Lessons learned (read as "OUCH!)

[Hens and Roos]

Hens, you (your very handy/talented DH) can go to YouTube and see how to make a Top Bar Hive (TBH) They can be built from scratch pretty easily and are a fraction of the cost of langstroth hives. Once built, in the late spring, just dab a little lemon grass oil on a couple of frames inside and you've just created a swarm trap With a little luck, you won't have to do anything else. A swarm will find it and move in and viola! you're an up & coming bee keeper! After that, it's really pretty low maintenance! I'll re-set up the other Lang hive I have next spring, but think I'm, going to do a TBH next time I expand.

thanks! we may have to try this idea....of course our DD and DS(13) are learning wood working through school....so maybe a project for them

Good luck setting up you second hive!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Latestarter - put a couple inches of water in a pot that you do not intend to ever use again for cooking. (meaning go to goodwill and get a crummy pot) Put the cappings in and the beeswax will float on the water and cook slowly. (low heat) Preferably outdoors, it's messy. I haven't done it yet, but I've watched so many youtube videos that my head was spinning.

One super important thing is not to leave it unattended. Beeswax is extremely flammable and you can burn your house down.

 

[babsbag]

I have harvested the wax in the past but if I do it again I will try a solar wax melter, the other just required too many strainings to get it that nice clean yellow I needed for lotion bars.

So bad news on the bee front here at home. I walk by these hives multiple times a day and always see bees and in the evening there is bearding as well. A few weeks ago one hive was just busy as a bee (HA HA) and I thought perhaps they were being robbed, but there were no battles at the door way so I just tucked it away for some thing to watch. The next few days was much calmer. There were still bees coming and going like "normal" a week ago. Today nothing, nada...no body home. It was most likely robbing of a dead hive that I was watching, all the honey has been chewed out and the wax moths have moved in.

So hive number two was pretty quiet too so I popped the top and it is dead but in a little different state, there is capped and emerging brood, but not much. The top box was about 1/2 full of honey, most uncapped. The bottom box had plenty of capped honey and pollen so they didn't starve. Being the opportunist that I am I took the capped honey. But what to do about the uncapped? There are bees coming and going, I am sure they are taking the honey which is ok, any bee needs what it can find. I have been told that uncapped honey will ferment. Any thoughts?

I have two other hives at other places that I will check on next week when the temps are below 95. Too hot right now.

Next year I will treat a package for mites when I buy it. And I will only buy one hive for my house. I have a neighbor nearby with about 10 hives, I don't think this area can support that many. Just IMO

Frustrating for sure. No dead bees in the hive, just gone. No swarm cells either.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Odd babs.

For the uncapped frames, you can put it in the freezer. Then thaw and add back to the hive in the spring.

 

[Latestarter]

Wow Babs... seems your "luck" w/hives is on a multi year roll... Sorry about the bad end. If you are going to try again next year, I would take those frames with capped/uncapped honey and stick them in the freezer now like Chooks suggested. No sense giving it all to the neighbors bees. That will give your package a HUGE head start next year when you install them.

I lost one of my hives in a similar way... no dead bees, just gone. It obviously went queenless somehow and I didn't catch it soon enough to fix it. I watched the hive deterioration over time and I let it die out. When I went to break it down, there was a mouse inside it. It had done some damage to the remaining comb, but it will still be usable next year when I split the hive I have left (if IT survives the winter) It's a very strong hive.

OK, on a better note, I finished the honey today and have 12 full pint jars and a full 1.5 pint jar. The honey is delish! This coming weekend, weather permitting, I will suit up again (with gloves!) and take out the honey super frames and add in the double sugar water feeder. I HOPE to also take apart at least the upper deep and powdered sugar dust all frames.

The wax is all floating in cool water right now to clean the honey off it. I will rinse it one more time in a strainer before putting it in a pot to boil/melt. Out of 26 pounds total weight, the wax portion was significantly less weight than I anticipated. It's all very clean virgin wax, used only for honey. It's never had brood in it. Nearly white. Should be excellent for lip balm or hand cream. We'll see.

Hens, that's a SPLENDID idea! I would talk to their wood shop teacher and see if they can make that their project! How beneficial would THAT be?! Brilliant!

 

[babsbag]

Thats a good idea about the uncapped frames, thanks for the tip.

As far as the bees, IDK where they go, but this isn't the first time I have had hives just disappear. I looked at absconding bees and this doesn't really fit as there is honey and there is a little brood and a handful of bees. So they say CCD is the cause. The first hive was definitely robbed out but they were probably in the same state a few weeks ago.

 

[Latestarter]

That's how mine was before it died completely. w/no queen, it's a done deal really... Good that you caught it and can salvage something before it too got robbed naked.

Edit to say: Oh, by the way, when you freeze the frames, make sure they are upright in the freezer so the uncapped honey doesn't run out before it freezes...

 

[babsbag]

It is heartbreaking to see an empty hive. I always feel like I failed them somehow. This last year I bought all new wooden ware as I didn't want to take a chance that there was something lurking in my old hive. I always grow plants for the bees, leave weeds the bees like, never spray, make sure they have a source of water, have some shade in the summer, and they still die. I was just getting ready to treat for mites...

Bee keeping in CA is tough right now. I know a beekeeper that lost 40% of his hives last year. @Happy Chooks is doing well though so there is hope. CCD may have been the cause...great...what caused the CCD? The age old question, right? I think that next year I will just have to feed year round if we are still in a drought.

I will try again and if that mean hive is still alive I will treat it for mites and just leave it for the winter. The other hive at my friend's house swarmed this year so I don't how much stores they were able to save up as they were a pretty small hive. Next week our weather is supposed to be in the 80's so I will go and check on them and take winter patties and Hopguard.

 

[Latestarter]

When I do my hive this coming weekend, I hope to pull some brood from cells and check for mites. The hive is VERY strong with a LOT of bees for this time of year! I really don't want to use chemicals if I can avoid it... If I can get away with just the powdered sugar, I'd prefer to leave it at that... we'll see. I know w/the sugar I'll have to do it at least 3 times, ~7 days apart, to catch them as they hatch out before they can mature and lay their own eggs. I don't need to kill them all, just keep them at a manageable level for the bees. I'll update when I find out.

Hope your other hives surprise you... in a GOOD way!

 

[babsbag]

I got my first hive 7 years ago and had it for 3 years. Never treated for mites other than powdered sugar and grease patties for tracehal mites. I had no idea what I was doing, should have requeened them and I didn't. But it seemed so much easier 7 years ago.