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Author Topic: rite,  (Read 8339 times)

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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rite,
« on: November 06, 2009, 04:41:08 am »
i have found a massive native bee nest, they are black like the ace of spades,, now aussies, how do i catch it??? its in a tree stump bout 2 meters above the ground and they have like billions of bees, i wanna catch them badly, i have a box ready for them aswell?? any ideas?

Offline Kathyp

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Re: rite,
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2009, 11:37:40 am »
go look at the honeybee removal section.  you will find pictures of trapouts, removals, and lots of suggestions/instructions.

any chance that you can cut the tree down? 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline G3farms

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Re: rite,
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2009, 07:31:34 pm »
you can either trap the bees out of the tree or cut the tree down.

To do a trap out you need to at least frame of eggs and a hive body and make a trap out cone. You will get the bees out of the tree and then you can let them rob out the remaining honey. Takes about 6 to 8 weeks to complete.

Cutting the tree down is very labor intensive, usually need a little help. Cut the tree open and start cutting out the comb and placing in frames, trick is to get the queen. A bee vac is very very helpful when doing a cut out.

There are some very good postings about doing both of the above and also on make different kinds of bee vacs. Be sure to check out a posting on the tools to bring with you to do cut outs.

Good luck and we need pics, it is getting cold over here and we need a little excitement.

G3
those hot bees will have you steppin and a fetchin like your heads on fire and your keister is a catchin!!!

Bees will be bees and do as they please!

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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Re: rite,
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2009, 06:43:04 pm »
you WANT excitement haha, im going with the bee vac idea, im going to make my own home made vac today, and i just finished my top bar hive today, i read the bee space ideal for native bees is 6-7mm so i have designed top bars to ideally fit that, im going where no aussie has gone before, a: ill be using a top bar hive and b: ill be using native bees, this will be exciting and i willl place photos very very soon :P

Offline Koala John

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Re: rite,
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2009, 02:43:27 am »
I am hanging out to see how you go with this, should be no shortage of excitement! Read up on trap outs, there seems to be a fair bit that can go wrong, so best to be as prepared as possible.
Very best of good luck to you.

Offline SlickMick

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Re: rite,
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2009, 06:16:35 am »
Good luck with it SAS

Mick

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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Re: rite,
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2009, 07:42:19 am »
yer cheers guys, im putting all my knowledge into this, which isnt really all that much!! but hey, this is choice and i love experiments! i can work these bees without a suit (no stingers) so i think with caution i might just cut this tree down lol :P but the vac is 90% completed and ready to suck bees :P will be good

Offline SlickMick

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Re: rite,
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2009, 09:02:11 am »
I have heard the mortality rate of stingless natives is pretty high if the hive is felled to the ground

It might be worth getting onto someone who works with natives to find out the best process. I would try googling as a starting point

Mick

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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Re: rite,
« Reply #8 on: November 09, 2009, 05:42:14 am »
true,,, yer i have been googling but not all that much in the last day or 2, but its defo something im looking into, its hard to get info on such a topic, but im waiting to hear back from the commercial beekeper down the road, if neone knows itll be him :P im going to upload some photos in the next day or 2 with the brand spankin new tbh :P

Offline SlickMick

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Re: rite,
« Reply #9 on: November 09, 2009, 05:44:03 am »
Looking forward to seeing the pics

Mick

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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Re: rite,
« Reply #10 on: November 09, 2009, 07:21:37 am »

Offline SlickMick

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Re: rite,
« Reply #11 on: November 09, 2009, 07:41:22 am »
Hey that looks great. Bet you cant wait to get some bees in it

Mick

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

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Re: rite,
« Reply #12 on: November 09, 2009, 08:01:14 am »
yer still needs legs and some other minute details, but did you see the beatle trap on the bottom, ill post heaps more photos as soon as i can just running low on broadband credit at the moment so sorta holding off haha, yer i cant wait to get the bees going, i compolety soaked the thb in linseed oil and beeswax today, so that needs to cure for a week or 2 first, in the mean time im going to split my big hive and the frames i tak e out will be replaces with angled frames that will soon be the introductry frames for the thb, not a bad idea a :P

Offline ziffabeek

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Re: rite,
« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2009, 02:27:19 pm »
I'm looking forward to hearing your tale and seeing your pictures too, sas.  How cool to build your own top bar (i'm hoping to try one of those in a year or two as well) and then to catch feral swarm!

do let us know how it goes!  And please post pics of the little native bees!

Thanks!
love,
ziffa

Offline mick

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Re: rite,
« Reply #14 on: November 15, 2009, 12:29:02 am »
I would leave them alone. They dont produce much in the way of honey and if you remove them, you really will damage the environment. You can buy stingless bee colonies from a bloke on the net if you really want one. They need a specific home, as in dead wood, you just cant shove em in a box.

Offline Meadlover

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Re: rite,
« Reply #15 on: November 16, 2009, 10:31:34 pm »
I HIGHLY recommend researching into the native stingless bees before you do this!!!! I think if you vac them up and put them into a top bar hive they will all die.

Try to identify the species first. It is most likely Trigona Carbonaria but might also be Austroplebeia Australis.
As far as all of the literature I have read they WILL NOT build a hive using the top bar method, as their hive is built in a spiral from the bottom up. They also will not build onto normal foundation. 

There are 2 get the hive or split it:
1. Cut the hive out of the tree, then leave it in the log, or remove it to a hive box (special box, very small & very well insulated).
2. Use the propagation/soft split method (which I am trying on a hive out the back of my work in the city). This method  does not harm or stress the hive, but will take a lot longer to get a hive in there, but this way is extremely hard to accidently do any damage to the hive within the tree.

Checkout these sites for a little bit more info:
http://www.sugarbag.net/
http://www.uq.net.au/~zzrzabel/soft-split.html
http://www.australiannativebees.com/N_Pictures.php

ML

 

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