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DarkSteven -> Wish me luck. (8/22/2013 8:11:53 PM)
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I've started a new hobby a few months ago. Beekeeping.
It's something I've always wanted to do, and they're fascinating little creatures. I've got two hives now, and I'm learning how to check up on them, how to recognize when they're placid, and when they're pissed off, etc. I've read, I've attended meetings with experienced beekeepers, and I've got a mentor.
The weekend of the 31st, I'll have a new challenge. I'll be doing an extraction. That's when a beekeeper tears into a structure with bees, and removed the bees and the comb. It's supposed to be hard as hell. It's a coworker's house, and the main colony is 20 feet off the ground. There's also a small second colony under a soffit.
I've got a lot of things going for me. I'll be working on a scaffold, not a ladder. My mentor has looked at the job and given me advice. And I'll have access to his bee vac and smoker if I need it. And I don't have to put anything back - the my coworker and her husband have decided to re-side the house. So I'll just pry off boards until I've exposed the hives, collect the bees and comb, and then let the carpenters pout things back.
Here are the steps I plan to take:
1. Put on bee suit, and get on scaffold, with two 5 gallon buckets, a can of Kilz, and a knife or hive tool. Have two hive bodies as well, with open frames with no foundation in them, so I can insert comb in directly.
2. Go to the larger colony, the one 20 feet off the ground. (Did I mention I have a fear of heights? I suspect it won't be serious on a scaffold.) Rip off boards with a pry bar, until the entire colony is exposed.
3. Possibly smoke the colony. (This makes the bees gorge themselves on honey. Makes them more docile and makes cleanup afterward easier.) Possibly just suck them up with a bee vacuum. One way or another, get them off the honeycomb.
4. Tear out the honeycomb and drop it in one of the 5 gallon buckets. Tear out old, empty comb and drop it in the other bucket. Removing honeycomb and old comb will expose the brood comb.
5. The brood comb is comb containing bee eggs. Remove it carefully, cutting it to fit the open frames, and secure them in place with rubber bands. Put the filled frames in the hive body. Keep an eye out for the queen.
6. When I see the queen, gently trap her in a queen cell and make sure it's kept in the hive body, somewhere out of the sun so she doesn't fry.
7. With the queen rehoused, the rest of the bees should gather around her. Keep removing comb and place it into frames, or in the buckets, depending on what kind of comb it is.
8. Cut out the last of the comb. Paint the place where the comb used to be, with Kilz, to kill the bee scent, so no future bees colonize the same area.
9. Repeat the above for the second colony. It should take less time, because it's smaller and because I will have some experience.
10. Seal off the bucket with honey in it.
11. Put the hives in my car and drive home with them.
I'm nuts for doing this so early, but the experience will be priceless. And I'll get two small hives from it, which I will combine with my two existing hives and make them stronger. I should get a huge amount of beeswax from this as well, and perhaps some honey (although I will need to return almost all of it to the bees).
Should be fun!
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