The Hive

Too far from me. If they are black bees then they are a recovering population in parts of France, so best not call in the pompiers. Try asking at any shops that have local honey, markets ditto and as an outsider try the mairie. They'll probably need to be located into forest rather than a hive from what I understand from our local big apiarist.

Hi guys, I've come on here to ask advice: a friend has just returned to his house in 22 Plouasne, after 2 months, to find a hive well established between the window and the shutters of one of his bedrooms. I think they're the dark honeybees. We don't want o call the pompiers because they'd just kill them. Does anyone know of a beekeeper in the area that might be happy to take the hive and its occupants away?

Hello new members, take a look at the video on the message I have newly put up. Beekeepers in France as serious about their bees as anywhere else in the world and strictly speaking it is forbidden to kill colonies which is what the agrochemical multinationals are doing. Without bees and other pollinators no agrochemicals in the world are much good because there will be no plants left for lack of pollination and humanity, like many other species, will perish. They not only give us honey, wax and royal jelly but look after us by making sure our crops reproduce. They are friends, we should rally round them.

signed, got it in my inbox yesterday, was coming here to post it... great minds, lol.

Passed on to me:

>
> Chers amis,
>
> Je pense que cette vidéo va vous intéresser.
>
> Elle a été réalisée par Pollinis, un réseau de conservatoires d'abeilles et pollinisateurs créé tout récemment pour essayer de sauver durablement les abeilles, et avec elles, le travail colossal de pollinisation dont elles s'acquittent et qui assure la survie et la reproduction de plus de 80% des espèces de plantes à fleurs qui existent dans le monde. C'est un très beau projet, essentiel et novateur ; un combat pour la vie auquel je suis particulièrement sensible et que je soutiens sans réserve.
>
> Aurélia, la directrice de Pollinis, vous explique comment les abeilles sont sacrifiées, et avec elles notre alimentation et tout l'écosystème, pour servir les intérêts à court terme des multinationales de l'agrochimie.
>
> Bien que cette situation dure depuis longtemps, je reste estomaqué par l’attentisme de nos pouvoirs publics dans ce domaine qui indirectement rejoint notre cause. Une fois de plus, c’est à nous citoyens de réagir et de les mettre devant leurs responsabilités.
>
> Voici le lien pour visionner la vidéo « Abeilles : le massacre autorisé » :
> http://clics.institutprotectionsantenaturelle.eu//t/AQ/AAuIeQ/AAub8A/AAcHlg/Ag/A0BIqA/MhKG
>
> Amicalement,
>
> Augustin de Livois
> Président de l'Institut pour La Protection de la Santé Naturelle

We must be lucky, we only ever see one hornet at a time, be it asian, or local. We had a storm yesterday as we were halfway through the apiary, they got .. as you said, heavy on our clothes, and followed us to the car, piping high. I got away with four stings, and OH ended up with two. Would have preferred the stings on my legs,rather than hands, it's a bit yuk working in a hotel with a pair of swelled crab claws for hands.

No chestnuts (sadly, for picking that is) in their range. Weather thing perhaps. We had a whole swarm of normal hornets the night before, all over trees everywhere and maybe that got at them. I think the storms were an influence as well. As for 20+ stings, well I am immunish, they burn a bit but do my rheumatism no end of good. At the moment with this shoulder stuff I don't want rheumatism playing me up too. But no more working wearing shorts for a while I suspect.

Even our good girls were bad today. Is there chestnut nearby??? They get particularly cranky on chestnut, especially at the end of nectar flow. Maybe it's like coffee for them??

We know as soon as acacia stops and chestnut starts because they go from being very lovely, to being like me in the mornings before my cup of tea.

Plus, they always find how to get into the ankles, wrists, and waistline.

i take every sting as a blessing, though, with arthritis in my knees, and also a ski injury I'm trying to heal with venom, I find the pain relief is great.

Having a bad day with my ladies, they are in a foul mood. I was trying to straighten out my supers. At the moment some are so askew they are like LeClerc for hornets and other shoppers. As soon I had a roof off mass attcak and a lot of stings. Had to put on a boiler suit as well in the end but then they covered my veil so thick I couldn't see what I was doing on one hive and lots of them lost by stinging my clothes. It included my most dependable hive where I have allowed them to walk on my bare arms several times. I know there are storms about which gets them nervous but in (I am guessing) 18 years of having bees I have never had them as moody as this before.

