Question Came In- Ventilation while feeding bees!

photo copyright 2011 ©-The Hive Honey Shop

Dear James,

I have a question that I would appreciate your advice on.

Following the collection of the nuc from you 5 weeks ago, I have been regularly feeding the colony with syrup by way of a frame feeder. Now that I have a Ashforth feeder, I note that by using this type of feeder the roof ventilation will be shut off. Is this correct or is there an alternative means of providing ventilation at the roof? There is a supply of air at floor level by means of the varroa floor. The bees appear to be collecting and returning with pollen (various colours) from foraging flights, there are also stores of pollen within the frames.

In addition, whilst cleaning the removable floor I disturbed two caterpillars which appeared to have cocooned themselves in debris which have fallen through the hive floor. I attach a couple of photos from which I hope you will be able to identify and advise.

I appreciate this may be an imposition on my part, but any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Mark

Answer:

There is more than enough airflow in a beehive. The roof vents come into play during the long wet winter months allowing condensation to escape and not build up within the hive. The fact that you have an open mesh varroa floor means you have ample air flow.

The photo of the caterpillars are in fact Wax Moth Larva- a very destructive pest to beekeeping. A moth lays her eggs in the wax debris and the eggs hatch, feed on the decaying hive litter, grow in numbers and eat through the wax combs and wooden frames, making a mess of your hive. The cocoon is the remaining open shell from an emerged moth.

So to avoid a wax moth invasion, clean the hive floor regularly and remove any wax moth larva from your hive. Protect your stored equipment by sealing supers with drawn comb in plastic sacks and use acetic acid ( 1/4 cup) on a piece of carpet placed on top of the stored supers/brood boxes. Seal the bag. Careful not to inhale the fumes, do it outdoors. Then in the spring air the equipment for 24 hours before placing them on a hive full of bees.

Hope that helps. Keep an eye out for our next article about buying equipment safely and the pit falls to avoid!

Here's a question that just came in about our Wasp Trap Method

Here's a question that just came in!

This is an old post, so you probably are no longer there. If you are, can you tell me how you keep the trap from capturing your bees as well as the wasps? Thank you. em By Anonymous on Danger-WASPS!- protect your hives on 26/07/11

Answer: Because you will be making a liquid bait that consists of Beer, Jam and Water- Honeybees & Bumblebees will not be interested but repulsed by the smell. Wasps are carnivorous and love the smell of decaying meat, fruit etc. So this bait attracts flies, moths and wasps.

Hope this helps. Keep watching our blog! We have a great article about buying beehive parts that is a must read for the beekeeping beginner!! Coming soon!

Urban London Roof Top Beekeeping!

photo copyright 2011 ©-The Hive Honey Shop


You can keep bees just about anywhere really. Here's a few photos of our London Roof Top Beekeeping. We have been keeping bees in central London for over 25 years with great results and lots of honey! The key point to a successful urban apiary is- Buy bees from a professional bee breeder. Pedigree bees mean calm, docile lovey bees, that make for a lovely beekeeping experience for both you and your neighbours.

Don't be fooled by people offering bees at knock down prices- you get what you pay for. Have an in depth talk with the bee breeder asking them what kind of bees they are, where they come from, how old is the queen bee. Interview the seller and ask lots of questions. Just because they have been keeping bees for 30 years does not mean that they are qualified to sell bees. Never buy a swarm of bees. They are of an unknown origin and of unknown attributes.

Next select your site and position the hive so that the flight pattern is pointing away from public foot paths, windows or any area where people will gather. Common sense advance planning is highly recommended.

The Hives Rule of Thumb: Out of sight, Out of mind.

If people can't see the hives they will not complain. Most urban disputes come from the public worried that, bees in an area mean stings. UNTRUE. Again common sense management of the hive i.e. pick a good time to open and inspect your hive when there are likely to be few people around. Avoid opening your hive at noon on a Sunday when all your neighbours will be in their gardens.

Be Well Prepared.

Take a beekeeping course, read lots of beekeeping books, search the web. After you understand what's involved with beekeeping, then its time to buy the beehives-not the bees! Get all your equipment assembled and in place. Get all your protective cloths, hive tools, gloves etc. Now that you have all the bits and pieces that make up your apiary, then you can plan to buy the live bees.

Best Time.

Best time to buy bees is in the spring, around May/June. This gives your bees plenty of time to build up and expand to a full colony before the winter sets in and the population begins to decline in preparation for the winter break ahead.

So why not give urban beekeeping a go. Its fun and interesting and bees will find the nectar, you don't need to plant any special food plants for them. They can fly up to a 3 mile radius. City beekeeping is one of the most practical urban farming pursuits around.

NEW COMMENT:

Subject: [Beekeeping with The Hive Honey Shop] New comment on Urban London Roof Top Beekeeping!.

Date: 23 August 2011 11:31:23 GMT+01:00

very sound advice guys and i can't agree more. as urban bee keeping takes off here in Australia it would be good to see them all following your advice. do keep me posted on your news. Will be spreading news of your site around here in Australia. stay in touch. all the best. lyndon

Bees are doing amazingly well!-from Ursula

Dear James

Just a note to say that the bees are doing amazingly well, they`ve built out almost 5 frames already and the queen is certainly doing her thing!!!

