Hi
I am new and down near Jervis Bay. I am wondering how others are travelling in the heat we have had.
I seem to have some chalkbrood in a nuc that I moved into a flow hive in early December. All the discussion on chalkdbrood talks about chilled brood and more to do with winter and spring and a lot in other parts of the world than here. It has been so hot I am doubting the chill idea? wondering if I should supplement feed, presuming sugar water? Though the nearby hive, plastic with nuplas brood box and now parker super, is going great guns and I have just added a super. So different the pair of them. The one with the chalkbrood is the flow, only the brood box, no super as yet, and its bees were drawing beautiful new comb on the free frames and then seemed to slow down when the chalkbrood started.
Ideas please?
Chalk brood can start off with chilled brood. Hygiene is the best way to go as the spores are contagious. If you have a lot of chalk brood mummies & bits of mummies stuck in the sbb, the bees will continue to walk it into the hive. Thus the chalk brood will continue in the hive. I weed out the frames with bad chalk brood numbers. Then cut the comb out to render, then start with fresh foundation. I will also change the brood box & bottom board, then lightly scorch the bottom board & brood box after thoroughly cleaning them.
If chalk brood continues after attempts at hygiene, I get rid of that queen & make a new one from different progeny.
Thanks for your advice. I am working on hygiene.
The bit i donāt get is it has been so hot, that i find the idea of chilled brood unlikely. No doubt there must have been spores in the old frames in the nuc. but they were fine when i first transferred them.
I donāt think i have been in the hive on anything less than a brow dripping day.
Anyhow i will keep trying for present.
Whats the latest in the Australian seasons you think i should requeen? or does that not matter??
Mind then i wonder if that is some new stressor??
I would check the roof on your Flow hive. If you get rainy weather, the roof can leak quite badly. Some people have modified their roofs by putting flashing underneath to divert the water. Others have just sealed the seams with silicone. I would definitely do something like that if your inner cover has mould suggesting a roof leak.
Thanks Dawn. Will check. It is hot and a bit rainy today (or at least overnight it was, now just steamy) so I am not opening today. We could be steamy in there just because of heat i suspect at present especially as we are running in the above 70% humidity space.
One of my concerns is - have I placed the hive with too much sun in our current heat wave conditions. I set it so it has morning sun and then is shaded from between 1 and 2 pm. But it has been more hot than usual.
I have read all the stuff that says bees do okay with high temperatures. But humidity as well.
I figure Jeff in Buderim must know about that:grinning:
Even @JeffH has had chilled brood and chalkbrood. It happens to all of us if we keep bees for long enough, even in tropical and subtropical climates. Just a fact of nature. 
Yeah I rang our Dept of Primary Industry yesterday to find out if it was notifiable in NSW, the state i live in. The person i spoke with said it probably was, but was basically everywhere, and they donāt worry too much about it beyond ensuring that you have their info sheets which match the practices i am reading about here.
She then went on to talk about some of the real problems she was dealing with.
Had to chuckle about me angsting as new beek!!
Loving playing with my bees!! It is certainly making me learn a lot!!! And I havenāt researched something so thoroughly for ages:briefcase:
Hi Dawn, I found it bad in a really strong hive the other day. When I did a split, I checker boarded the brood, that brood must have got chilled during that process. I may have split the hive before a lot of rain. That would do it.
That was the hive I mentioned that was a bit angry.
This morning I found a colony well & truly ready to swarm. A colony that I recently weakened out. Yesterday while taking frames to rob the honey, I noticed this hive with the lid full of bees doing nothing. (something that I spoke about in the past) Also the honey frames werenāt completely full. That rang alarm bells for a brood inspection this morning when I return the stickies.
Itās easy to rest on our laurels during a honey flow & assume that the bees wont swarm. Thatās not always the case.
I weakened that hive out real good. I was amazed at how quickly it built up in a short period of time.
