq_YJifPVmKLgpkHyOGSmVvmBqGKJJYiWy-tnm4COqgV1zg5FxzXmNuwKh3vNH-xqsD2cucY9sv6L-mwB44USwgoYWb_c3WFsyl_QZQAXcYgMogxeG/s400/Dead+Out+10-29-10+003.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536882139607537042" /></a><br /><br />So, I mixed up some syrup (1 lb (pint) water; 1 lb sugar) by boiling the water, then mixing in the sugar. I use hivetop feeders, which I pour the sugar into.<br /><br />The downside is that this attracts ants. I set the legs of my hives stands into tin pans, and pour either motor oil or vegetable oil into the pans to prevent the ants from overwhelming the hive. <br /><br />So, I fed them once on Oct. 30, and again on Nov 6. Every hive had thoroughly cleaned out the sugar-water, so they're hungry all right. Good news is that some trees are blooming right now, including some California Pepper and at least one species of eucalyptus.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I should note that the hives at the Community Garden are loaded with honey and bringing in pollen, no need to feed them at all. I'm not going to remove any honey from them until after the winter, so they'll have plenty to live on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-44049940554086516562010-09-19T21:04:00.000-07:002010-09-19T21:58:09.187-07:00September Swarm Capture; Deadout and MoreBeen getting a number of calls over the past couple weeks about swarms or newly formed hives. The odds are stacked against a hive swarming right now; food sources are drying up, especially in the hills where there's virtually a total dearth. Obviously, suburban neighborhoods offer more options for bees, but still--- not much blooms in SoCal in September. It'll be a few more weeks until some of the eucalpytus kicks in, and I have seen some rosemary and red sage showing some early fall blooms... but it may be too little to sustain a newly established hive from a swarm.<br /><br />That said, I got a call from Britney in Camarillo, a very nice woman who had an eye-hight swarm in her tree. I decided to go get it since I've had some deadouts recently (more on that later) and it sounded simple enough.<br /><br />It was, thanks to Britney and her husband supplying a few random tools I neglected to bring along. I've noticed that my swarms do better if I immediately get them into a hive box, as opposed to bringing them home in a cardboard box and then shaking them into a hive box. So that's what I decided to do this time. <br /><br />Here are a couple pix of the swarm:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIS44V7AqFA3yZ6tM0gAoLJaBMdbwdJOk9yX1YF_Xf6biwJi2hnOXuSsczbgsAghvzupTZKJ2bpLTpTPzhbjQjGhf1yEe5IX4A51Ps_NigTBpVvAMw5EWo3fGyTBMh3aVSipHPKDcmcHao/s1600/Camarillo+swarm+CU+9-18-10+001+(1).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIS44V7AqFA3yZ6tM0gAoLJaBMdbwdJOk9yX1YF_Xf6biwJi2hnOXuSsczbgsAghvzupTZKJ2bpLTpTPzhbjQjGhf1yEe5IX4A51Ps_NigTBpVvAMw5EWo3fGyTBMh3aVSipHPKDcmcHao/s400/Camarillo+swarm+CU+9-18-10+001+(1).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518847748702906418" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzhCHldFI51CcJa43QDpKLBcX6TaUfkajA-0qZEt-fgRlGIqj3ScfTBT7D6zy5h9DPYg-y3ueuaU7mbC8zAXrJ4jhql2MxEQwIlPVbPQmJydy2nXjvOt1w2R_EgmV_4GzwofETWLn-ToUh/s1600/Camarillo+swarm+CU+9-18-10+001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzhCHldFI51CcJa43QDpKLBcX6TaUfkajA-0qZEt-fgRlGIqj3ScfTBT7D6zy5h9DPYg-y3ueuaU7mbC8zAXrJ4jhql2MxEQwIlPVbPQmJydy2nXjvOt1w2R_EgmV_4GzwofETWLn-ToUh/s400/Camarillo+swarm+CU+9-18-10+001.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518848172360247490" /></a><br /><br />Interestingly, they were gathered on the crotch of the trunk and a fairly thick branch on what I think is either a young sycamore or a liquid amber tree, so the first time I tried shaking them into a box not much happened, I didn't really budge them. I decided to get enthusiastic, and gave a really good pull--- and busted the branch right off! Which simplified things a bit--- I just carried the entire branch over to the waiting hive body and shook the bees onto the frames. I did a couple more passes at the glumps that kept reforming on the original swarm spot, brushing them into a box and then dumping that into the hive body. I waited until I saw plenty of fanning behavior, (the Nasonov pheremone I've discussed before), screened off the entrance with hardware cloth, strapped the hive into a single unit (bottom board, hive body, inner cover, telescoping cover), stuck the entire thing in the back of my Honda Element and headed for one of my beeyards. <br /><br />DEADOUTS<br /><br />When I got to the beeyard, I saw that one of the nucs which held a previous swarm had failed--- either they bailed out, or they died out. Which makes it nearly a hundred percent failure rate for this locale in terms of going from nuc to hive--- six total nucs, and only one has survived to become a regular hive, and they're going strong. Don't know if the high failure rate is because of yellow jackets, (there was a nest nearby, which I recently eliminated) or they just didn't have enough food stores to prepare for the dearth.