Who has Queens for sale NOW IN Centrial Ca or for Shipping here

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02-11-2008, 11:32 PM
Angi_H

Who has Queens for sale NOW IN Centrial Ca or for Shipping here

I have to go out and remove a hive in a hollow of a tree. Unknown yet if I can cut he tree down. More to come on that one. Now if I can not find the Queen or if she dies by accident (which I hope not because they have lived all winter and have not died in this tree I want those genetics) Who has them now for sale where I could get one in a few short days? Any ideas? I would prefer the closer to ca the better.

Angi H
HHH Farms
02-12-2008, 05:38 AM
riverrat

You will be hard pressed to find a mated queen this time of the year for sale. If possible I would wait to do the cutout until spring when queens are readily available.
02-13-2008, 10:38 PM
Angi_H

Quote:

Originally Posted by riverrat

You will be hard pressed to find a mated queen this time of the year for sale. If possible I would wait to do the cutout until spring when queens are readily available.

Cant the bees have to go now and before they build up there hive. Or the owner has no choice but have them killed by the pest guy. I am going to try to do the removal on friday and see what I can do and what I can get. And then place it in a nuc and screen the rest and make a cone and hope the rest move up. As they wont be able to move back in. You would think that with Almond bloom there would be some where saling queens for all of those costly and valuable hives doing the pollinating.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ehollow007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ehollow006.jpg

Angi
02-14-2008, 03:16 AM
BEES4U

Who has Queens for sale NOW IN Centrial Ca or for Shipping here

The earliest queens available are over wintered queens that were mated last summer and it is very difficult to get on that list with queen breeders.
What I do is over winter the queens in nucs, make my first grafting, cage out the tested queen, and place a ripe queen cell into the nuc.
The almond bloom is good for building bees and preparing for the new queen season. But, no drones are in abundance until we have settled weather.
I have 132 over wintered queens that were contract grown late last season.
The cost of one queen plus shipping is cost prohibitive.
I wish that I could help. But, early queens are in very high demand.
Just be very slow and careful when you get into your project. I hope that you can locate the queen.

Regards,
Ernie Lucas
Lucas Apiaries
02-14-2008, 05:42 AM
riverrat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angi_H

Cant the bees have to go now and before they build up there hive. Or the owner has no choice but have them killed by the pest guy. I am going to try to do the removal on friday and see what I can do and what I can get. And then place it in a nuc and screen the rest and make a cone and hope the rest move up. As they wont be able to move back in. You would think that with Almond bloom there would be some where saling queens for all of those costly and valuable hives doing the pollinating

You have to remember a lot of the hive used in pollination. were overwintered in warmer climates. Unfortunatly we cant pick when queens will be available. The availability is determined when mother nature lets it happen. Why is there a hurry to remove the bees. Talk with the owner and seeif you can calm any fears he has
02-14-2008, 11:17 PM
Angi_H

Ya well I have tried to talk to him to get him to let me remove it later but the limb needs to come down before it comes down on its own and busts through his truck. It is right above where he parks. And no tree guys will touch it. So it is getting done tomorrow early eve. I will be very carefull and hope for the best. worst case the queen gets killed or I can not locate her in the tree and I luck out and get all of the comb, honey and brood with newly laid eggs and the bees can make a queen from there.

Angi
02-15-2008, 04:22 AM
peggjam

Have the guys cutting the tree cut to the top of the cavity, and then go below that and cut about 2' below where their entrance is. If you have a rope on that section, they can lower it into your truck and then you take it home and do a cut out when there are queens available.:)
02-15-2008, 05:37 AM
riverrat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angi_H

Ya well I have tried to talk to him to get him to let me remove it later but the limb needs to come down before it comes down on its own and busts through his truck. It is right above where he parks. And no tree guys will touch it. So it is getting done tomorrow early eve. I will be very carefull and hope for the best. worst case the queen gets killed or I can not locate her in the tree and I luck out and get all of the comb, honey and brood with newly laid eggs and the bees can make a queen from there.

Angi

unless you have drones flying the new queen will not get bred. is there a possibility that you can screen the entrance to the hive let them do what they need to do and come back later or take the log home when they get it cut
02-15-2008, 11:18 PM
sierrabees

If you have to take them now you might try a technique I have used to get the queen to move out, assuming you can get a reasonably warm day.
I modified an old smoker by plugging the nozzle to fit a 1/4 inch copper tube. Then I attached a two foot length of rubber tubing to the smoker on one end and a one foot length of copper tube on the other end. Then, using a portable drill and an 18 inch long 1/2 inch spade bit I drill a series of holes above the entrance until I can determine how high the colony is. When the drill comes back without any wax or honey on it I assume I am above the colony. I use a screen and box setup like you describe and staple a strip of burlap from the top of the cone where it attaches to the tree up to the entrance of my collecting hive to serve as a ladder and direct the bees. Then I take an empty tin can with some bee-go in it and float it in an inch of water in the smoker. I bring the water to a boil on a camping stove to activate the bee-go and then pump the fumes into the highest drill hole that has provided evidence of wax, making sure all other holes except those under the screen cone are plugged. As long as the day is warm enough for the bees to crawl out of the tree and out of the cone, you stand a chance of driving the queen out with them.

