Spruce's honey bees

Promise not to laugh Spruce. Getting one bee sting is no joke let alone loads. Hope the sun shines on your new brood this weekend,

 

This is going to be good Spruce....looked on www for some info on Bees there's a lot to take in though....and really looking forward to see you in your outfit:WINK1:

 

Well i'm going to laugh

 

Spruce, the bees came to our silver birch tree last May.Can you explain why they had left their former home? I'm sure their hive owner was most unhappy - know I would have been. How can you ensure you keep them as "yours" though?

 

Great thread Spruce I'll be watching with interest, as you know we have a beekeeper on the allotments at the bottom of our garden so in the summer they all come into my garden, fascinating to watch.
I'll be keeping an eye open for the picture of you in your beekeepers outfit too

 

Hi Jenny

They swarm mostly to increase they leave with the old queen, and in the hive will be one or more queen cells that have just been caped/sealed over (like a catipilar before it changes into a butterfly) you can get muliple swarms from one hive but usualy the queens fight it out (to the death) who is going to take over which normaly just leaves the one but on occasions you can have a cast swarm which is much smaller than the 1st prime swarm that left with the original queen bee if one ore more queens are left in the hive together.

Yes you have guest right you dont want them to swarm as you wont to keep as many bees as posible to collect nector to turn into honey .

Lots of diffrent methods I will explain the method I use at a later date
Artificual swarm , basicaly this is going with the bees if and when they start to produce queen cells.

Spruce

 

The three Castes of Bee​

​

1. Queen

A Colony is only complete when it has a queen. The queen is the focus of all the other bees, she is the completley female member and at the height of laying eggs in the season 1,500 more than her bodyweight.
From a egg to hatching out 16 days
They can live to 5 years and I have heard 7 & 8 occasionaly.

2. Drones

The drones are the male bees, who's only fuction is to mate with Queens but it has been found out that they also help to regulate the temerature of the colony, they have a very nice life in the summer usualy have a afternoon fly around if its warm enough, they are unable to collect nector or pollen and rely on the food that is stored in the hive , if they are fortunate to mate with a queen they give their life in the process. Drones who do not meet their end mating have a equaly tragic end normaly in late August as they are bitten stung and thrown out of the hive by the worker bees and not let back in. (not needed anymore and would be a waste of food during the winter months).
From egg to hatching 24 days

3. Worker

The worker bees are all female but their reproductive organs are under-developed
The life span of the worker bee depends on the time of year, during the spring and summer they normaly live 35 to 45 days .
From egg to hatching 21 days .
What to they do ??
1st two days they clean cell and keep the other brood warm (eggs/ larvea)
3 to 5 days feed feed the the older larvae
6 to 11 days feeds the youngest larvae
12 to 17 days produces wax builds comb and carries food around
18 to 21 days guards the hive entrance
22 to 35/45 days pollinates plants collects pollen/nector propolis and water

Then dies.

Spruce

 

I always thought life in the hive was a happy affair! Not much to choose between being a male or a female as it all ends in tears by September. Not so sure I can enjoy my honey for tea tonight now. Who'd be a bee?

 

Jenny you could be a queen

Spruce

 

Wow love it Spruce But all that work they do then it's curtains....this is already making me see them in a totally different light...nice one

 

But who would be King dilly, dilly?

 

I had bread,butter and manuka honey for tea.

 

As promised... this is what is called a nucleus Hive contained 5 frames of bees this is how most people start with

More photos to follow had problems loading them up but Ziggy helped me out

Spruce

 

here they are British National hive but with a 14 x 12 brood box where the queen lives bigger than the usual brood box