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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers
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- From: "John Friedrick" <friedjf AT verizon.net>
- To: "Brian and Lanette Fee" <fee436 AT att.net>, <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!
- Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:37:03 -0400
Dear Abbee:
My wife and I decided to learn about beekeeping (before getting bee hives)
by taking the class, joining OCBA, hosting events like the honey extraction,
helping with the hives of others, attending field events and OCBA meetings and
reading all the listserv posts to analyze how to solve each keeper’s problems.
Now, 10 months later, I’ve got “hives” just reading Brian and Lanette’s problems
with their bees. I have no idea where to even start in solving their problem.
There are so many variables. It’s like Algebra 2... with most of the polynomials
being B’s, some squared and some all the way to the sixth power. How do you
beekeepers solve these complex equations?
I don’t want to just dive in with a hive and then “bumble” through. I feel
no closer to getting our hives than before all this. How do I get past this
buzzing headache?
Signed,
Johnny Bee Good
From: Brian and Lanette Fee
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2014 10:32 PM
Subject: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many! Dear
Abbee,
I got two nucs in the spring. One has been a strong hive that has done
quite well. The other one has done so-so, but it was always a weaker
hive. Recently the weaker hive took a precipitous fall. About a week
ago and a half ago, I no longer saw eggs in the weaker hive. The bees had
started to make their own queen. I think these queen cells were made using
older larvae and in a hurry. The queen cells were small. I cut these
out and gave them a frame from the stronger hive that had a mix of eggs and
larvae. I made sure I had eggs on the frame so they had a good start if
they needed to make their own queen. I also started hunting to buy a queen
to save time. This took a while, but a got one ordered late last
week. Last Saturday, I hear a noise 40 feet up in a tree and, bummer, a
swarm, but I didn’t know from which hive, but I didn’t have time to go into them
right away.
The ordered queen comes, and I go into the bees to find the strong hive is still
brimming with bees, but has about 7 very nice looking queen cells, also eggs,
and larvae of various sizes. I don’t believe this queen can fly.
>From day one she has had damaged wings. In a case like that, what happens
to the old queen since she is the one that normally leaves? I cut out the
swarm cells. The weak hive is now a dying hive. I think this one is
either the one that swarmed or it’s dying a very fast death. Since there
are so many swarm cells in the strong hive, I’m thinking that by accident, I
moved a queen cell to the weak hive – that or they just saw the writing on the
wall and left. There are still a fair number of bees in the weak
hive.
Taking stock of what I have: I have one hive that is dying with still a
good number of bees in it. Does it have a queen? I’m not sure.
I have a new purchased queen. And, I have a hive that desperately wants to
swarm. What do I do?
My inclination is to move the old queen to a nuc and fake a swarm, then install
the newly purchased queen in the old hive, then dismantle the dying hive.
Is that a good idea? What’s the best way to fake a swarm? How much
brood etc., should I move with the old, strong queen? What do I do with
the bees in the old, weak hive? How long will my purchased queen live
without a hive? She has attendants with her. If I use her to fake
the swarm of the old, strong hive, how long should I wait before I put the
purchased queen in with that hive after I’ve moved the old queen
out? So
many problems, so little time. Anyone out there have any pearls of
wisdom? Lanette
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-
[ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
Brian and Lanette Fee, 09/04/2014
-
Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
John Friedrick, 09/05/2014
- Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!, Randall Austin, 09/05/2014
-
Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
Lewis Cauble, 09/05/2014
- Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!, Brian and Lanette Fee, 09/05/2014
-
Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
John Friedrick, 09/05/2014
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