Swarm challenge

[Charlie B]

I want to thank Fuzzy for giving me a 6 pound swarm today plus another two pounder as an extra bonus. You'd think others (OD) would be that generous.

[odfrank]

[QUOTE=Charlie B;783494You'd think others (OD) would be that generous. [/QUOTE]

What about my referral to the nice after swarm with a virgin in Marin County an hours drive away during commute hour? No one else on BeeSource would be so ungrateful for a scenic drive across the Golden Gate Bridge on a nice sunny day. That swarm could have developed into your best hive if you weren't so snooty, and you could have taken your wife out for dinner in Sausalito on the way home.

[odfrank]

Good bait hive hosts watch them carefully and send pics and videos of the arrivals.
Today 94063.

[odfrank]

Even better is two bait hive hosts who send videos. This is the second bait on this stand since Sunday. Click to view.

[Charlie B]

Are you blackmailing these people or what?

[odfrank]

Today's blackmail:

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

odfrank, charlie.. Got another one today. (total 7, which is good for Kentucky, this time of year., I normally get about 12 - 15, but that is through July, and it isn't even May yet.).

Thought I had another, drove up to it, bees coming and going, I grabbed frames ready to put inside, opened the top and found about 50 bees. Hopefully they are the scouts, and in a day or two I will have another.

So far this year I have caught the scouts looking at two hives. In one, the swarm moved in 3 days later, in the other, the swarm came 6 days later. All feral because I don't have any hives large enough to swarm. No other beekeepers anywhere near me. I have already made 85 splits and all I have left are single chamber, small hives. They will have to grow some for me to make my last 50 splits.

cchoganjr

[Charlie B]

I have already made 85 splits and all I have left are single chamber, small hives. They will have to grow some for me to make my last 50 splits.cchoganjr

85 splits? I just split 10 hives and I'm tired!

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

Charlie...I sell bees. Have now for a few years. Honey is a by-product. I am approaching 70 and I split and sell 100 or just a few over each year. Then I quit for the year. Old Valley Man, from Munfordville, came and picked up 6 hives today. Dowell Bee Co got 14 on Tuesday. Another 15 or so will go out tomorrow.

Monday I will run my trap line and see if I can gain on odfrank. HA! One looks promising. I think I saw the scouts checking it out a couple days ago.

By the way, The dozen or so Cottonwood boxes I made back in the winter are all in use now, and we will see how they do. They look really nice. I made three square hives like odfrank, and I am going to fill them this next week.

cchoganjr

[LetMBee]

Odfrank: do you have those traps in a no wind zone? They look like nuke boxes. Did you make them and weight them or something? Do they ever blow off of your barrels, or big black pots?

[Charlie B]

Cleo,

When you do splits are they just with queen cells or do you do queen rearing also?

[odfrank]

Odfrank: do you have those traps in a no wind zone? They look like nuke boxes. Did you make them and weight them or something? Do they ever blow off of your barrels, or big black pots?

Most are in sheltered areas. They are nuc boxes. I made most of them. A gardener knocked one over but otherwise no problems.

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

I buy my queens from Kelly Bee Co in Clarkson Ky, and more recently I got 35 from John Spoo, and getting 25 more next Friday. . They came from Louisiana and are Minnesota Hygenic.

I am too old to get into queen raising.

As I am splitting, I keep 5 frame nucs available, and if I see queen cells, or a super queen, (six or more frames solid with brood, take a couple with unsealed brood ) I take those and let them make their own queens. I have about 15 now in process making queens. If I take unsealed brood and don't see a queen cell in 5 to 7 days, I put a queen with that split. The down side to making their own queens is the time factor, normally a minimum of 30 days. Upside is, that queen is free. My favorite price.

I spend more time helping others than in my own little world. It is an oversized hobby for me. I am not a commercial beekeeper by any means.

cchoganjr

[Charlie B]

I want to start selling nucs but here in SF, queens don't mate very well due to high winds and fog so I have to buy queens. I just split 10 huge hives and the hardest part was finding all the queens before doing the splits. What a pain but I managed to do it following the egg trail.

While waiting for my queens to be ready this spring, the hives went from two boxes to 6 and 7 from February till now. Big Eucalyptus flow here every fall and winter.

[Charlie B]

I am too old to get into queen raising.

Here that Ollie, maybe we are too.

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

There is a big demand for nucs, lots more are getting into beekeeping than in the past.

I don't spend a lot of time looking for the queen. If I don't find her right off, I make the split. ( I am fortunate to have three yards that I keep bees, and I almost always move the split three + miles.) If I haven't found her, I go back through the brood hive and the split and see if I find her after making the split. If still no luck, I close the split (and along with the others for the day, move them. I mark the two hives and just don't put a queen with that split until I go through it the following day. The next day the split has settled down, and you are only looking at five frames. My brood stock is all, single and two deep chamber hives, so finding the queen is easier than in two deeps and 5 supers that you are talking about. I am also lucky in that I can normally find the queen.

I know you already know this, but, others may not, I will explain how I do it. Use very little, to no smoke, when looking for the queen. Smoke will send her scurring to the darkest corners of the hive. Look at the frames carefully, but don't spend a lot of time on any one frame. As you split, leave a gap between the frames you leave in the hive, and leave a gap between the frames in the split hive. That way the queen can't move from one frame to another while you are looking. After you find her, push the frames together, and move. You don't have to move 3 miles, but it does help, if you can. Always take more bees with the split than you think you really need, it will help them to build up faster. Also remember that the parent hive has lots of bees in the field that you are not seeing.

cchoganjr

[enchplant]

I have placed 11 traps around the East Bay and so far have captured swarms in 4 of them.
I also have caught 2 swarms from Phone calls and one trap out , but no queen . One cut out with no queen either.
I got to remember next year to put more empty frames in the traps. I just had the one frame of drawn comb. I don't need to be doing cut outs if I don't get to them for a few days.

[Charlie B]

Thanks Cleo. I just checked all the splits yesterday and all the queens are released doing fine. I'll try your technique of splitting anyway then searching the nuc box the next day when I do more splits. It's got to be less time consuming that what I'm doing.

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

enchplant...The technique that works for me is....whether it is a cut out, swarm catcher box, or a caught swarm, I always put two drawn combs, and two frames foundation, starter wax. Even if you don't get back to it for several days, the two brood combs will suffice for the queen to start laying, and to start storing nectar and pollen. The two frames of foundation gives them something to start drawing on, and rarely do they drop comb beyond the two foundation frames. I often put new foundation because it has that new wax smell. After a while, on an inspection trip, replace that foundation frame and use it elsewhere.

I also place the brood combs against one side of the box, not in the center. and the foundation going toward the center.

cchoganjr

[odfrank]

Here that Ollie, maybe we are too.

Either that or because our faces have too many feminine features.