[susan rudnicki]

Very few on this Forum and HL membership do qualified bee rescue. It takes years of experience and thorough attention to detail of the craft to do it well and humanely. Most of the beekeeping world has no idea

[susan rudnicki]

Nan is correct—when handling the top bar with comb on it the comb must be always kept in perfect vertical to the ground—do not turn it even slightly to horizontal. This may have happened when opening and inspecting earlier you weakened the attachment. Once the combs get older and more darkly colored they are less likely to break. I would use string to lightly bind the comb to the top bar in a repair operation. Rubber bands will pull too hard on the soft white comb, digging into it or bending it. You NEED a frame hanger, a purpose made perch that holds a bar while you work on it. Nan mentions the clamp type hair clip, but those are useless on really fresh comb, simply cutting into it and the comb still drops—I have experienced this with a Warre hive.
Yes, you MUST pay anyone who is taking their time to come out to you to teach. Think of any other endeavor where you want a skilled educator.
Finally, you did not say where the bees were sourced….

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Karen—please know that all beekeepers starting out are going to feel challenged and question their understanding!! You are starting to learn a detailed new craft and it is heavily grounded in biology of Apis mellifera. You can help yourself by reading Les Crowder’s book on TBH beekeeping “Top Bar Beekeeping”
That said, it is not so important what box you have the bees in as understanding the principles of beekeeping—the queen, worker bees and drones that constitute the working population of the hive and its year-round cycle of activities. Please access the book on-line by Michael Bush “The Practical Beekeeper—Beekeeping Naturally” Especially important to commit to memory is the table of emergence times for the bee pupae here http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm You can not calculate various issues without knowing this important information. Other helpful links to keeping bees without chemical treatment—Rob and Chelsea McFarland’s “Save the Bees With Natural Backyard Hives” and the basic, foundational book I first read “The Idiot’s Guide to Beekeeping” by Stiglitz and Herboldsheimer.
Where did you source the bees? Were they from a feral swarm? Were they package bees? (the latter will probably need chemical treatments against varroa mites, as their genetics and raising are most likely representing this kind of management—you can’t just go treatment free by pulling them off their meds) Ferals are naturally resistant to mites. If you bought the bees, you must question the breeder directly about treatments as I have found almost none of them openly declare the bees they sell must be supported this way. If they are treatment free, it is something they will brag about.
Unfortunately, our club does not have many people actually working as mentors and I am in Manhattan Beach, so far from you. It is possible someone is out there I don’t know about. Let’s see who turns up with your post.

[susan rudnicki]

These are called “Ray’s Special” fromn Pierce Bee Supply in Fullerton. Ray Teurman, one of our members, persuaded a company normally quite conventional, to make frames for us keeping foundationless.

[susan rudnicki]

Well, have to first observe that—whenever a beekeeper moves bees from a property, you ALWAYS provide vents for airflow and try to move at night. It is hard to tell from the description what happened exactly. I can’t tell how long they were “closed up”
You can not encourage bees to not follow you, if that is what they have in mind. You can change your behavior—go further away,work them just before dark, get into a car or house, (brushing off any that are clinging beforehand) But the main issue is they are defensive toward you.
I’m sorry, but the issue of the queen, whether a new or the old one, is too difficult to determine from this description. It is possible, if the hive was open for some time after the damage, that a new swarm moved in.
Do you have a mentor? You could use a set of experienced eyes looking at your situation, as we often advise in this group.

[susan rudnicki]

Please describe the size and number of boxes,
how long the colony has been established,
the last 3 dates inspections were done
and if eggs were seen.

What is the demeanor of the colony when it is not being inspected?
Where were they sourced—swarm, package, cutout?
What is the smoking technique? Describe throughout the inspection how the smoker is used.
What is their attitude after dutiful smoking at the beginning? Do they still run at your hand or shadow passing over the frames? If you are slow and gentle, do they still get riled up, or do they calm down after a period?
To get a thorough answer, these questions need answering.

