I don’t understand this forum comment… If I have input to a thread Ill make a comment. Meanwhile I just follow threads, learning in the background. If I don’t like or am not interested in the conversation I don’t follow the thread. Simple.
How can us lurkers learn if conversations such as this go private?
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I get this all the time, and I almost routinely ignore it. Sometimes it hurts my feelings, but mostly I am just burning to write a reply, so I just do it. 
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Updates:
I’ve been quite lax of late in writing up reports of my inspections and manipulations, so please excuse the lengthy essay that follows.
29 October:
My Flow colony was looking quite strong, so I checked to see what percentage of the frames were filled out. I was surprised to find that the box was at 80% capacity. I suspected as much, so beforehand I painted the Flow frames with sugar syrup and beeswax. I installed the Flow super and they took to it in a very speedy fashion and have been busy in there ever since.
2 November
I added the second brood box to my strong colony on the 21st of October, so after about two weeks, I inspected to see how they were doing. I found that they were well on their way to fill out the two frames adjacent to the ones I pyramided up. These were filled with nectar and honey.
As for the older frames, these contained no eggs and what looks like drone brood on the periphery and also (what I think) looks like capped brood in the centre. There was also a capped queen cell.
5 November
My strong colony swarmed again! At least, I think it was them. I managed to experience it and it was glorious! It felt like sheer magic being caught up in a tornado of buzzing insects. They settled right next to on of my nucs I had up in a tree as a catch box. I brushed them into the nuc and they settled almost immediately. I am buying a new 10 frame hive which I will transfer them into when they are ready.
9 November
I went back into the strong colony and as expected, the queen cell was empty. As for the empty frames, they did not expand much at all.
My question to all the experienced folk is:
- Do I take the second brood box away and add those frames of honey/nectar to my the two swarms that I have caught?
Have a wonderful week everyone.
Deon
So I had my first brush with angry bees last week:
It seemed they were getting robbed, so I draped a wet sheet over the entrance and also pulled out the corflute slider, which I thought would confuse the robbers. I came back just before dark to check on them, remove the sheet and put back the corflute slider. As I gently slid it back in position, I heard a load buzz, and after closer inspection realised that a ball of my bees had settled at the bottom. I suited up and proceeded to brush them off. And then they came for me…
A couple of bees frantically tried to get into my veil and sting the crap out of me. I could hear their agitated buzzing and the smell of their alarm pheromone was pungent; it didn’t smell of bananas, i might add. I proceeded to vacate the area to fetch my smoker and they followed me for about 100 metres. I had to brush them off my veil. Got the smoker and managed to get the corflute slider back without any bee casualties.
For some days after that they were quite agitated and would come greet me when I came close to the hive. They have since calmed down considerably, although I had to bring back the wet sheet for a couple of days. After removing the sheet, I also tried to reduce the entrance even further than it’s already been reduced by plugging the superfluous openings with propolis, but they keep chewing bigger and bigger holes. So I settled for mesh anti-slip mats that I’ve covered most of the entrance with, fastened with drawing pins. They are currently doing their best to obliterate this. I shall be buying some hardware cloth as soon as I find time.
Conclusion:
Should I be correct in assuming that removing the corflute slider to deal with robbers is a poor strategy? Or did this just happen because the entrance was partially obstructed?
Regards
Deon
Hi Deon,
I have just a couple of my own observations to mention, which might be relevant. Firstly, my bees dislike being brushed. It seems to really upset them so my bee brush stays in the bee shed. It looks good, but I don’t use it.
The other thing I have noticed is that if there is robbing going on, the bees tend to get quite excited and are liable to sting anyone in the vicinity.
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Thanks, @Dan2. Will take note. Going to inspect my brood boxes tomorrow, so if the frames are fully drawn, I shall do shaking rather than brushing.
Deon
I don’t have my inspection trays in at all except when taking a mite count. (not a Flow hive)
I notice that robbers sizing up a hive will always explore underneath first. If you catch it early putting the slider in and blocking off the back often stops it, as long as you do so before they discover the entrance
Update:
17 November late morning
I did an inspection of the first, bigger swarm that I caught just a little under two weeks before. They are super numerous and were building comb on all but one frame. Scores of eggs and even capped brood (capensis workers are capped 10 - 12 days after being laid)! There were no drones and I also saw a queen for the first time!!! I was absolutely elated.
