50 bee stings in left hand and more than 30 in the right hand

What a weekend. It was lovely and hot and I had the task of moving 2 bee hives, each hive had about 60,000 bees and 1 supper full of honey  to the orchard. The bee hives were at my home and both have lots of queen cells and were due to swarm. The hive and it's contents weigh around 50 kgs. These hives are in a normal urban garden for a post 1st world war house, and are my most productive. I check them every week, my son has grown up with them always being in the garden and I like them in the garden. They have never been a nuisance and are well behaved. I have been stung by them but not often. My children have never been stung and my son has no fear of the hives or the bees.

I wanted to move them to the orchard before they swarmed. The work started on Friday night. I went with my equipment it was about 8:30 and then realised, each of the hives still had several hundred bees sitting on the back and front of each hive. If I moved the bees with say a feather and waited for them to enter the hive it would be very dark and difficult to then move them firstly into the car and then to the orchard. So I cancelled the move until the following day.

Bees chilling at the back of the bee hive

Saturday 8pm armed with more determination and my hive cable strap tool to tie up the hive I was ready, in my bee keeping smock and a pair of rubber gloves, that provide me the grip and flexibility for the task. I sealed the hive entrance with a piece of foam as I've read in many books and exactly what I had done when I bought the bees to the garden originally a couple of years ago. I still had lots of bees flying about but I couldn't wait for them to all enter the hive, and then collect them. I first got stung when I moved the hive from its originally location and placed it on the floor so I could use a sack trolley to move them. More than a couple of stings on each hand, and I had quickly moved them about 3 meters from where they had been. I had a couple of steps to negotiate and a number of bees were following and a couple more stings.

I then moved the hive to the side entrance to the house, and let them settle the bees that had followed had disappeared so I removed the smock veil and gloves. I didn't want to wheel the hive around the front of the house in full bee-keeping regalia.  The moment I had open the side gate, and returned to the hive I realised the foam, or a small portion of it had come ajar and a couple of thousand bees had come out, a couple more stings including one to the side of my head.

I had to wait 20 minutes for them to go in and settle down again. I then used some duct tape to seal the entrance, as well as the foam, which they didn't like and I got stung a couple more times. I found it very difficult to use duct tape with gloves on, managed it eventually after a couple of attempts. Then finally I got them into the car and arrived at  the destination at about 10:30pm, and it was dark, very dark. I get them out of the car and almost into the location I want them. They are on the ground awaiting me to lift them onto the brick stand. Its a this point I realised that the supper section of the hive and the Brood box section have come slightly ajar, and I have thousands of bees in a new location, in the dark whizzing around. The hive is not in the right location, I don't have my smoker and I know I am in trouble. I quickly put the hive back into alignment, and its next to the stand but not on it. The hive entrance is still blocked with the foam and the tape, I want to remove the tape and realised I didn't have my hive tool to remove the foam, so I use my car keys to jab and remove the foam. While this is going on I am being stung on my hands, and arms, a couple even managed to sting me my legs and stomach area. I pulled out the foam, and walk away tried, frustrated and in pain, and know this job is not finished I need to lift the hive onto the stand. I know that in the dark its pointless, I have to come back in the morning and lift the hive and put it correctly in place.

So I return at 7am it was light, the bees had, had time to settle down and some of the bees should have gone out to forage etc. I had my smoker and hive tool with me, and placed the hive in its new position and on the stand. However I still go stung again. By now my hands had inflamed so much they had doubled in size and I could no longer wear my wedding ring, which I had taken off as soon as I had been stung the first time more than 12 hours previously. Finally the hive was in place.

I still had the second one to do that evening. I arrived early about 7:30pm with yet more determination and very little enthusiasm. Firstly I sealed the hive and the supper with duct tape then sealed the 3 sides of the floor and the brood box. leaving only the entrance open. I placed the hive strap around the hive, and tighten it. I then had to brush off a couple more bees from of the back of the hive this time using a twig from conifer tree. I then sealed the hive entrance this time only with the duct tape and then moved the hive a couple of feet away and then onto my sack truck. Once again I have upset them so much that I was stung again a couple more times. This time though the pain was less intense and with determination overflowing I moved the hive, but am followed by more bees. Once halfway up the garden path I stopped and notified my neighbours that I was moving the bees and they should take their children indoors for a couple of minutes. I don't want anyone else getting stung.

