The Honey Factory

[ColtHandorf]

Trying. Honey isn't all they will eat. They will eat bees too.

Adults, or larvae? You'd think the bees wouldn't like that much.

 

[R2elk]

Adults, or larvae? You'd think the bees wouldn't like that much.

A healthy hive repels them very well.

 

[ColtHandorf]

A healthy hive repels them very well.

That would be interesting to watch.

 

[R2elk]

That would be interesting to watch.

Not much to see, just guard bees at the entrance preventing the ants from entering.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Not mush to see, just guard bees at the entrance preventing the ants from entering.

People just think about them being bugs, but it's neat to see them interacting with stuff.

 

[R2elk]

People just think about them being bugs, but it's neat to see them interacting with stuff.

Go video ants aphid farming.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Go video ants aphid farming.

I've seen that. Pretty interesting watching them sheperd the little things around.

 

[rjmyooper]

I've had Bees for years and I've never once used a level. We have difficult Winters here, so there is a fine line with venting a hive in the Winter and keeping sealed enough so the Bees can heat it. Every single year the price goes up, even before this administration destroyed the U.S. Economy.

 

[R2elk]

I've had Bees for years and I've never once used a level. We have difficult Winters here, so there is a fine line with venting a hive in the Winter and keeping sealed enough so the Bees can heat it. Every single year the price goes up, even before this administration destroyed the U.S. Economy.

I use a level to make sure my stands are slightly higher in the back so that any water or condensation will run out of the front of the hive.

 

[duluthralphie]

I went into my hives today.

I was going to skip the full suit, but they seem upset with me. So I put it on.

Once I got it on they were happy, maybe it was my black tee shirt they didn’t like.

The hives looked good. More drone cells than I like to see. Also they are sloppy bees, I cleaned up a bunch of junk comb.

The patterns aren’t bad, good amount of brood capped and uncapped. The pollen Pattie’s are about gone, I gave each hive three junk frames of honey. Put a drone frame in each hive, and moved some brood into the top box.

I added the boxes today. I also scrapped off some drone cells that would cause me grief this fall.

They have enough brood and nurse maids I think I can make another hive. I will buy a queen next week and start another, I think.

My pears are about to blossom so they should expand rapidly soon. I need to fix my fence, but I have 14,000 other things I need to do too.

I am thinking about becoming a Fundamentalist Mormon so I can get 4-5 more women to work around here for free.

Here are so hive photos. You can see they devoured the protein patty.

Hives look so much better when they are 2 stories or more.

These guys look darker and smaller than my Canooks did.