I tell you what, reading you guys discussing your beekeeping activities nearly, nearly - makes me want to have another go 
But, not quite!
But, not quite!
What beekeeping related activities did you do recently?
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As for our bees, the two nucs I split off from a double hive a few weeks back have done surpisingly well. I've hived one today as it was on six frames of brood and I'll need to hive the other in a week or two. The hive they came from are back on a double brood again and are doing well. Hopefully the bramble will provide a decent amount of nectar this year.
not sure. Couldn't see which one they'd come from if from ours but seemed a bit too much of a coincidence if not from ours.
I don't know much about them but a bit of a google shows you're not likely to be able to tell the difference easily. ( http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/ahb.htm). The simplest ID is their willingness to defend their nest.
Although not along the same lines it should be noted that some strains of honey bees in the UK can be very defensive. I've met one keeper who had a hive that would readily attack people 50m away from the hive. Keepers tend to breed for better behaved bees so most colonies will (should) be far more gentle.
That ( Honey Bee's ) must be what I've encountered then. SUPER aggressive and eager to follow me in my rapid retreat.
Sounds like an aggressive colony, were they in someone's hives or a wild colony? I gather tree bumble bees can be aggressive but not heard of them following people.
Honey bees can also be variable. If they become queenless for example they may be more agressive (I've not noticed this). Bad weather, vibrations from machinery etc can all affect their temperament. They also don't like dark clothing but that's probably only of concern if you're actually inspecting a colony.
Honey bees can also be variable. If they become queenless for example they may be more agressive (I've not noticed this). Bad weather, vibrations from machinery etc can all affect their temperament. They also don't like dark clothing but that's probably only of concern if you're actually inspecting a colony.
Yep, we have tree bumble bees in the wooden cladding of the studio - they're fine as long as you don't go too close (which is difficult as the nest is near the door) then at least one guard comes out and harasses you and will follow you a good 50m! - not been stung yet though.
I was never able to strim around my hives, the noise or vibration caused a large number to come out and attack - if I had to, I would strim in my bee suit
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I inherited a hive last year that had been left for a few years and we named them the Scutellata (African) bee hive. They were incredibly defensive (they would cover my veil) and would follow you a few hundred meters still trying to attack. I knocked the queen on the head and bought in a new queen from a breeder. They decided they didn't like that queen, killer her and tried to raise a queen from their own brood. I kept knocking down the queen cells until they became hopelessly queenless then united them with another more placid colony. Luckily that worked find and the hive is now producing well. It's a horrible experience having to deal with bad tempered hives and takes some of the fun out of the hobby. 90% of my hives now are so placid now that I don't need to wear gloves when inspecting.
Good evening all. I have only just spotted that we have a beekeeping thread on BCUK! I clearly need to spend more time here.
I’m probably what you would call a semi-commercial beekeeper, bordering on beefarmer. I have around 100 hives, though we have plans to double this number in 2021.
Anyway, less talk and more pictures.
I’m probably what you would call a semi-commercial beekeeper, bordering on beefarmer. I have around 100 hives, though we have plans to double this number in 2021.
Anyway, less talk and more pictures.
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With a hundred hives I doubt you have much time to spend!
Are you rasing the new Queens and colonies yourself or buying in? I'm also curious, do you run on single or double brood on your honey producing hives? Our local bee farmer runs on single brood and claimed they would produce less honey on a double.
I think it would depend on the type of bees being kept, if they were a very prolific sub-species then they might require a double brood if using national, WBC or smith hives but if they weren't so prolific and you gave them a double brood then the upper box would be mainly filled with honey.
I don't like to use double brood boxes as inspections take a lot longer but I do find some colonies using all the whole box for brood and could do with more laying space. I have considered moving to commercial brood boxes as they are compatible with national hives. If remember correctly a national brood box has something like 50,000 cells and a commercial has around 70,000 so about a third larger. The reason I haven't changed yet is because it would cost a fair bit and it would take a while to swap out the boxes.
I'm caught between brood and a half and double brood at the moment and would prefer a single box.
