Just some bits and pieces from the last bee club meeting:
- Bees can fly one mile in 4 minutes i.e. 24 MPH
- Reports from various members on the increased activity from Small Hive Beetle.
- A member reported on replacing his queens. In one hive the new queen disappeared. A second new queen went in and she was found dead. Observed in the hive were eggs laid all over the place and not in the cells. They dumped the hive contents on the ground outside the hive. The bees commenced migrating back into the hive. They spotted a tennis ball sized mass of bees which they squashed. And then inserted a new queen who is ok. The problem was a rogue queen i.e. a normal bee taking over as queen. These only lay drone eggs.
- Bees only take 24 hours to clean a sticky, repair the wax and relocate the excess honey
- Stickies can be reused many times if they are not seriously damaged - up to six years
- There is a big demand for wax although the price stays at $2 per kilogram. Much is being used for both candle making and for various medicinal creams. Hyssop for warts, Calendula or Chickweed for eczema
A sticky? Do you mean the foundation sheets? I have so much to learn here!
ReplyDeleteHi Linda, A sticky is the frame and extruded foundation after de-capping and the honey has been extracted. The remaining wax foundation is covered with a light coating of honey. It is in various states of damage after spinning the honey off. The bees clean off all the stray honey and repair the damage. They relocate the honey to other frames resulting in an efficient waste free harvesting of honey. Regards John
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