Author Topic: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report  (Read 2342 times)

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omnimirage

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Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« on: August 20, 2017, 02:02:55 am »
I relocated nine beehives last week, and checked up on them this weekend, in preparation for the upcoming spring weather.

For some reason, almost half the hives had a lot of dead bees in front of it. I also took a weakened, queenless starving hive up there with me, with the intention of merging it with another weak hive, but they all died on the way. Does transportig bees stresss them and cause them to die? It seems like the hives with the most bees, and least space, had the most loses. Is there anything I can reduce loses next time?

I didn't see any queen cells, which surprises me. I figure the warm spring weather will arrive in ten or so days, so I expected to see some. I may have simply missed them. Only one hive had a heavy amount of drones. I wasn't sure what to do with them, as my mentor advised me to kill them but people on these forums have said otherwise; I ended up squishing most of them.

I gave most hives an extra super. Two of the hives proved to be a challenge, as last year, I needed to move my deep nucs into a bigger sized super, but I only had medium sized brood chambers available to me, so I put the deep frames into two medium supers. They of course built a lot of comb underneath, I discarded most and strapped the brood to frames with rubber bands. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my deep nucs anymore; I'm transitioning to all mediums. I guess I'll try to fill them with bees and sell them.

I wasn't sure if one of the hives should have had the extra super on top. They have a fair amount of space, there's a few frames that haven't been used and a few frames were somewhat low on honey, but spring is approaching and I'm not sure what the flow will be like soon.

I set up two trap hives. The hives are on stands, with feet sitting in a container with a little bit of vegetable oil in it. I've read that such can be used to stop ants, but I'm unsure how effective it'll be. I used to use sump oil for this purpose, but am concerned about the environmental impact of such as it'll spill when it rains, and I figure it'd be disrespectful to the farmer who I have the hives at, to even suggest using such. I guess I'll need to top up the containers when using vegetable oil; I didn't have to with sump oil. I used only a very little amount covering the bottoms, I'm not sure if I even used enough and it cost me a bit of money to do, about $12 in oil (which is the cheapest homebrand oil that I could find and was on half price, I wouldn't consistently bee able to purchase it for this price). I did wonder if maybe I could exchange honey for used vegetable oil from a local fish and chips shop, as I figure used vegetable oil would be just as good. I'm not exactly sure how I'd approach them for such or if it's even a good idea. I also read that mineral oil can perform the same function as vegetable oil, and that it's supposed to be very cheap, but it was enormously expensive when looking for prices online; I haven't checked local hardware stores for it, it may be cheap there.

A few of the hives had a bit of moisture on the top of them. I've very concerned about this, simply because I've had this issue in the past and I haven't ever really been able to work out how to effectively deal with it. The hives that had the most moisture, had the most buckled lid; I'm not sure if water got in there, causing it to buckle with time, or if the water came in from elsewhere.

I'm not sure when I should check the hives again, but I figure in about a months's time would be good.

I took a couple photos:

https://imgur.com/a/kRlhx

Offline Perry

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2017, 07:11:28 am »
First off, great pictures! :)
The frame of drone brood I would have just stuck in a freezer for 24 hours and put it back in rather than squishing them. I might uncap them after as well, just to make less work for the bees.
Given that it is your spring time, seeing dead bees out front, particularly after moving them, might bee nothing more than "spring cleaning". I assume it is warm enough that they were not clustered when you moved them, otherwise it is possible that the clusters may have been disturbed and they were unable to re-cluster. I go with the assumption (right or wrong), that every time I move a colony I set it back roughly 10%. It is one of the reasons I no longer move hives to pollinate, the trip there and back account for a 20% set-back.
The size of the containers you have chosen for oil are large, maybe go with something half the size to reduce costs?
What is the material laying on your top bars? I see you have upper ventilation, could this material be blocking that in some way?
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Offline Barbarian

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2017, 08:35:51 am »
Thanks for the pics. They help a lot.

Is there a reason for the small winter entrances ?

One part of my winter set up is to use a full width mouseguard set so that there is a bee space below the bottom edge. The mice don't get in, the bees can remove floor debris, bring in pollen without it getting stripped, and damp air can flow out of the hive.
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Offline Lburou

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2017, 03:14:37 pm »
Glad to see your progress Omni, and to see you posting here for advice and discussions.  :)

Yes, bees can overheat during transport and die.  You can tell they died of the heat when they are wet.  They regurgitate stomach contnets, (don't know why, maybe it's to find moisture for cooling...), in the process of overheating and they will be all wet when you find them.  Here in Texas, we give added air circulation while transporting the bees.  I will typically put a piece of hardware cloth in place of the entrance reducer, that gives them quite a bit of area to move air.  A top vent is also advisable if it is very warm, it gives them additional options for cooling their hive.  If they don't have moisture inside the hive to evaporate for cooling, I will sometimes squirt some water in there or place a damp sponge inside.

