Category Archives: Beekeeping

Our Beloved Killer Bees

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We had to destroy our lone hive.  This was the hive that had been going like crazy and racking up a ton of honey.  The one that survived the longest out of any of our hives, and was obtained for free from an infested owl box.  I had been having increasing aggression problems with them.  It was slowly building as the colony got larger.  I haven’t been able to mow the back yard in a month because they would attack, and then stay mad for hours later.  It was to the point that we couldn’t risk someone else getting hurt.

I will spare all the gory details of how we did it.  Needless to say our backyard was a horror show, I have been stung nearly 30 times, and we are both drained from the ordeal.

We did manage to harvest about 30 pounds of honey.  The spinner worked well again.  Newspaper on the floor really helped keep it from being a slippery mess.  The only major harvesting issue we had was that our electric hot knife died before we even got started.  This was only the third time we ever tried to use it.

Sore, swollen from stings and sad at the loss of another hive.

Major Hive Weight Increase

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I don’t normally post about the usual inspections of the hive, but today’s was worthy.  We went out to check on the girls and oh boy had they been busy.  Despite having had very little rain since the new year they are finding nectar somewhere.  We had a 40 pound increase in the last 3 weeks.

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Seriously busy as a bee.  The previous time we checked they increased about 25 pounds in the same time.  Not sure where they are finding it all, everything is brown in the area, but glad they are.  We aren’t going to be able to harvest for a few weeks and everything was slammed full.  Had to stick on another super.  At this rate they will fill it too before we get to harvest.

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Hurricane Matthew Update

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We had quite a storm pass through here recently.  Matthew was the highest wind hurricane I had ever dealt with, though not the biggest or most destructive.  Still, I am a home owner this time, so I have a lot of skin in the game.  The shutters went up, the yard was cleared, the bees were hunkered down, and we got out of dodge.

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The base is quite heavy due to the paver and amount of wood.  I threw another paver on top and strapped around everything so the total pile was tied together was over 100 pounds.

Post Storm

We evacuated to stay with friends, and came back to a yard that was a mess, but happy looking bees, and an in tact house.

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My fence repair from a few weeks back was perfectly timed.  No pickets were lost and the fence is still standing.  There is a new lean though.  Posts near the ones I repaired appear to be broken now.

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Instead of removing any of the posts like I did last time, I just put new ones in next to the old ones.  It doesn’t looks as good and is a bit lazy, but was a ton less work.

I might be able to work those old posts off at some point, but for now they were too well connected to the horizontal portions of the fence.  While I was at it I replaced some of the gate hardware that was in bad shape, added more connecting straps, and some anti-sag cables.  The cables were past due, the two doors have rhombused a bit and rub at the tops when trying to close.  Oh well, it ought to buy me another few years.

wp-1477097752621.jpgIn all, we are past the hurricane without any major issues.  Now if they could just come by and get the piles of yard waste.

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Owl Box Cut Out

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I got tired of the owl box bees not descending down into the lovely medium super I provided them, so I forcefully evicted them.  The plan was simple, start by removing as many screws as possible from the owl box so I could pull the side off.

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Once the lid and side were off I could get to the whole segments of comb and remove them one at a time.

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I placed each piece on a large sheet of cutting board, used an empty frame to cut out segments of comb that would fit nicely in empty frames, and then rubber banded them in.  The wonderful wife shot some video of the process to better illustrate.

A few of the appropriately sized rubber bands did a great job of holding the pieces of comb in as long as you are careful and don’t tip the frames sideways.  Everything fit in a single super, so I made that the bottom box with their expansions super on top.  Time to wait.

Two Weeks Later

I let them sit for a while hoping that they would not leave in anger or stress, and that they would start melding their cut up comb into the new empty frames.  The entrance showed plenty of activity when we came to inspect.

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They really took to the wooden frames.  Every piece of comb we put in was expanding and was well anchored to the surrounding wood.

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They even added propolis and wax around the rubber bands in places.  I read that they would chew through them eventually, but for now they are making them a structural part of the hive!  I took a weight measurement on both boxes now that they are in regular boxes.  With a little luck they will gain weight and start expanding more into the additional super.

Bee Vacuum Box

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It is time to kick up our bee rescues to another level.  We typically use a shop vac to suck up as many bees as we can.  Sometimes it works out well, sometimes we end up with a canister of pulverized bees.  I think the swirling action of most of those vacuums breaks the bees up eventually.  Enter, the bee vacuum box.

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This tool goes in-between the vacuum and the hose sucking up the bees.  It catches them in a screened section that should hold them and prevent damage.

The Build

I started with an assembled medium super.  It is a good size to hold bees, and I built a lot of them a while back.  A thin scrap of plywood forms a sealed bottom of the box.  I made a small frame out of 1×2 and stapled on some 1/8th inch metal screening.  I used a lot of staples because I figured the force of thousands of bees pushing on the screen could be high.

