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Jason from Appalachian Arborists called me with a bit of concern about a future job at a residence near T.C. Roberson High School. Jason explained a very large oak tree had died in someone's yard and could become a hazard and must come down. To complicate this problem, the property owner had shown Jason a cavity which was filled with honeybees and the cavity was about 20 feet up the tree. Jason was not even sure they were honeybees and wondered how he could safely bring this tree down without someone getting attacked by these
bees. He asked me if he should just spray them? "NO NO!" was my reply. Let me meet you out there so we may assess the situation and come up with a plan. I explained to Jason about the shortage of honeybees as well as my particular interest in feral bees and saving their genetics. Jason became very interested in the honeybee part of the equation and quickly agreed to assist me in saving these bees if possible.
On November 10th, I met Jason at the property and eventhough it was only about 9:00 am, I saw quite a "buzz" of activity coming from the hole way up in the tree. Jason said here are some binoculars, are these honeybees? I said I don't need the binoculars, yes they are. First of all, it is too late in the season for other type bees to have this type of activity and being as warm as it is, this is the kind of activity I would expect from a healthy colony. Besides that, I can tell from here they look like honeybees.
Jason and I then began to look at the situation and plan on how to get the tree down safely, not get stung by the bees and save the colony to boot. I asked Jason when he wanted to bring the tree down and he said the Monday before Thanksgiving. I said perfect! I had already taken that week off from work and the weather was supposed to be cool enough to cause the bees to be less active. (I explained to him that honeybees became more active after about 50 degress F) I quickly saw the entrance hole to the cavity was large enough for me to reach my arm into and was facing Southeast. This meant that the bees would probably "wake up" early and be active earlier than one may anticipate. I told Jason I would meet him there as early as he wanted and we would start to work. I told him to bring some screen like is used in a screen door and something to attach the screen over all holes the bees may use to escape. I also told Jason to bring enough screen to quickly cover up the hollow cavity when we reached that area with the saw. I explained that we would protect everyone by sealing the bees up in the tree for the day. I also said when we actually open up the cavity I thought we would face minimal bee activity if we quickly covered them with screen due to their confusion and the cool temperatures. Jason explained he could tie off all parts and lower them gently to the ground and the section with bees could be done that way and placed on my trailor without much of an effort.
I arrived early on the appointed day towing a trailer which I hoped would not go home empty. Jason was already doing his Spider Man act high up in the huge tree. Ropes and pullies were everywhere and Jason had snuggly stapled screen over all possible exits the honeybees could find. Jason had 3 very experienced and interesting young men on the ground supporting his high wire act. A large chipper was backed in
behind a shiny new green truck. (I have seen it on the TV commercial)One of the guys on the ground stated they "don't always get this type of work and Jason is in his element". I assessed that Jason probably did not rock climb or do anything with ropes in his spare time because he was getting a full workout in this tree. He hugged up to the tree and jammed the spikes on his boots into the tree as he squirrelled around the tree checking the screened up bees and the knots on all the pullies. He then tied off the first limb high in the crown and swung down to the base of the limb. With one pull the chain saw growled to life and in no time the first limb broke free as Jason swung away at the end of the rope. As the limb slowed its desent at the end of a rope carefully managed by the ground crew, Jason was already swinging back to tie off another limb. I watched this in amazement as the tree came safely down piece by piece. The
bees were beginning to buzz up against the screen as the chipper started chomping away at the limbs stacked up in front of the mouth.
The high wire act went on for about 2 hours as I handled various beekeeping questions from the ground crew and the home owner who were all very excited to be assisting in saving these bees. (I have two more people signed up for the bee school by the way) The home owner explained how the bees showed up last spring as a loud hovering cloud of winged buzzing. She and her children watched from inside as the
bees gradually began entering the hole and made their home. I explained to her how scout bees seek out such a home for the swarm and bring the whole swarm to the location with the first bees entering and fanning the pheremone to welcome the straglers to the new home. This scent will gradually direct all the rest to the hole. She exclaimed "that is what they were doing"! I thanked her for her cooperation and promised her a jar of honey.
Meanwhile Jason was nearing the cavity area and asked me where he should make the cut to open up the top of the cavity. I could not be up in the tree, so I asked Jason, "does it look like the cavity goes up or down from the entrance hole?" He answered "down" and I told him where to cut. We readied the extra screen and staple gun in case we
miscalculated. Good plan because we miscalculated. The cavity went up at least as much as it went down and the extra measure of security I allowed in the cut came in handy as we still cut into the top 4 inches of the comb. A few bees escaped, but Jason quickly sealed them up. Only a small amount of comb ended up in the section lowered to the ground with a few cold and disoriented bees. The ground crew all gathered around the comb on the ground as I picked it up and offered some tasty honey to them. They loved the honey and watched amazed as bees were crawling all over my hands. I did mention they needed to be careful as these cold creatures would go up their pants legs. They all backed away as I continued to hand them pieces of honey comb to savor. As we backed away to await the next course of action in the tree. I noticed a sweat drop running UP my leg. Wait a minute, that could not be right, I thought. As I pulled up the leg of my Carharts I flipped the bee away and quickly scrapped the stinger out of my leg. The ground crew asked if I was stung and I said yes. They all began to feel things crawling on them and I just laughed and said I told you to be careful around bees on the ground as that is just what they do.
