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They could, but a box is not that attractive when they are looking for a new home. It is believed that the swarm is looking for a certain amount of space and the catch boxes I use are pretty close to that space requirement. They are looking for someplace to make their home that is big enough that they can grow and build their comb. I'm just going off the information that my mentor that has been keeping bees his whole life told me and so far it has worked out pretty well. I have another friend that tried using deep hive boxes as catch boxes and didn't catch any swarms last year. Best practice is to get them moved from the catch box to a hive before they start going crazy building comb all over the place.

So, could they see a hive that is empty and move into it, sure. It happens frequently. Will they take to a bigger box with more room more readily, I think so. Kind of like buying a house vs. apartment.
Id toss some combs in there as enticement. The irrigation boxes on our association common area always fill up every spring. Since there is bee scent and combs they hang out until my co worker shows up.
 
Finished this honeycomb inspired charcuterie board for my wife today. I'm planning on making more to sell if anyone is interested.
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Worked my hive for the first time this year. They did great over winter. My winterizing consisted of a piece of tin over the too and an entrance reducer. Very little moisture in the box. A bit on the too of the inner cover and some on the underside of the outer cover. Very little mold or anything after a LONG winter. 4-5 full frames of honey left out of 2 deep boxes, more than I figured would be left without any supplemental feeding. Found the queen and she was doing her thing. Looks like she has been laying a bunch of eggs as well:smokin:

My new NUC will be available Monday. Going to switch both hives to screened bottom boards for this year. Also going to hit the new hive with a pollen patty for a week then FormicPro both hives for mites just because it a good idea. My current hive is fairly hygienic I believe as I got a zero mite count going into winter.

Either way so looking forward to harvesting honey this fall. May look into splitting my
Current hive this year. That’s assuming I can find the queen when I want/need to. Not great at spotting her.
 
Are mites a thing in your area and have you treated for them? Never a bad idea after receiving a NUC
I don’t know how bad mites are around here but I have treated the hives with oxalic acid using the InstantVap. I could have went with cheaper options but this thing makes it simple, quick and easy! I will treat them again in a week to get any that may have been in a capped cell.
 
Our bee keeper said that the going rate on a queen in our area is around $200 and if you drive out to Sac is about $140. His hives got decimated by all the rain this winter so he was super stoked to get these. He was very suprised how well our bees were doing and it turns out that all the aloes we have around our house are winter bloomers and are loaded with sugar. The pollen basket or corbicula on the females collecting pollen are bright red from the color of the aloes flowers. So if you can grow certain aloes that flower during the winter in your area they are a key food and pollen source. Here are some pictures of them

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Couple links to winter blloming aloes

Must be CA rates. $200 for a queen? Ouch, they were $40 here last year.
 
I don’t know how bad mites are around here but I have treated the hives with oxalic acid using the InstantVap. I could have went with cheaper options but this thing makes it simple, quick and easy! I will treat them again in a week to get any that may have been in a capped cell.
We picked one up as well, worth the investment for long term I think. Much better and easier than the strips.

We're acid treating our hives today, it'll be fun toting a car battery around, we still have 2' of snow.
 
We picked one up as well, worth the investment for long term I think. Much better and easier than the strips.

We're acid treating our hives today, it'll be fun toting a car battery around, we still have 2' of snow.
I got the cordless version. I didn't want to tote the car battery around.
 

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Well the Nuc came in yesterday. The weather sucked ass. So I had my wife hold an umbrella while transferred the incase a squall came through. She had my bee jacket on and I had just a head vail and long sleeves. Well they were grumpy little buggers and I was stupid. Didnt pay attention to the part that the coat I was wearing had button cuffs. So during the transfer I got stung like 10 times on my right wrist/lower forearm area and like 2-3 on my
Left arm. Pain was whatever but the swelling last night and not today on my right arm is impressive.
Weather is decent at the moment so I went a put a pollen patty on the new hive to help them along. They are grumpy fuckers still. :lmao::lmao:

Oh well they should calm down as I work them weekly. If not I will requeueen them for a calmer hive.
 
We have three hives that need split, but the weather has been shit this week. Hoping we can get it done soon as we're running out of time. Such a late winter.
We have one hive we call "the hive of assholes" they're sooo mean. Hoping to calm that one down by requeening.
 
