Hi Regina, you’re welcome. I’ve been at it again today. I’m going through the brood in all of my hives, taking any honey frames & making splits if any colonies are strong enough to take splits from. I take each hive on it’s merits.
For example: I took one brood frame, with bees, minus the queen from one hive, 2 from the next hive, 2 from the following hive & 3 from the last hive. I mix them all up as I go (that way, they don’t fight) in a 10 frame brood box, before packing the frames so they don’t wobble, then bring them home so that no bees return to the original hives. That was an 8 frame nuc which I’ll split after the queen cells are developed, maybe into 3 nucs. I did a 7 frame one this morning, which I’ll also split. I’ve got 8 hives to look at tomorrow, plus 8 more at another location on the following day or two.
Wow!! That is so interesting!! Thanks so much for letting me know what you are doing. Fascinated to hear what happens at your next 2 sites. Sounds like you have a number of locations which gives you even more options of swapping things around and creating new colonies. I really appreciate your detailed descriptions of what you did - and have filed that info. away in my mental filing cabinets for future use.
Two days ago I tested the weight of my hive box and although I could lift it, I was worried it might be too involved/heavy/accident prone for me to do all the shuffling around of a “nardir” - so that plan went out the window for a later time when I am more experienced.
With your motto “sooner rather than later” ringing in my ears, I took the plunge yesterday and added an extra brood box. I decided to just do it the traditional way and add a box on top. What urged me to take action was when I took off the roof to give them another feed, the top of the wooden lid was absolutely covered with bees with plenty more camping in the upper eaves of the roof. I checked youtube videos and my manual on what a full brood box looked like - and what I had was definitely it. The only worry was the cold (about 13.5 degrees) so I set everything up that I needed so I could be in and out in a couple of minutes flat. I was worried about chilling the brood or my beautiful queen, so did not pull out any frames - but had a good peek down the sides when I pulled off the lino lid on the frames. That convinced me I was doing the right thing as all the frames were chock-a-block with a mix of brood and edges of honey/pollen, and one end frame was built right out, sticky with nectar and starting to be propolised to the wall. Full to bursting with nowhere to go. I didn’t worry about tidying up - will leave that till it is truly warmer and do a really thorough check.
I had wired frames with foundation ready in the second box, plus a one frame feeder inserted ready for the start of spring/or when they seem ready for it - and plopped the lino lid on top of the 2 boxes. They seem to like their lino lid - I think it keeps the warmth in the centre for them - the air can still circulate and they can still crawl around the “bee space” edges to camp in the roof and get to the feeder.
The bees were totally calm through the whole procedure - didn’t even use smoke. They kept buzzing in and out foraging without missing a beat. I tried using smoke a few times when I first got this NUC, but it just seemed to upset and make them angry - instantly changed to a higher louder tone and ran about looking upset. I have found being prepared for what I need, fully suited and gloved up and really gentle and careful with them works best. Other hives may be different, and I am looking forward to learning about that.
I was a bit nervous about what I had done and kept checking them including late last night - and from what I could hear through the walls of the hive, the bees were humming just as noisily in both the old and new box. I raced out to check them again this morning and they are wizzing in and out very purposefully during the odd burst of sunshine even though it is mainly overcast today, was raining last night and is still only about 12 degrees now at midday.
I have probably done heaps of wrong things in this manoeuvre - but my bees seem very tough and forgiving and are happily behaving exactly the same as before.
Fingers crossed.
Will be excited to see what they have done with their new box when it’s warmer and I do a full inspection.
Thanks so much for your encouragement.
Kind regards, Regina
Not propolised to the wall - it was burr combed to the wall.
It sounds to me like you did exactly the right thing. As you discovered, nadiring can be hard, which is why I don’t do it often! I am proud of you, and I think your bees will cope just fine if they are that strong.
Make sure when you are going to use your smoker that the smoke is cool. If it feels too hot to puff straight onto your skin, then you probably need to get more fuel and pack it in tighter so that it combusts slower. I also put a layer of fresh grass/weeds/clover on top of my dry smoker fuel to cool it down even further.
Oooooooh Dawn_SD!! That’s so sweet of you to say. I am 69 years old but it is still so nice for someone to say they are proud of me. We are never too old - and after all I am a mere baby on trainer wheels at this stage as a beekeeper. Yes - I lifted that box as a test run and all these potential disasters flashed through my mind on trying to do a “Nadir” - first and foremost just dropping it as I tried to lift it onto the second box! Great idea - but will keep that option in my repertoire for another time when I am more experienced. Much appreciate the comments, advice and encouragement Dawn.
Thank you. Kind regards, Regina (Regina is actually the name of my Italian Queen - my real name is Esther. Thought I would use her name as my Forum “Nom de Bee”) 
Hi Alok! Good idea with adding the fresh grass. Many thanks. Kind regards Regina (& Esther)
My husband is over 80 years old (although sometimes he behaves like a 3 year old 
) and I am still proud of him from time to time. It isn’t to do with age, it is more about judgment, experience and being willing to change a plan if it doesn’t work out the way you hoped.