A plan was made to tie off the large portion of hollow trunk to another tree and lower it to the ground. We took an extra measure so we could assess where to make the final bottom cut on the ground. As Jason sawed into the tree an amazing amount of water came out of the hollow. The section came free and was lowered to the ground. Another cut was made to make the section smaller and it was loaded on the trailer. I covered the top snuggly with plastic to keep the wind out and faced the entrance hole with screen over it to the rear. After it
was snuggly tied down, I headed home with my prize. I set it off the trailer using a tractor with front loader and faced the entrance hole Southeast. I waited until morning the next day to open the screen as I did not want them buzzing out in the cold to die in their disorientation. The next morning I did cut the screen open on the entrance hole and they began to fly. I decided to wait until Friday when it was warmer to finish the job. Friday was a beautiful day and perfect to work in the bees. I got a brood body with drawn comb and
poured sugar syrup over the frames and let it settle into the cells. I placed this brood body over the top of the cavity after removing the top plastic and screen. I sealed it up with plastic and duct tape and am waiting for the bees to move up into the brood body. Then I will have a new hive of bees. Thanks to the great guys at Appalachian Arborists and the cooperation of a wonderful homeowner. It was Thanksgiving indeed for me.
Calvin Robinson
Virgin Queen and Other Queen Issues
I had two splits made last fall which I had given Russian queens.
They progressed fine until late February. On one of the warm days, I
opened the hives to evaluate. I found one hive had a patch of brood
about 3 inches in diameter and no queen to be found. The other hive
had a queen, but no brood or eggs. I kept my eye on them until I was
sure both were queenless. I decided to raise my own queen with eggs
from one of my Italian hives.
I placed two frames off eggs and brood in each of the hives and soon
discovered queen cells. When the cells had time to hatch, I went
into the hives last Tuesday and found a nice beautiful queen in one
hive, but could not find one in the other one. I knew Jack Hanel was
coming by on Wednesday of this past week so I was going to ask him
about newspapering this hive onto the other one which had a queen.
Jack said, lets take a look.
He almost immediately said, "there is your queen". I said, "What?
Where?" Jack pointed out a little virgin queen. She did not stand
out to me, because she was no larger than any other worker. She did
look like a queen as far as she went, when you looked closely. I
asked Jack how he spotted her so easily. He told me he goes into a
lot of hives and has learned to spot these things. He did mention
that virgin queens run around like a "chicken with its head cut
off". She was doing that for sure.
Jack said for me to give her a few days and she would probably fly
out and mate. On Friday, I looked again and spotted her easily. She
was a big nice queen now and I assume has been mated. We will be
looking for eggs and brood next time in the hive. That was so
interesting to me, I thought I would share the experience.
By the way, the swarm I captured two weeks ago, turned up queenless.
Jack looked in that hive and confirmed that suspicion. I decided to
newspaper the swarm bees into the strongest split with the nice mated
queen after Jack left. I just put a piece of news paper on top of
the brood box and put some slits in the paper with a knife. I placed
the brood box of queenless bees on top of the newspaper and closed
the lid. This I did on Wednesday. On Friday, I noticed lots of bees
flying around the front of the hive and decided to peek in the
entrance. I saw what looked like a rat nest of paper just inside the
entrance and extending to the outside and the ground. The Bees had
eaten through the paper and now I have one stronger hive out of two
week ones. Remember, one strong hive will make more honey than 3
week ones.
I went into the hive I took from the wall and found a little capped
brood, but it appears to be the eggs and wax I banded in from the
wall. I could not find the queen though I had marked her. I will
give it a little longer and then, if the queen is not there, decide
if I will buy a queen, or newspaper the hive to a hive that needs a
boost.
I am thinking strong hives are the way to go. I had four hives last
year, 3 weak ones and 1 strong one. The strong one made 3 times the
honey as all 3 weak ones combined.
Just a note to show the importance of the bee club and keeping up on
all the latest beekeeping research etc. A beekeeper near me, who is
not in the club and does not keep up with the latest research, had 13
hives last fall and only 1 made it through the winter. I heard this
2nd handed today. I am going to invite him to the BCBC meetings.
Calvin Robinson
Crisis in the Beeyard (value of records)
I had a most interesting experience in my beeyard today that I do not want to repeat. Those records we should be keeping along with a real life application of my college logic course (if this then that, if not this then not that}and a decision tree made from a truth tree
saved the day for me.
I will start by saying I had 6 hives throughout the summer and decided to split them all after the Sourwood flow was over. Being busy, I decided to make my splits without finding my queens and have
been doing that with one final split to be made today. The most recent split I had made before today being Tuesday. The split I made today made 12 hives, but I gave one to a friend so I now have 11.
After I made the split today, I decided to take a look at some of the splits and determine if the queen was in them, if they were making queen cells, or if I need to purchase a queen. I went in to a total of 5 of my 11 hives before weather started looking bad and I decided
to look at the others later.
As I was about to walk away, I saw what looked like one of those European Hornets on the ground. I had already seen one and killed it because they kill bees. As I was about to stomp the "hornet" I noticed it was one of my QUEENS! I was about to panic, because I knew I had not a clue which hive she came from because the nature of my hive observations meant it could have been any one of the five. I had an idea about which hives had a queen, but was not sure 100%,
which I needed to be. I had nothing to put her in, so I put my hand
down and she climbed on. I stood up and she tried to fly, but went to the ground. I could not let this happen again, so I caught her again and cupped my hands to hold her until I could get a container. She was in no way trying to sting me at all. I was amazed at how gentle she was.
