webber Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 (edited) Gents. I and a group of friends have decided to commence Honey Bee keeping. Our first prototype Top Bar hive is currently under construction. Late afternoon yesterday I visited my in laws and strolled down the allotment to see my father in law. He promptly showed me a swarm of bees that had been forming over the afternoon. Ideal, I thought, but not quite. We are not yet ready to receive any bees due to lack of equipment although it is all in hand. This morning I wondered if there was a PW member Bee Keeper in the St. Helens - Haydock area who would be willing to collect the swarm and look after it until we are in a position to take possession of our first swarm. Please PM me is you feel able and willing to assist. webber Edited May 25, 2015 by webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Mr Webber for a faster response try looking up / getting in touch with your local bee keepers association http://www.bbka.org.uk/local/ormskirkandcroston/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanj Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 IIRC the local BBKA rep lives opposite west park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted May 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Thanks chaps. I've been on the website suggested and contacted a local bee keeper who is meeting me at 2pm to box the bees. Our hive should be finished in a day or two. webber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted May 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 (edited) Mr Webber for a faster response try looking up / getting in touch with your local bee keepers association http://www.bbka.org.uk/local/ormskirkandcroston/ Thanks for the link. I made contact with one of the St. Helens based Bee Keepers on the website. He came out this afternoon and kindly moved the swarm into a box. I've been at almost dark and plugged the hole and moved the bees to their new home. A friend has now completed our first hive which will be delivered tomorrow. Tomorrow, our friendly local bee keeper will again render assistance and transfer the bees into the new hive. webber Edited May 25, 2015 by webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Thanks for the link. I made contact with one of the St. Helens based Bee Keepers on the website. He came out this afternoon and kindly moved the swarm into a box. I've been at almost dark and plugged the hole and moved the bees to their new home. A friend has now completed our first hive which will be delivered tomorrow. Tomorrow, our friendly local bee keeper will again render assistance and transfer the bees into the new hive. webber That's good news! Best of luck and please keep us updated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Great news, and well done on deciding to keep Bee's. I wish you well with your new venture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted May 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 (edited) Our friendly Bee Keeper returned this evening to transfer the bees from the transfer box into the hastily constructed top bar hive. The bees were very quiet and required zero smoke or other calming agents. I got suited up for a closer view and assisted with the brush and moving bars etc. I'm struggling transferring pictures at the moment. My father in law has been on the telephone late this evening and advised that he has a large swarm on his chimney. My days of high ladders and crawling on roofs are over. I think that I'll try a bee trap on top of his garage to try to entice the swarm across. webber Edited May 27, 2015 by webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted May 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2015 (edited) More pictures of the bee transfer. Edited May 27, 2015 by webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted May 27, 2015 Report Share Posted May 27, 2015 John, if anyone helping out is of a VERY slight build then my wife's old beekeeping suit is sitting doing nothing. She gave up keeping 3 or 4 years ago, due to increasing sensitivity to stings, unfortunately. By very slight, i mean 5'2"-ish, and 8 or 9 stone ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted May 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 (edited) Hi Robbie. Hm. I've ordered a suit and one for Mark; he's made the hive etc. The suit would be handy as I guess that it would fit my granddaughter. Maybe you could bring the suit to the next shoot event. I'm fascinated by these creatures, but need to wait for my own suit to arrive. My F I L has reported that he has another swarm on his house chimney; Mark is making a couple of bait boxes with top bars compatible with our top bar hive system. We are going to try a bee trap on top of the FILs garage, hopefully we will be able to entice the bees across and gain another swarm. At the moment Mark is just about managing to keep up with demand for equipment; we had planned a staged approach but circumatances have dictated that we do it differently. It's a baptism by fire to some degree and the learning curve is steep at the moment. webber Edited May 28, 2015 by webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Will bring it to the next day - or if I can't make it, will get it to Ken for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted July 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 Several weeks ago I place a bait box on the roof of my father in laws garage. I baited the box with some old honeycomb donated by my friendly local keeper and also smeared some attractant around the entrance hole. A week or two later my FIL called to tell me that he had witnessed a queen land on the side of the box and be encouraged by other bees towards the entrance hole. For varoious reasons the second hive wasn't finished, then with all sorts going on at work and the clay shoot and pheasant shoot I never seemed to make time to go and collect the box of bees and transfer them to the new hive. Last night I went to my FILs at about 9 am, had a brew and then watched the bees coming and going from the entrance. At about 22:10 Hrs. I decided that all had returned and plugged the hole with some sponge. The box took a bit of messing to get it off the roof. I placed the box into the pickup and headed home. I placed the box on the ground close to the new hive and removed the plug, a few bees came out for a quick scout around probably because of the yard lights. At 5am this morning I donned my suit and gloves and made the new hive ready; I un fastened the strap retaining the box lid and the gave the box a swift bang on the ground to get some of the bees to drop off the combs. I didn't smoke the bees at all, but now wish that I had done so. As I removed the first top bar from the box it felt very heavy, sadly as I moved the bar and very fully formed comb across the comb split in half horizontally. I placed the detached half on top of the hive and carried on carefully transferring the bars across, 6 bars in total, all with fully formed combs; I'd certainly left the box which is basically a mini hive far too long. The bees were well dischuffed at being moved but will benefit from the extra space that the 4ft. hive will provide. I lifted the box onto the hive and put it onto its end, then I took my bee brush and encouraged many of the remaining bees into their new home. After a while I placed the box back onto the floor and placed the detached piece of comb that was full of grubs into the bait box. I decided that I should let the bees make of it what they can. Slowly I closed the top bars closer together to close the hive down. Almost half of the top of the hive was smothered in bees, they were recovering the honey that had dripped from the detached piece and other combs as I had moved them. There are still 2 or 3 dozen bees on the top bars, I'll leave the lid off until the bees vacate it, keeping my eye open for rain. I'll inspect the detached piece of comb when its gone dark. I think that the bees may eventually abandon it? but I'll keep it for future use. Only got stung once, on my head. Somehow a bee got inside my headgear and decided to sting me seconds before I managed to get the zips open that I'd been fumbling with for a few minutes. A antihistamine tablet and some vinegar applied to the stung area seem to have done the trick. Sorry no pictures. A few lessons learned today. webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teal Posted July 8, 2015 Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 Vinegar is for Vasps - you need bicarbonate for bee stings. Vinegar will do nothing for it. Wasp stings are alkali and bee stings acidic so you do that to neutralise them. The other tip for a be sting is to just brush over it with your hand as soon as it has happened. Don't try and squeeze to get the sting out -as it is barbed and pulsates, so if you squeeze the area you are just fully injecting whatever is left in the tip, better to brush it off. Good luck with the new swarm, they all sound well mannered! I'm not an expert but waste honey or comb I imagine they will consume and put into either new combs or brood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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