Hi mate, yep Mpths have a role to play cleaning up and there are plenty of feral colony’s here and yes a strong colony should out power wax moths yet it has happened to me, as I said the colony’s were not at peak as they have only been single brood or nucs but then I wouldn’t put a super on until it’s overflowing.
As for the moth trap, all collateral moths either go to the fish or chooks.so they’re not wasted.
I was expecting to see the Fframes filling fast with all the Marri currently in full bloom in this area. Hopefully I’ll get a Marri crop as it’s up there with my favourites.
Well done ABB…it takes expertise to pull that off.
Bee pollen is very perishable as you know…we used to sell cleaned, fresh-frozen pollen to a health food store…they kept it frozen. That insured retention of that great flavor…and suppressed mold formation…a real problem. But keeping pollen froze for retail sale is not always practical…otherwise pollen was dried and sold in this form.
Screenings and small pollen pellets were sold to thoroughbred horse racers…hot stuff.
Very interesting about horses. Never heard about such thing before.
As for flavour of that pollen on photo… Eucalyptuses are the main source I am sure. However don’t know how to describe it. It is quite neutral. Reminds me a taste of some cereal grass straw when pulled out green and put in the mouth in a moment of contemplation Fresh and slightly bitter.
Yes, this forum is going a bit odd, maybe there is something in the water over here cos apart from Jacks site mention all else has been discussed before, just check it out with the search function.
I think discussing alternative options for hiving colonys in specific areas is beneficial and frankly on topic for this thread with our recent weather which is currently heading East and they can have it, sweating by 8 in the morning is just plain ridiculous.
I’m still not seeing the bearding I’ve seen in the past here on the hives and I credit it to the addition of the foam board in the lids.
Anyway glad you guys didn’t throw the dummy out of the cot and are still here.
I read most of this thread and it is exactly what I’m looking for - local knowledge.
I’m located in the shire of Mundaring, and have been beekeeping for just a few years. I never got a mentor, or joined clubs and I mainly self taught beekeeping from reading and internet searches.
This area is predominantly native eucalypts, acacias, calestimons etc. and am still trying to get the hang of flows and dearths. I’m just out of a dearth now and glad to see the marri in flower.
There are a few in the neighbourhood with hives which I see when I drive around, but I never met their owners to see how they are doing.
I made a few mistakes as I gained my knowledge and experience, but I think, and hope, I’m on the right track.
I will be asking a few questions, if you people do not mind.
Welcome to the forum Wandjina, I’m pretty much in the same boat as you, self taught with the help of the internet but located on the other side of the scarp.
Others have mentioned being in a dearth along the range, not so here but aren’t seeing much coming from the Marri atm. Plenty of flowers, hopefully it lasts through Feb.
We could do with some of that rain and cloud though.
Thank you skeggley. The marris around here are flowering profusely now, but I find that the nectar comes in February. Lots of pollen though.
Can I be nosey and fire my first question?
I read some of your old posts from a couple years ago, on this thread, which interested me. You are using WSP supers under your Flow super, is that correct? Is there any reason why not another full-depth super and keep frame sizes consistent?
I weighed my options and decided to go three full-depth boxes. My bees struggled in winter because I probably took too much honey. An extra box will give me some reassurance. I’m curious why you chose WSP over full depth.
Great question…
There were a couple of reasons at the time.
There was the 8/10 frame reason. Single brood boxes are the norm, easier to inspect and successful however an 8 frame box has 20% less frames than an 8 frame box and the standard 1 brood box was a 10 frame so I decided to add another box to make up for this but didn’t see the need for full depth. Ideal supers are standard over east and the closest here, in the west, was a WSP.
There was the extra stores reason. A few years back my area went through a long dearth and I nearly lost a colony from a cutout I’d done and it was suggested by a forum member I add an ideal which would double as a super during a flow and extra stores during dearths moving the qx accordingly. This box being left on the hive for the bees exclusive use negating the need to feed, once again I saw a FD box as overkill.
Finally there’s the honey arc reason. Having the second box reduces the problem of the centre’s of the Flow frames being left unfilled, left for brood or honey I don’t know. The brood arc has seemed to come up half the WSP box in the centre.
Ok so I’ve kind of skirted around your question but I’m getting there.
In all the above reasons a FD box seemed to be overkill and went for the only other option. As it was I lost out on a honey season as the bees drew the WSP frames and filled them with honey, had it been FD I’d have lost out more.
Different sized frames isn’t ideal I agree however when the frames stay in the box there’s no real issue and lifting a WSP full of honey is easier than a FD box full of honey when doing brood inspections.
So far this has worked for me, here on my little piece of paradise, and while hearing of a dearth all around me while I was harvesting weekly sort of justified the decision in my mind.
I hope this makes sense and haven’t bored you with this long post…
So I ‘spose now its my turn to be nosy and ask why you choose to use 3 FD boxes.
Oh thanks for the comprehensive reply. Much appreciated.
“Overkill”
I thought you would say that. You have a point, and it makes sense. Being lighter to lift is also a very good point.
Simple answer is because I like things uniform, more than anything else. And because I already have a few full-depth boxes around.
I think however that If I had to start again, I only buy the Flow super, then use WSPs ( or even the smaller sizes) as brood boxes. Have say two WSP boxes and 1 Flow super. I think it will give me more options to swap frames around too.
Having said that, I have zero experience with WSP and other smaller size frames and boxes, and don’t know whether there are any cons regarding bees building comb in them.
I know, and that is why I am considering them, for their insulation. I am noticing a lot of bearding, and I know it is “normal”, but still, it tells you the bees are feeling the heat.
A 7-8 week dearth up around me has finally ended. So far this week the hive has increased in weight by 1.5+ kg. Much happier seeing that kind of increase than the circa 1+kg decrease I’d been seeing each week for the last 7-8 weeks.
Hopefully it lasts…
And to those that might ask, I didn’t have to feed. I had plenty of stores in the hive.
That is interesting. The dearth I was expecting between mid December to late January didn’t appear. I had a 3-4 weeks of “break even” period but outside of that the hives have increased in weight.
The natives have been good this year and my neighbours must be better at growing flowering plants this year. I’m averaging 5-7kg per week with a big day today of 1.8kg.
Interesting, to me, is that my 4f nuc with 3flow frames has been a better producer per bee. I’ve taken 33kg of honey since early November, have another 6kg I can harvest now and there is more to come.
In contrast my Long Lang and 8f have produced 40-45kg with another 20kg of cut comb from the long Lang.
Fresh and slightly bitter.