After getting her into a queen cage, I then wondered how I was going to figure out which hive she belonged in and do it before the storm. I tried to call several people in the club for advice and reached no one. I remembered my logic course and began to think things through. I charted out what I knew using my notes and observations. I then had to start going through the most likely hives first. After the first hive, I ruled it out, because there were no eggs and she would have had to have been in there for nearly a week. I ruled the next
hive out because it had some queen cells in it. I went to the next hive and it had no eggs that I could see, but it also had no queen cells. I thought this weird because I had put plenty of eggs in it when I split it. So I went to my records and decided to go to the parent hive to see if it had a queen, eggs or queen cells. It did have queen cells and I could find no eggs or a queen. This meant the
split I made from it had the queen and she was it.
I decided to turn her loose instead of caging her for the bees to release. I watched as they surrounded her in a crown and licked her and fed her. They seemed glad to see her and all was right with the world in this hive. I got the lid on and rain drops started splashing. Has rained ever since. WHEW! "If you can keep your head
when all about you are loosing theirs and blaming it on you..."
KEEP your records up to date, they may save your day sometime! Also, if you decide to do such reckless splitting as I did, make sure each party of the split has plenty of eggs or find the queen and make sure the one without the queen has plenty of eggs. Also, follow up to see which hives need queens. Your records start becomming very important when you get as many hives as I have, because you just can not seem to remember it all.
Above all, when you hold a frame over the ground, make sure your queen does not fall off! I could have easily stepped on her and it is a wonder I did not. I was foolish in that regard and got lucky this time.
Calvin Robinson
Beekeepers Night Before Christmas
by Calvin Robinson
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the hive,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mite.
The check-mite strips were hung by the brood with care,
In hopes that Varroa Destructor soon would be clear.
The Larvae were nestled all snug in their cells,
While blooms of sourwood would still wait a spell.
And the Queen in her cluster and me in my shack,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a US Mail truck, being pulled by a big green John Deere.
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment this was no trick.
More rapid than forager bees they letters they came,
And he coughed, and hacked, and called them some name!
"Now Beekeeper! now, Pollinator! and, savior of bees!
Keep up your work! We need you! Few bees now live in the trees!"
He was pulled to the top of the drive! and off down by the brook!
Then I looked and saw! My Beekeepers Journal! What a wonderful book!
As I turned the leaves packed with useful information to fill my eye,
They told me the latest way to deal with an obstacle, and keep myself
sly.
So up to the office and my computer I flew,
With my heart full of hope, that I could find the listed web sites
too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the T.V. something cool,
The Buncombe County Beekeepers are putting on a bee school.
As I drew up my head, and was turning to look,
I heard there is nary a cost, unless you want to buy the book.
I noticed my beekeeper jacket hanging on the hook,
I washed these clothes but they still are all tarnished with propolis
and soot.
In the corner are a bundle of frames that are still in their pack,
I must get busy in this winter break, and turn these pieces into many
a rack.
My eyes see much that needs to be done! Somehow I need to stay merry!
Because there is still plenty of time before we see roses, or even a
cherry!
I will get busy right now, I say to myself as I untie a bow,
What else is there to do with this season of snow.
The cold steel nails I held tight in my teeth,
And the frames were being assembled as my wife hung a wreath.
With a determined face I worked until I felt a pain in my belly,
Then I made a peanut and honey sandwich, please spare me the jelly!
Winter eating can make you chubby and plump, I need to stay fit,
Its something we all need to plan, so those heavy supers we can lift!
For we know it won't be long until the locust will bloom, I can see
it in my head,
So if I can finish these hive parts before then, I have nothing to
dread.
I will speak not a word, but go straight back to work,
My wife asks help with the stockings, she must think I am a jerk.
After mashing my finger and sweat dripping from my nose,
With my wife needing help up at the chimney, I finally arose!
I nailed the stockings in place, and a song I did whistle,
Even as my thumb still hurt like it had been stuck with a thistle.
I did take time to exclaim, I can't wait for spring it is nearly in
sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"
New Years Bee Tree
I took the week off to get caught up on some playhouse orders that need to be filled by the end of the week. Today was a little raw at Sourwood Knoll and I was busy working when my cell phone buzzed. It was my brother, who was using a chainsaw about a quarter of a mile from my house, cutting up a dead maple tree he had sawed down last week. The tree was in the pasture and was a hazard to livestock. I had talked to my brother on Christmas Eve and he had told my about the tree and I had asked if it was hollow. He said yes, but a very small hole. I did raise an eyebrow a bit when he said it looked like a small creek of water running down the hill when he cut into it. The hollow had water in it and alot of it.
Well as he was sawing it up today, he found that the hollow up high in the tree was quite large and was filled with a large colony of bees. He did not know until he sawed into the main trunk above the colony and a large limb broke off from the cavity exposing the top of
the colony. A few bees came out but it was so cold they went right back to the hollow. I went down to inspect the tree and decided to do nothing to them until it warms up a bit. They did appear to have been there awhile as the comb was about 5 feet long and the hollow is about the size of the inside of a bee hive. I did protect the exposed colony by layering large pieces of bark around the hole. They fit real nice and covered the exposed area very well. I continued to layer and place large pieces of bark over large piece of bark to make a good weather barrier. I then plugged up the exposed hole at the bottom of the hollow with wood and bark to keep out animals and to further protect them from drafts and moisture. I made sure the original entry hole was still open and decided to try and disturb them as little as possible until a warmer spell comes along to work on getting them out of the hollow tree.
I did notice the bees are again a mixture of dark and light bees and goes along with the THEORY,I subscribe to, that we will see more and more of this type of bees as they begin to rebuild the wild populations that were originally devastated by the Varroa Mites and the virus problems that the stress brings on. I think that these remaining wild bees may have some viral resistance. Without fail, every wild colony of bees I have come into contact with in the past two years has been one of these mixes of dark and light bees. This mongrel bee appears to me to be more hardy than the ones we buy from suppliers down south.