<br /><br />Later, back at one of my two beeyards at home, a rudimentary check showed suspicious activity outside one hive. Looked like robbing, instead of normal hive activity. When I noticed yellow jackets entering without opposition, I figured the hive was a deadout. I opened it up, and I was right. In fact, the wax moths had gone to work. Wax moths infest weak or dead hives, laying eggs in the comb (where there's honey and brood) and the larva tunnel their way through the comb, leaving a kind of webbing behind. Here are several pix of the affected comb. You can clearly see the "trails" caused by the larvae burrowing eating a burrow through the comb...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUOSiKsmIVhkbkuDc2amxKK7WBF3OcBqbEiTB1Q-F-I06w2SNC0wbAynRT5CJPmLEL2D1KhOycY_SiQQquOjrMi4_SrvOhuh3SlFQuO2O3SMB64X8GJyJYq5FTTb8XZAEJSCQekqd2mNC/s1600/wax+moth+larva+trail+cu.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUOSiKsmIVhkbkuDc2amxKK7WBF3OcBqbEiTB1Q-F-I06w2SNC0wbAynRT5CJPmLEL2D1KhOycY_SiQQquOjrMi4_SrvOhuh3SlFQuO2O3SMB64X8GJyJYq5FTTb8XZAEJSCQekqd2mNC/s400/wax+moth+larva+trail+cu.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518851750391877074" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BNXJ9nMl-kflfHUgPVEEKD7iDZiWjzSsgpoN_BhzT7Al-qnM1x74AS592ud055okMbOedDYZNHyn6gAo9vr9AQcoOQtWrBc5McaaDa7iYFebgeJkJV8yUk7ZwHgyQrBrTyGTK_KrGhir/s1600/Wax+moth+larva+trail.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BNXJ9nMl-kflfHUgPVEEKD7iDZiWjzSsgpoN_BhzT7Al-qnM1x74AS592ud055okMbOedDYZNHyn6gAo9vr9AQcoOQtWrBc5McaaDa7iYFebgeJkJV8yUk7ZwHgyQrBrTyGTK_KrGhir/s400/Wax+moth+larva+trail.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518851737983275170" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtXQ25T-gsz81Nbyk5P04wK0akm1EnqFlI4e2anaPJBs5k4BBTpggHXPcpC-xlSu9Kyyy-XXWznhzbXQ_I88mpcVXlHHFf3o3fCWiTckXHElFiJAdrcsbrKFEJ9tdCFym74bZ1HvurHpWh/s1600/Wax+moth+larva+destruction.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtXQ25T-gsz81Nbyk5P04wK0akm1EnqFlI4e2anaPJBs5k4BBTpggHXPcpC-xlSu9Kyyy-XXWznhzbXQ_I88mpcVXlHHFf3o3fCWiTckXHElFiJAdrcsbrKFEJ9tdCFym74bZ1HvurHpWh/s400/Wax+moth+larva+destruction.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518851731889177474" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKD2OdIQEyXaI8-dZS8jClqnPiEW76rvy6ROpE4ibMEYsfHcZuMRdwcNccPE788tj1hd74dbXAYQB4hSgT7rcbC1oV-t4SVoisRN-jR7nF-KVhpSYfMJBOZ-OUmZpPzi5lTHRyIuJVDfEq/s1600/Multiple+wax+moth+larva+trails.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKD2OdIQEyXaI8-dZS8jClqnPiEW76rvy6ROpE4ibMEYsfHcZuMRdwcNccPE788tj1hd74dbXAYQB4hSgT7rcbC1oV-t4SVoisRN-jR7nF-KVhpSYfMJBOZ-OUmZpPzi5lTHRyIuJVDfEq/s400/Multiple+wax+moth+larva+trails.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518851720499941666" /></a><br /><br />The hive that died was the one I got from the compost bin (you can see the story and pix on this blog). I had noticed what seemed to be a vastly disproportionate number of drones at that hive a few months ago; so I have a feeling the queen died and a worker became a drone layer. It happens sometimes; and once it happens a hive is doomed, because drones are useless to a hive. They do no work, they don't forage, they don't contribute in any way other than to go out and try to mate with a queen. Whereupon, they inject their sperm and die. What a way to go.<br /><br />Finally... ALL my honey sold out! I've got nothing for my two wholesale accounts until next harvest, and my goal is to double my output next year by splitting my hives and catching lots of swarms.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-26201604674912854062010-08-22T21:12:00.000-07:002010-09-05T21:12:54.195-07:00One Beeyard Shrinks; A New Account LandsJust checked in on the beeyard at a ranch about a mile away, where I'd placed some of my smaller swarms. The only one still in healthy condition is the one I trapped myself in a "bait hive" placed in an old treehouse on my property. The three smaller swarms in nuc's all left, and their hives were robbed out--- maybe in reverse order, actually, since I also found and killed a yellow jacket nest about 15 yards away from the hives. <br /><br />Tuesday I'll check the hives at the Community Garden. They seem to be doing well, and I'd love to extract honey from the larger hive there--- it should have a very unique taste!