🐝 More spring management. Swarm prevention - staying one step ahead. September 2024.

[@baula338]

Hi there, I’m not an expert, but I’ve seen beekeepers that treat their bees very gently. I understand your supers are heavy, but I wonder if there are ways to prevent smushing your bees. Maybe moving just a bit slower clearing bees and letting the hive boxes down. I’m sure the bees will appreciate it.

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

@@baula338 Hello Baula, thanks for commenting if you watch my videos you will see that I take great care to brush bees off the edges of the super with my hand. I have 60 hives. I will crush the occasional bee. My mind & body is broken due to events over the past 2 years. There are other channels you could watch. 😁

[@alanwatts9232]

He did really well. It's impossible to keep bees without squashing a few. Did you know that the life expectancy of a bee is about 6 weeks, and that about 1000 bees per day per hive die of natural causes?

[@carmelgerdsen2399]

From 12 years of beekeeping and knowing bees have free will to go back even after being brushed aside, I can tell you are a caring gentle keeper, especially given the number of hives you have. I'm sorry to hear of your terrible journey. I hope you and your business recover quickly. I'm one of the lucky ones in Victoria, so my heart goes out to you and all in NSW that suffered. ​@@mt.corambaapiculture

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

@@carmelgerdsen2399@carmelgerdsen2399 Thanks, Carmel. I'm picking up the pieces, just like many other beekeepers who have survived the red zone carnage. I'm very grateful for your comments and support.

[@livingadamman7994]

@@mt.corambaapiculture You doing great mate, thanks for sharing the journey. This is an outstanding early season in NNSW, last year I was feeding patties this time in September and October, this year I put patties in 80% my hives inj July to mitigate but it's completely reversed conditions compared, and now I have Mahogany and Spotty flowering, and I've got more work than I can manage especially with 17 swarms in the last week and a half, caught at least 12, 3 caught today and still two up trees that I'm going to try and get tonight. I think my tripples will start to plug out in the next brood cycle if I can't get honey off quickly, 2 yards have done swarm control and are fine it's just the other two yards that time has caught up on me, no mites here yet. I'm sure if I made a vid someone would ignore all the efforts I've made like up till 9.30pm managing swarms, and complain about 2 or 3 squished bees because they don't have anything better to do. My bees and I are getting along well even though I get a fair few love bites. Take care mate and thanks again.

[@lindsaybancroft4629]

Glenn, Sending good vibes for your approaching flow. Thanks again for your much appreciated education 👍🐝

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

@@lindsaybancroft4629 Thanks Lindsay for your continued support

[@shadmorgan5491]

Brilliant examples of the craft with a natural narrative, Aussie Made...onya M8!

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

@@shadmorgan5491 Thanks Shad. You've been quiet lately 😁

[@shadmorgan5491]

@mt.corambaapiculture Not really "quiet" as such, just more focused on VD in our own backyard, so to speak. Offshore folk are beyond help... for the most part.😄 Much of my work today is between Bee keeping Australia, Honeybee Beekeeping Challenges, and Long Horizontal Hive Beekeepers... the rest rarely even read these days. Stay well, keep safe as you can be.👍

[@bennybeekeeper]

Thanks Glenn. All the best for the season. I hope it’s a good one for you. Looks like you’ve had plenty of rain there anyway, with all that lush green grass in the background.

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Yea thanks mate it looks like a cracking season ahead everything seems to be flowering at once here at the moment.

[@brucebennett5354]

Hi Glenn What are the boxes you are using?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

hiveiq.com.au

[@Sanbatongmatmientayofficial]

Ok ❤

[@BPReefer]

Hey Glenn. As a new beekeeper, I'm learning a lot from your videos & enjoy the detailed procedures when you're in the hives. I was gifted 9 hives recently, just brood & a super each. I'd like to replace the wooden frames in the brood box, they all have plastic foundation & ideally, I'd like to swap everything out to wax foundation. What would be your procedure to swap over? Put 4-5 frames from brood box to new super & add foundation to complete super, brood in middle of box, excluder in between. Repeat after brood has hatched above excluder with remaining plastic frames in brood box so the brood box now has 9 frames of wax foundation frames? Thanks in advance.

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Hey BP thanks for watching & commenting. The method you have suggested will work. I don't know where you are. Removing half the brood may stress the bees and chill the brood if you are in an area that is still a bit cool overnight. I tend to replace two or three frames depending on hive strength, wait until they are drawn & laid up then do it again. In general terms I am always looking for opportunities to lift old frames up if I have nice stickies when I extract. Good luck.

[@BPReefer]

@@mt.corambaapiculture Thanks Glenn for the guidance. I’m only 1.5hrs North of you near Maclean. I will look at doing the swap out soon & I’ll make sure the new frames I’ve added to the brood box are drawn & laid up before taking out the second lot of brood frames . Cheers

[@yugmartreb7722]

Mate - again well done on a very easy to listen descriptive video that will help other people. Just curious .. why the white frame end caps and what do they do .

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks Guy, they are Guilframes made by Guilfoyles in the 1980's but went out of fashion with the perception that they harboured beetles in the framewok of the plastic. They were given to me for nothing & in my opinion they are as good as any other frame.

[@MatthewCamus]

Hey just curious I noticed some of your newer frames have white painted frames, what was the reason for this ?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks for commenting Matthew. They are "Guilframes" made by Guilfoyle's Beekeeping in the 1980's. The end bars are recycled plastic. Wooden top & bottom bars slot into the sides. They were given to me recently brand new & unused.

[@Manuherikiabeekeeping]

Hi from across the ditch in central Otago 👋 you're doing what I want to be doing but we've been walloped with a southerly storm and have snow, three inches on the ground a couple of days ago after a week of 18 Celsius and clear skys which pushed the blossom out and now the bloody bee's can't fly because it's 5 Celsius around here with more snow predicted tonight. Varroa is a blasted menace I hope you don't get too badly knocked around with it and I hope they figure out who put the ten cents in the idiot responsible for you guys getting the damn things. When I heard Australia had detected varroa in sentinel hives it was like a punch in the guts, you guys not having it was a little ray of hope that at least one country didn't have it. Hang in there it does get easier to manage varroa mites once you've got a decent treatment system in place 👍👋

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks for that. We too have plunged back into winter for a few days but this week is looking good again. I'm pretty much on top of Varroa with a good plan in place to manage them They can't do any more damage to me than what the NSW Dept of Primary Industries did.

[@philaandrew100]

@@mt.corambaapiculture The Dept certainly screwed you guys.. Really feel for the Eastern Beekeepers, as if it wasn't bad enough getting the beetles to then cop the mites really sucks. It has certainly put the wind up us here in WA, wondering if we can keep varroa out.

[@tonybaker1295]

Glen do you only run single brood boxes?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Yes it takes a bit of management but much easier in the long run

[@keithsteele5580]

Glen do you wax coat your green drone combs, when you put the box of frames, on the hive

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

G'day Keith yes all of my plastic frames get waxed.

[@mx73cressupra]

Hi Glenn, How long do you normally expect the clover flow to last if the weather stays good in this area?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Until it gets hot. A few months at least provided it keeps raining.