However, I'm curious how a bee farmer works. Using the same strain of bees a non-commercial keeper may have them on a double brood and keep the queen until they superceed but does a commercial keeper try and keep them on a single brood and re-queen more often?
However, I'm curious how a bee farmer works. Using the same strain of bees a non-commercial keeper may have them on a double brood and keep the queen until they superceed but does a commercial keeper try and keep them on a single brood and re-queen more often?
An interesting thread 
I've just had a good read through.
I don't keep bees, I do grow flowers for bees, and spent ten minutes this morning drinking my tea on the back doorstep watching the bees on the new clover heads on the back grass
I do like honey
I followed a link a couple of months ago and the fellow had a video where he euthanised an aggressive hive. He said they'd already killed a replacement queen and he was not happy having that hive left to breed another, potentially split off a new one, etc., with that aggression in the colony. It worried him, not just about the amount of stings he was getting, but if someone else stumbled too close that it really could be disastrous.
He got a heck of a lot of flak in his comments about killing the whole hive, but I thought it was one of those hard decisions that anyone who domesticates and farms has to consider. Humanity domesticates by careful breeding choices.
Why do others keep aggressive hives then ?
I've just had a good read through.
I don't keep bees, I do grow flowers for bees, and spent ten minutes this morning drinking my tea on the back doorstep watching the bees on the new clover heads on the back grass
I do like honey
I followed a link a couple of months ago and the fellow had a video where he euthanised an aggressive hive. He said they'd already killed a replacement queen and he was not happy having that hive left to breed another, potentially split off a new one, etc., with that aggression in the colony. It worried him, not just about the amount of stings he was getting, but if someone else stumbled too close that it really could be disastrous.
He got a heck of a lot of flak in his comments about killing the whole hive, but I thought it was one of those hard decisions that anyone who domesticates and farms has to consider. Humanity domesticates by careful breeding choices.
Why do others keep aggressive hives then ?
I'm not sure anyone would want to keep a very aggressive hive. It's something you try and breed out although you're breeding for all sorts of things (honey production, lack of swarming etc). In the UK most people don't have control of where their queens mate so you can end up with a feisty hive.
As for wanting to keep an agressive hive I know people can loose colonies to wasps and I do wonder if very calm bees are more susceptible to wasp attack. Something to consider if the Asian hornets take hold.
Sorry to take the thread a bit off tangent, but considering how we wiped out entire species here in the past, and the (admittedly expensive and labour intensive) recent efforts succeeded in removing hedgehogs from the islands where they weren't native, one wonders if it might not be beyond us to have a concerted effort to remove the Asian hornets now. I suspect if we don't we'll be like the Americas and the African honeybee.
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M
Hah! I still have a full time job and 2 small children. The bees are my third full time job.
I raise most of my own queens, though I do purchase breeder queens to help diversify my genetics. However, this isn't always fool proof, especially as a lot of other queen producers buy their breeder queens from the same sources. It's really important to understand pedigree when you are aiming for consistency across your colonies. I want good productive bees, but I don't want inbreeding which will start to impact on health and resilience.
In terms of colonies, I raise most myself. We are fairly well known for raising really strong, healthy colonies. I find a lot of beginners end up at our door after a poor experience buying bees from a club. That's not to say all clubs sell bad bees -- my first bees came from a club and were great -- but there is definitely a big difference between commercial beekeepers and hobby beekeepers (in all fairness, most commercial beekeepers would laugh at the scale of my operation and management approach). If I do buy in colonies it's almost always from other bee farmers.
I run a single brood box system. Again, this links to point above. When you have 100 hives to inspect, you don't want to be inspecting 200 brood boxes. The key with running a single brood box system is knowing when to add supers, not just to maximise the honey flow, but to give the bees somewhere to hang out if the colony is getting congested. I'll often add two supers (with a queen excluder) in late April, just for space. In terms of yield, I see no reason why a double brood would cause less honey. It's all about management: if the bees are at the right size, at the right time, and subject to the weather, you will produce a good crop of honey.
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