<br /><br />By the way: my wife landed my first wholesale account for me! I sold a case of twelve oz jars of Summer Wildflower honey to a great cafe in Agoura Hills called "<a href="http://www.bluetable.net/">Blue Table</a>." <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjneyesnd1_R2hexfxRu7Db-xGG2ghNVggtqIY950kvt62lijzyvo310yduDR6v_RI5BXLKV7794QZaQxkqn13hW0q-dPIjs1hosPQrt8eMOTRjFZ6CKQCAaepRk6hb-S3E075IsFwsOwgB/s1600/Blue+Table+Exterior.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjneyesnd1_R2hexfxRu7Db-xGG2ghNVggtqIY950kvt62lijzyvo310yduDR6v_RI5BXLKV7794QZaQxkqn13hW0q-dPIjs1hosPQrt8eMOTRjFZ6CKQCAaepRk6hb-S3E075IsFwsOwgB/s400/Blue+Table+Exterior.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513647820961343682" /></a><br /><br />They specialize in healthy fare, with absolutely awesome sandwiches and salads at very reasonable prices. I noticed they were selling 7oz "Lavender infused" honey there for around 12 bucks, and it was coming from out-of-state, so I'm hoping my local honey does well there. It's an ideal place to have my honey, so I'm eager to see how it does. Here it is, ready to sell...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5oSGFs6gDGFFrCHTwNwZhLc4DyEOPk6Qxs6YXKrc2OmoMNLZakflXABfUK_H0kMXntqZmYxA_VPB50sqbtx2hNEO3XNXIROj7PLozoPxRRxGUOrp00kgOd87rkd6TR6MDT4dmTZj8KTj/s1600/Honey+at+Blue+Table.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5oSGFs6gDGFFrCHTwNwZhLc4DyEOPk6Qxs6YXKrc2OmoMNLZakflXABfUK_H0kMXntqZmYxA_VPB50sqbtx2hNEO3XNXIROj7PLozoPxRRxGUOrp00kgOd87rkd6TR6MDT4dmTZj8KTj/s400/Honey+at+Blue+Table.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513648166818531986" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-22059336772607802742010-08-02T15:43:00.001-07:002010-08-02T15:46:42.707-07:00No Luck With New SwarmWell, that picnic-table swarm (see below) stuck around for exactly one day. I got 'em on a Tuesday, and when I checked on Thursday the hive was empty. I'm wondering if they reacted badly to the comb I'd put in from one of my other "vanished" hives... maybe there's something in the comb they find repugnant? <br /><br />At any rate, I charged $100 for this particular removal, so I still came out okay. One thing seems clear; there's never going to be a shortage of "bee calls!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-12260872456652231682010-07-27T21:58:00.000-07:002010-07-27T22:24:13.045-07:00One Hive Leaves; Another Served Up On (or Under) a TableAfter harvesting a full super of sage honey from my strongest (of only two) Carniolan hives, I placed the empty super back on the hive for them to clean up. Bad news is, this resulted in two things; an invasion of ants, and evidently some serious robbing by the other bees in the yard. The unfortunate result was that the Carni's absconded, leaving an empty hive. I broke it down and stored the frames, only to get a call from a trailer-park manager that a swarm had set up on their premises and they needed it removed.<br /><br />The location was in Ventura, which is too much of a drive to do a free swarm removal. As it happens I was heading in that general direction for another reason today, so I told him I'd stop by and get the swarm, but I'd have to charge $100. Still way more affordable than an exterminator, and he was fine with that.<br /><br />When I got there, here's what I found:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBPHDKjhutgcw59W2TvgOb64QfJ-4UfXJU1NDYnJvh2IBLdUHnVQkrYOb4I1m2o13KxRI-pdQVqEubfCZr3U5iO61powDmenQxWd8vbMDGgxsj9QoSXKOQ370tD3htC2YaO8CssgxNwDj/s1600/Swarm+Capture+under+a+table+side+view.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBPHDKjhutgcw59W2TvgOb64QfJ-4UfXJU1NDYnJvh2IBLdUHnVQkrYOb4I1m2o13KxRI-pdQVqEubfCZr3U5iO61powDmenQxWd8vbMDGgxsj9QoSXKOQ370tD3htC2YaO8CssgxNwDj/s400/Swarm+Capture+under+a+table+side+view.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498819925568062818" /></a><br /><br />I suspected that this swarm had started to set up shop and create a hive, as they'd been there for 4 days and seemed to be behaving like a hive. Lots of waggle dancing going on, and when I looked underneath, just a boatload of bees.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwc5ICF8gQlIz4UvAkbnATqiN5p-TKjYxNZn9_xmvGF2iRhf0PWKmADPBz9S1ZnaS4JINtqGR_6nZVGohA_fJKUSzDo3eQeSdBVukBm_Flo8JTeG_iCJe7mDZyk0_TlIaILay-eYonh2N/s1600/table+swarm+from+underneath.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwc5ICF8gQlIz4UvAkbnATqiN5p-TKjYxNZn9_xmvGF2iRhf0PWKmADPBz9S1ZnaS4JINtqGR_6nZVGohA_fJKUSzDo3eQeSdBVukBm_Flo8JTeG_iCJe7mDZyk0_TlIaILay-eYonh2N/s400/table+swarm+from+underneath.