I ask any of you that come upon wild bees to make every effort to save the genetics. This means saving the QUEEN, but that is often a difficult thing to accomplish. Just trapping the bees without the queen is not going to save the genetics. If the queen can not be saved, the next best thing would be to save some young eggs to raise a new queen with. At least if you could save an egg, you may save the genetics depending on which bees she mates with. I am very interested in this line of thinking about our wild bee population. I am hoping that somehow we can get along with the Varroa mites with genetic resistance just as we did with the Treachial Mites.
Looks like I had a Christmas present of bees just like I did at Thanksgiving. I can't wait until the next holiday.
Calvin Robinson
Correcting a Hive with Laying Workers
Early this spring, a fellow I have been mentoring called me and said he thought he had laying workers in one of his hives. I told him I would be right up and we would go into the hive and see.
In 15 minutes, we were into the hive and just as he suspected, his queen was nowhere to be found, though the hive was very strong with workers, it had an extremely high number of drones, and ALL the brood was drone brood. I inspected the egg situation and found there were multiple eggs in the cells. This was no doubt a laying worker hive.
Harold asked me what we should do. I said the conventional wisdom of most people is to kill the hive and start over. He really hated to do that as the hive was a strong hive still. I agreed, I would rather do something else to try and save them. I told Harold that since his other hive was queen right, and it very strong, we could newspaper this colony onto the hive and the queen right hive would kill the laying workers. We could then split the hive back out later.
Harold mentioned that when multiple queens are in a hive, sometimes they kill each other and you loose both queens. He asked if there was a chance that somehow the queen in his queen right hive could be put at risk doing this. I mentioned that anything is possible and I just did not know the answer to that. He was not comfortable at all with newspapering the hives together as he did not want to risk his remaining strong queen right hive.
I said Harold, you know this time of year, you can mix frames of brood and nurse bees and they will accept each other. He did not know this and asked what I was thinking. I said why dont we take a frame of nurse bees, brood and eggs out of the queen right hive and see if they will raise a queen and possibly kill the laying workers. Harold thought this was worth a try as we had nothing to loose by doing it.
I carefully went through the queen right hive and found just the right frame of bees, brood and eggs. I also located the queen to make sure she remained in the hive she should be in. I then placed the frame of bees and brood in the laying worker hive. They accepted the strange bees fine and we closed it up. We went in the next week and found they had not started a queen cell. We decided to watch and see if we saw anymore eggs. After two weeks, there were no more eggs found in the hive. The nurse bees we put into the hive had apparently killed the laying workers.We know this because we shook all the bees off of the frame we put back into the queen right hive.
Since I have had good results raising my own queens here in Candler, Harold decided to put a frame of eggs from his other hive into the queenless one. They made queen cells and raised a queen. Today, we found the big fat queen they had raised and she is laying a nice pattern of eggs. It looks like we managed to save this hive. I felt proud to have been able to do this and thought I would share it with others that may have this same type situation come up. Having laying workers is not good, but it is possible to save the hive with a little management and some thinking things through.
Calvin Robinson
Bee Removal from Cabin in Edneyville
I received a call from a man in Edneyville who has bees in the wall of an old cabin. He made it sound like they would be fairly easy to take from the wall, so I decided to take a look. It actually appeared to be the case. This one wall had board siding and has had bees in
the same location a couple times before. As the home owner described it, "it was a simple operation of prying off the boards and taking out the bees." He even said not to worry about getting it back too well as he is going to have someone fix it bee proof this time. Of course, nothing is always simple.
I got there in the middle of apple country in Edneyville and beautiful yellow "eye"talian bees were flying briskly in and out of the wall. This could mean the bees may trace back to some of Edd Buchanan's pollination contracts. Funny thing, when I walked up I could have
sworn a big old drone was at the entrance circled up by some workers listening to a tall tale.
My idea, for those interested in learning how to take bees from a wall, is to invite beekeepers that are interested to participate or observe as they see fit. The owner gave permission to do that and I thought it would make a great mini-field day. Plans were also to
document with digital video and produce a DVD. WLOS TV was also planningparticipate in the documentation of the event. The plans were to do the job on Saturday the 12th.
I could use a few extra hands so I invited interested bee club members to participate. The colony has been there two years and I decided to split it there also. I decided to give the split to one of the people that came to help by drawing names for it. There sure were lots of bees flying in and out of that wall.
I expressed my thanks to everyone who participated! I believe everyone learned some stuff and I hope will try this themselves someday at least once.
We arrived at the location just a few minutes after 8:00am and after a few minutes of unloading tools and setting up a canopy in case of rain, we were going into the side of the house by about 8:30. Rick Messer Videotaped everything, including some comments prior to getting started, Carl and I removed two boards of the siding to reveal a textbook perfect case example. It was exactly as I had hoped and not at all as I feared.
All of us were stunned at the beauty of this perfect colony of bees. They had built there home in between the rough sawn 2x6 studs. The studs were about 2 feet apart and there was a cross brace below and above the nest to make a perfect 2' by 2' by 6" cavity. The bees can build the comb in any direction, but this colony had built parallel with the walls and there were layers of comb all the way from front to back with a nice bee space between them. One minor side note, it appears maybe the cavity had been use before and the bees died. The heat may have caused the comb left behind to collapse, as the bottom area had some older folded comb and this is the reason we most suspected. The upper area was perfect.