I canāt wait to see how travels the hive i did a bit of cleaning in last weekend. Tomorrow however is rain predicted. Patience!!!
Hi all, I am new too bees and live in Wollongong, NSW Australia. I bought a 5 frame nuc in early November which has grown to a 2 box brood hive (nearly full) and I am about to add on the flow super. My question is can a local tell me if the conditions this year are suitable to be able to add the flow now? i.e. are we in a strong nectar flow at the moment and/or will it continue?
What can I expect over the next few monthsā¦
Thanks in advance for the help!!
Iām up near Byron, so itās likely warmer up here.
After a lot of reading, I understand that, unless you get freezing temps, you ought to be ok with just one brood box and the flow on top.
If it gets cooler, you could have a flow super on one brood box during the spring flow and add an ideal super late summer to leave for the bees over winter.
I suppose you had local advice and thatās the reason for 2 brood boxes?
Only locals can advise you on what to expect in terms of forage for the bees. However, nature has the last word. We observe and learn.
Up here we have pollen and nectar all year, more or less. I tried a second brood box on one of my hives recently, with the result the bees filled one box worth with honey. Wonāt do that again.
Having one brood box only requires management in spring, but I like that.
No doubt you will soon get some more local advice on this forum. Keep reading, there is a lot of info on here.
Hey Webclan, thanks for the info mate, appreciate your advice.
You are spot on when saying itās warmer there in Byron.
I am running two brood boxes because I read somewhere that it makes for a much stronger hive.
Iāll see what others think about the one or two brood box thing. I suppose at worst I can split them in Spring.
Yay appear to have the hive ticking along nicely. Or the girls do. only one dead brood in this weeks inspection. Thanks for the all the support on here.
I did check with DPI if they wanted me to do anything else but largely i followed your advice. Thanks team!
Hiya
I am south of you but surrounded by forest rather than suburb. Our local bee club are collecting honey in present flows so i think most of us doing ok. My nucs are still not into second boxes and i bought late November and early December two nucs.
I am newbeek so canāt say more than that.
But i am definitely watching what is flowering with bee eyes these days.
Cheers Robbie, I ended up putting flow frames on the other day; had a look 24 hrs later through the window in the side and they have started working it so my guess is they are also working the middle frames too!!
Agree with you though that Iām suddenly noticing every single flowering plant in my area and what is flowering and when. From what I read we probably donāt really need to winter the hives here as he paper barks flower in late autumn. Hope that info is accurateā¦
Enjoying the journey at any rate and I might even get some honey in a month or so!
Yes and we have bloodwoods flowering in about Feb and there are other gums flowering and some wattle right now. And still summer annuals and perennials in my little home garden with murraya coming into bloom. Rather fascinating to gain bee eyes.
Hi Haze4rob,
I am also located in Jervis Bay. How are your bees coming along going into this winter season?
We are finding ours to continue having busy, albeit shorter day and upon opening the hive last weekend we have a nice stock of honey and pollen. Our hive is relatively new. We introduced a Nuc only back in february, so the 8 frames have not completely filled out.
all the best,
Breeze
Hi all, I havenāt been on these pages for a while. Has anyone in Canberra left their flow hive frames on over winter. And if you did, what did you use to protect the frames from crystallising?
Hi Diana, I have left my flow super on for the last two winters. My colonies have emerged strong in the spring so I figure it hasnāt been a problem. The frames have not been full and I havenāt done anything to prevent crystallization.
Hi, I would like some advise on keeping hives in Canberra. I installed a 5 frame nuc from a local bee keeper in Canberra about 3 weeks ago and the hive is thriving. The italian bees have built new comb on the 3 new foundationless frames and are currently filling them. I have joined this forum in the hopes to find someone in Canberra that could help me with some questions regarding having hives in a cooler climate. I was wondering whether I should put another brood box on or the flow honey super? I realise that I have had a very late start to the season and I think I will need to put one or the other on going into winter. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, KSJ