Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Hot weather  (Read 12422 times)

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Hot weather
« on: November 29, 2009, 08:32:08 am »
Do bees stop foraging in hot weather?  I haven't noticed many around since it's been about 38-40 C.

Lone

Offline JP

  • The Swarm King
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 11709
  • Gender: Male
  • I like doing cut-outs, but I love catching swarms!
    • JPthebeeman.com
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2009, 12:00:45 pm »
Usually really hot weather and dearth go hand and hand, so at this time you may not have flowers producing all that much nectar. Here once the really hot weather kicks in there is traffic from them bringing water back into the hive for cooling.


...JP
My Youtube page is titled JPthebeeman with hundreds of educational & entertaining videos.

My website JPthebeeman.com http://jpthebeeman.com

Offline SlickMick

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 727
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2009, 12:05:40 am »
That's what I am finding at the moment with perhaps a dozen or so girls at each of my 2 water sources all the time.. its 90F and we are presently under cloud. The girls are however flying and there is a fair bit of flower out with more to come in the next week or so

Slicko

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2009, 08:22:20 am »
Thanks for the replies.  I have seen a fair few bees in the fishpond.  But there are hardly any pet bees on even the few sunflowers that have come up, that have big droplets of nectar on them.  There are zillions of native bees on them though.  Of course I tried to follow them to their hive.  Who said this was possible??

I suppose if we were all as smart as bees though, we'd be able to make our own honey.  Maybe they are travelling somewhere, but I haven't seen anything much out in the paddock.

90F??  We don't have none of that sissy southern weather here!  It was 42C today and not a cloud to be seen.

The hives are due for an inspection soon so I'll see if their stores are still fair. 


Lone

Offline mick

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1451
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2009, 04:11:45 am »
It got to 48 in the backyard last year here and they kept flying.

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2009, 09:26:59 am »
There are a couple of large trees out I think are acacias, so that might solve the mystery of where the bees have been.  But I do see more bees around the garden when it's a bit cooler.

Lone

Offline philinacoma

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 438
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2009, 10:06:51 am »
You know, one of the reasons I wanted to keep bees was to increase the pollination of the fruit trees in the garden and we hardly even see any of the bees on the flowers in our garden?

I watch them come out of the hive then fly immediately up and away. Not happy Jan!


Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2009, 06:31:00 pm »
Phil,

Remember you are in Melbourne, with a million other gardens.  By the way, you don't live in Pentridge, do you? 

I did the opposite and planted a garden for the bees. 

Lone

Offline philinacoma

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 438
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2009, 09:26:14 am »
No, I'm not in Pentridge Village. The houses they've built in there are on the smallest blocks you could imagine. Friends of ours have a house in there. You couldn't fit a hive in the back 'yard' let alone trees!

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2009, 10:04:29 pm »
I just thought it was funny when they turned the old jail into a housing estate.  I see they haven't changed the name!  I haven't seen the bluestone college since then, though.

Lone

Offline philinacoma

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 438
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2009, 07:49:03 am »
They're running out of the main part of the land the prison had to build houses on and now they're converting the old part (the bluestone section at the front) of the prison into apartments. I'ld say the people getting the most enjoyment would be all of the ex crims who'd been locked up in there!

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 54
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2009, 01:04:31 am »
its pretty bad here at the moment in se qld, all of my hives have hundreds of bees forever in the beard like form hangin out the front of the hive, also i checked my hive the other nite and found big groups of toads underneath the hives eating bees like crazy, and the shb are trying to over run the hives, and you have no idea the amount of ants on our property, to give you an idea, they drank half a cup of my coffee in 1 day, thats no bs, they are climbing up to the entrance of the hive and just attaching themselves to t he bees wings and tackling them to the ground and the rest of the bees take em down from there, not to mention the shortage of nector gathering, i harvested one of my hives the other day and found the honey to be nearly like water, even after it was all capped, try explaining that one,, its just one prob after another :( but im fighting through it and so are the bees :P

Offline mick

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1451
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2009, 03:12:22 am »
You will find bees on ya fruit trees at dawn and dusk. They aint stupid, I reckon the bebe ones do the local stuff and the hard core collectors do the mail run.

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #13 on: December 15, 2009, 07:32:57 am »
Sas, It's great that your bees are surviving, and congrats on getting honey.  It has been a very bad year for bees.  I suppose you already know, but you have to put Queensland (and other states now..) hives on tall hive stands or the cane toads will gobble their way through the whole hive.  There are 2 varieties of ants here will kill hives.  Oil might stop the ants, but unfortunately the SHB fly.  And if that doesn't get you, taxes will.

Well, I started feeding my nuc yesterday.  A lot of bees had their little tails in the air and their heads in the honey pots lapping it like mad, so we reckon they are starving.  Another hive I brought home tonight to start feeding tomorrow.  The brood has become increasingly scanty, so I have to try and stimulate some more laying.

Do you have a close water supply, Sas?  They tell me that's important for our hot weather.

So....reckon it will rain?

