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Author Topic: Cut out  (Read 11210 times)

Offline Meadlover

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #20 on: August 26, 2010, 11:43:45 pm »
I am going to try and check out some wattle this weekend to see if the bees are on it.
I checked out 1 tree at work this week and there were no bees, and the flower seemed really dry, so maybe the huge amount of wattle in flower here at the moment wont really provide much for the bees?

I caught my 1st swarm for the season nearly 3 weeks ago here in Brisbane.
I really need to get some nucs or old boxes prepared incase I get more calls!

Nice work on the cutout too guys.
With comb that dark it must have been a really old hive!

ML

Offline philinacoma

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #21 on: August 27, 2010, 12:54:09 am »

I caught my 1st swarm for the season nearly 3 weeks ago here in Brisbane.
I really need to get some nucs or old boxes prepared incase I get more calls!


Yeah, I saw you mention that earlier. My comment was more for the benefit for those of us down here in the cold.  :'(

Offline Culley

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #22 on: August 27, 2010, 06:10:39 am »
Here in Northern NSW the bees go for the Acacia decurrens, but the bloom of each tree does not last long.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_decurrens

Offline OzBuzz

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #23 on: August 29, 2010, 08:35:23 pm »
It was definitely a challenging cut out - aespecially my first ever one - but it was a great experience! I haven't had a look at the colony since last week but when i was last there they had already bought in good supplies of nectar to supplement the honey that i had put in there for stores. The Queen was released, and accepted, so as i see the weather warming up i'm hoping that she will start laying and hopefully the colony will produce some comb to tie in all of the cutout combs. I just hope they keep it neat and don't make too much mess! They're forecasting 18oC today and 17oC tomorrow so that will give them ample opportunity to do plenty of foraging... I just wish that the longer spells of warm weather would hurry up! it reverts back to 14oC on Wednesday with showers through to Saturday  :-\


Hi All,

These are the pics from the weekend's fun filled cut out. The comb (black too) was at least 2m high possibly as much as 3m. We didn't go down any further than you can see in the pics as there didn't seem much activity in the bottom part. Didn't see the queen but OzBuzz had ordered one from KI just in case. The job took us about 5 hours and we had to pull down the ceiling and push off some tiles to get good access. We grabbed all the brood we could find, which wasn't much, and some stores of honey.






















Offline philinacoma

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #24 on: August 29, 2010, 09:14:13 pm »
Here in Northern NSW the bees go for the Acacia decurrens, but the bloom of each tree does not last long.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_decurrens

@Cullz Are the bees foraging on any other plants around there at the moment or is this 'the best on offer' for them?

Offline Culley

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #25 on: August 30, 2010, 04:58:03 am »
That's the only wattle blooming here. I'd guess the others are not far off.

Tallow-wood, forest red gum, narrow leaf iron bark, avocado, citrus, liquid amber all flowering. Croftonweed is just starting to flower. Lots of other weeds flowering. The wattles and eucalypts don't seem to flower in unison, even ones of the same species.
So far have seen the bees get extra active for the wattle and our one liquid amber tree.

Nice cut out pics. I read this thread with interest. How did the colony on the ground go? The giant honeybee from Asia builds nests out in the open, and the small Asian honeybee does too.

I just went to the bee club here and 30min drive from me there are hardly any drones yet. Me and Meadlover have had swarms already. I just found the first eggs from a newly mated home grown queen.  :) Pretty awesome how the bees respond to the specific environmental conditions where they are.  :)

Offline philinacoma

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #26 on: August 30, 2010, 10:53:43 am »
I went there in my lunch break today. It was a warm sunny day (17C?) and it took me about an hour to set up, cut the comb and put into frames. There were not a lot of bees in the nest. I am hoping that they were mostly out foraging. I saw some capped and uncapped brood. I didn't see the queen but I did not want to leave the brood out too long so transfered it as quickly as possible. I needed 4 frames to hold the comb I cut out.

I went back after work and they had all moved into the box.  :) There were no girls hanging around the entrance, but I could hear them inside. They have now gone off to a new keep who has go the bug after fostering one of my hives for a couple of months.

Offline OzBuzz

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #27 on: August 31, 2010, 10:03:46 pm »
You're like the bee matchmaker! match colonies with appropriate homes hahah


I went there in my lunch break today. It was a warm sunny day (17C?) and it took me about an hour to set up, cut the comb and put into frames. There were not a lot of bees in the nest. I am hoping that they were mostly out foraging. I saw some capped and uncapped brood. I didn't see the queen but I did not want to leave the brood out too long so transfered it as quickly as possible. I needed 4 frames to hold the comb I cut out.

I went back after work and they had all moved into the box.  :) There were no girls hanging around the entrance, but I could hear them inside. They have now gone off to a new keep who has go the bug after fostering one of my hives for a couple of months.


Offline philinacoma

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #28 on: September 01, 2010, 12:01:12 am »
You're like the bee matchmaker! match colonies with appropriate homes hahah

Wait till the swarms start comming in! Everyone will be my friend then.

Offline OzBuzz

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #29 on: September 01, 2010, 12:20:09 am »
Hahah i wish they would hurry up and start!

Offline philinacoma

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #30 on: September 01, 2010, 02:21:33 am »
B :shock: e carefull what you wish for!

Offline OzBuzz

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Re: Cut out
« Reply #31 on: September 02, 2010, 12:50:05 am »
I could handle the problem of having to make more of those incredibly awesome nucleus hives! i can carry four at once in the car hahahha - although my wife gave me a mini ultimatum the other day about having to find another way to transport my bees! i don't think she like the idea of me trying to fit two doubles in the boot! and the fact that we had a few 'bee friends' in the car the next day after that cutout got her a little worried :) i think two or three must have gone back under the nucleus after i brushed them off on the saturday

B :shock: e carefull what you wish for!

 

anything