I used to regularly get bees in my veil-didn't get stung tho'.I tried in vain to find the hole and then finaly found a 1/4 inch dia hole where the gauze was stiched into the cloth part of the hat.I did a field repair by rolling up a small piece of the hessian smoker fuel from my tool box and plugged the hole.NO MORE wandering bees inside the veil.Did a permanent repair when I got home by glueing a small patch over the hole.I think the veil got a slight snag from a Hawthorn bush when retrieving a swarm one time.
Quick check thro' the bees today,No stores in the supers-they've taken what was in there due to the bad weather of the past week or so.will have to think of feeding to maintain the colonies if the weather doesn't get any better.I recon we'll be lucky to get a surplus this season.There's lots of clover about but they can't get at it and anyway it wont secrete nectar if the temperature doesn't climb a bit.
Temps high (relatively) this evening - muggy, some rain earlier and 15 degrees at 9.30 pm and a few bees still flying. So what temp do you think clover will secrete nectar?
With clover it's a combination of temperature and humidity.I've had bees in the past stuck in the middle of a clover field and not got a drop in the supers because despite the high temperature the humidity was low so no secretion from the nectaries.
According to my weather app humidity today is between 75 and 85%. I can smell the clover in the field and have seen a few bees on it though one of the bushes by the house is really buzzing. Weather good here for the next two days and then I go on holiday for 12 days. Booked before I realised that beekeepers shouldn't go on holiday in July! Any thing I should be doing before I go?
See if you can arrange for a friend to give your hives a once over while you're away if you think they might yet be thinking about swarming and clip your queens!
Edit: actually, with the weather as it is right now, that they have enough food to last them while you're away is probably worth checking too!
Last edited by Neils; 03-07-2012 at 02:37 PM.
Just checked them and the super is pretty much full of uncapped honey. The frames were pretty empty last week so they have refilled them. They will therefore be fine for stores I think. I have given the new hive some more syrup. As for your other suggestions clipping bee wings is way above my pay grade and we have no bee mates so it will be fingers crossed. As the two hives are the result of a Demaree I'm hoping their ideas of swarming have passed. And then it's fingers crossed. 😔
Had a strange "pseudo" swarm yesterday.Bees came pouring from the entrances of three separate hives,formed a dense cloud which went roaring around overhead then subsided and all went back into their respective hives where they continued with their usual foraging flights.Two of these hives had swarmed earlier.Queen mating attempt perhaps? Any ideas?.
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