> 2 small puffs of smoke, a 2 minute delay, and 2 additional puffs of
> smoke at the hive entrance (no other disturbance, we didn't open the
> hives) at @ 2 in the afternoon resulted in an immediate drop in
> total activity, fewer exiting bees. The remarkable thing was that
> these colonies displayed a depression of flight activity for the
> rest of the day.
That's interesting.
I was down visiting a hobbyist friend who bottom supers. I was
shocked at the amount of work he went to and the effect on the
bees. I had planned to help him, but I soon realised that I had no
idea what he was doing.
When we entered the yard at mid day, bees were flying freely with a
good flow, when we left an hour later, nothing was going on.
We only took 20 mediums off 35 colonies, and stopped a good flow.
What a disruption and what a waste of time!
The interesting thing was that the 'beekeeper' did not notice what a
mess he had made and was quite pleased with himself!
Even without excluders this year, we find we can use tipping. It is
an almost totally non-distruptive way to take honey. Since we top
super and normally only provide one super at a timeon weekly
inspections, we need only quietly remove the top box or two and
supply another box (if required).
We then leave the supers on end on the ground near the hive for a
while. The bees fly home and continue working and we take the honey
home. (Sometimes we have to wait overnight).
If the bees are reluctant to leave the occasional box, a blower
cleans it out in a jiffy -- again without major disruption of the
working colony.
When some days may yield 20 pounds or so, we don't want to put our
bees to sleep. When we leave a yard, the bees are as busy as when
we drive in.
FWIW
Thanks for the report,Jerry. I trust you'll put some of your data on
your web pages??
Regards
Allen
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0
Internet:[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>
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