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Thus another experiment ends in failure!

The bees have been working well up to now, but with the onset of the hot weather, and them being in an exposed position and somewhat overcrowded they started massing at the front of the hive.

And they got cranky!

They had a go at me and I got stung twice, so a beekeeper man has come and we removed them and sent them on to a property at Dural, What a bugger of a job, but done now. I think that due to lack of time I didn't treat the bees right, I need to do more reading on the matter.

Maybe in the future I will have another go, but for the moment I have had enough of bees!

Nev

Well, as Winnie-the-pooh said "you can never be too sure, with bees"

Oh what a shame! Did you ever get any honey?

Yup AP!

MMM, I have 4 full frames sitting in the garage, but no extractor, so I gotta work out what I'm going to do

Nev

What a shame Nev, bees are quite intensive during the season (mine are happy clustering after a dose of Oxalic acid so fingers crossed they'll come through the winter) To use the frames you do have you could pop unwired frames in the freezer (if you have anything like Wax moth out there, the cold kills it) and use it as comb honey. If the frame is wired you could chat to the beeker who moved your bees to use their extractor, or press it out a la heather honey through a muslin or something or melt the wax and let pour into a separator bucket- heat can spoil the taste of honey though....my fave would be the comb honey option mmmm..... do Aussies have beesheds out there? I uses a shed instead of having bees out in the open- it keeps them warmer in the winter and keeps them in shade in the summer (opening the door is enough to ventilate a bit, you can also use a mesh roof to encourage airflow as you dont need to protect from rain and things as the hive's in the shed).......turned into a bit of an essay that post!
anyhow Happy new Year Nev!

kind thoughts
Deb

We started keeping bees at the beginning of the year and the little blighters swarmed during the Summer while we were on holiday. We had already got rid of a queen cell they were making. Anyway, this was put down to the cold, wet weather we had had. Fortunately they made themselves a new queen so we are up and running again and hopeful for this year.

It aint as easy as all that is it? Oh and bees stings smart!!!

Meredith.

Thanks Deb!

Happy New Year to you too!

I have never seen a bee shed here in Aus, the climate noit getting anywhere near as cold. But it is an interesting thouight. I might try the idea of straining the honey though cloth and yes we do get wax moth here. The combs are in a closed plastic tub at the moment and should be OK. I have a bit much comb to eat the stuff all in that form!

Hey Meredith!

As with a lot of SSish stuff there is much to learn and I ran out of time to learn it! And the stings still itch a bit.

Nev

Well, my next door neighbour keeps bees, and has a few swarms over summer. This year he had many more bees than normal.

About a month back I got a call at work from my wife, and one of his swarms had decided to make its new home in my chimney. This in itself wouldn't have been so bad, except a great majority of them would overshoot and come out the open fireplace.

We had a reasonable size swarm in the lounge room, and he couldn't / didn't want to get them back. Unfortunately we had to spray them all - at his advice - I would have preferred to move them, as I seem to recall some prophecy I heard a few years back that "the death of the planet begins with the death of the bees". I haven't been able to verify the prophecy on the net anywhere, but I still didn't like killing them.

I got stung once, by my own fault, while disposing of the bodies. The neighbour usually gives us a jar of honey when he processes it, this time I he gave us 2 quart jars full!

We don't mind him keeping bees and haven't complained, just put it down to a mishap. Took us three days to eliminate the strong buzzing from the lounge room.

Better luck next time!

PS Love the blog, glad to see you updated.

mrmushypeas wrote:Well, my next door neighbour keeps bees, and has a few swarms over summer. This year he had many more bees than normal.

LOL - I just realised with that post I really do sound like Margo...!!!


LMAO

As a post script to my post I really should add that you remove a panel along the length of the shed to let the bees in and out! and remove the top inch of glass from the window as bees will always move up glass and will be able to find their way out! I find it a great way to do my bees as I have all my bits within handy reach on shelves and tubs around, I'm looking for an old tin ammo box to store my smoker in outside as thats not great in a wooden shed!

Enjoy your honey Nev,

Kind thoughts
Deb

mrmushypeas wrote:About a month back I got a call at work from my wife, and one of his swarms had decided to make its new home in my chimney. This in itself wouldn't have been so bad, except a great majority of them would overshoot and come out the open fireplace.

Funny you should mention that! The fella who came to take away the bees (an interesting bloke with lots of good stories) told me he was called to a place where that had happened. As luck would have it it was at a "house of B&D" and the bees came down the chimney and stung one of the ladies on the bum while she was spanking a guy........ No sense of humour evidently.

mrmushypeas wrote:Better luck next time!

PS Love the blog, glad to see you updated.

Thank you!

Nev

glenniedragon wrote:As a post script to my post I really should add that you remove a panel along the length of the shed to let the bees in and out! and remove the top inch of glass from the window as bees will always move up glass and will be able to find their way out! I find it a great way to do my bees as I have all my bits within handy reach on shelves and tubs around, I'm looking for an old tin ammo box to store my smoker in outside as thats not great in a wooden shed!

Enjoy your honey Nev,

Kind thoughts
Deb

Thanks Deb

I sort of assumed a three sided shed.........

Nev

Dear Nev,

Sorry to hear they swarmed. You said they were over-crowded, that sounds like why they left.

I do hope this doesn't put you off bee keeping though and you have more success soon.

Thanks QB!

The hive is now in Dural, butr some bees were left behind and they have been buzzing me for days! I have head enough of bees for a while....

Nev