Yes Zoe, looks like they're coming to terms with the hornets then. Great.

Hi Brian, We get a small handful of hornets in the apiary, and I'm not sure if it's that they make the mistake of not preying on one hive at a time, or what, but they seem to not do too well with our girls. We've found dead ones in the brood boxes.

We were worried about a certain apiary, and went to bring them some food (frames of honey), only to find they'd actually almost filled the honey supers. Great girls. The weather has been erratic, and extreme, so, they are coping well to say the least. Only one lost swarm sofar, but quite a few peanuts taken out. Royal jelly hives tend to do that.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and hi everybody. Strange summer this. We had a storm with incredible winds the other day and now I have to go out to line up my supers with their brood boxes on a couple and have lost one complete colony to hornets (frelons asiatique) who found a way into the hive despite the entrance guard and must have had the queen very quickly. The hive is entirely empty bar bits of part consumed bees. At first I thought it was CCD but the bits gave it away and then a couple of the villains who were put down by the bees showed up under the frames. Sad.

Other colonies learned to fight back last year and are doing it again this year. It would be interesting to know if other peoples' bees are doing the same.

Thanks for the update,Brian
Iur royal jelly hives are doing well,ok,one or two have had tho be put out of production,but,we have back-up hives to replace them. Our weather has meant accacia honey is gone to pot,and on one of my experimental hives,i went to do a split,only to discover the bitches beat me to it,and had swarmed high into a tree.one colony given back to nature.i hope they find a quiet place.
Other than that,ours are doing ok…
Next keeper??

It's been a bit of a difficult time for me recently and I think it only fair to say to members 'Sorry'. It has been a good swarm year. I have now taken in two and lost both again, so have a brood box, empty hive or whatever one wishes to call it hanging around and my dander up.

My old bees are a nice lot though. I have finally got my OH to help because of the useless arm and she has now finally allowed herself to let several hundred walk over her ungloved hand. She is ticklish, but that was her only complain. But now is time to watch honey production and despite our field being a paradise of flowers this year, it is slow to say the least. How are you all doing?

Paul, and David, Welcome.

David, you have an empty hive!! It's swarm season... keep your eyes in the trees for a new colony to move into your hive!

Sally, Welcome. YES, it is possible to get the bees from your chimney living in a hive on your property, for you to look after. All you need is the equipme,t, and know how. What department are you in?? We might be able to steer you in the way of a local keeper who might be able to help.

Otherwise, we can tell you what you'll need, and how to go about it. Are the bees out of reach, though??

Welcome Andy!!, the more the merrier.. well, my bees say that anyway!

Wow, Brian, no way I'd have managed with one arm, well done.

Then again, as you say, they are addictive, one can find themselves dangling one armed from a tree, shaking a branch into a box, all for the love of the game.

Thanks for sharing your adventure, swarm time is so exciting.

ADVENTURE TIME!

I have one arm to all intents and purposes, at least the one with the broken shoulder does not do a lot yet. My family went out for the afternoon and evening so of course a really superb swarm turned up on a tree near the trampoline which meant it had to go toute suite anyway.

I struggled into my jacket, got my veil on properly with much effort and then gathered what I needed. I put it all in a wheelbarrow, then move it with one hand? Did it bit by bit, got to the tree and hooked the branch down and built up a box to just below the swarm. How do you use long arm secateurs with one hand? I eventually pressed on handle against my head and pushed bling and eventually cut the branch. At least it dropped perfectly. I trimmed off the little twigs and so on and decided to take box into the doorway of a barn. Pushing the wheelbarrow one handed again I took ages and nearly tipped over several times. For some reason my head made me unload it - why, it could have stayed in the barrow for a day or two - so I did.

I cleared up after myself, got the barrow back where it normally is and put my bee clothes away. I was in a fit state to collapse. Got indoors feeling like death, phone rang and OH asks if everything was alright? OK, I'll say no more... I just think bees (and ferrets actually) are potentially addictive!

Black bees... making a comeback