Unfortunately our colony from last year (not from you) is sadly in fast decline, so we were wondering if we`re too late for another nuc. I`ve reccommended you to several people on my practical course so you`ve probably sold out.

Many thanks in anticipation

Dear Ursula

Really great to hear the nuc you got from us is doing so well. We have a few nucs still left. When we nurture the nuc for you we do not release them until they are really strong and healthy, so it's no surprise that you now have a full on colony. They are now in a position to collect you surplus honey now- rare in the first year!

Remember- you get what you pay for.

Many people offering 5 frame nucs for sale really just make up 2 frames of brood & bees, then 1 frame of eggs and stores with 2 frames of partly drawn foundation if that. Not what professional bee breeders consider a viable full 5 frame nuc, nor should you.

If you buy from elsewhere in the future a word of advise.

1 Always ask of the 5 frame nuc what will you actual get within the frames.

2 Have they been treated for Varroa? (we do)

3 Will they go through the nuc with you, showing you the queen, eggs, brood? (we do)

4 Is the queen this years queen, marked and clipped? (we do)

5 Has their apiary/breeding area been recently checked by DEFRA/FERA (ours has)

6 Is the queen from a known pedigree or from their stock. This is important as many will catch a swarm and once the queen is laying, sell it on. This is not of a known source, could carry disease, bad tempered and of a swarming nature. If they make up nucs from swarm cells from their bees, then perhaps the trait of those bees lean heavily towards swarming!- not what you want from a paid nuc.

Many new comers to beekeeping see that there is money to be made in selling bees. As professional breeders we are concerned the general public will be taken advantage of and that unsuitable, rogue bees will begin to mass populate, passing on undesirable genes to free mating queens.

Our golden rule is: Buy the best bees and beesuit you can afford!

Hope this helps and please pass this around to others thinking of buying bees.

All the best

James

Beeswax Collection- How to do it!

There are many ways to collect and clean your beeswax. A simple solar beeswax melter is a handy hobbyist solution. It consists of a simple box with glass double glazing in the lid. Angled towards the sun it uses the suns rays to melt and naturally bleach the colour of the wax back to its light golden colour. Many large wax refineries use acid to bleach the wax which is not great if you wish to make cosmetics with your beeswax or candles.

The other method is using steam to melt your wax through muslin cloth. We use a large stainless steel steam melter to sterilise our frames and reclaim the wax. The high temperature of the steam kills nosema spores, wax moth eggs and other moulds and yeast's that could be harbouring in the wood or wax. We use our large steam extractor for the first crude filter followed by our smaller steam extractor for the final fine filtering.

                                           photo copyright 2011 ©-The Hive Honey Shop

Hello I have a question to ask you about your NUCS

From: oliver

Subject:

Date: 9 May 2011 14:41:52 BST

Hello I have a question to ask you about your NUCS, is it possible for you to do them with commercial frames or do they just come in national? my second question is do you sale just NUCS or do you sale colonies also? many thanks. oliver.

Hi Oliver

We only do nucs on standard national frames. They will fit your commercial brood box of course. There will be a gap under the frames as a commercial brood box is deeper. We get people ordering nucs from us that run commercial hives. They put our 5 national frames in the centre of the commercial hive with commercial brood frames on either side. Once the bees occupy the commercial frames, then you can shake them off the national frames and put a queen excluder on top of the commercial brood box and put our national frames in a brood box above. The bees will hatch and join the others below, then remove the brood box with the national frames and you now have them all on commercial frames!

Sorry we only sell nucs at present.

Hope that helps. We are selling the nucs quite quickly so do decide soon to avoid disappointment.

Kind regards

Chris

3 Top Tips For The April Beekeeper!

Every year I am caught out by the sudden change in weather and the sudden arrival of warm days. Yesterday was the first real warm day of the year and all the trees blossoms seemed to have exploded into life.

As a result the pollen is flowing and honeybees are working fast at building up their colonies. Many calls to the shop have reported beekeepers having their bees swarm. So work fast and do these 3 April points now!

1- Remove the mouse excluder.

Your bees need room to get in and out with all the fresh new pollen. If we get a very cold snap, you can consider placing it back during that period.

2- Super up.

If your colony of bees are occupying 6 frames or more, then its time to give them extra room. Remember if bees feel cramped and out of space to grow, they will produce queen cells in preparation of swarming to make room. So always give them plenty of room.

3- Provide a water source.

Your bees will now be looking to feed on the remaining winter honey. Much of it will have set very hard in the comb and your bees will need to collect water to dilute it so they can feed from it. Bees do not prefer clean tap water. So prepare a vessel, pond, birdbath, bucket well in advance. Fill it with logs, leaves and moss. Fill with water. Remember bees like old water because there will be many minerals in the water from broken down organic materials.

Keep watching here for more seasonal tips!

photo copyright 2011 ©-The Hive Honey Shop