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Swarm Catch
But first, the Omer. Today is the tenth day of the Omer, which is one week and three days into the Omer.
Now, bees!
Dan is being quite an awesome bee-mentor, and therefore yesterday he took me along for some bee-related stuff. First we went up to one of his apiaries to do hive inspections. This apiary is located on a ten-acre property owned by a Very Rich Person. Said VRP has two horses and a BIG house. (VRP's neighbor is a train enthusiast, but unlike the rest of us who just get models, he has a full-size train on a circular track on his property. Crazy rich people.) Anyway, the rest of this property is organic avocados and oranges, and it backs up to a mountain, so there is lots of forage for the bees.
We suited up in our bee suits, and went to the hives. There were three of them already, and e brought a swarm in a box to add a fourth. I shall name them from left to right, like this:
1 2 x x 5 6
This is because there is room on the support stand for two more hives than are currently present.
Here I'm going to make a note on hive "boxes." There are six standardized sizes for hives, and they work like this: all 10-frame boxes are 19 7/8" by 16 1/4" in area, but differ in height. A deep box is 9 5/8" tall, a medium is 6 5/8", and a shallow is only 5 11/16". (I'm aware these measurements are kind of odd, but they are all based on "bee space," which is something I will cover in another post.) There are also 8-frame boxes, which have the same length of 19 7/8", and the same three standard heights, but are only 13 3/4" wide. As the name implies, they hold 8 frames, instead of ten. The reason for 8-frame hives is that a honey-filled 10-frame medium box weighs about 55 lbs; an 8-frame, by contrast, only weighs about 44, and is more manageable for the hobbyist.
The different sized boxes are for different purposes. A commercial hive will typically be one or two deep boxes for bees to raise bee larvae, plus medium and small boxes for bees to store honey. That way, we can take the honey off without bothering the baby bees. In hives where the primary purpose is not honey but pollination, they are often just the deep boxes, which makes moving them around much easier. Hobby beekeepers have more flexibility, and can put hives in whatever size boxes they want. I plan to use only medium boxes, which will be lighter for me to pick up and more interchangeable.
Back to our escapades. First, we had to add extra support to the stand. It was sagging in the middle. Cinder blocks are nice cheap replacements for expensive supports. Also, oil-based ant traps to keep the ants out of the honey.
Then we inspected hive 6. She (all hives are females) is an excitable hive, buzzing around even while we were just adding cinder blocks. Her workers were busily coming and going with pollen and, presumably, with nectar. But when we opened her up she immediately went all "alarm buzz!" and "fly at the intruders." We smoked her a little, though, and she quieted right down. She was the result of a cutout and not a swarm catch. This means that she'd already found a place to make a hive, and was building comb. Dan had to cut the comb and put it into frames, held with rubber bands. But bees do not like rubber bands, and so they chew at it to try and get it out. Since she'd attached the comb to the frames, we removed the rubber bands. Maybe she will calm down now!
Hives 1 and 2, by contrast, were only mildly nonplussed by our intrusion. Hive 1 is inside a deep and doing well, and is about ready for a new box. (The rule of thumb for bees is that when they have built out comb in 80% of the box they are in, it is time to give them a new box.) She had built out 8 frames of her box. Dan had put some wax on another two frames, and she had not touched those. Maybe she is a purist and doesn't like foreign wax. Whatever the reason, we took the wax out and shuffled the frames around, so that the empty ones were closer to the middle. Hopefully, she will build them out now. Unfortunately, we did not have another box with us, and she still needs it. Dan will have to give her a new one soon, though, or she will feel crowded and try to swarm.
Hive 2 was in two deep boxes, but Dan had done a silly thing and only put three frames in the top box. The bees had filled that up, and then gone: "there are no more frames, but there is still room in here" and attached their comb to the hive cover instead! We didn't want to disturb them too much - they had built gorgeous comb - but we do want them to build in the frames. So we did a cutout and shoved some of their comb into a frame; they should attach it in a few days, and then we can take the rubber bands off and leave them in peace. That was only one of their three combs, so we will have to go back again with more frames and do more cutouts. However, we must wait at least four days. Hive inspections disturb the bees, and if we do too many they will get fed up and leave.
Hive 5 was the one we'd brought, so we didn't inspect it. Rather, we just opened it so bees could go in and out and get used to their new home. Then we left to go swarm catching.
The first place we went had called on Wednesday about a swarm, but denied there being one when we arrived. We looked all around, and while there were bees foraging around in the shrubbery, we found no swarm at all. So much for that!
The second place had a beautiful swarm, hanging off a pine branch maybe sixteen feet up. It turns out a swarm catch is really easy. You put the swarm-catching box right under the swarm, and then using a bee brush, brush them off the branch and into the box. A whole bunch of them flew, but we got the queen; once we put the box down, they all started to come down and march into like a tiny and well-organized Exodus. Bees in a swarm, since they have no hive or honey or brood to defend, are very docile and unlikely to attack at all. I was in jeans and a T-shirt, and standing less than a foot away they completely ignored me. After about 20 minutes, we had probably 90% of the swarm, so we closed up the box and headed back. They should like their new home, anyway. We put some comb and not-yet-honey in to make them feel welcome.