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498820551329877778" /></a><br /><br />I put a cardboard box underneath and slowly pushed a paint scraper along the underside of the table, causing a good portion of the bees to fall into the box. I closed that box up; obtained another box from the park manager, and repeated the exercise with as much of the remaining cluster as I could. I sealed them up, took them home, and dumped both into the previously abandoned deep hive body. To give them a running start, since we're closing in on a dearth here, I alternated frames; using four of the drawn-out comb frames from the Carni hive, and six fresh foundation frames. (I didn't like the looks of some of the other Carni frames, and in fact found wax moths and/or wax moth larva on three of them, which I set out for foragers to clean up). <br /><br />As of tonight it seems the relocated bees have settled, so I'm fairly confident I got the queen. Time will tell.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-40486008694243371972010-07-13T22:28:00.000-07:002010-07-13T22:47:30.619-07:00Bottled and Awaiting LabelsSo I filled a variety of bottles with this honey, which this time around is what I call, "Amarillo." The Spanish sounds so much better than "yellow," doesn't it... <br /><br />Taste-wise, it's amazing. Very subtle and buttery, with an understated sweet after-taste. Really good. <br /><br />From the four hives, even with the extractor difficulties I described earlier which rent a few combs asunder, we pulled about 86 lbs. Here's the haul, all bottled and waiting for labels:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU98-MccjKtVgFcvbCM8MrsYvhQcuauqwauinSDRmUD8FiqMSSjLNytgLV3DMMwyWSk6CH1Xq5rmczheAY5mX2UVX84fKrnVhN7PtaunJsQVlIVlU3bRJ__7rjHnCPFYXFUcFlTVxQ8-BQ/s1600/Bottled+Honey+from+July+4+extraction.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU98-MccjKtVgFcvbCM8MrsYvhQcuauqwauinSDRmUD8FiqMSSjLNytgLV3DMMwyWSk6CH1Xq5rmczheAY5mX2UVX84fKrnVhN7PtaunJsQVlIVlU3bRJ__7rjHnCPFYXFUcFlTVxQ8-BQ/s400/Bottled+Honey+from+July+4+extraction.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493632640645708786" /></a><br /><br />One additional note: Saturday I did a short "bee seminar" for the Los Flores Community Garden where I have two hives, and I brought the last of my April honey harvest to sell. They snapped them all up; I LOVE gardeners!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-84601513366921767472010-07-04T20:20:00.000-07:002010-07-04T21:37:58.795-07:00A Honey Extracting PartyI decided to celebrate Independence Day this year by liberating some honey from several of my hives. In all, I took nearly five full supers from four hives. Other hives weren't quite ready; whether they had lots of uncapped honey or were too young (swarms; hive cutouts) to have excess honey.<br /><br />My longtime friends (a million years ago from high school, for cryin' out loud!) Rob and Catherine came over to lend a hand. Both were very interested in the process, and I was more than happy to get the help! Here's they are, learning to uncap the honey frames:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFop3lT-ryeccObHZf4t0wzM2UdpfTn8V6gid2KCfByBFmES1c-Fd7baSb2MK6Jut7hxDeVMqSEmkxfWtUSxf7AjUnsQ1LMjFPJxHSxVqtJSV5GcWcUDr4-PR-JFJtyUVqPSY0RMQk8yWn/s1600/Rob+and+Catherine+help+out.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 382px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFop3lT-ryeccObHZf4t0wzM2UdpfTn8V6gid2KCfByBFmES1c-Fd7baSb2MK6Jut7hxDeVMqSEmkxfWtUSxf7AjUnsQ1LMjFPJxHSxVqtJSV5GcWcUDr4-PR-JFJtyUVqPSY0RMQk8yWn/s400/Rob+and+Catherine+help+out.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490273822117718802" /></a><br /><br />And here's a shot of one of the frames. We had approximately 40 or so that looked like this:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n-lZvhIDlx6EqIGJdBOtflG802E7bt56uwgYfW90h10rMVxl7krngOGu0MXGyZqfWGhS15NU5PKrlZeYgmxzDFN0J9nEZCtRxBtUlUrle7gi4Vs9MusJPyGO9jUk37W7SM_FgJ48x2jk/s1600/Rob,+Katherine+and+Leah+helping+out+(1).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5n-lZvhIDlx6EqIGJdBOtflG802E7bt56uwgYfW90h10rMVxl7krngOGu0MXGyZqfWGhS15NU5PKrlZeYgmxzDFN0J9nEZCtRxBtUlUrle7gi4Vs9MusJPyGO9jUk37W7SM_FgJ48x2jk/s400/Rob,+Katherine+and+Leah+helping+out+(1).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490274308822846786" /></a><br /><br />Notice the dark patch? We actually had a surprising mix of honey; ranging from very dark (I'm guessing California buckwheat, Hollyleaf Cherry and wildflowers/domestic flowers like red apple and lavender) to nearly clear (we had an awesome sage bloom this year, with at least three different sage types). Can't wait to sample what that eclectic blend tastes like!