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Gimli

Gimli's Beezness

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As some of you may know, I got into beekeeping a little over a year ago and I have learnt much in that time. Making this thread for anyone interested in seeing inside a hive

 

I started with a swarm (below) which I caught with the help of an acquaintance. The bees simply marched into the nucleus box from their temporary residence on some blokes lawn

 

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About 3 months later I got it home and perched it under my Eucalyptus torquata (Coral Gum, from the Goldfields region of WA) for a bit of arvo shade

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The brood box needed a bit of work unfortunately...

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When the brood box was setup, frames with only wire were used. Bees in a brood box generally do a worse job of drawing comb than the bees upstairs in honey super(s) but this was quite bad, consisting of messy crosscomb in all directions

 

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These were the worst 3 and they plus a fourth were straight up removed and 4 new frames placed

 

The queen now has 8 nice, solid frames on which to lay

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As we rolled into spring, some new woodware was purchased for the purpose of expanding the original hive and housing 2 new colonies

 

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Setting up 2 new hives. They are level side to side but lengthways the entrance is lower. This is to help any moisture which builds up just trickle out the front. It also helps the bees clean up a little easier

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Recently picked up a Flow Hive. One of the original models. The box and roof have been painted but it was never used (frames are brand new, made in Australia!). Been wanting to play with one of these for a while so pulled the trigger. Such a great design (by Australian father-son Stuart and Cedar Anderson)

 

People say that the plastic is bad for the quality of the bees and the honey but most commercial beekeepers use plastic foundation

 

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a 200g block of beeswax from old frames and burr comb. Some of this will be used to wax the flow frames, to help the bees take to the frames a bit quicker

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New colonies delivered. Absolutely overflowing with bees, ready to be split or chuck a honey super on

 

I split one and put a super on the other

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This was the inside of one new colony. Burr comb that was full of gold. Removed it and gave it to one of the guys at work. Tasty work removing it!

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One of the new colonies was split, leaving one half to rear a new queen

Split was done 5/9/19

 

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9/9/19 - a emergency cell is built around an egg

 

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12/9/19 - queen cell is capped off

 

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20/9/19 - queen has emerged and begun to kill all the other queens so she is the one and only

 

In a few days she will take her nuptial flight to mate with multiple drones before beginning her laying life

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Edited by Gimli

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Spotted a drone atop my 'Cliff'

Drones are male bees whose only role is to mate with an unfertilized queen. They have bigger eyes which meet in the middle, are larger than worker bees and do not have a stinger

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Awesome, cheers for posting Gimli. I'm getting into beekeeping soon myself. My partner was visited by an entity that told her to save bees and has since been asked by a friend if she'd be interested in learning how to start a hive. 

I don't know too much about beekeeping so I'm looking forward to learning more :) 

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epic man. a few years ago a bee saving man came a removed a colony from inside our wall, was super interesting (now another colony is forming in a different wall!). Are you saying a colony of bees was living on a lawn and you just lured them into a box?

 

some of the photos make me feel quite strange to look at, alien world!

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sorry to say, I don't like those bee's!

they compete with native bees & insects for food,

:slap:

honey bee's are bullie's

compared to native bee's,

and not as good pollinators!!:bootyshake:

Edited by withdrawl clinic

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On 22/09/2019 at 1:09 PM, withdrawl clinic said:

sorry to say, I don't like those bee's!

they compete with native bees & insects for food,

:slap:

honey bee's are bullie's

compared to native bee's,

and not as good pollinators!!:bootyshake:

 

This is info I need to remember if I think about expanding.

 

I'm soon moving to a property that has a single beehive, though it hasnt been tended in awhile, so I hope it is doing well and I can take care of it!

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if mono cultural land, bee's can bee, bee_nifical.

not at me place, though...:(

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On 22/09/2019 at 3:09 PM, withdrawl clinic said:

sorry to say, I don't like those bee's!

they compete with native bees & insects for food,

:slap:

honey bee's are bullie's

compared to native bee's,

and not as good pollinators!!:bootyshake:

 

This is true. They can displace native birds also by nesting in hollow trees... but there honey tastes so good!  way better then sugar bag honey. 

