We set up a queen bank the other day. Just some brood comb and honey comb and queenless bees. Catch all the queens at the same time and put them in together.
I saw this frenzy going on and turned the cover over to block the entrance. They were doing this same thing before I blocked it. They would pile up until they would fall in clumps. I slowed it down to try to see it better.
11th Annual Bee Camp 2024
https://bushfarms.com/beescamp.htm
I call this my "Tom Sawyer" bee camp. What I want is for you to come and do my bee work and pay me for it. But, of course I hope you get to learn a lot about how I keep bees in the process. Seriously it is how I hope to get somewhat caught up on bee work while teaching at the same time.
I call this a "camp" because it fits my view of what "camp" is. They have football camp, band camp etc. and in this case most of the participants are camping in tipis or their own campers or tents, so it is a camp in that sense as well as the "football camp" sense that we are focused on bees. I suppose we could call it a symposium, but that sounds so much more formal than sleeping in tipis, doing bee work and talking about bees all day and half the night. It is kind of an immersion into beekeeping as we will be doing things to do with beekeeping all day long for the most part. We may spend some time on other farm related things, but everyday will...
I have a problem. This spring i got a 5 frame, deep, nuc. I put foundationless frames between the 5 nuc frames. They pulled them out very nicely.
The hive got pretty crowded a month ago so a friend told me to put another deep on top for brood. All i had was a medium super with empty foundationless frames. Its been really hot for the last month, around 100 every day and they are really grumpy. I decided to inspect them today and found the medium super almost full of honey. The problem is, they pulled the comb between the frames instead of down the frames. I have the popsicle sticks in the groove all of the way around.
How do i fix this?
Weather has been unusually great in my area for my hive - just added 3rd deep. May not be impressive in some of your areas but I am VERY happy.
Now my nervousness regarding mites. As everyone continues to try and force treatments. And I try to stay away from them.
I have an observation window and the bellies and tops do not show red dots - although I appreciate that they can burrow under where cannot see them.
I do have a screened bottom board with a tray. Must not have a great fit as I see a few bees in the tray when I check it.
I see no mites but do not have any sticky on the tray.
I am thinking about adding the small layer of veg oil as I have read in some articles.
What are your thoughts about that approach?