<br /><br />We ran into some delay when the extractor started "binding," meaning the gears weren't properly meshing and it was nearly impossible to spin. Fortunately, Rob is the next best thing to McGyver, and he had it disassembled, cleaned, lubed and up and running again in no time.<br /><br />We left a heap of cappings in the extractor to drain through the filter when we were done, and it looks like we just about filled the holding tank under the extractor--- meaning we got about 100 lbs; which is about what I estimated. Remember, I took honey from some of these same hives on April 10 of this year, so in just under three months they replenished their reserves quite nicely. Depending on how the summer/fall flow looks, I hope to do another extraction right around this date in October.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-31249690640128913872010-06-22T21:53:00.000-07:002010-06-22T22:42:28.896-07:00An Easy Hive CutoutI got a call a couple weeks ago from a very nice lady named Kim, who said a newly formed hive over her garage was becoming quite the tourist attraction in her neighborhood. She felt the hive needed to be removed, but was quite adamant about keeping the bees alive in the process. I assured her I could and would. I've started to shy away from cutouts, as I'm finding only about a 50% success rate in terms of the bees staying in their relocated home, but Kim's hive was very accessible and I was so impressed with her concern for the bees, I decided to do this one.<br /><br />Here's what the hive looked like:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdt2j9M03KGZAlGNhNJU2lRLSyXNDz99LfdQDZTF2vLk3Uh8oQWI1JX1KyUS7FHrgEniOZKAN9W0ak8mlu7nH6ckJRwPW8srlpjVbPJ7mPNyfY2nrndLJvmKQUrlqzSqBc_cn3sT0LtPp/s1600/cu+Lake+Lindero+hive.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdt2j9M03KGZAlGNhNJU2lRLSyXNDz99LfdQDZTF2vLk3Uh8oQWI1JX1KyUS7FHrgEniOZKAN9W0ak8mlu7nH6ckJRwPW8srlpjVbPJ7mPNyfY2nrndLJvmKQUrlqzSqBc_cn3sT0LtPp/s400/cu+Lake+Lindero+hive.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485829106655364050" /></a><br /><br />I set up a ladder and a makeshift platform to hold my homemade bee vacuum:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGbX1mD9h-TnzPVUh-xidB9R-ptddedSCW0HIC72pyQEynMZ2zkXU4RxNf6NN_a04iR3eGFfrUle-yB-h2VqgxyfOnXCiYUB2etTxMLMsZ_790-rhfMtVd476pc8z-Vuo_57FQ6MO9eXh/s1600/Lake+Lindero+hive+6-6-10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGbX1mD9h-TnzPVUh-xidB9R-ptddedSCW0HIC72pyQEynMZ2zkXU4RxNf6NN_a04iR3eGFfrUle-yB-h2VqgxyfOnXCiYUB2etTxMLMsZ_790-rhfMtVd476pc8z-Vuo_57FQ6MO9eXh/s400/Lake+Lindero+hive+6-6-10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485830281322594098" /></a><br /><br />Then, I started vacuuming bees from the comb:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Rhgevpkhtb0iDEQHrlIcCR0E3osbb9D_FmDt3SeAwiRyzj2vzqAFhEd97PVljfy_DJ4AVpVfxFEWYBzacxabgSY2z-2k6A7qX9Opr1C7MGk0syLT-hqNJSOQ1I85q1_Mwo9Jsm4Bra21/s1600/Setting+up.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Rhgevpkhtb0iDEQHrlIcCR0E3osbb9D_FmDt3SeAwiRyzj2vzqAFhEd97PVljfy_DJ4AVpVfxFEWYBzacxabgSY2z-2k6A7qX9Opr1C7MGk0syLT-hqNJSOQ1I85q1_Mwo9Jsm4Bra21/s400/Setting+up.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485831073564248322" /></a><br /><br />As I removed a majority of bees from each comb, I'd slice them from the stucco using my hive tool. Then I vacuumed off any leftover bees on each comb, and put the comb into a covered bucket.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIS70ylnr5oCjs3G61GJBN8xjWti615nPwBJox1nF2D9zjOycpACU-gsfSkrmbS0Ny7CAhYJtKiG1CviIR7VpcU97BJcWsCZNgidH0be278Bs3PwxOZeZIrNkcp_yOMp9xOJXfOkQ7Ixfb/s1600/cutting+away+the+comb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIS70ylnr5oCjs3G61GJBN8xjWti615nPwBJox1nF2D9zjOycpACU-gsfSkrmbS0Ny7CAhYJtKiG1CviIR7VpcU97BJcWsCZNgidH0be278Bs3PwxOZeZIrNkcp_yOMp9xOJXfOkQ7Ixfb/s400/cutting+away+the+comb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485832056742999010" /></a><br /><br />The activity drew quite a crowd in the neighborhood, so I took the opportunity to give a little bee education to the kids, and let them taste some honey fresh from the comb. Note the amount of capped brood on the comb; I was actually able to show the kids all stages of larva and even some emerging bees.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fW_kiRxXpaJWap1xFYw7YFGYN57AhpFkrj23vrfux_ny4L1WOIEUpPYpLfXyUZBWrbG72qOSln62wkBIkeLJb0o3zKZpN4oTMiB9PixJ_sIF7xx6MyVx0FZ1jW0Xdp5a3NsEdQ0Rz3H_/s1600/Giving+kids+a+taste+of+the+honey.