Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 09:41:09 am

Title: Bee Trap
Post by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 09:41:09 am
Here i go,this is the first post so bare with me, I have been trying to take in all the information i can. I have one two year old hive that is going great and two more that I just got out of a trap out. I know it is late to start new hives, they were in a church and the timing had to be now. I uses a wire cone and so far so good, they are still coming out, I have a full box there now and will replace it with a new one. I want to say HI and thank all of you for the great information.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: David LaFerney on September 09, 2009, 10:18:52 am
What are you going to do with them?  When you say that you just got them, do they already have laying queens?  When is your first frost in Maryland?
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 10:39:59 am
I hope to have a laying Queen soon, I put a frame with larva and eggs in each box. we are having rain for the next two days and when the weather gets better I will have a look. I have been feeding them and when the the first killing frost comes, I plan on taking Honey off my good hive for them.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: homer on September 09, 2009, 01:11:22 pm
I think you'd be better off, time wise, if you were to get a mated queen in there and get brood rearing going for winter.  Time is of the essence this time of year.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: Kathyp on September 09, 2009, 01:42:54 pm
or combine them with your other hives.  you can only get mated queens from your own stock if there are drones around to mate her.  if you can't buy a queen for them, just do a newspaper combine with one of your other hives.

if your numbers are good, you can do a split in the spring.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 02:38:49 pm
Thanks for the input, the #2 box has ten frames of bees.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: Robo on September 09, 2009, 02:51:25 pm
Amount of bees now is really not the important part,  it is the brood.  Most of your bees now will not make it through winter.  It is the bees being born now that are important.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 03:01:42 pm
Robo, what would you do? The first box, put a frame of eggs and larva in close to four weeks now and the other box three weeks, do they have time to do anything? or should I do the paper thing like Kathyp said? They were going to kill them, thats why I took the chance so late in the year.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: Kathyp on September 09, 2009, 03:23:08 pm
have you checked those frames that you put in?  maybe they have already requeened?
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: Robo on September 09, 2009, 03:39:21 pm
Robo, what would you do?

I'm not one for combining, I look at that as giving up from the start.  Your strong hive gets no benefit from the added bees of a combine, especially when they will be downsizing for winter.  I would much rather gamble and try to get them thru.   First you need to see if they have a laying queen (of course I'm not big on emergency queens, especially this late in the season, but that is another topic) and if so, I would consider giving them some capped brood from your strong hive if it can spare it.   Unless there is still enough flow for them to fill a 10 frame hive, I would move them down to a nuc.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 04:16:32 pm
Thanks Robo, I will take look when we get a good day
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: mdbee on September 09, 2009, 04:20:06 pm
Kathyp, will check them out soon, Thanks
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: Sparky on September 09, 2009, 09:53:55 pm
Welcome mdwhitetale . Where are you located in western MD ? I am from MD also and as Robo said do not give up on them. If I am understanding you correctly the two new hives you got from the trap out ? You say that you have a full box there now and will replace it with a new one. So that is three from the trap out ? Did you find a Queen in any of the two others ? We are having a bit of production in my area of Hagerstown and should while the fall flowers are blooming till the end of the month.
Title: Re: Bee Trap
Post by: contactme_11 on September 10, 2009, 03:17:01 pm
+1000000
PM me and I'll give you the name and # of a guy who has mated queens real affordable.
I think you'd be better off, time wise, if you were to get a mated queen in there and get brood rearing going for winter.  Time is of the essence this time of year.