ANTSTORE World of Ants

[miszt]

Very nice Adam, if i didnt live in London, I'd be tempted to have Bee's myself, but I dont think they will do very well where I live, its mostly concrete and paving stones

[SteveUK28]

i wouldnt have the guts to have bees lol.. id be too scared of gettin stung and havin an alergic reaction

[mpir]

How do the frames hold the nest. Also, how will you extract the honey.
Your bee project looks facinating btw.

The part that Adam did not mentioned is that all beekeepers keep parts of the hive separated from the rest of the hive with a wall. In this wall there is a hole big enough so that only workers can pass and not the queen. So in this separate part of the hive only honey is gathered. Queen cannot squze through to lay eggs. So by taking honey from this part of the hive you can be sure that you will not kill any brood.

My grandpa was a beekeeper, that is how I know. And he had one of this spining mashines Adam writes about.

[miszt]

I always wondered about that mpir!

[darradar]

how fascintaing, this looks like a topic i shall be keeping my eyes on, that tank you have thier is the kind i keep my tarantulas in, i have always wanted to keep bees, but do not have the garden space, but do have pots and pots of lovely flowers come the spring/summer. I did not know that the bees could be kept inside in this kind of hive, i just assumed they needed an outside hive, and now that i think about it, theres an inside colony at me local organic farm shop, the dam bees are right there above the bread shelf, and i spend many minutes searching for the queen, who as stated above also has a white dot for identity, and like you here, they have a tube that goes to the outside of the shed set well up high so as not to upest thier local shoppers.!!
They have hundreds of bees in there, i shall try to get a photo or two, if they have no objection.

How many are you expecting Adam when they are deliverd to you?

Keep the updates going, i shall be an avid watcher/studant

[Phasmid]

This white dot that you mention, is it actualy naturaly there or is it put there my the beekeeper so that they don't have to examine all the bees to find the queen every time they look in the nest

[adam james]

Hi phasmid , no the white dot isnt natural it is painted on with a special paint so the queen is identified quickly and easily. Hi mpir thankyou for adding that info , to many things to explain fully lol , but yes you are right . When my population is at its max at the end of spring or middle of summer i shall be adding anouther tank with more frames , there will be a queen excluder added to the tube connecting the tanks together so my queen wont get to the honey frames and lay in them .

Miszt im sure bees will do well where you are as they can fly upto 5 miles to find flowers and im sure you have plenty around in peoples gardens etc and im sure there are grand parks in london the bees will search out lol

Hi darradar , as i have to explained to miszt you do not need a big garden yourself , the bees will travel and use every oppertunity within 5 miles to get all they need . I will be getting 2-3 frames with bee brood in and one healthy young queen and there should be about 500 - 1000 workers might be less or more lol .

[JimmyVe]

Very interesting ! Now i want bees myself... lol

Do they also have a hibernation ? And how long does a queen lives ? When she dies, the colony dies to ?

[adam james]

Hello jimmy yes they do hibernate but the workers can vibrate there wings and keep themselves warm. Because of this they still need food during winter so they use the honey they have stored through the spring and summer and this lasts them till the spring.

The queen can live for 3 -4 years but after the first year her egg laying output starts to fall and she lays fewer eggs a day. After the first year the colony usally sorts this problem out thereselves, usally at the start of summer but can be earlyer or later depending on the weather the queen lays several eggs in special cells the workers have created. Thes cells do not looklike the rest and they hang vertically. These are queen cells and the larva in these are fed a special food produced from the workers called royal jelly . This food and the workers non stop feeding causes the larva to grow into queens. Shortly before the new queens emerge the mother queen leaves the colony with half the colonys workers ( swarming ) and they find anouther nest site . The first queen in the nest to emerge kills all the other queens before they hatch out. If she encounters a hatched queen already out they fight till one only is left ( This is the only time the queen in her life draws out her stinger ) Once all queens are dead and she is left she makes her way to the hive entrance. She then flys off and mates with a drone (Male bee ) high up in the sky. Once shes mated she then comes back to the hive and starts to lay and becomes the new queen until next year or the year after when the process starts again. This means that if all goes well the colony can live for ages and ages.

[JimmyVe]

Very interesting Adam. I like this topic allot. Can't hardly wait until you receive your bees.

[adam james]

Thankyou jimmy and if you need any more info just ask ill try to answer if i can

[mpir]

...Once all queens are dead and she is left she makes her way to the hive entrance. She then flys off and mates with a drone (Male bee ) high up in the sky. Once shes mated she then comes back to the hive and starts to lay and becomes the new queen...

So there is a time window when there is no queen in the hive (old one left and the new one is mating)? What if something hapens to the queen when in mating flight? Lets say something like a bird flies by and sees a nice yummy snack or a queen flies into a speeding truck or something. Then your colony at home is doomed, right?

[adam james]

Hello mpir , Yes this is in fact very true the virgin queen could well get eaten or killed but it is very rare this happens. Most birds and animals dont go near bees as they know most can sting. But there is always the possibilty she can die . I have talked to many bee keepers and they havent had problems with queens getting killed. Usally the queens are away no longer then 30 minutes to mate. If your queen does die a new queen can be bought and unlike ants the bees will accept a new queen .

[SteveUK28]

i do like that idea adam... which means the colony is ever lasting... mmm i may have a big big think about keeping them..

[adam james]

Hello steveuk28 , you wouldent regret it . Maybe we should ask antstore to open a bee store section lol . Wot does everyone think ?