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1fW_kiRxXpaJWap1xFYw7YFGYN57AhpFkrj23vrfux_ny4L1WOIEUpPYpLfXyUZBWrbG72qOSln62wkBIkeLJb0o3zKZpN4oTMiB9PixJ_sIF7xx6MyVx0FZ1jW0Xdp5a3NsEdQ0Rz3H_/s400/Giving+kids+a+taste+of+the+honey.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485832525720601122" /></a><br /><br />Once I got all the comb cut away, I had to chase after the holdouts inside the light fixture that was hidden under the hive. I didn't want to miss the queen, and I was worried she might have skedaddled up into a hiding place in the fixture.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhULNNHeXnyhdaxPprWiaV_CqFmMOQIDpkMrfl79aPeM3ii8UD7RalX1UGwywEZt0V0VrF1H7xYPeUo9RTmDV3pmvRnmuMwhCx7GuO4xo4EMDxfuCHKVX5ULTpHAngP_9AHKoZxjm_nHnm/s1600/Vaccuming+the+last+holdouts.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhULNNHeXnyhdaxPprWiaV_CqFmMOQIDpkMrfl79aPeM3ii8UD7RalX1UGwywEZt0V0VrF1H7xYPeUo9RTmDV3pmvRnmuMwhCx7GuO4xo4EMDxfuCHKVX5ULTpHAngP_9AHKoZxjm_nHnm/s400/Vaccuming+the+last+holdouts.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485833209322663906" /></a><br /><br />It was nearly dark by the time I finished, so I left the vacuum box filled with bees in my truck until morning. Bright and early I rubber-banded most of the comb into frames, loaded the frames into a nuc, and took the nuc and bees over to the Las Flores Community Garden in Thousand Oaks where I have another hive. That's where I opened up the vacuum box and shook them into the nuc. Here's their new home:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6i6tieNGENViJQi2ZQdIULU9BRuiFimBZecRsgCFMiBCtpovrYvy7V9sYjpyX6NmeAR3i4rOD7J0-Nq1cOC45uSDAAl4Orq2P9JaOrApiR0iy2Nm7ole-172Ig7amTE_tPYlgsjIF5oT/s1600/Lake+Lindero+hive+at+Community+Garden+6-8-10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6i6tieNGENViJQi2ZQdIULU9BRuiFimBZecRsgCFMiBCtpovrYvy7V9sYjpyX6NmeAR3i4rOD7J0-Nq1cOC45uSDAAl4Orq2P9JaOrApiR0iy2Nm7ole-172Ig7amTE_tPYlgsjIF5oT/s400/Lake+Lindero+hive+at+Community+Garden+6-8-10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485834494369624706" /></a><br /><br />Notice the tin pie pans under each leg of the hive stand? I had to put those there because the very first night this poor hive was inundated with ants. So, I put oil (it's an organic garden, so I used corn oil, although at home I often use old motor oil) into the pans, and the ants can't access the hive. All's well; it appears I definitely got the queen, because they're doing fine, bringing in pollen and doing all the regular bee stuff.<br /><br />I'll end this post with a look at an absolutely humongous hive that I declined to remove. I would have needed three of the vacuums I have at least, and the comb was gigantic. Weird to see it completely exposed in a tree about 15 feet off the ground, but that's where it was. Here's a look; hope the size translates in these photos...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBw3bIMZ25NkHVnXX8jVuE8JQFzplYLUKFUgNKcUoOrFM6QN6ZQn6bVBPYvUlCTtYDYfLcoPugfHzsr5iuzKc8l2sGX7-ulqxea6wzSOvA7AtPWPf22hyqn3rpQ7CtMPb2Me5d-kgGvNv/s1600/giant+tree+hive+001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBw3bIMZ25NkHVnXX8jVuE8JQFzplYLUKFUgNKcUoOrFM6QN6ZQn6bVBPYvUlCTtYDYfLcoPugfHzsr5iuzKc8l2sGX7-ulqxea6wzSOvA7AtPWPf22hyqn3rpQ7CtMPb2Me5d-kgGvNv/s400/giant+tree+hive+001.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485838121501353122" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSadUdEeymTiipgYDFCnd5A1UMJZUEcZhOqsSx4gHrC9GuqhTEkv1mjBRo_5__LAATLK_xTKilUH_D6xZy5qfrh4drfLpWwT1x9GgApzeiHf3w1q2cJc7GA2-1mKeeVqNxWnNuGakq8uM/s1600/giant+tree+hive+002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSadUdEeymTiipgYDFCnd5A1UMJZUEcZhOqsSx4gHrC9GuqhTEkv1mjBRo_5__LAATLK_xTKilUH_D6xZy5qfrh4drfLpWwT1x9GgApzeiHf3w1q2cJc7GA2-1mKeeVqNxWnNuGakq8uM/s400/giant+tree+hive+002.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485838815229352194" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-32648378586757836452010-05-31T22:04:00.000-07:002010-05-31T22:26:01.075-07:00Bee-zy Come, Bee-zy GoHaven't posted in awhile because I've been too damn busy answering swarm and hive cutout calls! After giving my name to the Ventura County Fire Dept. as a resource, I've been getting 2-3 calls a day, which of course I have to handle after work. Many times the swarm leaves before I can get there; sometimes the "swarm" is actually an established hive entailing a complicated cutout (which I turn down).