Hi all
 
Just thought I would share some interesting things that I have seen
to do with bees lately:
 
I removed a beehive a few days ago from a three storey building. I
put up scaffolding below the entrance. The bees in my area are
usually docile and safe, but these seemed to have more of their true
african bee haemolymph than the rest and they flattened me. It is
much more difficult putting scaffolding up with a bee suit on!
 
Anyhow, I drilled out four bricks to a happy cloud of bees. Got into
the hive and found that the other side of the wall was actually below
the bath in the flat. This is in a school so the bath is well used
and a pipe runs from the geyser through the hive. This goes to a
hostle kitchen where cooking happens all day. Anyhow, I removed about
sixty kilograms of comb, capped, from the hive. The brood nest would
equate to about seven or eight frames. For the middle of winter this
hive was cooking! Anyhow, I removed the bees and came back the next
day to patch the hole. The bees were really lucky with this spot! I
felt inside and it was about luke warm in there, heated by the pipe!
So that's how they got away with such a big winter nest! Most of my
hives have only two or three frames now for winter, and the weakest
have less than one.
 
Secondly, a few months back one of my hives swarmed. I had it near a
train line, and just as the bees were moving the train went by and
they all settled on the branch again? Is this a confirmation of the
thunder and lightening/bangin pots theory?
 
Then there are the things that crawl into the hives: So far I have
found: Slugs-more and more of the slime balls
           Snails-on the top board
           Earthworms: I found three earthworms in the middle of the
broodnest, curled up in cells. It appears they like the moisture.
            A legless skink: gave me the fright of my life as it is
like a small snake.
 
Anyhow, those are my strange sightings and interesting things (well
at least they seem to be interesting to me)
 
Keep well
 
Garth
 
 
 
---
Garth Cambray       "Opinions expressed in this post may be those
15 Park Road         of Pritz, my cat, who knows a lot about
Grahamstown          catfood."
6140                       *[log in to unmask]*
South Africa               Phone 27-0461-311663
 
In general, generalisations are bad.
But don't worry BEEEEEE happy.