BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • 3 questions (landing boards, queen cells and forage)

  • Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
 #3604  by Adam Bee
 16 Jun 2019, 10:48
I have three questions (about beekeeping) that have been knocking around in my otherwise empty head.

Landing boards.

Currently I have my hive up on bricks. It works. I'm looking to get a “proper stand” and all the ones I see have landing boards. I don’t have a landing board on my setup and my bees don’t seem to care. I’ve yet to see a landing board on a hollow tree.

What’s the point of a landing board?

Queen Cells.

Why are queen cells spongy? The drawn wax comb is much more brittle. Queen cells don’t seem like they are made out of wax, they seem more like webbing.

What are queen cells made out of? Or how do bees make queen cells?

Forage

Jazz and I are discussing whether our bees fly in the rain. I’ve read that part of the reason that bees don’t forage in the rain and/or the cold is that flowers need dry warm conditions to present nectar. If it’s too cold, the plant can’t create or present the nectar and if it’s raining, the nectar is washed away or diluted. However, my bees are certainly foraging (or at least leaving the hive) in large numbers.

If flowers can’t present nectar in the rain, wtf are my bees doing in the rain?

Image
 #3607  by Chrisbarlow
 16 Jun 2019, 13:37
Landing board's - who knows?

Queen cells are made from wax

Flying in the rain, depends on the sub specie's of the bees if they fly in the rain.

Could be going to bring water back, some flowers hang down so nectar isn't being diluted here, might be gathering tree sap for propolis. Might be gathering pollen.
 #3620  by Chrisbarlow
 16 Jun 2019, 21:58
In fairness to landing board's , some do believe they a good idea because when a fully laiden bee comes back to the colony then there aim for the entrance can be off , so having a landing board means it's easier to get into the hive. It's just a theory.
 #3624  by MickBBKA
 17 Jun 2019, 02:17
Landing boards...…? Pointless IMHO, my bees just fly straight into then entrance. Trees and caves never had landing boards. What I would add though is that you must have an entrance suitable for the number of bees trying to get in and out of it.
Cheers, Mick.
 #3632  by Alfred
 17 Jun 2019, 12:34
Mine don't go out in the rain they just sit in the entrance and moan, squabble and create mischief.
Oh you mean the bees??
Ditto.
I have some hives without boards and some with.
Imho it's nice for a laden bee to be able to take a breath before checking in.
I am using reduced entrances and the floor I made recently has a board only 3"long to provide less opportunity for a raiding party to take a breather too.