My brother, my wife and my sister having helped me move the hive

I managed to get them into the car as my mobile phone was ringing it was my brother and well now was not an appropriate time to take the call, once the bees were safely in the car I could still see at least 20/30 bees now in the car, well just waiting for me to get in.

My brother arrived and I asked him for help, though reluntanly as he was in shorts. I have a spare bee suit but only a smock so no trousers. We drove to the orchard with a couple of bees in the back of the car. We drove to the orchard and did something that I don't normally do, I took the car driectly onto the grass which had been cut the day before, and upto where the hives are and  took the hive out of the car with help from my brother and then using the sack trolley we moved the hive to its new  location and onto the stand. I then I removed the duct tape and the bees are free. I still had a couple of bees in the car they were sitting around the on the floor and we gave them a gentle nudge to encorage them to fly off.

Third hive finally at the orchard

It was a tough process to move them and I'm so glad they are moved. However lessons have been learned

1. Never move hives with suppers. 
2. Use duct tape to seal the hives prior to moving hives
3. Use more than 1  hive strap when moving hives.
4. Its a two man job, ask for help
5. Set up the location that the bees are going to in advance. ie set up the stand
6. Plan ahead well ahead
7. If they don't need to be move "don't move them" 

The picture quality may not be great they were taken from the mobile phone

First barbecue of the year in the orchard

On Saturday my brother and I cut the grass, we have only cut paths around the trees and left most of the grass uncut as usual. This allows us to get around the trees and check on them and gives the bees and butterfly's as well as rabbits and other animals a nice habitat. The floor of the orchard is full of flowers, perhaps not as diverse as could be but it does look nice. I have a plan to improve that, and hope that in a couple of years the orchard floor will be a lot more diverse.

Once the grass was cut  my wife arrived with a barbeque and most of the immediate family came round as well as the kids to enjoyed a nice meal and a little cider before we heading home and I went to move the bee hives.

I examined the bumble bees that were moved to the orchard a week ago and they seem to be doing fine. I can see them coming in and out and I can see young bee chasing each other, and they also seem friendly than they were a while ago. All in all a nice Saturday afternoon.

Helping Bumble Bees move home

Bumble Bee coming out of the bird box

A friend called me and told me that he had bees in the garden, they were nesting in a bird box close to the back door of his house and he was worried for his children. So I went round and had a look. I found it was bumble bees. I told him that in a couple of months they would disappear and each of the bees would go and find a home of their own. He wasn't too please with my answer as he and his family would not be able to enjoy the garden for a couple of months. He asked if they could be re housed, and I told him that I had never dealt with bumble bees before. Bumble bees can make a home underground in small crevasses in wood, rock anywhere they find  where they feel safe and can raise a family. They are a solitary bees.

As a child I remember seeing bumble bees regularly setting up home under the garden shed, they never stung us and we never bothered them and in return they never bothered us.

Bird box in the tree

I checked with some other bee keepers and it was felt that I could move the whole of the bird box and relocate the bees to another location. It would have to be a number of miles away otherwise they would just return to the original location. Anyway last Thursday I tried to move the bird box about 9pm it was no good some bees were stilling trying to get in  and I wanted to ensure that I had collect the entire colony. So I return on the Friday night after 10pm and it was raining so I guessed that all the bees would be inside, bees don't like the rain. They hate thunder. I then  blocked the entrance and moved the bird box to my back garden and then at 5am the following morning I moved it once again to the orchard. Where I removed the blockage from the entrance and set them free, or released them. Some about 20 came out straight away had a look around and then they returned back into the bird box. I check on them again on Sunday and they were doing fine, I don't actually open the bird box instead just watch the entrance.

single nettle in flower

I was hoping to cut the grass over the previous weekend however it rained on Friday and on Saturday so didn't manage it, perhaps next weekend. The grass is growing longer and lots of flowers around. I will probably just cut out paths.

