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Author Topic: Duck box bees  (Read 4330 times)

Offline pdmattox

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Duck box bees
« on: December 17, 2007, 09:18:37 pm »
Here are my duck box bees. Now all I have to do is cut them out and put them in thier new home.  I got lucky and did not have to do the cut out at the lady's house, she let me take the duck box with me to do later.




Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2007, 09:44:38 pm »
Build her a new duck nest box and use the old one for a swarm trap.
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Offline pdmattox

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2007, 09:48:09 pm »
Good Idea Brian. That box is full from the top all the way to the hole at the bottom and boy is it heavy.

Offline Understudy

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2007, 01:00:22 am »
Duck Box == if there are no ducks there will be bees. I have seen at least 5 with bees in them.

Big boxes are definitely harder than smaller one's. I have tried a cheat with a moderate amount of success. I take three or four mediums and screw them together and put screw the duck box inside. One note, take the bottom board out of the duck box. Put a box below with frames and either comb, foundation, or starter strips. Give the bees about three weeks like that.

Then if they have built up the comb on the frames see if they have brood in them. If so the queen has hopefully moved down. Nice and easy.

If the queen hasn't moved but they have built up the frames. Take the box and knock it so the bees fall out of it and into the frames. Be careful to not break comb in the duck box.

If the duck box is small treat like a swarm trap. Pry out the bottom and shake the bees over a blanket find the queen and put the bees in a nuc.

Like Brian said they make great swarm traps.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

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Offline Cindi

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2007, 10:21:50 am »
Dallas, nice.  So, pardon me, but what in the blazes is a duck box?  Greatest of this wonderful day, Cindi
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Offline Hopeful

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2007, 10:36:44 am »
Cindy,

A duck box is a box about a foot wide and about two feet tall with a hole in the front that is designed to provide a nesting place for wood ducks. Normally they use a hollow tree, but a lot of parks will place these boxes on trees to attract wood ducks. At a local park they had a bee hive as part of their nature exhibit. But whe we looked in, the bees were gone and had apparently relocated to a duck box a couple of hundred yards away. Unless, of course it was a coincidence and they were feral bees and the original hive just died out.
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Offline pdmattox

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2007, 10:42:40 am »
Note:  Just noticed Hopeful posted a response while I was typing and did a great job of explaining it. but since I already typed it, I am posting it. thanks



Good morning Cindi. A duck box is a nesting box that some people put up for ducks to nest in. These are usaly around lakes and ponds that ducks use.  It gives them a place to nest because everything around the water is someones manicured yard. This is a call I got from Understudy and they were in a neighborhood in Orlando,Florida. They seemed real gentle and well fed. I hope to tranfer them after the cold snap is gone.
Have a Great day Cindi.

Offline Cindi

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2007, 10:54:44 am »
Dallas, Hopeful.  Comments were excellent and now I know what a duck box is.  Yea!!!  On that quest for knowledge, I will always ask the question if I don't understand what something is, and the time that people take to explain to me is a wonderful thing. I know that I could google queeries, but I have this lazy side, and I love to listen to how people explain things in human terms now and then, rather than some writings on the internet, yea!!!  Thanks for that bit of personal attention, it shines through as caring and that is a wonderful and beautiful attribute.  Have a wonderful day too.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline reinbeau

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Re: Duck box bees
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2007, 11:48:08 am »
Here are my duck box bees. Now all I have to do is cut them out and put them in thier new home.  I got lucky and did not have to do the cut out at the lady's house, she let me take the duck box with me to do later.



Nice catch, but the gardener in me is coming out - the heck with the bees, look at that brugmansia she's got!  Gorgeous! :lol:

 

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