I had some empty frames and rubber bands to cut out and place the brood nest into. Carl Chesick again saved the day! What a great thinker he is. He brought some empty frames with a nylon mesh tacked to the top bar and bottom bar on one side and enough length to wrap
around the bottom and up to the top bar on the other side. We used this great idea first and had nice packages of brood nest in the frames in no time. The mesh had a 3/4 to 1 inch pattern which should allow the bees to work with no problems. We finished up the last bit of comb using the "now" ancient technology of rubber bands and I will use Carl's idea next time.
WLOS did not make it to the event, but it is fully documented in photos and Digital video. Rick and I are going to be producing a Digital quality DVD of the event in the near future.
The operation went perfectly in almost every way, with one minor thing in that we may not have gotten the queen. We replaced the siding by tacking it up. I will go back in a few days and try to get the remainder of bees captured and if we do not have the queen now, will get her then. It seems clumps of bees went everywhere and led us to believe the queen had escaped into a hole or crack. We brushed up as many bees as we could reach and poured them into the hive, but just could not get all of them as they were so scattered and many
were out of reach.
Congratulations to Rick Messer for his winning the drawing we did for the split I will make after I get the rest of the bees.
Participation by club members made this event run very smoothly and we were out of there by 11:30am. Thanks to Shannon and her daughter, Diotima, Lee, Rick and Carl for making this a really wonderful memory
for me and a great event for the club.
Neighbors had been alerted to the events by the homeowner, and they enjoyed driving by with curious looks, smiles and a few stopped to watch and ask questions. All of them enjoyed from a distance.
We DID NOT find the queen it appears, as she and many of the other bees scattered to the four corners of the cabin, literally. Carl suggested we tack the siding back up and let the queen and the rest of the bees come back to rebuild and then we could capture them
easily in a few days, since no comb would be in the way of our capturing them. I thought this to be an excellent idea so we did just that.
This morning, I could wait no longer and loaded up my tools in the VW Bug as I headed off to work in Hendersonville. At work, I unloaded a couple of those big boxes, with the nice separate lids, that reams of
paper come in. I sealed up all the large cracks I could find and put small holes in the lid for breathing on the long ride home.
After work I headed out 64 to Edneyville and was at the cabin in no time. I jumped out to take a look and those bees were going and coming in the same crack they were using Saturday. I got my tools out and lit my smoker. I put my gear on and quickly placed the
ladder. First I smoked them good and thanks to the tacking, I had the siding off in moments. The cross brace that held the comb on top last Saturday now had a huge cluster of bees hanging from it. It was about the size of a basketball. My idea was to spray them down
really good with sugar water and rake them into the boxes place the lids and be done. Of course the spray bottle did not work. However, I was able to slide the box up easily under the cluster and rake them off into it as I took the box out. I had to hurry down the ladder as
they were starting to fly, but I got the lid on with about 3 pounds of bees inside. This would make a nice addition to the small hive I had removed with comb on Saturday. I then took the other box and brushed all the clumps of bees I could find into it and put the lid on it. There were quite a few bees in that box also. In only about 5 minutes I was in, set up, removed the bees, broken back down and loaded up.
As I headed down Bear Wallow Road with my prize packages of bees, I noticed 2 or 3 flying around in the car and figured they must have been on the box and had crawled from under the lid. To be sure, I pushed down on the lids with my arm and drove on. As I got out to 64, I decided to take a quick Gatoraide pit stop as I had broken a sweat working so quickly. Those who know me, know I can break a sweat just thinking. I quickly shooed those bees out of the car before
procuring my drink. As I was entering the car, I noticed a few bees I had missed still flying around and I shooed them out and took off towards I-26. When I got to the red light at Wal-Mart area, I must have had 20 or 30 bees flying around in the car with me. That little red car has more room in it than you would think, but even so it was getting a bit too crowded for my comfort. I cracked the windows and let the bees fly out. People at the stop light were giving me some weird looks as those bees were flying out the window and buzzing all around my face. I was just glad to get moving again and left the
windows cracked to draw out those extra bees. I was beginning to get amazed at how many of those gals had hidden under the lip of the lid and must be crawling out. To be sure, I pressed down even harder on the lids with my arm. As I slid down the ramp onto I-26, the traffic
was really picking up, and not just on the road. I had my windows down by this point and still had bees everywhere. I may not be the brightest candle in the window, but I began to suspect the bees were not residual bees at all. I checked traffic to make sure I was not close to anyone and pulled off the side. You know, a bee can get through a lot smaller hole than you might think! I quickly discovered where all the bee traffic was merging in from. There was a fold in the cardboard box in one of the corners and it was just big enough for a worker to crawl through. They were patient and orderly and steadily making their escape, one bee at a time. I calculated that at the rate they were marching, I would have a one pound package by the time I got home if I did not do something. I forgot my duct tape, so I found my trusty Tractor Supply catalog I had picked up yesterday and placed it between the seat back and the box and pressed the box up against it with my arm while I drove. I must have closed off the escape hatch, as I only had to contend with a few bees that had gotten in the back and worked their way to the front on the way home.
When I got home, I decided to newspaper the packages onto the hive I removed on Saturday, since it had been so long (by the way, they have already attached some of the comb to the frames enough that I could remove the rubber bands if I wanted to). The packages from today went into the super fine and I was out of the bee yard in no time. I now need to see if I got the queen this time. If not, it should be easier next time as the numbers of bees are dwindling ( man, was that
a strong colony). If I did get her, I still may make one more trip just to get the bees to newspaper onto a split I made from a different hive. If you decide to haul bees as I did, make sure you have a bee proof container. That is my important safety tip for the day.