I am proud of you for all of those things.
Aaaaawwwww! So lovely … kind regards, Regina (Esther)
Hi Regina (Esther) 69? you were probably a Beetles fan. There was a Beetles documentary on SBS the other night. I’ve had Beetles ear worms on & off ever since.
I’ve been working on my main bee site all week, which has around 40 hives. I had 8 more hives to do today to finish that site, I only got 7 done. I’ll do the last one in the morning before I extract the honey I’ve accumulated. Then I’ll have some fully drawn worker comb stickies for when I do the other 8 hives at my second site. Then I’ve got 2 hives at our doctor’s place, one is his, but I work it like it’s my own.
You’re spot on about having different locations, which helps when doing splits. If there’s too many at my place, I take them to my doctor’s place. Or backwards & forwards from #1 & #2 site. Each site is handy to me, however far enough apart so that no bees return to the original hives.
Definitely persevere with your smoker. Smoke does agitate the bees, it puts them in a state where they think there is a fire pending, so they dive in & start consuming honey, which takes their attention off us. I keep mine going all the time. It’s handy for driving bees away from where you want to place things, such as, when replacing frames, QXs, supers & roofs etc., resulting in less bee deaths.
cheers
Thanks Jeff for your encouragement about using the smoker. I will persevere. No not a Beetles fan - but yes definitely from that hippy era - more Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, JJ Kale etc. Wow 40+ hives to look after. Very impressive! You have got a lot of work on your hands - and plenty of experience of all sorts of arrangements - that is definitely a help to newbee people like me. My girls are loving their second box and the pollen count returns seem to have jumped to about six laden bees out of 10 coming into the hive - whereas before it was only one out of every 5 bees and the wattle has been out in abundance for the same period of time. So I am guessing more brood? Which could mean the queen is happy too with extra egg laying space? I think your comment about the numbers expanding more than I would have thought is definitely happening. I am dying to have a peek but will leave them alone for a while till it gets over 20 degrees before looking properly - don’t want to fiddle with them too much apart from keeping up their feed where I only go into the roof. Kind regards and thanks for all your advice, Esther (Regina)
Hi Esther, I was born in 47. I remember the 60’s, therefore I wasn’t “really there”, as they say. I was a good church goer then.
Things are starting to happen where my other 8 hives are. Most of the brood frames are fully sealed up to the top bars. I checked 3 hives this afternoon. I took 4 frames out of one & 3 out of another into a brood box, I had to add a partially filled frame of honey because there was no honey arc above any of the 7 frames. I had one vacant spot at my main site, waiting for it. From tomorrow on, I’ll be piggy backing over established hives.
I’ll see what tomorrow brings with the other 5 hives. Cheers
Wow that is interesting about all the brood frames fully sealed. No wonder you had to scare up some honey for them. Just watched a few Flowhive Youtube videos done over the past few weeks and all the comments were about an early spring. One fellow in Coffs Harbour even had a swarm! So glad I took the risk and added the second brood box. Seems I was reading what my girls were telling me correctly. Today while working in my vege garden I noticed one of my plum trees alongside was sprouting its first few blossoms - it has never been this early before. I have 8 plum trees in all so that will be a lot of blossom very early within the next few weeks. The bees really know what they are doing don’t they. Today when I fed them I found a few tiny patches of new white wax hexagons glued to the rafters of the roof - so they must be in a building frenzy! So looking forward to having a look at their handiwork in a few weeks when it is warm enough to do a proper inspection. It’s exciting isn’t it? You must find it fascinating figuring out how to stay one jump ahead of their next move. So funny. Thanks for keeping me posted with your latest beekeeping activities. I am learning a lot. Cheers, Esther
Hi Esther, that’s interesting about your plum trees. This might be a bumper season throughout. The bees do know what they are doing & it is exciting. I’m up at the crack of dawn pondering how I’ll go about today’s events, seeing as they forecast a 90% chance of 6-10 mils of rain.
I’m not sure what others would suggest, however I’d probably advise to not feed at this point in time. That extra feed might prompt the bees into swarming mode before you’re ready to do your first inspection. The one & only time I fed my bees, with a feeder, so to speak, resulted in them swarming.
The first hive I inspected yesterday had a couple of drone brood between the top bars & QX. I don’t recall ever seeing that this early in the season before. Maybe I did & forgot. Normally in Sept, October I see that when a colony is getting ready or preparing to swarm.
I’ll get going, cheers for now.
Thanks JeffH, My mentor got back to me and reassured me that hives in this area usually start swarming around October and that the drones are just a sign of a healthy hive - considering my hive hasn’t balled up at all over winter and the bees have been out every day bar two (when it poured solidly) since March. Like you, he had not seen drones this early before. I didn’t realise drones can live up to 6 months. I will know more on my first inspection when it is warm enough - but will keep a close eye on them from September and have set up catch boxes already in my garden just in case, and have prepared some spare boxes and a swarm catching kit in case my prevention measures fail. Just out of interest - what equipment do you use to catch swarms? Kind regards from beautiful Flinders, Esther (Regina)
Hi Regina, great to hear from you.
