Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Brian,

You are probably correct, being inexperienced I wouldn't know. The reason I went with the Warre was that it gives me a chance to use my Woodworking tools, which have been sitting idle for far too long..I also get to use up some timber which has been taking up valuable real estate in my shed... so for me it's a win win, though I still have to finish the hive and get some bees..

Himzo..

With our African bees you can get the bees out by gently smoking and then, if possible, you cut out the combs out and tie them into the frames, then you gather the bees together and shake them onto a board in front of the hive and they move into the hive. To prevent absconding a queen excluder is fitted in the hive entrance which keeps the queen in but allows the workers to come and go. Then they stay put as they will not leave without her. Of course your bees may be smaller and you would need to establish their size and the size of the excluder required. Another way of doing this is to place a hive in front of the entrance to the feral hive. A flexable pipe is then attatched to the entrance and to a hole in the rear of the new hive so that the bees must move through the new hive in order to exit. You can leave it like this for some time and the bees will hopefully and likely expand into the new hive. You can then fit a bee escape, like a one way valve for bees, in the pipe. after a few days all the bees will be in the new hive, and you can remove the pipe and close up the old entrance. This works best for swarms that are in places where you cannot get to them, like cavity walls and thick tree trunks where you don't want to demolish or destroy whatever they are in

Himzol. Any hive is a good hive so don't let me put you off. It's just that after working with top bars for a while I got tired of combs breaking on me. Langstroth hives are like the wheel of beekeeping and ultimately bees don't really mind what they live in as long as it is well insulated and big enough for them. TBH's are great if you plan on only having one or two hives for your own personal honey requirements but extracting honey from langstroth super frames is quick efficient and you can give the frames with comb back to the bees for them to refill. I am skeptical as to the warre claim that you can spin honey out of a top bar, even well supported super frames with comb often break and collapse in the extractor, and you simply cannot "drain" honey from the combs in my expierience. It is way too viscus. When you are ready to harvest your warre I would simply cut the comb off about 30mm from the bar and mash and strain through a sieve. You get lots of wax out if you build a simple solar extractor which is a bonus

Hi Brian,
This is what I was planning to do. The wax is a real bonus as far as woodworking is concerend, for both myself and one of my neighbours who does wood turning. The amount of Honey that I might steel from the bees from two hives should be enough for me and my family.

BTW... thanks for your explanation about wild hives etc. in the other post, very usefull information....

Himzo

Yes, Brian... Thanks heaps for your insights.

It looks like the hive we moved the other day (being novice, we moved it only 500metres) stayed there, and still has bees working it.

and the bonus to that is that they also broke off and created a second hive back at the original point.

so now, we have 2 langstroth hives working away....

how would you recommend moving this new hive? time is an issue.

Hi Aj,

I may (probably will be) be corrected but I've heard that you can move a hive either three feet or three miles, anything in between the bees find their way back to their original location. So if you move the second hive, you have to move it a fair distance away for some time (six to twelve months), then move it back to the new location in your yard after some time ( six to twelve months).

So basically if you have a friend who lives a few Kilometers from your place and is willing to babysit your bees for a year or so then move them there and then move them back later.

H.

Aj and Himzol. Move a hive no more than 2 meteres and no less than 2 kilometres at a time. Thats what my book says anyway but there are varying opinions on this. Aj I would check in on both those hives late in the evening just before sunset and make sure they both have strong swarms in them with brood in various stages of development. The bees comming and going from the old site could just be raiding it for wax, pollen and propolis. I am a bit confused as to what exactly transpired with your two hives. Was there 1 hive and then you transferred them to another new brood box and then moved this? Remember that 1 strong well populated colony is much better than many small weak ones. There is another way of moving hives for a smaller distance (500m) and that is by forcing the bees to re-programme by temporarilly placing an obstacle such as a large loosly stacked pile of leafy branches over the hive entrance. A glass or plexi glass screen leaning up against the hive entrance is also an option. The idea is to confuse the bees sufficiently while not completely blocking the entrance to the hive. This forces them to re-programme. I have never tried this though.

I was thinking about the time one should leave the hive in a new position before moving it to another place and it makes sence that after a month and a half all the workers would be fresh so you can do another move then and you would not need to wait 6 months. I collected a swarm from an owl box which is close to the apiary where I want to relocate them. I have moved them 3Km up the road for now and they have been there for two weeks now and I am wondering if I can move them to the new site now which is about 500m from the initial site. How long is a bees memory? If I move them to the new site now would they remember the area and all the field bees would fly back to the owl box I wonder if anyone has done an experiment to establish how long a bee can remember for....

I read somewhere that 10 days is sufficient... in fact our local honey shop (in town) told me that as I asked him the same question after we moved em and had em come back.

Does this mean that they abandoned the new hive and went back to the original location?

in this instance, I think they were ready to split anyway, and we got the benefit of 1/2 (i didnt count) staying at new spot ( new workers?) and 1/2 abandoning for old spot.

Cool.

I am busy harvesting some supers. It is very rewarding to see all your hard work pay off. It looks like a really good crop this year

gahhh..

went down today to the area around the bee hive. - stood still in white cloths (remember i have a *BIG* black beard) and for 5 minutes was fine - the one of the little buggers dive bombed the back of my head - now I have a huge lump there...

As much as I *love* honey, I do not like this....

Aj. Allways stay out of the flight line. Approach the hive from the side or preferably the back. Sometimes bees just crash into you in the flight line and then sting for no reason. probably just got stuck in your hair. As soon as they feel trapped they sting. Don't feel alone though.. I got stung twice today... you get used to it