Next weeks apple blossom and possibly the last of the year

The apples trees are have or are in blossom and the smell is great. I reckon we may have a week or two left and then the blossom will be gone for another year.

Blossom open and smells great

Last weekend I moved more bovine manure under 9 trees check on the bees and then went home. I had help my daughter and my son, it took a couple of hours longer than normal. My son left early with my wife, my daughter stayed and helped.The stinging nettles are flowering and is providing some of the bees food.

Stinging Nettles in flower

I need to adjust the floor on one of the bee hives. It looks like something has tried to get in from behind now bees can be seen coming in and out on both sides of the hive. This will be fixed this coming weekend. A pair of pliers should do it.

Entrance to the orchard in flower

If Heath Robinson had been a Beekeeper

If Heath Robinson had been a Beekeeper,
Hints and tips, widgets and Thingamabobs by Graham Royle of the National Bee Unit
at the Sutton Coldfield Bee Keepers association meeting 17th May 2012

Graham Royle is an experienced Bee Farmer having attain a National Diploma in Bee Keeping, and having worked at the National Bee Unit, gave the audience a talk on making Bee Keeping easier with various tools and general advice, for bee keepers.

Graham gave lots of advice on apparatus that is useful for bee keeping, most of the equipment that he mention he had made himself or adapted for the use of beekeeping.

He advised us you should purchase beekeeping equipment with three primary aims
Keep it simple
Save time
Make the general interest or hobby of beekeeping more interesting.

Information on hives
The hive floor which these days is removable should be at least 2 inches from the mesh floor. This means that when varroa mite fall they cannot return into the hive.

Always use sensible beehive stands and Graham showed us an image of two hives that were precariously balanced on an oil drum, and a bee keeper actually having climbed on to the plank of wood to check on the bees. He suggested breeze blocks as a stand as they do not rot or corrode, as easily as wooden stands. He also showed various other stands that Graham uses. These included stands made from wood that and could be easily closed and transported, for use on Heaths collecting heather honey for example.

He suggested always having various shaped wedges in your tool box to prop up wobbly hives, something that my hives do and something I should use.

Placing 9mm holes in the standard mouse guards so that they could be placed in the hive in winter to ensure that other creatures were unable to get into the hive. This is something I have heard from Julian Routh who is an advocate of this method of keeping bees. Again this is something I need to implement.

Record cards should relate to the Queen and not the hive. Most records are based on the hive and not the queen. If the Queen swarms and the swarm is collected then the hive record should move with the swarm. When a new queen emerges a new record card should be created.

Graham is an advocate of the use if dummy boards. It makes the inspection less complicated and means that you are less likely to rub the bee's when returning frames into the hive.

Scales under the hive so you can monitor the weight of the hive. Graham showed pictures of a device that he had build that measures  the weight of the hive and allows the beekeeper to monitor the weight. He showed that during a year the weight only massively changes a couple of times a year. This is usually when a flow is on and the nectar is being collected.

Information on Smokers
Use Saltpetre 50g per 1 Litre of water. Cut up old towels then soak in the Saltpetre/water solution which makes lighting the smoker easier. Then hang the towels out to dry Saltpetre is a flammable chemical and can be obtained via the Internet. The Saltpetre soaked towel should be placed at the bottom of the smoker and then lit, more fuel then added, wood chip, paper, grass etc. This makes lighting the smoker easier, and practice is important for new beekeepers. The last thing you want is to spend 20minutes lighting your smoker and then spending 5 minutes checking a your 1 and only hive. This used to happen to me regularly, Graham is right lots of practice.

Use Bungs in the top of the smoker as its easer to relight a smoker that has already been lit. The use of a bung makes checking on hives at multiple sites much easier, and safer.

