Advice on wasp nests

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 28 Jan 2020, 19:54

My bees are the best kind I think. Complete mongrels. But, with a large dollop of British black bee in them by the looks of it. Which would account for the alarmingly small overwintering ball of them that I always think will never make it to spring. But always does (so far). British black bees are very frugal both in terms of honey production and in terms of the size of the overwintering colony. I think running them in Warre hive with no queen excluder and allowing them to naturally swarm helps as well.

I haven't actually checked in on them for over 3 months now. So, who knows. This could be my first unlucky year.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 28 Jan 2020, 23:44

Little John wrote:My bees are the best kind I think. Complete mongrels. But, with a large dollop of British black bee in them by the looks of it. Which would account for the alarmingly small overwintering ball of them that I always think will never make it to spring. But always does (so far). British black bees are very frugal both in terms of honey production and in terms of the size of the overwintering colony. I think running them in Warre hive with no queen excluder and allowing them to naturally swarm helps as well.

I haven't actually checked in on them for over 3 months now. So, who knows. This could be my first unlucky year.

How many hives do you have and what have you been able to harvest per hive?

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 29 Jan 2020, 00:16

vtsnowedin wrote:
Little John wrote:My bees are the best kind I think. Complete mongrels. But, with a large dollop of British black bee in them by the looks of it. Which would account for the alarmingly small overwintering ball of them that I always think will never make it to spring. But always does (so far). British black bees are very frugal both in terms of honey production and in terms of the size of the overwintering colony. I think running them in Warre hive with no queen excluder and allowing them to naturally swarm helps as well.

I haven't actually checked in on them for over 3 months now. So, who knows. This could be my first unlucky year.
How many hives do you have and what have you been able to harvest per hive?

I've only got one hive at present. Which is a bit of a risk. I had two (and have had more than that) but gave one away to a mate last spring. so, I will be doubling up again this season I reckon.

Typically, I will harvest a single box from a hive A box is about 20 litres in volume. A fair portion of which is naturally formed comb (warre hives have no frames or foundation. The bees are allowed to build their own comb off wooden slats at the top of each box section as they see fit. At a guess, about 20-30 pounds of honey per box. I've never weighed it. My method of extraction is to harvest a box off the top of the hive, cut out all of the comb from the box, roughly mash the comb up with the honey, then put it through a fruit press and stick it straight into jars.

I'm considering going over to a Kenyan top bar long hive this year because, although slightly higher maintenance than a warre, it is easier than doing splits with a warre or waiting for them to swarm from the warre and then running around like a daft bugger catching the swarms. But, splits using the kenyan long hive mimic a swarm and so are still good for the bees

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 29 Jan 2020, 10:55

Interesting. Several people around me keep bees. The big problem here is protecting the hives from black bears. The solution is a very strong highly charged electric fence so they end up with five to ten hives in a group inside the fenced off square which is somewhere near a power source.
Another thing I see is foam board insulation ductaped to the outside of the hive boxes to protect the hive from extreme cold.
Good luck with your hive this season.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 29 Jan 2020, 11:00

vtsnowedin wrote:Interesting. Several people around me keep bees. The big problem here is protecting the hives from black bears. The solution is a very strong highly charged electric fence so they end up with five to ten hives in a group inside the fenced off square which is somewhere near a power source.
Another thing I see is foam board insulation ductaped to the outside of the hive boxes to protect the hive from extreme cold.
Good luck with your hive this season.

Thanks V

fuzzy · Post by **fuzzy** » 29 Jan 2020, 12:38

Are we allowed to say black bears now? Isn't it large strongly pigmented people of different sexual interests??

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 29 Jan 2020, 13:10

fuzzy wrote:Are we allowed to say black bears now? Isn't it large strongly pigmented people of different sexual interests??

The times do keep changing. I remember reading a western novel in the sixties where a Texan called his black horse a N-----horse and there was a footnote explaining it meant no disrespect for the horse.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 30 Jan 2020, 15:09

Our winter temperatures don't usually warrant insulating the hives. There is a Turkish company making injection moulded plastic insulated hives but then Turkey has much lower temperatures than here and much higher summer ones having much more of a continental climate than the UK.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 30 Jan 2020, 15:44

kenneal - lagger wrote:Our winter temperatures don't usually warrant insulating the hives. There is a Turkish company making injection moulded plastic insulated hives but then Turkey has much lower temperatures than here and much higher summer ones having much more of a continental climate than the UK.

It was +6 deg. F this morning here in Vt. Very mild for late January. Haven't seen -30 F yet this winter. A very warm winter, so far, they have a habit of evening out by spring.