Sting Fests, Transferring Queens
And now the flood gates of blackberry are open- fully flowering, beautiful warm days (unlike the past few years), and I have a lot of healthy bees zooming up in great golden arcs and spirals and over the houses and tree tops after the nectar. Its the start of the time of year when the smell of ripening honey in the hives is thick, especially after dark, and there's not a smell like it. Sweet and warm- and always that night time humming.
Simultaneous with trying to keep on top of supering- I have been trying to raise queens. I was able to graft twice, and now have 16 mated queens, ready to go. They're getting to big for their britches, and the three frame boxes I made for them are getting crowded, so I decided it was time to get them moved to bigger quarters. Which means packing them up and taking them somewhere they don't know about and putting them in new boxes. I can't do it where they are, or they'd just go back to where they were in the woods. So I decided this evening was the time, and that i had to move them after dark so that most of them were back in the hive. This was the beginning of my mistakes.
As shown, I have them setup in the woods on rebar pedestals (which work great BTW), and went down to the apiary after 8 pm and closed them up and took off their feeders.
And this is one of those times where I learn about getting stung alot.
As an introduction to this, a few days ago, I worked a hive too long in reorganizing it, and it got mean and started pelting me. I wear a bee jacket, but just long pants, and almost never gloves (though that era is changing). With a jacket, you don't often notice that they are riled up, until you feel them hitting you, like someone throwing small bits of gravel at you- but this time- and its the first time I can recall ever- they suddenly attacked my ankles through my black socks- a few inches exposed between my shoes and my Carharts. Do they attack the ankles of bears like this? I think not. I looked down, and saw they had zeroed in on their target and they were devoted to it. A lot of bees, and it hurt like hell. I have worn the exact same thing hundreds of times- but never had this happen- though I was wearing different shoes (they don't like tennis shoes? is that it?). I ran for it- I couldn't brush them off quick enough- and I put a full second bee suit with legs over the first one (which I couldn't take off)- but still, they hit my ankles. Not fun. I need gators. Getting stung if anything, has gotten more painful than less. And wearing two bee suits gets pretty hot pretty fast.
Next time with that hive I wore rubber boots- which worked great- but it was like 85 degrees. I'll keep them in my truck in the future for emergencies.
So I started in good faith- laid all out all my equipment and opened all the new hives, and unscrewed the first mating box. Went great, pulled the three frames out, they were quiet, installed them, shook the bees left in the box and on the lid fed them, and shut them up. Seemed like the way to go. No problem.
And then it got darker and something shifted.
The second and third were OK, but about the fourth, I got stung twice on my finger tips and pretty much howled (internally) with pain and ran around in a big circle (even typing now is uncomfortable). Its like the worst pain ever sometimes- and sometimes you can feel that they really drill in- there's a little bloody hole and a piece of flesh missing. Not only did I get stung, but I could see they were getting more riled up- making me realize doing this in the dark was a dumb idea.But I went back to it- still not really aware that one hive was telling the next that this was their big chance to show me who was boss.
At about the 7th it was near pitch black. Somehow I thought that would mean they were even more docile- not the case. For one, its harder to see what your are doing and at least one hive I partly dropped before opening, which made them mad, and the second thing is, they start crawling all over you when you reach in to pick them up. They don't do that during the day. Having a white jacket, even in the dark, you can see them pretty well- but you can't shake them off, they fly right back at you and keep crawling. Up your gloves (I put on after first stings) and arms, and then- well, I have this new bee jacket which I think pretty much I am going to jettison- they start getting inside it. I don't know how- and because its dark- I can't see to tell. I just think there are so many- and they aren't flying at all- just buzzing and crawling around looking for ways in to sting you,, and finding them. I can't brush them off, or shake them.
So another bunch of stings, on ankles, neck, wrists, arms, belly. And I just had to keep going forward. Ankles hurt- but finger tips are worse- (but there is nothing worse than right between the nose, or on the cheeks- which didn't happen tonight). A lot of stinging on their part and cursing, and sweating, on mine.
And finally I close off the last one- hive 10- and got the hell out of there- my jacket buzzing with bees still trying to get at human flesh.
This was definitely one of those times when I thought- this is too much, and not fun- and I should probably finish up the summer and cut back what I am doing. Because there is more to do now- it means working quicker- and that means I need to give more attention to protective wear- no more counting on any hive being "nice"- or something not happening to rile them. It just does- and you have to keep working through it, and you never know when it will happen- but it will. And maybe the idea of queens getting meaner when one raises one's own is also true- I don't know for sure yet. 80% of hives seem fine- you could inspect them naked- but the rest, well, you just wouldn't.
That's my report with under 30 hives. How people manage more- I have no idea- except to totally leave them alone and hope for the best- which everyone knows is certain hive death. I'm learning a lot right now in trying to manage a little plus queens, - sort of a good thing if I am going to continue- but can see backing off to maybe 10 as well. Especially if I can get winter losses back under control.
Every dang time I do something with bees, something new happens. Its like a law. Never expect that what you expect will happen like you expected it to. It just never seems to work that way.
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| Bees fanning in the warm evening- a hive raised from a queen last year. |
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| 3 of my best and strongest hives. The yellow super is from my mentor Brian, who gave up beekeeping this year (sad to say). Hive in middle is hive I've been using to make queen cells using Sue Colby's cloakboard method. Hive on left has a danged deep super I am hoping to harvest out of the apiary. All hives have the same setup- a slatted bottom board, a queen excluder above super 3, and a vented box on the top- the one I use in winter and now replaces the inner cover (which I don't use anymore). I use reflectors for hive recognition. |
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| Typical mating box which houses 3 Western frames- and set on a 2x6 seat that sits on a piece of rebar which I drive into the ground so I can place the boxes easily anywhere. Boxes have a vented back, a feeder hole on top, and a sliding hand made door. Also seen is a green pushpin, which I used like Jay Smith used colored blocks, to tell me the status of the box (green is "good to go".) |
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| More boxes in the edge of the woods. I built 18 out of cheap wood, about 6 b bucks each. |
I loaded 10 of them in in my car....