Two days later, I did the same thing after work and went to the cabin. I was surprised to find the owner had come up for the weekend and was a wonderful person to meet. I went back into the tacked up siding and again found a cluster of bees. This time the cluster was about the size of a volleyball. I quickly got them in the box and tacked the boards back up. After telling Wally, the homeowner of my experience last time when I took the bees home in my car, He quickly ran and got his masking tape. I made double sure they would stay in by masking over any potential escape holes. This did the trick. I had only 3 or 4 bees make it out of the box this time. I added them to the hive and it is really looking strong now.
Wally emailed me on Saturday and said there was another small cluster of bees in the wall and I may need to to this one more time to get them all out. Even in the best cases, this can be a multiple day process.
As many of you know, I obtained two bee trees over the winter. I got
one Thanksgiving week and the other on New Years Day. I had them tied
to a telephone pole in front of my house much to the discontent of my
wife. I promised her they would be there only temporarily and I
would have the bees in a hive. Temporarily was coming to an end
because I could tell one colony was VERY strong and likly to swarm.
ALSO I knew temporarily, as a time period, was ending because my wife
seemed to be growing less patient and understanding about the
arrangement.
The hive I got Thanksgiving was one that could have been taken care
of earlier, but I decided to do both at once. It had a large opening
above the brood nest, so I put a hive on it and was allowing them to
move up into it. I failed to put a weight on top and one of the
REALLY cold and windy nights in February, the top blew off and I did
not discover it immediately. That hive chidlled and eventually the
cluster became so small they died. I had hoped to remove that hive
full of bees, instead I removed it to put the bees from the other
tree in.
The other tree did not have an opening above the nest, so I would
have to open it to get them out. I split it from the top down in two
places using a wedge and a big hammer. The section split right out
of the slightly rotten tree and left the brood nest exposed and easy
to remove. I cut the comb out and rubberbanded the brood nest area
into empty frames and put them into a hive. Many of the bees followed
the brood into the hive, but several clusters clung to the split open
tree where the brood nest had been.
I took an empty cage that a package had come in and placed the top
part of our cat's self feeder in it. the self feeder is funnel shaped
and the bottom has a hole in the side where the cats can paw at the
food to cause it to drop out. I sprayed the bees with sugar water
and bushed them into the improvised funnel trap. They fell right in
and most slid into the cage and could not get out. I caught about 4
lbs this way and shook them into the hive. They began fanning the
Nasonov pheromone (I love the smell of it), but the rest would not
come. I figured the queen must have hid in one of the cracks in the
side of the tree. I took a crow bar and placed it in one of the
cracks where the larger portion of bees was clustered. It broke away
easily and I pulled it away with one hand bees and all. I shook them
off in the hive, but could not find the queen. I looked back at the
bee tree and noticed a cluster on the ground. A small portion of the
tree had fallen and I had not noticed it when I took the other piece
off the tree. I picked it up and there she was! I took my gloves
off and picked her up by her wings and placed her into the hive and
placed the lid down. I had already put a queen excluder (now an
includer) below the brood box to keep her from leaving. Many of the
bees still refused to go into the hive and clustered on the piece of
wood where the queen had been. I put a piece of plywood under the lip
of the hive and shook the bees off onto it. Then I removed the piece
of wood to where the bees could not find it. Soon they were crawling
into the hive and fanning the Nasonov pheromone. I enjoyed the smell
awhile until one of the guard bees told me it was time to move on.
Now only a few bees are hanging around the split open tree. I will
now remove the bees several miles to a friends house for 10 days and
bring them back to my bee yard BEHIND the house.
The only thing left to do is finish splitting up the bee trees for
firewood and stacking them up. Then my yard will not look like the
redneck beekeepers yard and my wife will once again be happy...until
I find another bee tree.
As many of you know, several members of the BCBC assisted me in
removing a colony of bees from a wall in Edneyville last Saturday.
We DID NOT find the queen it appears, as she and many of the other
bees scattered to the four corners of the cabin, literally. Carl
suggested we tack the siding back up and let the queen and the rest
of the bees come back to rebuild and then we could capture them
easily in a few days, since no comb would be in the way of our
capturing them. I thought this to be an excellent idea so we did
just that.
This morning, I could wait no longer and loaded up my tools in the VW
Bug as I headed off to work in Hendersonville. At work, I unloaded a
couple of those big boxes, with the nice separate lids, that reams of
paper come in. I sealed up all the large cracks I could find and put
small holes in the lid for breathing on the long ride home.
After work I headed out 64 to Edneyville and was at the cabin in no
time. I jumped out to take a look and those bees were going and
coming in the same crack they were using Saturday. I got my tools
out and lit my smoker. I put my gear on and quickly placed the
ladder. First I smoked them good and thanks to the tacking, I had the
siding off in moments. The cross brace that held the comb on top
last Saturday now had a huge cluster of bees hanging from it. It was
about the size of a basketball. My idea was to spray them down
really good with sugar water and rake them into the boxes place the
lids and be done. Of course the spray bottle did not work. However,
I was able to slide the box up easily under the cluster and rake them
off into it as I took the box out. I had to hurry down the ladder as
they were starting to fly, but I got the lid on with about 3 pounds
of bees inside. This would make a nice addition to the small hive I
had removed with comb on Saturday. I then took the other box and
brushed all the clumps of bees I could find into it and put the lid
on it. There were quite a few bees in that box also. In only about 5
minutes I was in, set up, removed the bees, broken back down and
loaded up.
