Subject: best time to harvest

From: [email-masked] (Warner Granade)
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 16:12:43 GMT

I remember reading that the best time to harvest honey was in the middle
of the day and that bees tended to get madder during a low-pressure time
like before a thunder storm. Well, on Sunday, I went out (admittedly late
in the day at 5pm) to get into my hive, and were they mad. I took out 4
frames and left after getting my rite of passage sting--my first in the
three years I've had this hive. Last year, they hardly bothered me. The
frames were totally covered with bees in this super with some uncapped
frames. 
OK, I decided to try again yesterday in the middle of the day, temp
80degrees in the shade and hazy. They were even more angry like I had
dissed the queen or something and hundreds of them flew at my veil. OK,
maybe 50 total flew at my veil, but it seemed liked hundreds. I was
smoking them like crazy and even smoking myself. I thought sure everyone
would be out to lunch, but apparently not. 

So, is there a better time/condition than others to open a hive and
harvest the honey? Should I take a sprayer of cool water or something?
--
Warner Granade [email-masked]
804-924-7409

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From: [email-masked] (Fred G. Thurber)
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 18:26:01 GMT

Angry bees have also become a problem for me.  Could it be that
there is little nectar right now in my area because of dry conditions?
Would feeding them a big dose of undiluted honey calm them down?

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From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 01:25:09 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, Fred G. Thurber <[email-masked]> wrote:
>	Angry bees have also become a problem for me.  

Often when harvesting honey the bees may be aggressive.
Adam

-- 
============================================================================
 Adam Finkelstein   [email-masked]     [email-masked]     
===============================================   |Bees To Please|   =======

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From: [email-masked] (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent)
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 07:21:04 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Fred G. Thurber) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Fred G. Thurber)
>Subject: Re: best time to harvest
>Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 18:26:01 GMT

>Would feeding them a big dose of undiluted honey calm them down?

The best thing to do is to get a reasonably gentle strain of bees, and to 
not rush into opening the hive...wiat a minute or so after the first puff of 
smoke so they have a chance to start gorging thenselves.  Something else you 
might like to check is the type of smoker fuel you are using...I have 
noticed marked differences between eucalyptus leaves, pine needles and 
heshian sacking...
Another thing I have started doing recently is to take a shaker of thin 
sugar syrup and shake this over the bees as soon as I open the hive, and 
right before I close it...I don't use honey, purely to avoid any risk of 
spreading disease.  I don't think I have any disease (apart from some 
noseema) in any of my hives, but I don't want to suddenly find out that the 
hive I got my feeding honey from had AFB...as the way I would probably find 
this would be because all my hives would die...
mostly, the bees are easier to handle if they are the right temperature, 
queenrite, and well fed.

Adrian (I hope I'm helpful this time...)