<br /><br />In the meantime, while I've been capturing swarms, a few of the hive cutouts I did do (one as a favor to a neighbor) immediately absconded after I hived them. A lot of work for nothing. In fact, my experience has been that 50% of the hive cutouts aren't happy with their new home, and take off for parts unknown. That little hive I showed below, the one inside the utility closet? Gone. Same with a HUGE hive I cut out of a neighbors garage cabinet. Three hours of work and one torn veil--- down the drain, they left after one day.<br /><br />On the other hand, I've been lucky enough to catch several swarms. One in a tree in Newbury Park:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbIDEwF5G24_cgnhd9gNTfC79lM-ucGycotYdi0Cw5VEELJtBpGg4PoR4HD4Wkd4YNdh62z4E5j_wzGHiql5NVZzGEP0f3vdNgMMjcxV0Py1z5wUWu0hiHvlaM37zc3D2pXbrXgJtJuNl/s1600/newbury+park+swarm+001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbIDEwF5G24_cgnhd9gNTfC79lM-ucGycotYdi0Cw5VEELJtBpGg4PoR4HD4Wkd4YNdh62z4E5j_wzGHiql5NVZzGEP0f3vdNgMMjcxV0Py1z5wUWu0hiHvlaM37zc3D2pXbrXgJtJuNl/s400/newbury+park+swarm+001.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477668488489057698" /></a><br /><br />Another from a bush in Simi Valley; another from a tree in Moorpark (a weird swarm, it'd been there for five days and seemed very lethargic; jury's out on whether that one will survive); and this one in a Simi Valley rose bush:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmqksNL8G-4ytyRIbCFs7m9xV8otTGtWqVvNbYnJJUubUmanzFaOH0qt4mEuFR1XsMInFRIY0u3CRaxGcQIvbeIq2x3CNuV3o7eyZrouA5Zb9w5RehJh3tYS3hBYWDxmpj1VUKDn6L0Nc/s1600/Simi+Valley+swarm+002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmqksNL8G-4ytyRIbCFs7m9xV8otTGtWqVvNbYnJJUubUmanzFaOH0qt4mEuFR1XsMInFRIY0u3CRaxGcQIvbeIq2x3CNuV3o7eyZrouA5Zb9w5RehJh3tYS3hBYWDxmpj1VUKDn6L0Nc/s400/Simi+Valley+swarm+002.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477669263421776178" /></a><br /><br />I hived all of these into nucs, and the ol' beeyard was starting to get a bit crowded. Plus, I was desperate for a location for the swarm I trapped with a bait hive (a hive body filled with frames, and "baited" with a little lemongrass oil to catch a wandering swarm). I needed to expand that trapped swarm to a larger hive, and I didn't want to do that up in the treehouse where the bait hive was!<br /><br />Anyway, GREAT NEWS! A neighbor at a nearby ranch was kind enough to offer an excellent location for a an "outyard," so I moved four of the nucs there on Saturday night. I went back Sunday morning to expand the one hive into a deep hive body, and let me tell you, they were PISSED OFF! Sent all my audience (some of the folks from the ranch) scurrying for cover, and I literally had to go for a walk before the bees would stop head-butting my veil. I then had to sneak up on my truck and take off, because I didn't want them finding me again and getting in the truck with me!<br /><br />I got the hive transferred into a deep, but had to leave the old nuc body there. It still had a generous number of bees, and I just didn't want to shake them into the already boiling-mad hive. So, I left it in front of their new home, and I'll go back next week to retrieve it and see if the hive has settled in. The other three, by the way, did just fine with the transition.<br /><br />I'll take some pix of the new location for my next post.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5889227714066677966.post-41381189437716525382010-05-11T22:00:00.000-07:002010-05-11T22:35:04.143-07:00More Free Bees!On Saturday I got a call from a neighbor who was having some tree trimming done. Seems midway through one cut the guy sliced into a hive, and bailed out of the tree post-haste (leaving his chainsaw imbedded in the tree).<br /><br />Anyway, Mike gave me a call for help, and I headed over. It was WAYYY up high, so I climbed up the biggest ladder I've got and sawed through the rest of the trunk while Mike supposedly belayed from below. This shot might give you an idea of the size of this thing:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEKOOkAaRn4aGhi8_VdKK03B2WONXWumW1aSdgX7nzVBgYPdhONiddqhusEEzkf4uYn3wI2mkzJdZ4-6pqCK-oPgEYNZVJVD5CLTL0wM6YbJG5qNPyThERU1qrHFHXQAOwh7dosTO9YVG/s1600/Hive+in+tree+trunk.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmEKOOkAaRn4aGhi8_VdKK03B2WONXWumW1aSdgX7nzVBgYPdhONiddqhusEEzkf4uYn3wI2mkzJdZ4-6pqCK-oPgEYNZVJVD5CLTL0wM6YbJG5qNPyThERU1qrHFHXQAOwh7dosTO9YVG/s400/Hive+in+tree+trunk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470246422335832290" /></a><br /><br />Actually, I guess it doesn't. Trust me, this was Paul Bunyon territory. The hive entrance is that huge knot on the left. Anyway, when I cut it through the damn thing swung around like a battering ram. I ducked close to the ladder so it missed my head, but it gave me a good whack on the shoulder. Didn't knock me off the ladder, fortunately.