beekeeping

W B C Hive

invented by  W B Carr.  The differences between this hive and the National Hive is it has a double wall with a air gap between outer and inner walls This help to  protect against the elements.

National Hive

Hives can be purchased in
Kit Form

The brood  & Super frames are bought in flat pack

The Wax can be purchased with wires or plain if you want to produce honey on the comb

A new foundation super

these can be purchased as a DIY kit or complete. This can be purchased with or without wire. If cut comb is required use unwired foundation

 A new super at the bottom

At the top is a super that has been capped ready to
extract honey

Dissolve 1kg of sugar to 1lt warm water in the Autumn
Dissolve 1kg of sugar to 2lt warm water in the Spring
Remove Bee escape from cover board and place feeder over the hole to allow the bees to enter the feeder from underneath.

Smoker

This is used to calm the bees. A couple of puffs of smoke at the hive entrance, wait a minute before opening the hive, then use as needed.

An inspection of the hive

Try to inspect the hive once a week weather permitting, between mid May to end of August. The main reason for doing this once a week is to prevent swarming, because the colony could make a Queen and swarm within two weeks.

If the hive is re-queened once a year you do not need to inspect so often as the colony is less likely to swarm.

Other things to look for while inspecting the hive are:

• That the Queen is laying
• Plenty of food supplies
• Diseases arroa mites
• Damage to the hive from weather, mice and deterioration
• Wasps nests have also been found inside the hive and have to be destroyed.

 Pests & Diseases

Birds swoop down and catch them in flight and while the bees are collecting nectar & pollen. Wasps  rob the hives of honey  (to help prevent this reduce the entrance to one or two bee spaces to help the bees defend against them ). Ants  raid the hives for honey ( to help this place oils soaked rags around the legs of the hive ) and Mice cause more trouble in the winter months – they will eat lots of honey and cause damage to combs  (  Make the entrance  to small for mice to get in ).

It is normal to find dead bees outside the hive this is usually from old age.

 Apis  Mellifera Carnica also known as Carniolan.

A slender honey bee with a fairly long tongue.

• It is very docile
• It is a good Forager
• winters well
• It re-juices the size of its colonies in the autumn so it is able to over-winter on minimum stores
• A major drawback is that it more  inclined to swarm

Apis Mellifera Ligustica also known as the Italian honey bee.

• It’s a gentle and good forager
• It forms large colonies that produce a lot of honey
• Major drawback is it needs large amount of stores to over-winter and does not over-winter well in areas with long cold winter.
• Its inclined to drift from one colony to another and rob other hives

Apis  Mellifera Ligustica X Apis Mellifera  Carnica  Honey Bee.

• Cross bred bees are more vigorous,  healthy and have the best traits of both parents.
• It is important when crossing Carniolan bees to use the Drones  of the Carniolan  Bees and the Queen of the other strain because the swarming tenancies of the Carniolan bees.

The top Swarm is an Italian strain and the right Swarm is Carniolan Strain.

Before the swarm leaves the hive, they fill themselves up with honey. They then usually form a cluster near the hive they have left. They then send out scouts to find a new hive. When they find a new place the scouts return to the cluster and then the whole swarm  is airborne within seconds