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| It was late and my truck was low in gas, so drove my VW over to haul the mating boxes. Worked great - could fit 10 no problem. Those German engineers- so thoughtful! |
And I drove them to my other apiary- next to my house-and lined them all up to process, as shown below. I was both hot and tired- and not really looking forward to any of this. And not quite sure if this was the right way to go about it. But if they woke up in the boxes in the morning, then they'd latch on to them and it would be a mess trying to get them into the new nucs.
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| And this is the late evening setup for transferring the mating boxes. As noted, this is NOT a good idea.. But I built a ten foot frame to sit 8 hives on and figured I could move them again soon enough, as I am concerned about drifiting- despite my colored numbering systems. Where- I hope- the bees learn not only where home is- but a number as well. . |
As an introduction to this, a few days ago, I worked a hive too long in reorganizing it, and it got mean and started pelting me. I wear a bee jacket, but just long pants, and almost never gloves (though that era is changing). With a jacket, you don't often notice that they are riled up, until you feel them hitting you, like someone throwing small bits of gravel at you- but this time- and its the first time I can recall ever- they suddenly attacked my ankles through my black socks- a few inches exposed between my shoes and my Carharts. Do they attack the ankles of bears like this? I think not. I looked down, and saw they had zeroed in on their target and they were devoted to it. A lot of bees, and it hurt like hell. I have worn the exact same thing hundreds of times- but never had this happen- though I was wearing different shoes (they don't like tennis shoes? is that it?). I ran for it- I couldn't brush them off quick enough- and I put a full second bee suit with legs over the first one (which I couldn't take off)- but still, they hit my ankles. Not fun. I need gators. Getting stung if anything, has gotten more painful than less. And wearing two bee suits gets pretty hot pretty fast.
Next time with that hive I wore rubber boots- which worked great- but it was like 85 degrees. I'll keep them in my truck in the future for emergencies.
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| Some of the mating boxes closed up with bees. The tops are screwed down like ammo boxes, which is what the drill is for. |
But in comparison to that day, this evening was one of the worst sting fests- in part as I didn't really think it out, and I did something I hadn't done before- and won't do again- which is do this in the dark Duh. Somehow I figured this would be easy- they attack lights- but I didn't use any, and figured they would be docile and sleepy or something and not even notice that I was laying them down in a new cradle like a sleepy baby. Rosemary's baby maybe, it turns out.
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| Each 10 frame super gets a two frame size frame feeder (from Mann Lake, the Pro-Feeder), two frames of undrawn foundation, the three frames from the mating box, and one frame of drawn brood comb. I fill the frame feeder and put a 1/4 patty of pollen on top, and close them up. This is taken just prior to opening the boxes- when they started stinging, I wasn't up for more photos. |
And then it got darker and something shifted.
The second and third were OK, but about the fourth, I got stung twice on my finger tips and pretty much howled (internally) with pain and ran around in a big circle (even typing now is uncomfortable). Its like the worst pain ever sometimes- and sometimes you can feel that they really drill in- there's a little bloody hole and a piece of flesh missing. Not only did I get stung, but I could see they were getting more riled up- making me realize doing this in the dark was a dumb idea.But I went back to it- still not really aware that one hive was telling the next that this was their big chance to show me who was boss.
At about the 7th it was near pitch black. Somehow I thought that would mean they were even more docile- not the case. For one, its harder to see what your are doing and at least one hive I partly dropped before opening, which made them mad, and the second thing is, they start crawling all over you when you reach in to pick them up. They don't do that during the day. Having a white jacket, even in the dark, you can see them pretty well- but you can't shake them off, they fly right back at you and keep crawling. Up your gloves (I put on after first stings) and arms, and then- well, I have this new bee jacket which I think pretty much I am going to jettison- they start getting inside it. I don't know how- and because its dark- I can't see to tell. I just think there are so many- and they aren't flying at all- just buzzing and crawling around looking for ways in to sting you,, and finding them. I can't brush them off, or shake them.
So another bunch of stings, on ankles, neck, wrists, arms, belly. And I just had to keep going forward. Ankles hurt- but finger tips are worse- (but there is nothing worse than right between the nose, or on the cheeks- which didn't happen tonight). A lot of stinging on their part and cursing, and sweating, on mine.
And finally I close off the last one- hive 10- and got the hell out of there- my jacket buzzing with bees still trying to get at human flesh.
This was definitely one of those times when I thought- this is too much, and not fun- and I should probably finish up the summer and cut back what I am doing. Because there is more to do now- it means working quicker- and that means I need to give more attention to protective wear- no more counting on any hive being "nice"- or something not happening to rile them. It just does- and you have to keep working through it, and you never know when it will happen- but it will. And maybe the idea of queens getting meaner when one raises one's own is also true- I don't know for sure yet. 80% of hives seem fine- you could inspect them naked- but the rest, well, you just wouldn't.
That's my report with under 30 hives. How people manage more- I have no idea- except to totally leave them alone and hope for the best- which everyone knows is certain hive death. I'm learning a lot right now in trying to manage a little plus queens, - sort of a good thing if I am going to continue- but can see backing off to maybe 10 as well. Especially if I can get winter losses back under control.
Every dang time I do something with bees, something new happens. Its like a law. Never expect that what you expect will happen like you expected it to. It just never seems to work that way.
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