Then I came home, took a short nap, and made tuna casserole for dinner. All in all, a nice successful day.
Now, bees!
Dan is being quite an awesome bee-mentor, and therefore yesterday he took me along for some bee-related stuff. First we went up to one of his apiaries to do hive inspections. This apiary is located on a ten-acre property owned by a Very Rich Person. Said VRP has two horses and a BIG house. (VRP's neighbor is a train enthusiast, but unlike the rest of us who just get models, he has a full-size train on a circular track on his property. Crazy rich people.) Anyway, the rest of this property is organic avocados and oranges, and it backs up to a mountain, so there is lots of forage for the bees.
We suited up in our bee suits, and went to the hives. There were three of them already, and e brought a swarm in a box to add a fourth. I shall name them from left to right, like this:
1 2 x x 5 6
This is because there is room on the support stand for two more hives than are currently present.
Here I'm going to make a note on hive "boxes." There are six standardized sizes for hives, and they work like this: all 10-frame boxes are 19 7/8" by 16 1/4" in area, but differ in height. A deep box is 9 5/8" tall, a medium is 6 5/8", and a shallow is only 5 11/16". (I'm aware these measurements are kind of odd, but they are all based on "bee space," which is something I will cover in another post.) There are also 8-frame boxes, which have the same length of 19 7/8", and the same three standard heights, but are only 13 3/4" wide. As the name implies, they hold 8 frames, instead of ten. The reason for 8-frame hives is that a honey-filled 10-frame medium box weighs about 55 lbs; an 8-frame, by contrast, only weighs about 44, and is more manageable for the hobbyist.
The different sized boxes are for different purposes. A commercial hive will typically be one or two deep boxes for bees to raise bee larvae, plus medium and small boxes for bees to store honey. That way, we can take the honey off without bothering the baby bees. In hives where the primary purpose is not honey but pollination, they are often just the deep boxes, which makes moving them around much easier. Hobby beekeepers have more flexibility, and can put hives in whatever size boxes they want. I plan to use only medium boxes, which will be lighter for me to pick up and more interchangeable.
Back to our escapades. First, we had to add extra support to the stand. It was sagging in the middle. Cinder blocks are nice cheap replacements for expensive supports. Also, oil-based ant traps to keep the ants out of the honey.
Then we inspected hive 6. She (all hives are females) is an excitable hive, buzzing around even while we were just adding cinder blocks. Her workers were busily coming and going with pollen and, presumably, with nectar. But when we opened her up she immediately went all "alarm buzz!" and "fly at the intruders." We smoked her a little, though, and she quieted right down. She was the result of a cutout and not a swarm catch. This means that she'd already found a place to make a hive, and was building comb. Dan had to cut the comb and put it into frames, held with rubber bands. But bees do not like rubber bands, and so they chew at it to try and get it out. Since she'd attached the comb to the frames, we removed the rubber bands. Maybe she will calm down now!
Hives 1 and 2, by contrast, were only mildly nonplussed by our intrusion. Hive 1 is inside a deep and doing well, and is about ready for a new box. (The rule of thumb for bees is that when they have built out comb in 80% of the box they are in, it is time to give them a new box.) She had built out 8 frames of her box. Dan had put some wax on another two frames, and she had not touched those. Maybe she is a purist and doesn't like foreign wax. Whatever the reason, we took the wax out and shuffled the frames around, so that the empty ones were closer to the middle. Hopefully, she will build them out now. Unfortunately, we did not have another box with us, and she still needs it. Dan will have to give her a new one soon, though, or she will feel crowded and try to swarm.
Hive 2 was in two deep boxes, but Dan had done a silly thing and only put three frames in the top box. The bees had filled that up, and then gone: "there are no more frames, but there is still room in here" and attached their comb to the hive cover instead! We didn't want to disturb them too much - they had built gorgeous comb - but we do want them to build in the frames. So we did a cutout and shoved some of their comb into a frame; they should attach it in a few days, and then we can take the rubber bands off and leave them in peace. That was only one of their three combs, so we will have to go back again with more frames and do more cutouts. However, we must wait at least four days. Hive inspections disturb the bees, and if we do too many they will get fed up and leave.
Hive 5 was the one we'd brought, so we didn't inspect it. Rather, we just opened it so bees could go in and out and get used to their new home. Then we left to go swarm catching.
The first place we went had called on Wednesday about a swarm, but denied there being one when we arrived. We looked all around, and while there were bees foraging around in the shrubbery, we found no swarm at all. So much for that!
The second place had a beautiful swarm, hanging off a pine branch maybe sixteen feet up. It turns out a swarm catch is really easy. You put the swarm-catching box right under the swarm, and then using a bee brush, brush them off the branch and into the box. A whole bunch of them flew, but we got the queen; once we put the box down, they all started to come down and march into like a tiny and well-organized Exodus. Bees in a swarm, since they have no hive or honey or brood to defend, are very docile and unlikely to attack at all. I was in jeans and a T-shirt, and standing less than a foot away they completely ignored me. After about 20 minutes, we had probably 90% of the swarm, so we closed up the box and headed back. They should like their new home, anyway. We put some comb and not-yet-honey in to make them feel welcome.
Then I came home, took a short nap, and made tuna casserole for dinner. All in all, a nice successful day.