As I headed down Bear Wallow Road with my prize packages of bees, I
noticed 2 or 3 flying around in the car and figured they must have
been on the box and had crawled from under the lid. To be sure, I
pushed down on the lids with my arm and drove on. As I got out to
64, I decided to take a quick Gatoraide pit stop as I had broken a
sweat working so quickly. Those who know me, know I can break a sweat
just thinking. I quickly shooed those bees out of the car before
procuring my drink. As I was entering the car, I noticed a few bees
I had missed still flying around and I shooed them out and took off
towards I-26. When I got to the red light at Wal-Mart area, I must
have had 20 or 30 bees flying around in the car with me. That little
red car has more room in it than you would think, but even so it was
getting a bit too crowded for my comfort. I cracked the windows and
let the bees fly out. People at the stop light were giving me some
weird looks as those bees were flying out the window and buzzing all
around my face. I was just glad to get moving again and left the
windows cracked to draw out those extra bees. I was beginning to get
amazed at how many of those gals had hidden under the lip of the lid
and must be crawling out. To be sure, I pressed down even harder on
the lids with my arm. As I slid down the ramp onto I-26, the traffic
was really picking up, and not just on the road. I had my windows
down by this point and still had bees everywhere. I may not be the
brightest candle in the window, but I began to suspect the bees were
not residual bees at all. I checked traffic to make sure I was not
close to anyone and pulled off the side. You know, a bee can get
through a lot smaller hole than you might think! I quickly
discovered where all the bee traffic was merging in from. There was
a fold in the cardboard box in one of the corners and it was just big
enough for a worker to crawl through. They were patient and orderly
and steadily making their escape, one bee at a time. I calculated
that at the rate they were marching, I would have a one pound package
by the time I got home if I did not do something. I forgot my duct
tape, so I found my trusty Tractor Supply catalog I had picked up
yesterday and placed it between the seat back and the box and pressed
the box up against it with my arm while I drove. I must have closed
off the escape hatch, as I only had to contend with a few bees that
had gotten in the back and worked their way to the front on the way
home.
When I got home, I decided to newspaper the packages onto the hive I
removed on Saturday, since it had been so long (by the way, they have
already attached some of the comb to the frames enough that I could
remove the rubber bands if I wanted to). The packages from today
went into the super fine and I was out of the bee yard in no time. I
now need to see if I got the queen this time. If not, it should be
easier next time as the numbers of bees are dwindling ( man, was that
a strong colony). If I did get her, I still may make one more trip
just to get the bees to newspaper onto a split I made from a
different hive. If you decide to haul bees as I did, make sure you
have a bee proof container. That is my important safety tip for the
day.
Calvin
Of Bees Wax and Didgeridoos
Nectar Collector Day at the Western North Carolina Nature Center was a lot of fun. No one had any honey for sale, due to the spring freeze, but I did take some bees wax for sale while I answered questions. I had the unique multicultural cross continental experience of meeting a rather interesting Scotsman visiting the area.
He spotted my bees wax and was delighted as he had been unable to find bees wax in the quantity he needed to wax his didgeridoo. I was a little afraid to ask. I know about the Kilts and the stuff that goes along with what a Scotsman wears under the Kilt (or doesn't wear), but there is only so much a hillbilly red neck is required to know. I was fortunate enough to have an expert description of a didgeridoo by our
own Buncombe County Beekeeper Chapter President, Janet Shisler.
She described it as the aboriginal Australian musical instrument that makes the (Sorry, I cant figure out how to best write down how she did the sound)
"wwwwonnnoowwwwoonnnnnngg" sound. I had seen Crocodile Dundee, in my previous multicultural experiences of a hillbilly red neck, and knew what that sound was.
Then my next question is WHAT a Scotsman is doing playing a didgeridoo instead of Bag Pipes? Well, he seemed to think it was normal, so I was just happy with a good sale and a happy customer with a great sounding didgeridoo.
Next question, will the airport security people believe it is bees wax for a didgeridoo or think it is C-4 and blow it up? For the sake of the poor Scotsman's didgeridoo, lets hope they take a good sniff of the sweet smell of fresh bees wax and know what that is.
By the way, I talked to the Scotsman awhile and loved his great accent. I asked how you play a didgeridoo and he said you have to breathe out and in at the same time. I thought about that statement a second and figured no wonder they call it a didgeridoo!
I said, "it sounds like you have to sort of get into a zone while playing a didgeridoo, maybe to the point you hallucinate just a bit?" He shot back in a thick Scottish accent with a quick "you got it". You should have been there! You just never know what interesting strangers you will happen upon or when.
Now I want me a didgeridoo to try to play.
Honeybees in a Wall
I planned most of the week to take the bees out of the wall of the abandoned house across from my place. I was really excited about those prospects, when I got off from work Friday evening. All the way home I ran scenarios through my head. I decided to walk down and
take a look Friday evening and make some observations at the site.
As I looked up to the side of the house with the whole in the wall, I noticed a few bees flying around my face and wondered why they were doing that, as I was not that close to the entrance. I turned around to look at the mess of vines and roses that had grown up around the
house and plan the best way to rid the walkway of this mess. I look straight into a swarm that I had been standing about 2 feet from. (My power of observation is hampered by tunnel vision sometimes.)
I caught the swarm in just a few moments and have it hived at my house already. When I first hived them, I smelled the scent they put off the best I have ever smelled it. It smelled like I was in a closed room using lemon fresh pledge. It was really strong and they
fanned it out to welcome all the stragglers who quickly came in. I then wondered what kind of shape the colony remaining in the house would be in. I called Carl and told him it was a go for this morning. He told me he had some afternoon plans with a beekeeper friend and wondered when I would want to start. I told him I get up at 5:00 and we would have to wait till at least first light. He then muttered something about sleeping in and needing coffee to function that early. He did make it at a reasonable hour and boy DID HE SAVE
THE DAY!