17 November Afternoon
The person who gave me the two nucs I started with, was coming to pick up his boxes, one if which housed the second, smaller swarm I caught on the 5th of November. A couple of days prior, whilst inspecting my strong hive with the second brood box, I had realised that after they swarmed twice, they were not building any new comb in the second brood box, nor were there so many bees.
When transferring the baby colony to my new hive box, I removed the strong hive’s second brood box (and replaced it with a super) and united its 4 drawn out frames of uncapped honey with the ones in the baby colony. There was very little drawn out comb on the baby colony frames with only a few eggs. I did, however, see this queen as well!
23 November
A beginner beekeeping friend came over to help me do an inspection of my entire apiary.
Hive #1: My Flow colony is bursting at the seams, looking very healthy and is devoid of any queen cells. I also realised that they had started filling the flow frames with nectar!! Yay.
Hive #2: My strong colony has done absolutely nothing in the honey super, but the new queen has mated and is laying eggs like there’s no tomorrow. Very happy with their progress.
Hive #3: Still very little going on. Some new comb has been built, and there were some eggs and capped worker and drone brood. I had expected a big boost with all the extra honey I gave them, but alas. There was no sign of any pest.
30 November
I went back into Hive #3 to see if their progress has speeded up. The sum total of wax area with eggs/capped brood is about the same as the area of a slice of bread. I am concerned. They are bringing in pollen and seem to be capping their own cells of honey, but not the poached frames. I noticed that most of the bees were congregating on the far right honey frames. This might also be due to the fact that I started inspecting from left, and those were the last frames left to check.
I am also wondering whether I transferred them into a 10-frame too soon.
What to do?
-
Do I add a frame of capped brood from one of my stronger hives?
-
Am I inspecting too often?
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Do I combine them with another hive?
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Do I just relax my sphincter and trust their ability to look after themselves?
Toodles
Deon
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Sounds to me like you might have moved them a little too soon. If you are giving them a frame of brood make sure it’s emerging brood not just capped. How to tell? You can look for brood pattern. A queen starts laying in the middle and radiates out so the oldest brood is in the middle. When it emerges she goes back to lay there so what you need is a circle of brood with a smaller circle of newly laid eggs in the middle. Emerging bees are good too.
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@Dee Granted I find a frame of emerging brood in my strong hive, would it be wise to go into my weak hive two days in a row, albeit just to remove and add a frame? Or should I wait a couple of days. Here is the forecast for the next couple of days:
Have an amazing weekend.
Deon
Just go for it. Then leave them s week and if you have another spare similar frame do it again.
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I do not envy you! Good luck
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@Dee I think I’m going to leave it till next week. I saw a band of robbers lurking at the entrance of my strong hive earlier, and although they dissipated quite quickly, I do not want to entice them any further.
I am finding myself wanting do do manipulations in my hives ALL the time. I will need to expand ASAP so I can spend more time in my hives without disrupting any single hive too often.
Thanks for all your advice.
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It may be time to keep your hands out of your hives and see how they go. Too much fiddling is not a good thing and bees have been looking after themselves for a long time.
Cheers
Rob.
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Good day everyone
I’ve been a very good boy and have not gone into my hives!
We had a really hot week this week, with a scorcher of a day on Wednesday. It reached past 40°C and there was no wind. I was worried that my bees might perish, so I erected my gazebo over them:
They are in full sun from around 07h30 until 14h00.
They survived the ordeal and the temperature is back to bearable levels, so I removed the gazebo. I did, however, notice that it seems as if honey was collecting at the bottom of two of the flow frames, behind the caps in the area one would insert the pipe. Could the wax have melted and caused this?
They are filling up rather slow, bit I’m hopeful to harvest at least one frame later in the summer.
In the coming week, I shall be getting my fourth colony (these bees are the first swarm I caight), as the owner of the property I kept them on doesn’t want them there anymore. Yay for expansion!
Have a delightful week everyone.
Deon
Hi Deon, interesting, your theory could be right. I wonder if anyone else has seen this happen in hot weather?
@Dan2 I found the exact same problem in the second search result…lol
Honey leaking into trough while frame appears to be in closed position?
Have a great week.
Deon
Hi Deon,
Yes ok…but I thought yours may have only happened in the heat and been ok otherwise…anyhow, I’m sure the bees will fix up leaking cells and it will be ok in the end…
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Thanks, Dan
Apologies for bombarding you with links to above topic, I’ve never invited someone to a thread before and you were my guinea pig. 
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