[susan rudnicki]

Ramon is taking these bees tonight

[susan rudnicki]

Yeah? So, will you reveal your identity and where you are located? Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Hey, Africanized Beek–why are you not listed by a known name? We are all members of this club, and I don’t know what your human name is….. Susan

[susan rudnicki]

They were taken last night by Ray

[susan rudnicki]

Yeah, I checked the nuc again the following day and saw her.

[susan rudnicki]

Thanks Justin—hope someone in your area responds. By the way, they are not fellas, but ladies. Drones are raised for brief periods as sperm donors and sinks for mites

[susan rudnicki]

Michael Bush sent me this answer—

There should be one unless she is on a mating flight and those don’t
usually take long, but that does not mean you will see her. Virgins are
runny, flighty and like to hide. They are also not much bigger than a
worker and don’t move anything like a queen. Sometimes they are
impossible to find in a two frame mating nuc with really good eyes for
finding a queen… I figure average before you find eggs is two weeks.
It could be as long as three and as short as one.
————————-

I have seen VQs in my nucs before and just assumed I would find her this time. She is definitely shorter than a mature queen, but her orange legs and abdominal coloring have been the i.d. traits I noted.

[susan rudnicki]

Sonja—It would help potential rescuers if you assess the situation—working height, access (fences, etc), is it on municipal property, size of visible combs and number, are they in danger of extermination, any details you can provide to fill in the blanks. Also, post your phone and email contacts for responders. Have you done a cutout before or do you already have bees? Please let us know
Thanks Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Adopters—-Please always include your email and phone when contacting me for bees or being on the list. I do not have a cell phone and keeping track of contacts numbers gets scrambled as some people have the same first names!
Thanks Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Many beeks screw the bottom deep brood box (or medium, if that is your preference) to the bottom board. I use a level to check the slope or leveling of hives, but depending on how recently the ground has been prepared for the hive, it may need periodic checking to verify shifting beneath the hive stand. I have my hives on custom made iron hive stands (Paul Taylor makes them) with adjustable legs and retention clips for the hive bodies. Most of the time, the bees deposit a lot of propolis between the hive bodies, which holds them in place, though certainly not good enough for a earth quake. You could put a ratchet strap around and over the entire stack of boxes, or you could make a wood strip extending the length of the box stack on the sides and screw each hive body through that to link them together. Of course, each time you inspect your hives, you have to go through detaching these things.

[susan rudnicki]

Hi James—well, sometimes when we get a lot of information all at once from a lot of sources it gets mixed up in meaning. Try to go back to the logic of what you may know about bee behavior. Think of what a swarm is doing when it leaves the original home—it leaves with the OLD QUEEN and some worker bees and possibly some drones. It does not leave with brood, does it? They are LOOKING for a new home, and when they find it, the workers will start drawing wax comb and the queen will begin laying eggs in that new comb, which are the “brood” Now, sometimes we can jump-start a hive as a potential homesite by having some empty frames of drawn comb inside a hive body which gives the queen instant availability for laying room. But brood, by definition, needs nurse bees to care for it, so we do not use frames of brood for swarm installation.

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, I think you may be misinformed about swarm establishment. A colony TRAP-OUT requires brood for the trap box. Brood is very valuable stuff and has to be obtained from another beek with the attendant nurse bees to care for it. What reading and mentoring have you done to reach this conclusion? HoneyLove has some very good mentoring classes, meetings with speakers, and opportunities to network to help you along. It is very important to do your self-education before acquiring the bees, so you are safe and confident—continual education must continue after that, also

[susan rudnicki]

Michael—-I need a phone and email contact to help you. How do you know queen is failing? At this time of year, successful strong hives will have a lot of drone brood. Please mention if you are seeing eggs, and open brood of all ages. Does the queen have open comb to lay in the brood nest? I am at 310-374-4779
susanrudnicki@gmail.com

[susan rudnicki]

Chris—I get swarm boxes brought to me by Sam and Wendy of Bee and Wasp Nest removal service in the So Bay. I am the intermediary who posts them on this forum and tries to get them placed the same day. They do not do well boxed much longer than a day. I live in Manhattan Beach. I had 5 boxed swarms last week and was desperately trying to find homes for. Please watch this list every day for postings. I will try to retain your info on a list, but I am doing a thousand other bee operations here in swarm season and trying to manage 9 hives of my own, so it is hard to keep up with individuals looking for bees.
Susan 310-374-4779

[susan rudnicki]

I would try the piece of queen excluder taped over the entrance as a experiment with the next one.

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