Propolis wow ?

[Mikey N.C.]

Have 2 hives out of 8 that are doing this, look's like peanut butter ?

[Perry]

Save it. I collect the stuff and usually just give it to a couple of herbalists that want it for tinctures and stuff. I have a couple of hives that seem to want to close off the front entrance completely and build golf ball size chunks on the bottom ends of the frames near the entrance.

[eltalia]

@Mikey N. C.

Propolis is the tool bees use as a pest control and as a 'fix it' for excessive ventilation, the latter being a good thing for us as it makes micromanagement of ventilation over seasons an automatic function of the colony.  What you are showing us is the bee's fix for an ill-fitting cover.

Check the install of the covers in the two odd hives against the other six.
You could then do nothing more than what Perry offers - being carefull the seal remains intact - or you could look at how to fit a 20mmX4.5mm strip of felt as per the general line illustrated in the attached pix.
https://postimg.cc/image/eiykp6m7z/

... an' while I have your ear, what is the wall thicknesss of the box shown in
the first of your pix?

G'day.


Bill

[Mikey N.C.]

3/4 plywood.

[brooksbeefarm]

I have some hives that propolise heavy, and i notice that they have less SHB problems than those that don't propolise. The Caucasian breed of bees i had years ago was the worse to us propolis, i have tore up hives and frames trying to inspect their hives. Jack

[Mikey N.C.]

1 is a swarm catch,  other is from CBT don't know if they are Ga. or Fl.

[eltalia]

3/4 plywood.
(edit pix)

0K... thanks :-)

Bill

[Barbarian]

Some keeps harvest propolis from their hives.
You can put a propolis screen under the inner cover. Once propolized the screen is removed and put in the freezer.  The frozen screen is rolled and the propolis flakes off.

This year I came across a colony of Tree Bumbles that had built a curtain of propolis to reduce their nest entrance in a bird box.

[Bakersdozen]

This year I came across a colony of Tree Bumbles that had built a curtain of propolis to reduce their nest entrance in a bird box.

This is common in honey bee colonies as well.  Makes you wonder why we have large wide open entrances for the bees to come and go when they want to close them up?  As a experiment I left entrance reducers on all summer.  My colonies just glued the entrance reducers down in place.

[Bakersdozen]

After my last post on this subject I remembered an inspection I did on one colony of Carnolians last Friday.  They had everything glued down so thoroughly that I split the corner of the top brood box trying to get it open.  I removed a massive glob of propolis to put in the freezer for future tinctures.  As I was reassembling the boxes, I notice the bees working the fragments of propolis.  Probably trying to pack in back in place.  It makes me wonder if they know something I don't, like how harsh winter is going to be!

[CBT]

Am I wrong or do some countries only use a cork size hole on bottom and also the top during honey flow?

[Lburou]

It is interesting to see the variation between colonies and their use of propolis.  I use a strip of  hardware cloth to block the entrance during the summer (leaving a one inch opening at one side).  It allows plenty of air to circulate in the extreme heat in this part of Texas.  I have seen some bees use propolis aggressively to seal all cracks, modify the shape and size of the entrance opening, even make mini ducts to control air flow coming in one side of the entrance and out the other. 

I have read that hives with more propolis are, on the main, more healthy than those using less.  When you have a hive really making a lot of propolis, it seems to me they are doing very well.  In the wild, bees often completely coat the inside of their cavity with propolis.

At 100* F, excessive propolis isn't a problem, but let it cool down to 60* F and the hive components really stick together.  I looked in a hive today with a lot of propolis on the inner cover.  I probably won't open it again until spring temps of 70* F or above, unless it feels light in early spring. 

Last winter, I put a ball of propolis on top of the frames in a small hive.  Bees showed interest in it all winter.  When they had pollen substitute, they paid just as much attention to the propolis as they did the pollen sub.

[riverbee]

some good posts on propolis, and to what lee said to see the variation and use. propolis is one of the things bees do and annoys or puzzles us as beekeepers sometimes.  i have had hives propolize more heavily than others.
for the most part i leave the propolis alone in places, cuz they just propolize it again, unless it interferes with what i need to do to annoy them..........

for example, if the bees are propolizing the front entrance, (a clue) or the hole in the inner cover (another clue) or the inner cover entrance to the hive (another clue) i leave the propolis in place. they know best how to heat and air condition the hive. i don't scrape this off. when breaking boxes, yes, scrape to a certain degree for me to place back on or  when i remove frames that have been propolized down and then some. i do scrape this to aid in removal, but they soon start propolizing again.

[brooksbeefarm]

Well Squirt, after all they are female and hate for someone to change things they do.(even though us men know better)! I'm just glad my wife doesn't have a stinger, or any other woman! Hmmm except perry's Jack

[riverbee]

well jack, this is true they are females, and they do not like when you go messing around and changing things in their house, guess i am the same way...........