Lone

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 54
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #14 on: December 15, 2009, 10:50:36 am »
yer its a bit weird my hives at the moment, i have 3 frames specifically designed for my top bar hive in one of my hives, they are shaped as a v intstead of the usually rectangular frames, i do have many close water supplies but thats all that they are collecting at the moment sadly, i removed my excluder and let my queen upstairs the other day and she has slowly made her way to lay upstairs which is good becuase i need these top bar hive frames filled with brood, the ants here are ludicrus immortal, i have tried everything, i have found that lacing bearing grease with lime is the only way to stop them, just spread it over the legs of the hive and the ants scream running in the other direction, but the shb suck too!! i have tho found a new place in the bush which has nearly every species of important nector producing trees in qld, and a good nearby water supply so im really keen to wack up some new stands and take them out there, here is a question i need answering,


i want to move only 2 hives with the ute about 25km's, but, i wait until all the bees have returned and the entrance of the hives look like full swarms just sitting there,, so how do i get the bees inside if its just too hot here, also, i have alot of drones cruising around the hives, is it normal this time of year ????

Offline mick

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1451
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2009, 02:43:48 am »
Geeze, feeding bees in QLD in December, things must be crook. Its 40 today, lots of bees on one hive under the pallet in the shade.

This year I am going to put 10 foot square ply on top of each hive, lid, 4x2, ply, bricks, make some good shade.

Offline SlickMick

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 727
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2009, 07:51:20 am »
Yeah I am thinking of making a second cover over the top about 2" above it to shade the top and also to allow the breeze to flow under it and cool it

Mick

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2009, 08:16:28 am »
Yes, things are crook in tubruk.  I have one hive in town, now, so they will be dining a la carte.  Our hive shelters are walk-under star pickets and old corrugated iron, but that's for the rain as well as the shade, Micko and Slicko.  We don't get much of that half-hearted melbourne drizzle here.  Some folks just put a sheet of iron on top of the hive.

Sas, grease might not stay on in the heat or wet.  Oil cans you can just leave, and check occasionally that grass doesn't grow up onto the stand.  I've seen ants so thick on a hive, the bees can't land, and a few of those hives were lost.   
It sounds like a nice spot you found.   Please let us know what is blooming there.  Have you had rain?  You can try smoking the bees inside when you go to shift the hives, and brushing the last few. I don't know of any other techniques, except just leaving the entrance open. My hives are so poor I haven't seen a drone for a long time, but I believe they are a sign of a healthy hive.  Too many drones, there might be a problem with the queen or maybe an indication they want to swarm.  Sas, do you know of a good place to buy queens?

Lone

Offline philinacoma

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 438
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #18 on: December 16, 2009, 08:54:07 am »
A hot one today here. If the weather is favourable I am going to open the hives this weekend, but from the activity in the morning before it heats up there is still quite a bit of nectar flowing around here. I've seen some yellow gums and qld box brush in flower to keep the girls going.

The beards on my hives are huge. I've collected swarms smaller than that. I am thinking of erecting shade for my girls too.

Luckily we don't have cane toads here (yet). There was a report of one hitching a ride in a palm pot from qld yesterday. It's not time to get the bat out yet and play cane toad cricket.

Phil

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 54
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #19 on: December 16, 2009, 05:38:49 pm »
i think my queen is fine cuz hive numbers are huge at the moment, many drones, but they have plenty of room so i guess ill wait for the workers to kick em out later, we have stringys just starting to flower where i am,, i have just bought roofing insulation for my hives, they work beautiful, i use straps to hold the whole hive together so i just strap over the insulation:P perfect, and i got a bigger stand which i hope will keep the toads away :P its darn hot here, not much necter in town so im moving bush, cant wait, and i beleive guilfoils sell pretty good queens, but im going to try a guy iin the glass house mountains, cant remember his name but he has favourable queens aswell :p ill let you know anywayz, im just waiting for those tbh frames to fill with brood so i can cut this nuc and add a queen :P

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #20 on: December 16, 2009, 08:38:26 pm »
Sas, great to hear your hives are in good nick.  What type of roofing insulation do you use?   Thanks for the info about queens.  I got 2 queens from elsewhere in SE QLD, and I know they haven't had a chance in these conditions, but the other queens I have seem to be doing better.  Let me know how yours go.

Lone

Offline sas_marine@hotmail.com

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 54
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #21 on: December 17, 2009, 08:43:33 am »
i use silver slice insulation, its definatly not a wise idea cuz its not weather friendly but i have alot laying around the house so im using it anywayz, it does work wonders, hopefully tomorow im not working so i can take some pics of these tbh frames i have introduced into the brood section of my strongest hive, itll be good for a look, there is also probably a few ideas others can use as to the approach im taking, seems to be working well so far, but it does have one flaw and youll see that tomorow, as for the toads, they ate half of one of my hives, i hate em :P they are now on the road flatter then a strand of hair :P

Offline philinacoma

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 438
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #22 on: January 24, 2010, 06:59:59 pm »
Hey Lone,

Hows the weather up there? Getting any rain?  I heard there could be a drop or two coming your way.

Phil

Offline Lone

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hot weather
« Reply #23 on: January 24, 2010, 09:13:52 pm »
Phil,  Yes, the two cyclones were dancing with each other but both have petered out now and the rain has set in steady.  I'm hoping that the bloodwood blossom is not saturated like it was last year.  The bees only just made it through about 6 weeks of near continuous rain.  That's tropical Queensland!

Lone