 

You can also get mad honey "Mad honey is deliberately produced in some regions of the world, most notably Nepal and the Black Sea region of Turkey. In Nepal, this type of honey is used by the Gurung people for both its perceived hallucinogenic properties and supposed medicinal benefits. In Turkey, mad honey known as deli bal is also used as a recreational drug and traditional medicine. It is most commonly made from the nectar of Rhododendron luteum and Rhododendron ponticum in the Caucasus region."

 

Just imagine we could make mad aussie honey with Rhododendron lochiae or some other aussie grayanotoxin-containing plants. 

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Yeah Gimli get some natives already. :wink:

 Also... I am well keen for some Aussie made mad honey. Attached is a list of plants containing grayanotoxins to get the ball rolling. 

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More burr comb. Uncapped so still technically nectar. Incredibly sweet, more so than honey. Got around 60g of wax out of it

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Here is the link @Enjaytee

 

" In WA, Stingless Bees are only found from the Hamersley Ranges northwards. Local WA authorities strongly oppose the introduction of Stingless Bees to more southern areas as they may disturb the delicate ecology of the state’s beautiful wildflowers "

 

https://www.aussiebee.com.au/beesinyourarea.html

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New queen from the hive split I did 5/9. Already laying a solid pattern of brood

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Setting up 2 more hives. Bitten off more than I could chew. The backyard smells of honey all the time now

 

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Trying out these sectional frames. The purpose is to get the bees to build honeycomb in each individual square which can be given as a present. Love to be able to share some of these with friends

 

Checked the flow frames a few days ago and the bees are working hard filling the gaps in the frames and bringing in nectar. Looking forward to my first harvest

 

Any members here have a flow hive/super? What are your thoughts/comments/criticisms about them?

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I’ll never forget the first time I saw a flow hive. At a bbq... the hosts said “you’ve just got to see our flow hive”. Anyway we all gathered around the hive excitedly, ready to marvel at its ingenuity and as they’ve turned the tap, what came out was this beautiful viscous golden liquid filled with fucking maggots! I could have almost heaved watching them finger the maggot laced honey and trying to tell me it was still fine to eat. Well maybe it was, but I was trying not to retch at the thought of it.

I guess it was hive beetle larvae which can happen to any hive right? But I’m sure you keep a nice clean apiary. :)

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On 05/10/2019 at 4:35 AM, Enjaytee said:

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a flow hive. At a bbq... the hosts said “you’ve just got to see our flow hive”. Anyway we all gathered around the hive excitedly, ready to marvel at its ingenuity and as they’ve turned the tap, what came out was this beautiful viscous golden liquid filled with fucking maggots! I could have almost heaved watching them finger the maggot laced honey and trying to tell me it was still fine to eat. Well maybe it was, but I was trying not to retch at the thought of it.

I guess it was hive beetle larvae which can happen to any hive right? But I’m sure you keep a nice clean apiary. :)

 

We don't have SHB in the Perth area (yet), only up in the Kimberley region of WA. Interesting that the maggots, even given their small size, made it through the frames when opened

 

I can't wait for my first flow harvest. Switching another of my langstroth hives over to a flow super this week hopefully once the 8 frames in the super are capped. Keeping 2 as langstroth for honeycomb production also

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Hey Gimli, love the thread.  Ive a big bag of L.scoparium seeds if you want a little Manuka Id be happy to post some across.

 

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Bees are filling the flow frames nicely. I ended up not waxing the flow frames and the bees took to them very quickly

 

I've noticed a lot of Flow owners posting in various groups about their bees not moving up into the super. The issue is their colony wasn't ready for it (re not big enough)

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On 22/09/2019 at 11:34 AM, Micromegas said:

epic man. a few years ago a bee saving man came a removed a colony from inside our wall, was super interesting (now another colony is forming in a different wall!). Are you saying a colony of bees was living on a lawn and you just lured them into a box?

 

some of the photos make me feel quite strange to look at, alien world!

 

The mob on the lawn were a swarm from hives on the other side of the fence. Often they land on lawns it appears. Odd place though

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Bloke at work and I put on a brew this morning, after months of talking about it and being unable to do it due to other commitments

 

We used 5kg of my honey, 2.5kg of cherries, 2kg of sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

 

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Finishing off some of his chocolate coffee vanilla stout while we got the brew on. Damn tasty!

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