A beezy week!

Hi all!

This last week has been a busy one for the bees, firstly I spent my week building some nuc boxes. Yes I know I made a Nuc box out of a polystyrene fruit box but I really wanted something smaller, more manageable, strong and more universal. Plus I also wanted to get my hands dirty and build something, especially after finally discovering what I felt was the best plans to build them, incorporating simplicity, cost effectiveness, and of course, able to be built in metric for Australian materials. I went with the Coates plans, available online, but the issue is that it asks for 1/2 inch ply, we here in Australia can only get 12mm (metric) generally. I could have just used the imperial measurements on the 12mm ply but the issue is it would change the interior size of the box, and over all the bee space, so not only would the frames not fit, the bees wont use the frames effectively. So I went looking for metric conversions, I found only really one small source where a someone had converted all the measurements to size but didnt take into account the difference the 12mm ply will make on the internal measurements. Using Cut List Express I worked out all the new measurements and set up battle plan for the task ahead. It took my only 1 day over all to build them, what is great about these plans is you get 4 boxes from 1 sheet of 2400mm x 1200mm ply (12ft x 6ft). I intended to paint them with Taubmans exterior paint but Kristy (wife) grabbed the wrong colour, thinking it was white, it even looks white, well looks like something I dont want to say on here, but when painted it becomes clear. So I used enamel paint, which is great, but takes a lot longer to dry. I made some simple straps from scrap tie down strap material. I will also be donating one to my local club meeting raffle for all the help they have given me so far.

The other thing I did in the last week was my first inspection of the hive! It was a bit scary, I was a little overwhelmed so I tried to slow down and look well. I saw no sign of issues like disease, or invaders. Mild Small Hive Beetle (SHB) were present but the only trap installed using diatomaceous earth worked well. So I removed the first 2 frames from one side, going from pollen and nectar storage to more brood as I went in, I was surprised how much had changed. As I went along I worried I wouldn't find the Queen but I did on the 7th frame, she was beautiful, I put her in a cage and set her aside for marking. During this point I noticed a lot of activity out the front of the hive, and we all saw bees fighting, I picked up on the fact it was some other hive bees coming in to rob Hive Alpha. I decided to speed up, I checked the last frames and saw the brood fade off into nectar, I then got ready to mark the queen. I put her in the marking cage and got her to line up, painted her back yellow for the 2017 year and checked her over. I let her sit for a minute and then placed her back in the hive and close it up. It was then I wondered about adding the honey super, I went by the 80% brood rule and felt it was close enough, so quickly prepared that and also got some more traps organized. I used some more AJ traps, but this time trying oil and vinegar in those and DE in the floor traps. I placed on the queen excluder and honey super, while keeping an eye on how the girls treated the queen. All seemed well so I sealed it off and checked the robbing situation. That had all come to an end but the bees seemed fairly annoyed now, so I left them alone.

Later that day though I thought I would check them, Ive gotten use to a guard be checking me out but one hit me hard from 10ft away this time, I started to back up and wondered about getting my suit but it was too late, she went behind me and as I turned she stung me on the under side of the arm...OUCH!

Other then that all has been good. next time I hope to show you my water supply for the bees and what I have done for it.

Cheers