If I don't see the queen come out within a reasonable time I take some cotton balls and soak them with bee-go, push them down the hole I use to fumigate the hive, and plug that hole securely afterward. Then I leave them alone for a week or two.

I have succeeded in getting the queen about half of the times I did this. Make sure you wear rubber gloves and don't spill any bee-go on yourself if you want to be let in the house when you go home. Good Luck!
02-16-2008, 01:04 AM
Angi_H

Well I got a few combs with honey and brood and about half the bees. No queen. I have a nuc with sugar syrup feed on top and swarm lure inside. I have screened and coned the the entrance of the hive which is huge with a bid 8 in wide by 1 1/2 foot long hole in the tree. I then so they can go out but not in. I put the nuc in the fork 10ft down. Oh and the hive went toward bottom not up to the top. So I was working going down into the hole. So the nuc is in the fork tied in with what brood comb and honey I did get a few 1ft sections and rubber banded in frames and a pollen patty on the top bars with a sugar surup feeder on top with hiney b healthy in the syrup. There is also swarm lure at the entrance board as well as on the top bars. I go back tomorrow and I will try the honey robber thing. with the drill and the smoker. easy to do the rest of the hive is abotu 1ft more of comb and honey. I will keep the cone in place and drill while placing a swarm tarp box over the cone. that way they can only go into that and maybe they can get dumped in the nuc and taken home tomorrow night. I really want to rescue this hive. They were very calm and gental. They looked like italians. They would have swarmed in a few months as there was no more room for them to make comb in that tree. When all is said and done if we dont get them all by a few weeks from now if I can figure out how to make a bee vac then I will use that if not we will spray the bees with soapey water and fill the void with expansion foam and let it go. Hopefully I will get the queen before that though.

Angi
02-17-2008, 10:43 PM
Troy

I don't know about Central CA, but I do know about Central FL.

I posted this in the Bee Forum the other day for someone from NC, but it might work for you too......

SUBJ: What to do for Queenless hive in Feb

Garry Oreskovic of Honey Land Farms has an Ad in on pg 43 of the Jan Bee Culture. He is advertising queen cells in Feb.

It is Feb and maybe he'll have mated queens too. Honey Land Farms in Central Florida, so shipping a queen to NC should be much cheaper than from Hawaii.

Good Luck.
02-17-2008, 11:12 PM
Angi_H

Got The Queen Yeaaaaa!!!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sierrabees

If you have to take them now you might try a technique I have used to get the queen to move out, assuming you can get a reasonably warm day.
I modified an old smoker by plugging the nozzle to fit a 1/4 inch copper tube. Then I attached a two foot length of rubber tubing to the smoker on one end and a one foot length of copper tube on the other end. Then, using a portable drill and an 18 inch long 1/2 inch spade bit I drill a series of holes above the entrance until I can determine how high the colony is. When the drill comes back without any wax or honey on it I assume I am above the colony. I use a screen and box setup like you describe and staple a strip of burlap from the top of the cone where it attaches to the tree up to the entrance of my collecting hive to serve as a ladder and direct the bees. Then I take an empty tin can with some bee-go in it and float it in an inch of water in the smoker. I bring the water to a boil on a camping stove to activate the bee-go and then pump the fumes into the highest drill hole that has provided evidence of wax, making sure all other holes except those under the screen cone are plugged. As long as the day is warm enough for the bees to crawl out of the tree and out of the cone, you stand a chance of driving the queen out with them.

If I don't see the queen come out within a reasonable time I take some cotton balls and soak them with bee-go, push them down the hole I use to fumigate the hive, and plug that hole securely afterward. Then I leave them alone for a week or two.

I have succeeded in getting the queen about half of the times I did this. Make sure you wear rubber gloves and don't spill any bee-go on yourself if you want to be let in the house when you go home. Good Luck!

Well I did what you said. Only with out the copper tube and when I got down off the ladder and was smoking bees off of my hubbys hat and bee suite there she was the beautiful Queen all perfect and nice and gentle. I carefully grabbed her and had hubby make a quicq cage out of left over screen and placed her in there. Because we had to move the ladder over to the other fork where the nuc was set up. I removed the top feeder while holding the queen in one hand and placed her in the hole in the top of the nuc where the feed bucket sits. Almost instantly the few bees near there that were on the top of the nuc started fanning to let the other bees to come over here. I placed the feeder back on top and moved the ladder back to where the old hive was. I smoked the last of the bees out of the hive and filled the hole in with expansion foam. the owner wanted it done this way. I sprayed the bees that were above the old hive with sugar syrup and honey-b-healthy and brushed them into a box some still flew up higher then I could reach but I then shaked the bees at the entrance to the nuc in the fork. I will go back Tuesday night to check things out and move the nuc. I will screen over the bottom entrance and screen the top hole that is for the feeder and bring them home. I will leave them a few weeks in the Nuc and then transfer them into a hive. Hopefully all will be ok. As YES I got the queen that made me so happy. And get this there is NO EVIDENCE OF MITES. Not a single one on any of the bees.

Angi