Uniting Bees - Index
Peppermint Spray
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Uniting Bees - Index Peppermint Spray |
Uniting Honey Bees Using Flour |
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In order to help keep the flour from becoming damp, add a few dried peas or grains of rice to the shaker.
If I wish to unite two nuclei of roughly equal strength. Providing that I wish the bees to sort out which queen they want to head the final colony. I merely take out one frame from each box alternately and give each side of each frame a generous dusting of flour and then place in the new brood box.
I have actually achieved several things in this process:-
- I have exposed the bees to light.
- I have disoriented the bees by interleaving the frames.
- I have caused the bees much immediate work to clean each other of the flour.
- I have given the bees much long term work in re-organising the usage of their frames.
- I have allowed the bees to make a choice between two queens that were of equal value to me.
This is an old method that was described in many of the old books. I have never seen it used and never done it myself, as there are other ways of achieving the same thing. R.P.
Dave Cushman.
Page created 2001
Page updated 20/12/2022
Written... 2001, Upgraded... 01 September 2005, Additions... 20 September 2005, Additions... 16 January 2006,
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One of the things that I carry in the various kit boxes that live in the back of
my van is a flour dredger made from an old coffee jar with the lid drilled many hundreds of
times (1 mm drill bit on 2.54 mm square matrix).
The dimensions need some explaining... I am (or was) by profession an electronic
design engineer. One of the materials used for prototyping electronic circuits is a
"strip board" that has holes 1 mm diameter every 1/10" and I used a
piece of this material as a drilling jig to perforate my coffee jar lid. The Jar, lid
and strip board are all shown here.
