Not really related but interesting if you like Bees

The Singing Stalker

Well-Known Member
Well as the sales section started going weird the other week with snakes for sale and bees well I thought I would add this.

:D Ok so I started keeping bees last year. I put my name forward for swarm collection and got my first phone call last week.

To keep a long story short. The bees were on a table leg outside. We put a blanket under the table, held a box under the table. Lifted the leg and thumped it back down. A large amount of the bees fell straight into the box. Put the lid on the box and put it down on the ground. Very quickly the other bees could smell the queen and started marching into the box. Fascinating. Enjoy.

As an aside if anybody lives near me and wants to view the inside of a bee hive give me a shout. I am more than happy to display my limited knowledge. :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH0Oc2EMz4M
 
Think it must be something to do with stalking as i keep bees and knoow of two other stalkers who used to keep them. I only started with a swarm last year but got them through the winter and have managed to split them so i now have two hives on the go.

Hope you enjoy them as much as i do


Regards pj
 
It is a bit of a solitary hobby, I am possibly one of the youngest beekeepers in the club. And I'm the wrong age. :D.
Really interesting they way they work. Ultimate Borg, work for the good of the hive and as soon as you are no good you are out.
Fascinating looking at the frames and then you look up and suddenly see lots of bees flying around you. Been so busy concentrating on the frame you don't notice anything else.
I bought a hive (my second) late last year from someone giving up and got a lot of kit as well. The bees survived until about Feb then dies, plenty of food in the hive but must have been too weak. When I got them they didn't have much stores so I fed them up for the winter but didn't work. Was well annoyed.
My own lot seem to be healthy and my swarm seem to have taken to their new home.
Bit worried about the food in the area. Not sure if there is enough. Will have to get my mate why knows oodles more than me to come and inspect them to ensure that all is ok.
TSS
 
When you feed them use cane sugar not beet sugar as beet gives them diahorrea. When you pick the bags of sugar up in the supermarket unless it says cane sugar then avoid. If it has a British tractor symbol it is beet sugar.
An old bedsheet is better than a blanket when collecting swarms as they are white and lighter and not wool and easier to wash.
My dad uses a skep for swarm collection.
Local beekeeping association should have training courses or open days to advise and possibly to borrow equipment.
 
My daughter who lives over at Coventry has a nest of bees in a bedroom chimney thats been blocked off, not unusual you might think, the strange thing is these bees will swarm a bit later on, the old swarm will remain for the rest of the year then die off in the winter, come the next year a swarm will reappear, usually beginning of May and take up residence, this has been going on for at least 10 years to my knowledge, it never happens to her neighbours, just her house, and it is a new swarm each year as it normally lands somewhere in the garden first and then migrates to the chimney, strange or what? :eek:
 
The old man kept them for 40 yrs and gave me is old stuff........on.......the........verge.......of getting some......Fascinating round the tea table...............conversation wise that is !
 
My daughter who lives over at Coventry has a nest of bees in a bedroom chimney thats been blocked off, not unusual you might think, the strange thing is these bees will swarm a bit later on, the old swarm will remain for the rest of the year then die off in the winter, come the next year a swarm will reappear, usually beginning of May and take up residence, this has been going on for at least 10 years to my knowledge, it never happens to her neighbours, just her house, and it is a new swarm each year as it normally lands somewhere in the garden first and then migrates to the chimney, strange or what? :eek:

They might be Bumble bees which I believe tend to do that sort or thing. I think!!
 
It does seem to fascinate people when you talk to them about it. Mind you I once had a Reliant Robin and it was a chick magnet...........:eek: I kit you not., Well they had never been in one in their life. :D Or maybe is was their excuse to get close to me. :D
 
My wife is the bee keeper, she must be the youngest person let alone female in her local association, works out pretty well as she is into gardening as well, she supplies the veg’ and honey and me the meat……..Oh ar:oops:

ATB

Tahr
 
Callie. If they arrive in a swarm they are deffinatly honey bees. The reason you keep getting bees in the chimney is that there is comb and honey residue in the chimney. Both valuble comidties for bees. When bees swarm they send out scouts to find potential homes and as the chimney has wax and honey already in it its perfect.
If they are causing problems the only solution may be to finish them of. Get the chimney swept and if it is not used then proof the pot with zinc mesh. This will let the chimney breath stopping damp but stop the bees getting in again.

Sorry for spelling and spaces on wifes new tablet with touch screen and my fingers arnt used to it yet

Regards pj
 
If they are not causing a problem let them alone. Of course you could get a hive outside ready and waiting for them on the off chance that they like in it there. :D long shot maybe.

But the fact it is a new swarm every year is confusing. A honeybee hive would survive the winter surely?
 
the singing stalker:- definately not bumble bees.

pj1:- I thought they may have been "umbidads", local name for wild bees, but no, they're definately common or garden honey bees, they don't create a problem as the chimney has been blocked off in the bedroom, no need for the chimney as she's got central heating, and yes I can see the point of the wax, combs etc attracting them in, I bet there's a mound of dead bees about a yard high in the old grate!
 
Im glad they dont cause a problem. I am a pest controller and the job that saddens me the most is having to get rid of bees in chinmeys a d walls. If there is a flat roof near the chimney it may be worth finding someone with an empty hive. Set it up as near the chimney as possible and add a swarm lure. Might just work for next year if another swarm turns up. They may die out over winter if there is a high mite infestation in the comb
 
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Hi singing stalker. Only just looked at your video. Looks like a good sized swarm. My first swarm i collected was in a cherry tree two doors down from my house. Had to stand on the land rover roof to reach them. They are amazing how they follow the scent of tbe others arnt they
 
I keep bees as well - I have 4 hives and got a good harvest (approx 40kg) of honey last August - and 28kg was from one hive. That hive's population was in it's second year, so was healthy with a young queen, hence very productive. Two new swarms (acquired from a stalking friend) produced relatively little honey last year - about 5kg between then, but that was to be expected in their first year, and the final one swarmed so it's output was less than expected.

The good news is, this year already there is approx 80kg total of honey over the 4 hives and as I won't be taking the harvest until August bank holiday, I hope the total will be 120kg or so. The healthy crop is down to last year's new bee populations (the two new swarms and the now replenished swarm that swarmed last year) working a full tilt as the new queen in each hive will have produced healthy new brood, so 3 hives are in their prime.

I don't do it for the money but will sell the surplus, happy that a hobby taking 40 mins per week returns a nice profit.

I'm also getting a few pigs to fatten this week, so with the chickens, honey, pigs, venison and other game, I, in common with many hunters I know, have a strong strain of independence and an interest in providing for themselves. Doing all this is certainly more rewarding than my day job and if I didn't have these non-work, non-family interests, I'd probably go round the bend!
 
Im glad they dont cause a problem. I am a pest controller and the job that saddens me the most is having to get rid of bees in chinmeys a d walls. If there is a flat roof near the chimney it may be worth finding someone with an empty hive. Set it up as near the chimney as possible and add a swarm lure. Might just work for next year if another swarm turns up. They may die out over winter if there is a high mite infestation in the comb

I agree about treating bees pj..makes me want to weep whenever I have to do it........Only once this year thank goodness.
 
hi dakaras

i take your a pest controller to. have you seen many swarms yet this year. we have seen hardly any. mind you the wasps are making up for it. ten nests on one house this afternoon
 
Well I had another phone call today. Nother swarm, hanging off a tree branch. If only they were all so easy. Shake them into the box, go for a beer, come back and take them away.
Crackin toast Grommit. :thumb:.
 
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