To catch swarms, I use a brood box, a frame of mainly open brood plus empty frames to fill the box. I have used lemongrass oil, as in some of my videos, however it’s not necessary if the brood box has previously been used, as well as plenty of open brood in that brood frame.
I avoid shaking swarms where possible. I try to mount the brood box containing the frames directly under the swarm before gently elevating the brood box (with lid off) so it touches the swarm. Within minutes the bees start moving down onto the brood & into the box. Once most of the bees are in the box. I put the lid on while putting the box on the ground to wait for the rest of the bees to enter, via the entrance.
I look out for serious waggling on the swarm because that could be scout bees trying to lure the swarm to a new location. If I see that, I’ll take the swarm in the box to a different location, because I’ve seen swarms leave a box with brood to go to a location that the scouts have found.
cheers
Hi Jeff - That’s great information. Adding a frame of open brood and watching for waggling messages/moving the catchbox to confuse the scouts is especially interesting. I will follow your advice. I like the idea of just lifting the box up and allowing most of the bees with their queen to settle in with the stragglers catching up later on the ground. I was pleased about your comment on avoiding shaking swarms. My bees hate being shaken even just off a twig or glove. It’s about the only thing with my beautiful calm hive that ups the tone and makes them momentarily cranky. In contrast, I can brush or flip them off gently with a finger or feather and they plop down and are quite happy. They are not wooses though - they killed a huge cockroach the other day and tossed the carcass out the front of the hive - and a few of its arms and legs turned up in the oil tray. I was very impressed with them. Little toughies. I didn’t know you did videos - just had a look and wow! You’ve done heaps. Must have a look at them all as I am doing similar things here - chickens, vege garden, fruit trees and one of the few places left in this town that has frogs with a multicultural garden and heaps of different birds which some people think is madly overgrown with piles of logs littered around and the odd pond under the shrubbery for various creatures - which a conservation friend of mine who despairs over “tidy” designer gardens just loves and calls my “wilding habitat garden”. So the bees are a recent addition that fit right in and I am enjoying very much. I’ve also collected some bamboo and bits and pieces to build a native bee habitat wall and planted some extra hardenbergias - as apparently the blue banded bee and lots of other solitary native bees we have down here love that. I notice you also bake bread. I will check out what you do for inspiration as I was thinking I must get back into that. Thanks for all the advice and inspiration. Kind regards, Esther (Regina)
Hi Regina, I probably misled you about the swarm capture box. When I’m setting the capture box up etc., I’m observing the bees in the swarm. No doubt you’ve seen bees doing waggle dances on frames. A waggle dance on a swarm looks similar, except the backing is bees & not comb. When I say that I take the box to a different location, I mean that I take it right away, outside of what I perceive to be their foraging range. In that case a few are left behind.
I have a short story: Last year I collected a swarm from a shrub. The homeowner also had a lot of bees checking out a cavity above a window. While I was waiting for the bees to go into my box, I noticed one particular bee doing a vigorous waggle dance. Would you believe that bee was covered in dust, which I speculated came from inside the wall cavity. I guessed that the bee had checked out the wall cavity, then advertised it’s position, as well as how good it was to the swarm. I took those bees fairly quick, well before dark, otherwise the swarm might have left my box & headed for the wall cavity.
Hi Jeff - no problems - I understood exactly what you meant about looking for waggle dancing on the ball of swarm bees and then when you have caught them, moving the box to disorient the scouts by a different location. Probably didn’t say things properly in my comment. I’m guessing it also means you have to move fast (but calmly) to keep a step ahead of their next move. That is such a great and funny story … just as well you noticed the dust or you would have had a much bigger job getting them out of the wall. Haha little devils. Have been having a lot of fun watching some of your Youtube videos this cold rainy afternoon - including the chilli sauce recipe which I will give a try with some fresh red chillies from my garden. Kind regards to you and Wilma. Cheers, Esther
Hi Regina, many thanks for watching my videos. I haven’t made that sauce for quite a while, in an attempt to reduce processed sugar, seeing as I drink sugar cane juice out of my garden. In case you watched my sugar cane juice video, I upgraded to a much stronger juicer, the ones you see online for around $500. In relation to the sauce, I made a lot of straight Ghost Chili sauce, I just thin that down with some bourbon (not that I’m a drinker), or cider vinegar, then put a tiny bit of that on my meal, just a few drops is enough, otherwise I get a runny nose while I’m eating.
That was an interesting observation about the bee covered in dust. The worse part is that I had no one to share the moment with because the home-owners went out for a while, as they would have been very interested to see that.
I’m all caught up with my brood inspections & splits for the time being, since late yesterday. Yesterday I spent a few hours repairing an old lid & bottom board & making more bottom boards because, even though we are still in winter, I ran out of them, & that’s saying something because last year they didn’t run out at all during the whole season.