Ready for Bees 9/28/2013

[Reuben Valles]

Hello Honeylovers! Well i have my deep hive boxes, stands, and frames. Tormorrow morning (sat 9/28/2013) I will be setting them up and leveling them on a property. Placing the stand legs in oil cans and providing a little watersource nearby. By Saturday afternoon, there will be a new home ready for some lucky swarm or nuc. I will be raising them naturally without foundation, sugarwater/syrup, or treatments. If you hear of a swarm let me know 🙂

Reuben Valles
310-663-5965

[Reuben Valles]

Well it took most of the day, but I got two deep hives set up on stands with the stand legs in tuna cans in oil. It took a while to get the hives leveled out from left to right. I have a slight tilt downward so any moisture rolls out the front. I converted my foundation frames to foundationless with home depot paint stirers today also.
Now I just need to find some bees

[Reuben Valles]

Went back to my hives today (without bees at this time). On one of them i put in some foundationless frames i picked up at Pierce-Mieras, and added an attractant with lemongrass oil. I used the entrance reducer to limit access.

I will get a few frames with comb/scent/propolis from a mentor and add that too. Perhaps i can get lucky in the next few months and get some scouts to start taking a look. There were quite a few bees around the bushes today, so even though its not swarm season they can still smell that pheromone attractant. Who knows. Fingers crossed on that hive.

[Reuben Valles]

Alright! So I got an established hive. I have to move it from its current location. Bit of work, but I removed some of the supers last night that werent needed. Then removed a super full of honey. Tomorrow I will go back with Kirk and seal up the entrance, secure the hive with straps and move it to its new location. I will then replace the super with honey on it for the bees to have nourishment this winter! Nice bees, hard working, and they are real workable and not mean. Im excited 🙂

Not much traffic on the honeylove site. Where are all the Honeylovers/Backwards Beekeepers posting?

• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by Reuben Valles.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by Reuben Valles.

[Rob McFarland]

Let us know how it goes Reuben!

[Reuben Valles]

Me and Kirk went back for the final move Thursday evening after removing 4 honey supers to lighten the load back on tuesday. The hive also has two deep hive bodies. Tuesday evening went real smooth and the bees were calm. A little smoke and slow movements and it all went fine. Three supers were sort of empty with very little comb or honey (honey was taken off back in June i was told). The super sitting on the 2 deeps was absolutely full of honey. All 10 frames wall to wall and the frames were stuck together.

Thursday night was a little more of an adventure. Without opening the hive, we simply applied some smoke and attempted to seran wrap on the lid, and the outside joint between the hives. We closed the entrance, put a strap around the entire hive that could be ratcheted tight. It was dark and we were doing this by flashlight. The bees starting getting louder and more excited. Next thing i know they were all over my vail and suit. Im not the most experienced Beek but even i could sense the bees were ratcheted up a bit. After Kirk gets stung 7 or 10 times and we’re going “Damn”, Kirk looks around the hive again. This old hive had two small cracks/openings were bees were piling out on the back. We got those openings seran wrapped/taped up shut. The bees outside the hive were still all over my vail and getting into Kirks vail. We put the hive in the truck and got into the cab with bee suits on.

At the new location we placed the hive on its stand and then opened a small opening to the entrance and left them alone.

I will return Monday, remove the strap and plastic wrap, and place the honey super with honey in it back on top for winter nourishment. I will try not to disturb them and leave them alone for another week or so. I really need to go through the deeps and look for brood and examen the frames, but the colony has been through alot and i will give them more time.

Im a beek! Sweet!

[Reuben Valles]

I returned in the early morning today and finished setting up the hive. I removed all the seran wrap which exposed muliple openings in this old hive box that is falling apart. I replaced the lid with a new lid and onto a brand new shiny white honey super (medium) and returned to the bees their honey. I leveled off the hive again as level as i could. These bees seem to come at my vail quite a bit and really bump me in the face. This doesnt really happen to me when ive mentored other times, so at the moment i would say these little guys are not the most inviting bees ive worked with. I bet that seran wrap noise was annoying to them. In a couple weeks i will return and bring some sugar water to spray the guard bees a little with spray and take a solid 30 minutes of smoke and waiting. My next goal is to change out this very old and falling apart hive box so that there is only one opening in the front. Also, the brood box is one mass of comb and really stuck together. I tried to separate them today but i didnt want to bug the bees too much so i thought i will try next time. Thanks for reading 🙂

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