Probable mite question. First I’m still new so I am not good at finding the queen. My second hive is acting weird. They are building burr comb funny and still acting aggressive towards me. Well I saw queen cells the other day so I suspect the queen is having problems at a minimum. My guess is she has a mite on her or something to that extent. As they have become more prevalent around here in recent years. Normally I use Formic Pro in the spring but we are too hot this time of year to even think about using that. From my understanding oxalic acid vapor is about my only real option in the heat. I have a vaporizer that showed up but am waiting for a new respirator so I dont hurt my lungs in the process.

Beside that how do you guy deal with mites in the heat down south?
 
Probable mite question. First I’m still new so I am not good at finding the queen. My second hive is acting weird. They are building burr comb funny and still acting aggressive towards me. Well I saw queen cells the other day so I suspect the queen is having problems at a minimum. My guess is she has a mite on her or something to that extent. As they have become more prevalent around here in recent years. Normally I use Formic Pro in the spring but we are too hot this time of year to even think about using that. From my understanding oxalic acid vapor is about my only real option in the heat. I have a vaporizer that showed up but am waiting for a new respirator so I dont hurt my lungs in the process.

Beside that how do you guy deal with mites in the heat down south?
I used the oxalic acid vaporizer and have had good results. The last mite checks I did 2 weeks ago showed one mite in one hive and nothing in the other two hives. Definitely wear the respirator that shit is tough and you will run away if you catch a small wiff of it! I treated mine every week for three weeks when I got them in April and will treat them one more time in the fall.
 
I used the oxalic acid vaporizer and have had good results. The last mite checks I did 2 weeks ago showed one mite in one hive and nothing in the other two hives. Definitely wear the respirator that shit is tough and you will run away if you catch a small wiff of it! I treated mine every week for three weeks when I got them in April and will treat them one more time in the fall.
I have heard I need to remove my honey supers during treatment. I one hive has them the other does as well. The one im
Concerned about is new so I wont be harvesting this year. My other hive already has a full super on it. From what I have seen they just remove it, treat the hive and put it back on after letting it ventilate for a bit.
 
I use the mite strips in the spring. Never had a mite problem.
Yes you need to remove any honey you plan to consume.
 
I have heard I need to remove my honey supers during treatment. I one hive has them the other does as well. The one im
Concerned about is new so I wont be harvesting this year. My other hive already has a full super on it. From what I have seen they just remove it, treat the hive and put it back on after letting it ventilate for a bit.
I'd pull the super for treatment, even if you're not going to harvest that honey this year. Bees will use it, and it's nasty stuff.
Oxalic acid vaporizer is the way to go.
 
I'd pull the super for treatment, even if you're not going to harvest that honey this year. Bees will use it, and it's nasty stuff.
Oxalic acid vaporizer is the way to go.
I typically run 2 deeps for what I leave them. Then queen excluder and honey supers on top. In my original hive its not uncommon for both deeps to have brood and lots of bees in them.
 
I have heard I need to remove my honey supers during treatment. I one hive has them the other does as well. The one im
Concerned about is new so I wont be harvesting this year. My other hive already has a full super on it. From what I have seen they just remove it, treat the hive and put it back on after letting it ventilate for a bit.
I don't plan on harvesting any this year but you can leave them on. This is approved for use with the supers on. Api-Bioxal (Oxalic Acid)
 
Hive looked great on Sunday.

Hive swarmed yesterday. FK.
 
Holy shit impromptu bee day. Working outside and I began to hear my bees, WTF. Go down to my hives and they are super active. Shit something is going on. Grab my bee jacket and gloves and go in to my area. Fucking yellow jackets are attacking my weaker hive:mad3::mad3:. Had mites show up in my new hive this year and had a weather window to treat with formic pro. Well my new hive took that like a champ but it really set my existing hive back. May have weakened it too much to make winter. We shall see. Anyways thats the hive thats getting beat up. Threw an entrance reducer on both of them and then worked on finding the wasp nest. Took some time but found a in ground yellow jacket nest. Had a can of spray so I filled the hole with spray and that somewhat slowed them down. I then dumped a bottle of bleach down the hole and covered it with about 4-6” of 5/8- gravel. Also set a few meat traps hoping to lure them into that. Fingers crossed they didnt do to much damage to that hive. Also killed 2 boldfaced hornets around the hive as well. I have no idea where their nest is. Its always something when I have time for nothing. :lmao::lmao:😞
 
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