I wanted to be able to see how many bees we had and how healthy they were.  A piece of clear acrylic sheeting across the top will be strong and allow viewing.

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I used a 2-1/2″ dust collection gate on the front entrance.  This should accept a standard shop vacuum hose, and can be shut once full to keep the bees from escaping.  I attached it with a lot of silicon caulking.  A standard port was screwed to the other end.  This side will go towards the vacuum.  It doesn’t need to be shut because the screen will keep the bees from getting out this way.

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Once you have the bees captured you will need to let them out in their new hive.  I used more thin plywood to make a small trap door.  Tape will keep it from popping open in transport.  Once at the hive, you can just pull the tape off and let it open as you put the vacuum box down on top of the hive.  You could even completely seal the hive entrance with this method and leave the vacuum box on top for a day or two.  This will encourage them to stay and setup shop before opening the hive entrance.

All of this sounds great in theory, but has yet to be put to practice.  There is supposedly a tree that needs some bees removed from it, so we might be able to put this to the test soon.

Swarm Trap

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Getting new bees can be expensive, and cutting them out of the floorboards of someone’s shed is a lot of work.  Why not try to catch a wild swarm in something convenient before they setup shop someplace tricky?  That is the idea behind a swarm trap.  You build a space that is right for a new bee swarm, bait it with essential oils, and hope they show up.

The general consensus is that something like a 5 frame deep nuc is what they naturally look for in size.  I only do mediums now a days, but hopefully they aren’t that picky.  While we were building the screech owl boxes my bee buddy and I put together a set of swarm traps to try and catch some bees!

I started with the dimensions for a langstroth medium and cut the width down so that 5 frames would fit comfortably.  I added a bit of height to allow space above and below the frames that would normally be there in a hive stack-up.  Cleats on the side help with picking it up.

Five frames with foundation went into each box and they got their lids screwed on.  The lid should keep it dry inside, but can easily be removed with a few screws once occupied.  I wanted the trap up in the oak tree in my backyard.  I added a tall piece of pine with screw holes so I could use long exterior screws for attachment.

I got a bunch of medium boxes put together in the mean time and went ahead with my lovely yellow paint for all of them.

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I hope the bees aren’t put off by the wild yellow.  Who knows, maybe it will attract them to move in.

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The trap has been up in my oak tree for about a month now, and so far no bees.  I have heard that lemongrass oil is supposed to attract them.  I doubt it lasts more than a week or two, so I should probably refresh that.  Oh well, now we wait.

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Water Meter Hive Rescue

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Our local bee group got another contact about a person with bees living in their water meter housing.  In Florida they are a plastic box set into the ground with a removable lid for servicing the meter and valves.  This one had apparently been occupied for a while.

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We were fighting dwindling daylight and some tricky comb.  It was quite tall and oddly shaped because of the shape of the water meter box and the piping inside.  We didn’t have time to cut the comb to size and fit it inside the frames so we just stuck it in between open frames.

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Everything fit inside a single medium super nicely, minus the bits of random comb on top.  I need to come up with a technique for quickly cutting and framing the comb.  Ideas are forming and updates should be coming soon.  This one went to my bee buddy that still doesn’t have a running hive.  So far they are making themselves at home.

Drill Powered Honey Spinner Demonstration

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I have gotten a lot of activity related to my Drill Powered Honey Spinner.  In fact probably 90% of all the traffic I have ever received has been to that post.  I guess it was a good idea!  My explanation was pretty good, but could really be supplemented with a nice video.  I finally found the time to shoot and edit one, so enjoy and thank you for watching.

Double Owl Box Rescue

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I have been without bees for a few weeks now since the death of Ester II.  I was sad, but my mourning is over.  I was able to do a double rescue with my best bee buddy Willow.  We had reports of two owl boxes occupied by bees that needed to come down.  Both were in really rotten shape and not long for this world.

The first is this guy only about 8 feet up in a tree.  It must be reasonably full of bees, because it weighed a ton and they had started building comb under the roof entrance.

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I pulled the comb off, duct taped shut the 40 odd holes and cracks that they were coming in and out of, then pried it off the tree.  We took it home, screwed it to an inner cover, and drilled a hole in the bottom of both.  Hey presto, couldn’t be easier!

I shot a little video right after we got them in place, then again a day later.  I think they are here to stay for the long haul.

With my new hive secure, it was time to pop over and take a look at the next one.  First though, we had to visit some new baby chickens!

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Ok, on to hive number 2.  This one was a bit higher up in the tree.  What do they say, don’t look down?

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This one felt really light and was very rotten.  We got it home and instead of drilling a hole we just pulled the bottom clean off.  We found a small hive, with not much comb.  They must have moved in recently.

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Once again the duct tape came to the rescue.  We didn’t think screwing it down would work well.  Doesn’t that look pretty!?  Time will tell if they stay or not.

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