How to stop killing bees.

[T Beek]

T Beek, how do you open feed? I need to do some myself.

Steve
 

In a 5 gal bucket I'll mix up to 3 gal of 2-1 or 3-1 syrup placed  100 yards from beeyard.  I believe BlueBee has had success placing them a bit closer and 'this' time of year is a good time as said, there is little competition right now.

[luvin honey]

"Finski the bee killer" 

they started.

Haha

I've come to accept killing a few bees on each inspection. It used to take me up to 1/2 hour to close up my topbar hives. Now it's about 5 min if I can accept a few dead bees.

[Finski]

.
I accept 20 stings from one hive in a day. After that the queen will exit.
I nurse hives with bare hands.

[T Beek]

Me too Fin, but I've only been stung once all 2012 season 

[sterling]

It's kinda scary for me to aggree with TBeek but the slow motion, no gloves, using a turkey feather and very little smoke help me.

[Finski]

.
Sometimes it happens to be a hive which gives more stings than 30 other hives all together.

.

[edward]

Bee decisive,

Decide what your going to do and do it, if you try to save a few bees you'll wind up killing more each time you try to save the once you see.

mvh edward

[Ray Bayless]

Wow. You allow twenty stings per visit for one hive before you get rid of a queen? I got stung twice while one hive was being robbed while I was twenty feet away and decided to requeen.

[Finski]

Wow. You allow twenty stings per visit d.......... while I was twenty feet away and decided to requeen........

may bee calculation error if you suppose that every hive give me 20 stings.
30 years ago I had German Black mongrells. They were bad and every hive gove more stings than I can calculate.

That bad hives are rare, but almost every year  I have a bad ass.

I requeen every year my queens. So I am quite far in spring when workers of new queen shows their style. I have spare queens to change bad asses but it takes a  half summer that I get rid off stinging those workers.

I keep my new queens in 3 frame mating nucs quite long to see their sensitiveness to diseases, laying capacity and  will to sting. 

it is quite a job to eliminate defensive genes from genepool. They come soon back without continuous selection.


And don't say anything beautifull about "ferals". Huh. Unselected gansters.

[BlueBee]

Finski, what time of year do you re-queen your hives?

[T Beek]

It's kinda scary for me to aggree with TBeek but the slow motion, no gloves, using a turkey feather and very little smoke help me.

Fear (being scared) often begins with assumptions (about people, places, things) and ends (or is accepted) with reality.

[Finski]

Finski, what time of year do you re-queen your hives?

i rear queens in swarming hives. i change larvae in queen cells.

i requeen after middle summer. About 30% I change during Autumn feeding.

[Lone]

We always have some collateral damage when playing with hives.  A lot of collateral damage can be saddening, but on a good day there is very little collateral damage at all.  If there is a big crunching sound when replacing a super, we generally say, "Oops, there goes another collateral".

Hope this helps.

Lone

[little john]

If the situation ever gets a bit frantic, and a bit like herding cats - then a quick squirt with a fine mist spray (plain water) always ensures that they get their heads down.

LJ

I had to laugh that is exactly what it feels like when they get all stirred up. I chase them away but they come back in even larger numbers. Frustrating to say the least. Gets even worse if one gets crushed as you replace a frame. Just plane water. Will add that to the list. Thanks Lj

Hi Ray

When I first heard about using a 'water spray', being a cheapskate I initially used a well cleaned-out hand sprayer from the supermarket - the disposable sort used for bathroom cleaner/ window cleaner etc.
Ok, so those cost nothing, but I found the spray was too coarse and it put far too much water onto the girls.  I then bought a hand sprayer from the garden centre - the type which is used for spraying plant foliage with - this puts out a very fine mist which I find is perfect for the job. My drill now is to use a whiff of smoke before and during first opening the hive, but to use water spray thereafter - finding that water mist doesn't annoy the bees as much as smoke does, if a lot of time needs to be spent working in the hive.

Apparently, some folks employ these hand sprayers - adding a bit of 1:1 syrup, a dash of honey, or a few drops of an essential oil to the water - when combining colonies of bees. Never done this myself - may play with these ideas next year.

'best
LJ

[Ray Bayless]

Just some feed back... The suggestions worked. Slow down on frame insertion, slow down in general, set bodies at an angle and rotate slowly and use fine water spray to make them duck. Lot fewer killings. Thanks to all.