Martin
07-25-2009, 05:49 AM
Hi All
This is only my 1st year of bee keeping, I took up Bee keeping as I had a phobia of Bees! Dont laugh, I used to blow up like a balloon every time I got stung.
8 or so stings later even with a suit on, I got tagged again today to my surprise the swelling was gone in an hour or two, this is great news as far as I'm concerned. I must be starting to build up some immunity and as off today I have 3 1/2 hives.
My main hive that I was given to me last year swarmed today, only yesterday I pulled the lid to check on how they were doing as here in Australia Spring is nearly upon us. Anyway I noticed that there were 5 queen cells at the lower part of one frame, I removed one to see how far gone she was to my surprise she was ready and even few before I caught her again, so I grabbed a frame of brood and bees and introduced her to the bees no worries at all, I placed them into a swarm box I had. This morning one of the other queens hatched and a new swarm started to form just as I got back home (lucky me) I suited up and the chase was, after they settled I placed them straight into a full sized box of full frames they went straight in. I have moved the new hive tonight after dark to a new place so that they can settle in without the other bees from my hives giving them a hard time.
My question is this, how much time do I need to give them before I can open up the hive to check everything out 1 week 2 weeks or are we talking days?
Also as far as swarming is concerned can I just kill off the remaining queens to stop any further swarming or em I better off to make another hive?
Cheers from Sunny Downunder
Martin
This is only my 1st year of bee keeping, I took up Bee keeping as I had a phobia of Bees! Dont laugh, I used to blow up like a balloon every time I got stung.
8 or so stings later even with a suit on, I got tagged again today to my surprise the swelling was gone in an hour or two, this is great news as far as I'm concerned. I must be starting to build up some immunity and as off today I have 3 1/2 hives.
My main hive that I was given to me last year swarmed today, only yesterday I pulled the lid to check on how they were doing as here in Australia Spring is nearly upon us. Anyway I noticed that there were 5 queen cells at the lower part of one frame, I removed one to see how far gone she was to my surprise she was ready and even few before I caught her again, so I grabbed a frame of brood and bees and introduced her to the bees no worries at all, I placed them into a swarm box I had. This morning one of the other queens hatched and a new swarm started to form just as I got back home (lucky me) I suited up and the chase was, after they settled I placed them straight into a full sized box of full frames they went straight in. I have moved the new hive tonight after dark to a new place so that they can settle in without the other bees from my hives giving them a hard time.
My question is this, how much time do I need to give them before I can open up the hive to check everything out 1 week 2 weeks or are we talking days?
Also as far as swarming is concerned can I just kill off the remaining queens to stop any further swarming or em I better off to make another hive?
Cheers from Sunny Downunder
Martin