We took the rotten sides off the wall and found the bees had built about 6 feet long combs in two of the panels between the old rough sawn studs. They built diagonally and it was not really easy to see what we were doing. We began by cutting what appeared to be old empty comb and placing it in a box. Then we cut out honey comb and put it in 5 gallon buckets. By the time we got to the top area of the comb, we were expecting lots of brood. We found none. We were puzzled at a colony that would cast a swarm and not have any brood.
Carl left to get some supplies and I went into a hive of mine to get some capped brood that I was raising queens with. (we figured the colony may be queenless and we also knew the brood would make it easier to get the bees to accept the new home.
While Carl was gone, both of us thought that maybe we needed to examine some of the "empty comb" to see if by chance some eggs were there. And we did find the eggs and bees were all over them in no time. At this point, we know at least there was recently a queen
there. We also know it cast a swarm less than 24 hours before. There were bees everywhere in those buckets of honeycomb. I could not believe my ears when Carl, who was looking intently in one of the buckets, said "I found her bring my queen catcher and marking kit."
I could almost have kissed the guy, NO NOT REALLY, but I was very happy. We caught her and marked her then released her into the hive body with the brood, and some small cell foundation Carl went and got for me.
By this time the bees were piling into the hive. I was brushing buckets of bees off of the wall and pouring them into the hive. They fanned the scent of welcome to the rest and the hive body was getting so full Carl suggested I put another hive body on it. I did this and
cut comb with eggs, honey, pollen and empty cells to fit 10 frames. I installed these and the second body began filling up. The job which started for me this morning at about 8:00 am ended this evening at about 8:00pm when I brushed four more 2 1/2 gallon buckets, each
with about a half gallon of bees, off of the wall. I poured each into the hive and they began fanning the scent and even more bees began coming in. It seems some of the bees still just did not want to leave the area which formerly held the comb. By this time I noticed
about a quart of bees were hanging off of the back of the top cover where my brood body had a hole. It appears there may not be enough room for all of them and I am out of brood bodies. I may end up trying to newspaper part of these bees onto the swarm, which could use the extra bees, later on.
Neither Carl or I got stung all day and I spent a lot of time with my off and gloves off because it was soooooo hot. The last 4 times I brushed bees off of the wall, I was just too lazy to put those gloves on one more time. I paid for it when one got my pinky on the last brushing. I could not rake the stinger out as my hands were full and i had to get down from the ladder. That one ouches a little because it pumped some poison prior to me getting it out.
The bees were extremely gentle and appeared to be a mix of Italians and Russians. The phenotypes appeared to be about 3/4 Italian looking and 1/4 Russian looking bees. They had obviously been there awhile. I thought about the broodless situation and realized this could be a real plus for Varroa control. I wonder if they have a lot
of russian influence in the genotype and this is why they were broodless.
All in all, it was a great experience and a real blessing to get these bees. A great big thanks to Carl! What a friend! I owe you one buddy! This is now my strongest hive. By the way, the battery died on my camera and I only got a couple of shots.
A side note, I had 5 queen cages which were used last year. I was hoping to find more than one queen. All of these cages ended up with clusters of bees attached to them. The queen pheromone must really be strong to last almost one year.
I did take a break to do some business in the late afternoon, and figured this would give the bees time to do what they do. I got a call from Rick Messer, who had a swarm about 40 feet up. I have not heard if or how he solved that one.
Calvin Robinson
Inside a Swarm
by Chris Mathis of The Spicewood Farm
I was visiting a fellow beekeeper up in the mountains. He has a lovely bee yard perched beside a grassy meadow on the side of a mountain in Mitchell County. We had been sharing stories about bees and spring as Jack, N'ann and I walked up to his bee yard in the middle of a beautiful spring afternoon. Blooms everywhere - apples, red-buds, flowers galore. A perfect day.
The three of us were greeted in the bee yard by a medium-sized swarm perched low on the trunk of a small peach tree about 20 feet from his hives. Jack said he'd go back to the barn to retrieve some hive parts and tools so we could capture the swarm. N'ann and I sat down beside the tree a couple of feet away to study them more closely.
That is when the magic began.
There, in the middle of the swarm, was a small bee doing the waggle dance. We learn about it. We've seen video. But we seldom see it real time. And there it was - right in front of us. A worker bee was telling the swarm that it had found a home. somewhere. (I don't speak bee-waggle yet!)
Dancing in the sunlight. Singing its discovery. "Home"
We watched the dance for what seemed to be several minutes. I commented to N'ann that Jack had better hurry or this swarm was going to leave.
Then, the sounds and volume around us began to change. What had been a low, sweet hum, became a higher pitched buzz. Bees began to take to the air.
We sat - mesmerized next to the tree. The bees started to slowly depart the tree trunk and circle. Low at first. Around the swarm bulb. Around us. We were in the middle of the sound and action. We wanted to hum with them - in spite of the fact that we knew this colony was departing.
As they rose higher, it was like looking into the middle of a tornado straight up. Sunlight. Blossoms. Bees. Purpose. Perfect.
We sat still, watching them rise - tree trunk getting ever barer. They slowly moved up above the tree tops, slowly drifting toward the northwest. We watched as the swarm funnel moved across the hill - soon beyond our perception.
We walked back down the hill and met Jack coming up. Gave him the news, and, with a shrug said there'd be other opportunities.
We're thankful for our (rare) opportunity to share the dance and be inside a swarm. Yes, a loss. But also a memory gained.
