Yes. I had quite interesting experience when I was stung in the chin. First day I had a jaw of comic superhero and then no chin at all as swelling moved down the neck.
Hi Guys and Girls,
I have a theory that depending on what the girls are collecting the bitch factor and venom varies in intensity.
Gums make my girls very touchy with lavender, bottlebrush and mixed flowers keeping them more content.
Hey Scarp man, your theory may have some merit. Nectar collected from some Rhododendron species can produce hallucinogenic honey. I do not know whether it has any effect on bees that consume it and whether it makes them calmer, or stinger happier.
My bees work Marris early in the year and I do not notice them getting particularly upset. At the moment they have a fair bit of Wandoo*, plus a lot of us here have plenty of Rosemary and Lavenders. And they are getting jumpy for no particular reason. Who knows.
*Factoid: The powdery bark of Wandoo is used to deter ants and arthropods. If you have access to it scatter it around the hive to keep the buggers away.
(Where abouts are you on the scarp mate? Iâm on the scarp too, Hovea)
Often referred to as âMad honeyâ and can be a bit more than just hallucinogenic but rarely lethal to humans.
Doesnât sound particularly fun.
We are on the western side of the scarp overlooking the city of Armadale.
A fantastic spot as the girls can forage all year round on the orchards, the bush and the established gardens down in Armadale.
After some local advice.
Do I need to use a second brood box with a flow hive in Perth Northern Suburbs. Thanks.
Short answer⌠No.
That being said, can you narrow your Northern Suburbs location?
City of Wanneroo area.
You definitely only need one⌠Esp if you live in the residential or special rural zones. If you live in the rural area youâll still only need one but you might have to feed at times due to a high reliance on bush, much like if you were in the HillsâŚ
Thanks so much.
Yes, Iâm in special rural. So quit alot of Bush. I got a feeder today to go into the brood box.
And once the frames are full I can pull out the feeder and replace the feeder with 2 empty frames with wire and was foundation?
Is this a good plan?
Wax not was sorry. âŚ
Whether or not youâll need a feeder depends on your colony. As it seems like youâre only getting established I wonât be surprised if you did need it. In future years or is probably avoidable but will depend on the season and how you manage your hive.
Also, donât feed if youâre wanting get honey. Feed to keep the bees fed or help build out comb while getting established only. Add blue food dye as an interesting experimentâŚ
Ok, cool. Thanks heaps for the help. where in Perth are you?
Just sent you a private message
Hi everyone.
Just wanted to give an update on the current condition of my wintering setup with three boxes (lid | mat | super | qx | brood | brood | screened bottom with tray removed).
Today was sunny, temperature reached 20°C and I decided to have a quick look to check how bees are doing in terms of food stores.
Super was empty with small amount of bees inside.
Brood box in the middle. Three frames of honey - one on sunny side of the hive, two on shady. Next frame inward on shady side is used as pollen storage. Very short-term storage⌠as the rest of the box is stuffed with BIAS from top to bottom.
Bottom brood box - just empty. A bit of caped honey on tops of outer frames and that was all.
Obviously bees decided that bottom brood box was unlivable and moved operation upstairs. It was not so last winter when I kept tray in place. My first though was ânot goodâ. But on further consideration - it is so convenient! Two brood boxes hive was packed into one box wintering setup without me moving a finger Also, my bottom brood box has heavily used comb in it and now to replace it all I need to do is just to remove the whole box and put tray back. Then put box with new frames in the middle it in spring time and repeat whole thing next winter. No more shuffling frames to move them in outer position for replacement.
What do you think?
Thanks for sharing, very helpful.
Iâm tempted to have a look too. I also removed my corflute and it is just a screened bottom board, but only one brood box here, and Flow super. So far I only monitored the activity at the entrance and hives seem to be doing well. Honey stores that I can see through the windows seem to be good here.
So Perth and South West beeks
Whatâs happening with your hives? Has anyone inspected?
I havenât inspected yet, slightly too cold. Lots of pollen being brought in though and seems to be quite a few drones about.
Ps: Autocorrect keeps wanting to change beeks to either geeks or beers
On a good today like today my hive gains weight⌠About 300 to 400g.
On a wet day it loses about 150-180g.
Iâm currently aiming for an inspection last weekend in August or first weekend in September. So long as it isnât raining or too windy and above 15degC Iâll be taking a quick look inside.
Iâm anticipating a need to add a Super by mid SeptemberâŚ
Mine are bringing in pollen, decreasing in weight slightly (~2.4kg over the last month), activity is increasing and my young bee numbers have almost doubled over the last few weeks (cleansing/orientation flights based on measured weights).
Planning to Do a health check inspectIon on Friday when it is a bit warmer to confirm above.
And again today the hive gained 450g⌠Much like yesterday. Over the last 7 days it is up 360g, even though in the last 2 days it has gained between 800-900g because of good weather (i.e. no rain).