Guard bees do exist…and do their job effectively. Well…I’ve just inserted the extra bar into the brood area between B2 and B3 and am gently moving the last bar back into place when two loudly buzzing bees come out of the open slot and head directly for my face. One stings my cheek…I’m just wearing the hat and no veil. I leave the hive area quickly with the other bee in pursuit, she gets into my hair—we get that resolved, and then she tries to follow me into the house, unsuccessfully. I scraped the stinger off and took the homeopathic tablets Jody provided early on. They seem to work—two hours later, aches like a punch in the jaw must feel the next day but no swelling. A while back I was wondering why there seemed to be no guard bees on duty around my hive—I think it was because there was no honey to protect. Now there is and I was messing with those combs. Earlier this spring my brother, who has had hives on his farm in the past, listened to me extol the virtues of these calm and gentle bees; then he said that he’d like to hear how calm they were next year after we had removed honey…hmmm Next time I’ll have the veil on, spray water handy, and be a little more aware of bee movements.
Anyway, went back to finish closing the hive…lovely summer day, mid 70’s, mostly cloudy, bees out and about doing their thing. I had read info on the Bush Farms site about regressing bees to their natural size and considering that Ken had a new style brood bar to try, I thought we’d do both at the same time. However, I was concerned about the timing. Michael Bush’s response to my question about adding a bar in the brood area now: “You can put one empty in the brood nest most anytime except when there is no flow at all. Its a great way to get perfectly drawn comb if you put it between two perfectly drawn brood combs. If they don't draw it, you can always remove it later.” So, I added it this morning. While there I peeked at the comb on B2 and B3 and saw a small section of capped worker brood cells but no drone brood.
Here’s an excerpt from Bush Farms website about opening the broodnest to prevent a swarm and regression.
Opening the broodnest
>This, of course is what we want to do. What we need to do is interrupt the chain of events. The easiest way is to keep the brood nest open. If you keep the brood nest from backfilling and if you occupy all those unemployed nurse bees then you can change their mind. If you catch it before they start queen cells, you can put some empty frames in the brood nest. Yes, empty. No foundation. Nothing. Just an empty frame. Just one here and there with two frames of brood between. In other words, you can do something like: BBEBBEBBEB where B is brood comb and E is an empty frame. How many you insert depends on how strong the cluster is. They have to fill all those gaps with bees. The gaps fill with the unemployed nurse bees who begin festooning and building comb. The queen will find the new comb and about the time they get about ¼" deep, the queen will lay in them. You have now "opened up the brood nest". In one step you have occupied the bees that were preparing to swarm with wax production followed by nursing, you've expanded the brood nest, and you've given the queen a place to lay. If you don't have room to put the empty combs in, then add another brood box. The other upside is I get good natural sized brood comb.
> A hive that doesn't swarm will produce a LOT more honey than a hive that swarms.
> A hive that doesn't swarm will produce a LOT more honey than a hive that swarms.
What is Regression?
> Large bees, from large cells, cannot build natural sized cells. They build something in between. Most will build 5.1 mm worker brood cells. The next brood cycle will build cells in the 4.9 mm range. The only complication with converting back to Natural or Small cell is this need for regression.
> How do I regress them? To regress, cull out empty brood combs and let bees build what they want (or give them 4.9 mm foundation). After they have raised brood on that, repeat the process. Keep culling out the larger combs.
> How do you cull out the larger combs? Keep in mind it's normal procedure to steal honey from the bees. It's frames of brood that are our issue. The bees try to keep the brood nest together and have a maximum size in mind. If you keep feeding in empty frames in the center of the brood nest, put them between straight combs to get straight combs, they will fill these with comb and eggs. As they fill, you can add another frame. The brood nest expands because you keep spreading it out to put in the frames. When the large cell frames are too far from the center (usually the outside wall) or when they are contracting the brood nest in the Fall, they will fill them with honey after the brood emerges and then you can harvest them. You could also move the capped large cell brood above an excluder and wait for the bees to emerge and then pull the frame.
> Large bees, from large cells, cannot build natural sized cells. They build something in between. Most will build 5.1 mm worker brood cells. The next brood cycle will build cells in the 4.9 mm range. The only complication with converting back to Natural or Small cell is this need for regression.
> How do I regress them? To regress, cull out empty brood combs and let bees build what they want (or give them 4.9 mm foundation). After they have raised brood on that, repeat the process. Keep culling out the larger combs.
> How do you cull out the larger combs? Keep in mind it's normal procedure to steal honey from the bees. It's frames of brood that are our issue. The bees try to keep the brood nest together and have a maximum size in mind. If you keep feeding in empty frames in the center of the brood nest, put them between straight combs to get straight combs, they will fill these with comb and eggs. As they fill, you can add another frame. The brood nest expands because you keep spreading it out to put in the frames. When the large cell frames are too far from the center (usually the outside wall) or when they are contracting the brood nest in the Fall, they will fill them with honey after the brood emerges and then you can harvest them. You could also move the capped large cell brood above an excluder and wait for the bees to emerge and then pull the frame.
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