In springtime, bees that have been alive for most of the winter will die off as the new rounds of brood are hatching.  This can lead to piles of bees at the entrance when, as Perry noted, the bees have an opportunity to do some housekeeping.  Some bees are better at housekeeping than others.  :)

If you use foundation, you will have fewer drones than foundationless.  A natural colony can be 30% drones in springtime.  With foundations, the number is closer to 10-15%.  Your results may vary.  That many drones is probably a signal that swarm preparations are being made.  Watch for queen cells. Take action now to give the brood nest plenty of space. MattDavey wrote a good summary with instructions for opening the brood nest here.   HTH   :)
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omnimirage

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2017, 04:53:28 pm »
@ Perry

I'm not sure at what temperatures they cluster. I feel they probably would have clustered. Our winter's aren't that cold here, but it was night. So they could have been clustered, then dropped off and got too cold and died?

The material is vinyl. It's a hive mat, it's used instead of those.. are they called, hive board? I don't believe they could be cutting off ventilation but I'm not sure. It's standard practice to use them here. I just bought some vinyl from a store and cut them into pieces. Other professional beekeepers seem to have better, more thicker pieces, I'm not sure where they get them from.

@ Barbarian

There isn't much of a reason for the small entrances. Honestly when I built these I wasn't sure about the entrances, and just used my best guess for size based upon what I've seen and read. They stay the same size all year. So do you add something to reduce the size of your entrance during winter?

@Lburou

Hey thanks for saying that, makes me feel welcomed.

I didn't look at the bees for a week afterwards, so wouldn't have been able to observe in time whether the bees were wet or not. Interesting about the hardware cloth, I used a kitchen cloth which would have blocked off their circulation.

It was just that one hive that had a lot of drone cells. I rearranged frames and gave it plenty of space. When should I check up on this hive again, to prevent any potential swarming? Would a month's time be too late?

Offline Lburou

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2017, 07:29:20 pm »
...When should I check up on this hive again, to prevent any potential swarming? Would a month's time be too late?
Given that you are early in your bee year, I'd think a status check would be warranted between one and two weeks throughout the swarm season, all the while making sure they have plenty of extra room to grow and store honey.  :)
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Offline Barbarian

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2017, 06:51:12 pm »
Omni .... Looking at the pics again. It almost seems that you have cut the entrance out of the front of the brood box.
              The type of hive I use has a separate floor. The floor has a solid base, a back, 2 sides and a full width entrance. There is a separate piece               of wood which fits in the entrance. Slots cut in this reducer allow you to 1) fully close 2) partially close or 3) have a very small entrance.

At the moment there is a flow on here. The hive entrance is fully open, The foragers can move freely in and out. Inside the hive, the house bees are turning the nectar into honey. The moisture they produce is circulated out of the entrance.
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omnimirage

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2017, 06:54:25 pm »
Lburou, should I check them again just before the Spring warmth comes in then?

I did cut the entrance out of the front Barbarian! I have joined the bottom board to the brood chamber super. I wasn't sure if this was best to do, but I've had some stressful incidents of the bottoms shifting from the supers, with angry bees spilling out everywhere, which had me aversive to making them seperate. Was also easier to build. I do have one hive with a detached bottom, and another spare detached base which I'm not using. The talk of reducers is more clear to me having you explained such, thank you.


Offline Lburou

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #8 on: August 23, 2017, 09:17:44 pm »
Lburou, should I check them again just before the Spring warmth comes in then?
I could already have said enough to be way off already about swarm preparations at your location.  I'm at a real disadvantage not knowing your local weather down under; what it has been, and what it will be.  What I'd like to communicate is to look often enough to be on top of the current conditions inside your hives.  Bees are going to begin to cluster somewhere around 56 F.  The cooler it gets, the tighter they cluster. 
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #9 on: August 24, 2017, 05:56:05 pm »
Speak a universal language!!! When do the dandelions bloom? This will give us the time when your intense spring build up will be starting.
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Offline Perry

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2017, 07:16:41 pm »
Do they have dandelions in Australia? ;D :D
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Offline apisbees

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2017, 07:32:50 pm »
Do they have nice manicured lawns in Australia?
Is there any where in the world that there isn't dandelions except Antarctica?
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omnimirage

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2017, 06:38:44 am »
Dandelions are blossoming! At least the fuzzy ones are.

Offline Lburou

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Re: Hive relocation and spring preparation field report
« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2017, 05:56:40 pm »
Do they have nice manicured lawns in Australia?
Is there any where in the world that there isn't dandelions except Antarctica?
Dandelions occur in Texas, but are rare in my area.  I see less than half a dozen a year, early in spring and late in fall.  But it sounds like you have put your finger on a common data point for honey bees.  :)
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