Frame Hanger
A frame hanger is in reality a bent piece of metal that can hold a frame. It is placed on the open hive and holds the frame on the outside of the hive, freeing you to examine the hive without putting the frame on the floor. This one frame hanging on the outside of the hive leaves frees space within the hive to manipulate the frames and examine frames for food, eggs and brood etc. I don't use one of these but I can see the advantages of one. I may try and make one myself.

Don't use leather gloves instead use latex or marigold gloves. They may be thinner but they are much more hygienic. latex gloves can be used for a single day and then disposed off. Marigolds can be use for a couple of months they can also be washed. They are also much cheaper than more traditional leather gloves used by beekeepers.

For swarm collection, Graham uses a self made vacuum cleaner device. Its a nuc box with a motor from a car heating system that sucks the bees into the hive. He attaches various pipes to the device and sucks the bees into the hive. He can reach swarms that are 25 feet off the ground. The device could be described similar to the backpacks the ghostbusters used in the cartoons and movies to collect ghosts.

Cleaning Equipment
The Solar extractor should be large enough to hold a Queen Excluder and use a funnel  to filter the wax. Graham uses a funnel made from a old traffic cone and the filter is a old pair of tights. The wax drips through the tights and any other debris is left in the tights.

Wheelie bin Liner
When applying acetic acid to frames place the supper boxes and brood boxes into a wheelie bin bag liner and place the acetic acid also inside the bag. The acid will evaporate and filter around the bag.

When extracting honey, don't use a uncapping knife use an electric paint stripper it quickly heats the wax and doesn't produce lots of uncapping waste.

When extracting honey run at a slower speed for much longer, don't just put it on full speed. Let it run at a normal speed for longer than you would normally then run at a faster speed.

Graham uses a wall paper stripper to remove the wax from only on frames and be lives this to be the best method to recover wax from old used brood frame coombe. I have always been told that old brood comb was only good for burning.

Graham has an old Burco washing machine that he uses for various things, cleaning old frame, he places the frames a soda solution to clean them. he also described used hot water in the washing machine with wax the wax floats and the debris falls to the bottom and the water keeps them apart. His wax is generally cleaner and free of debris.

This was a very interesting talk. I enjoyed it and was amazed at the thought and time Graham had spend making his own equipment, and well as the ideas he has come up with to save time and enjoy beekeeping.

Long weekend and very little happening

After a another wet week, I check on the trees, the bees and put some manure under some trees.

The bees are fine, they have food not huge amounts but enough the sustain them will have to check again next week and the numbers of bees are growing. I went into the hive and was surprised by the number of bees in both the hives at the orchard, they have also started making new comb. They are flourishing and with the weather improving somewhat they should be able to go out and collect food and pollen.

I may add a third hive to the orchard in a couple of weeks shall see.

One of my friends has found a Bumble bee nest in a small bird box and asked me for advice. I have never has to deal with bumble bees that are causing a nuisance before. The bird box is in a garden where young children play and the parents are a little worried, that kids my get stung. I checked with a more experienced bee keeper Bernard Diaper and he suggested that I identify the type of bee and then decide if I still want to move them. After some investigation they look like Bombus Pratorum to me. when you approach the box they come out and seem a little aggressive and are small bumble bees with yellow/orange markings. They do seem a little aggressive when you get close to the hive

The advice was if they are causing a nuisance move them to somewhere where they won't be a nuisance. My plan is to move them this weekend and I may take them down to the orchard so that they don't disturb anyone, or to a large park near to where I live.

After the torrential  downpour last  week I have put more manure down especially around trees that were shaken excessively, some of the trunks were pushed slightly out of place, so I have placed more manure around and pushed the tree trunks back into place.

More rain is forecast and so I have my fingers crossed that the trees won't be negatively affected. So far though its been ok, only some minor issues that can be overcome.

The grass is growing very quickly which makes wheeling manure around the orchard very difficult, it should help me build some muscles. I may actually cut some paths to help in getting the manure around.