<br /><br />So we lowered it to the ground, I stapled hardware cloth over the openings, and three of us lifted it into my truck. When I got home I just rolled into an empty field next door and pushed the thing out. I pulled the hardware cloth off the openings, and when I last checked the hive is doing fine in their newly mobile home. <br /><br />And then today...<br /><br />I got a call from a homeowner with a "swarm" in their utility closet--- you know, the outside closet where the electric meter and the fusebox live. Here are a couple shots:<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTukO0F4PTyl3zoZZE4ELlnV5uZ1gRv0jMqyG8fGqsnV2dhYFDybCKSbsZ9LSpStAPt9YbiwUQY-p5ikKDxSzpuNbv1eubPqXsKAe9555_M0FKsEette2fljTcAIxtYyjwyuqr56o3YlXD/s1600/Wide+shot-+hive+in+utility+closet.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTukO0F4PTyl3zoZZE4ELlnV5uZ1gRv0jMqyG8fGqsnV2dhYFDybCKSbsZ9LSpStAPt9YbiwUQY-p5ikKDxSzpuNbv1eubPqXsKAe9555_M0FKsEette2fljTcAIxtYyjwyuqr56o3YlXD/s400/Wide+shot-+hive+in+utility+closet.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470247386289938834" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6bnA70MGaqVmHh_3iHqzbeLXu9lmU6rWPkzhuNxjdJMCRzMVgAlou70v5LaygMRahCqgvz0Sftgl3dWA7Hq0HFyw1G72f_n6NbXEvGW4RABUgQPXIXFPYAWdyP6uluqZWRvOi8hGCw67/s1600/CU+Hive+in+Utility+Closet.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6bnA70MGaqVmHh_3iHqzbeLXu9lmU6rWPkzhuNxjdJMCRzMVgAlou70v5LaygMRahCqgvz0Sftgl3dWA7Hq0HFyw1G72f_n6NbXEvGW4RABUgQPXIXFPYAWdyP6uluqZWRvOi8hGCw67/s400/CU+Hive+in+Utility+Closet.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470247939569699778" /></a><br /><br />I grabbed a cardboard box and put it under the cluster, and then used a drywall knife to scrape along the ceiling, the idea being to dislodge the cluster. Only it turns out this wasn't a swarm, but a new hive with three or four combs started! I sliced right through the comb, dropping the entire mess into the box. With no other idea, I simply poured the whole thing, comb and all, into a nuc, and added some frames. I repeated the process several times to continue to remove clustering bees, but I could tell from the fanning activity at the nuc that I'd captured the queen on the first try. <br /><br />So, I got as many bees as I could and then closed up the nuc, stuck it in my car, and took them home. Here they are on their temporary stand in one of my beeyards:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJJQ2IUuZo23wVNguAAhU3lAiYkkypkIvX_4soErgwC5dV1Mv53RzmNriWHIL__1qnmCV1V-m8du09QNYmwAnrg1r14aj_Xm4-qEabz4Pfb4ScXgckwrgihsY9m0vaFiTSuXxnK66WdlB/s1600/Utility+Closet+Hive+in+Their+New+Home.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJJQ2IUuZo23wVNguAAhU3lAiYkkypkIvX_4soErgwC5dV1Mv53RzmNriWHIL__1qnmCV1V-m8du09QNYmwAnrg1r14aj_Xm4-qEabz4Pfb4ScXgckwrgihsY9m0vaFiTSuXxnK66WdlB/s400/Utility+Closet+Hive+in+Their+New+Home.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470249190532734210" /></a><br /><br />And finally... one that I let get away. This was a call from the Simi Valley Police Dept regarding a hive that supposedly had bothered some kids. Here's what I found at the end of a cul de sac:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNp5x_pHWFiW3DXd33KWmkqyIT22J1x2HLJ1-3IdSOyPQHOFhJ-QoxNXwQ9uUi4rOVhHWdipYbjGPZWGL-PwnC1BR2T7pJhkBTV4Y7-M4KT5chW_FiWWRdmquxwLQ_6hWXn0ctKWPxd1DX/s1600/Hive+on+manhole+cover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNp5x_pHWFiW3DXd33KWmkqyIT22J1x2HLJ1-3IdSOyPQHOFhJ-QoxNXwQ9uUi4rOVhHWdipYbjGPZWGL-PwnC1BR2T7pJhkBTV4Y7-M4KT5chW_FiWWRdmquxwLQ_6hWXn0ctKWPxd1DX/s400/Hive+on+manhole+cover.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470249940309276898" /></a><br /><br />I told them it was not something I wanted to deal with. for one thing, ground-based hives have a better chance of being Africanized, making them more aggressive. For another, I would have needed a city employee to open the manhole cover, and I would have had to bring a generator to power the bee-vac in order to get all the bees. <br /><br />I also turned down a call to get two hives out of a guy's attic. The idea of laying on my stomach in a hot attic in my beesuit with the (loud) bee-vac going for an hour next to my head was just not very appealing. <br /><br />But I keep getting one or two calls a day, mostly due to the flier I gave the Ventura County Fire Dept. Tomorrow afternoon I go to Simi Valley again, this time to pick up a wine barrel with a hive inside. The homeowner said I could take the barrel, so this'll be an easy one.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2