[susan rudnicki]

Kayla—I strongly urge you to check out Michael Bush’s website—his entire book on Natural Beekeeping is here. Particularly the swarm prevention advice, here—-“The first mistake people make about preventing swarms is they think you can just throw on some supers and they won’t swarm. But they will. Yes, it’s nice to have room for them to store the honey, so the supers are helpful, but the bees intend to swarm and the supers will not deter them from the plan to do a reproductive swarm.”
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Kayla—without doubt they are too crowded in one deep and since not seen for 6 weeks they could be on verge of swarming—bees are building up at a furious pace right now. A common misconception is that a empty box on top means the broodnest won’t get crowded. The queen will not move up into a second box unless a couple or three brood frames are moved up into the higher box and empties put down below. Move the brood together into the center. Yes, I know you don’t have another deep, but you must put one on or accept what will inevitably happen—swarming. One deep is just not enough space for bees to live. This operation is called “brooding up” not checkerboarding. Walt Wright of Kentucky named the checkerboarding epithet to describe the interspersing of empty and full frames in the honey storage boxes ABOVE the brood nest. So, if a full honey box is to be “checkerboarded” you need two boxes, staggering the 10 frames above and below each other with the empties and full honey frames. It is a swarm prevention measure. Ideally, you would want to move the frames with mostly drone brood, a common situation at this time, up into the higher box and when those hatch, the bees commonly fill those large cells with honey.
So, did you come to the meeting last week on the two topics I mentioned? Chip is doing quite well and should be a great contact for you. Community Gardens are a notoriously poor choice for bee locations, unfortunately, because of the problems you are noting OFTEN occur. But your bees are also crowded.

[susan rudnicki]

Kayla—another issue that may be irritating the bees with a possibly congested brood nest, are the gardeners using string trimmers or other equipment by the hive? Is this possibly happening? A temporary screen of reed fencing, purchased by the roll at home depot and 6 ft high, can be installed directly in front of the entrance, even just 6 inches in front, forcing the flight path directly up from the hive and out of crossing with pedestrians.

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Kayla—I am the Forum moderator and made the presentation at this month’s HL meeting on managing for Spring buildup. Were you at the meeting? I also think this must be the colony you wrote about last June—did you ever get a mentor? I know Chip Clements reached out to you. His number is still on that message in the archive –323-791-6581
I am suspicious that this issue is not about the bees temperament, but a management issue related to being too crowded. You do not say the number of hive bodies or the sizes of the ones there. Can you please list this in another note? Spring (and ESPECIALLY this Spring because of the abundant forage) is the time when the queen is making LOTS of eggs and brood and the colony is exploding in numbers. Are you keeping records of all your inspections? The dates (which should not be more than a month apart for this growth period), what you are seeing in the amount of EGGS, OPEN BROOD, and CAPPED BROOD and the moving up of brood frames as the brood nest gets too congested. Giving away your hive because these things may be off kilter is just going to find you getting into the same rut with the next hive. If you are unfamiliar with the operation of opening up the queen’s laying space, you need a mentor. Everyone needs a hands on teacher to learn with the greatest confidence and with fewer errors.

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Roberta! I will be doing the presentation at the end of March on the topics Ceebs wrote above. I have 8 students I mentor and help them get their first hives, often as a cutout experience. Is your mentor not helping you get your first bee colony? Write us back Susan

[susan rudnicki]

I understand that is the risk for you now. I make my comment due to some implication coming through about making bee suits “nuclearized” I do not think that is a wise strategy when dealing with such extreme sensitivity.

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, I will be giving the next presentation at HL on March 26 on Spring buildup. I want all of you to understand that bees have different moods depending on what is going on in the hive and the time of year. Bees in Spring buildup (which I saw starting around the beginning of Feb) with lots of brood, are more defensive and sketchy in attitude. We just need to be mindful of it and be prepared, go slow, and do the least manipulation to get the job done—i.e. adding some open frames.
As well, the larger the broodnest, the more the bees have to defend, so a larger hive will launch more guards on opening the hive.
The more you work with the bees, the more likely you are to get stung—it is just part of the picture. I get stung almost daily, at least once.

[susan rudnicki]

Jennifer—remember we did the cabinet cutout? I still don’t have any contacts for you—email, phone, —can you please call me? I have a cutout in a tire in PV that needs to be done soon—the house is in escrow. You could take the bees by bringing your woodware and the experience you got last week please reply Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Jen—no I don’t have your email, but here is the address—514 So. Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach—parking is not the greatest. We will be setting up at 10 am. You only need to wear your beesuit and veil, boots or shoes that cover your foot and ankles, and gloves. My more experienced student, Chuck, is adopting these bees to live in Palos Verdes.
my phone is 310-374-4779 or cell 310-421-6892

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