Thought I have a look as the weather was nice at last.
Also weather man said the next few days will be colder.
No Queen Cell.
Saw 2 play cups on frame 6 at the bottom.
Also no honey coming in.
Right Hive.
Saw the Queen. :D
20 frames of brood.
Top super 3/4 almost full.
2nd super 2/3.
3rd super empty.
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Right Hive.
wanted to do an Artificial Swarm.
But the weather has not been that good and only found 1 queen cell.
Added another super.
Removed 1 Queen Cell.
20 frames of brood.
Top super 3/4 almost full.
2nd super 2/3.
3rd super empty.
well, decided to chance it as today was the best day of the week, weather wise (sunny spells, but blustery at times with the odd passing shower.
The problem hive now has a nice fat queen marked and all is well. Lots of drones from the half brood chamber stuck in the super so freed them and they seemed relieved !
I think I can leave them well alone for a week or two before needing to check them again.
Meanwhile a colony on the Rape is supered up but I don't expect much what with a cold start to May.
Next weekend is the Glos BKA auction at Hemsptead (check their web site if interested) starts at 12noon. Probably see you there (I am a very tall bald chap who looks alot older than he is !! (36))
S
Just returned from a trade show and found 2 large boxes outside the door...the Omlet Beehaus has arrived !
Im my excitement I opened the boxes last night but just finished putting the whole caboodle together. You only require a dumpy Phillips head screwdriver so it's very easy. I found the sides of the supers were a little awkward to fit as the guide holes hadn't been put in exactly the right positions, but they appear tough and able to withstand abuse.
The entrance block is a revalation - solid steel with the option to close , remove and leave open or restrict the opening for wasps/winter.
The open mesh floor is very sturdy and the inspection tray also fits well, although the air gap is about 1 inch either side - more than on a...
So a typical wet BH ! I hope it's the only rain for May....better weather forecast tomorrow and I need to check on a hive that has gone queenless and had multiple QC in it on my last inspection over a week ago.
I hope to discover that they should be hatched, and that one queen remains - possibly not yet mated - and that no swarming has occurred...but this hive is turning out to be rather troublesome - it had a drone layer in the Autumn, a new queen with nuc was merged with it to solve the problem. It came through the winter strongly, only for me to discover that the marked queen from the nuc had been superceded sometime in the past 5-6 months (end of year I suspect as it was so mild). BUT - no queen now present and I rather think I...
Misery.
Still no flying after yesterday's good weather, so I finally went in and had a look.
Death.
I had swept the bottom board clean of dead bees yesterday (carefully lifting the brood body off it and putting it back afterwards).
There were very few bees left on the frames, all dead, no sign of the queen in those remaining. Lots of brown staining everywhere, so I guess the long winter, small colony size and finally Nosema got them.
I'll take some photos of the frames in a minute; that way I can hopefully get some advice on what happened and how I can do better next time.
FG
Removed the brood box.
Put the 7 frames in the freezer.
Will cut out the caped honey and feed back to the hive.
Going to clean the brood box, floor and frames.
Replace with foundation ready for the Artificial Swarm.
Changed the floor of the right hive.
Found the queen in the left hive and removed her.:D
Joined the left hive to the right hive.
I removed 4 nice draw and clean frames from the right hive and put them in the freezer.
Will use them when I do an Artificial Swarm.
Replaced the 4 frames with frames of brood from the left hive.
Put the super back on.
Put paper on.
Put the left hive super on and brood box on the top.
Will have a look Monday and remove the brood box.
Left hive seems to be building back up fast.
Was hoping to join the hive up to day.
But could not find the Queen.
Also saw a wax moth Larva on the hive floor.:(
Left Hive.
8 frames of brood.
Super 1/3.
Right Hive.
14 frames of brood.
Super 1/3.
Nice hot sunny day and I just had a look at my 2 hives for the 1st time this year.
Left hive 2 supers frames has a small amount of brood.
Only had small amounts of brood on 3 frames in the brood box.
Right Hive Lots of bees.:D
Saw the Queen.
5 frames had Lots of brood on both sides.
Left Hive.
2 frames of brood.
Super 1 of brood.
Right Hive.
10 frames of brood .
Super 1/3.
Lovely day today. 10+ C in the shade by the hive and sun beating down on 2 sides of the hive all morning.
No bees at all.
One finally did come out, but it didn't look good and when it flew off I wasn't expecting to see it again. No foraging, no orientation flights, nothing.
I pulled the piece of board out from under the hive (used to make the landing board). The bee candy has been dripping down and running off the board underneath. This was where the cluster used to be. They've now moved further back to avoid the goo rain (I guess) and are now fairly central. This means, off course, that they'll have trouble getting to the feed on cold nights.
With no activity at all, I decided to go nuclear and open up the top and get rid of...
Well for anyone who has been reading the forum recently, one would be excused for believing the forum has an eco warrior zone first and bee forum second. Yes - there has been alot written about chemicals and their effects on our bees.
A bit about me - I am not 'Organic' I don't vote Green I am not a Vegan I am not a member of any 'pressure' groups. If anything, I am the complete opposite. However, it is my sincere belief that for far too long big Agri-chemical companies have been getting away with murder for too long - the murder of our worldwide bee population !
My concern lies simply in the fact that many chemicals already on the market can combine and create a critical and deadly cocktail of severe proportions for our bees that are...
hi , everyone. Just a short word of warning before i get going with this blog. I have started it so I have a forum platform to write down my scribles and thoughts some are my own views and others are continuations of the main forum web site so sorry if i drag on a little to much
so anyway back to the bees.
This winter has realy slaughtered my bees with me losing the three small nucs i was trying to over winter and the largest bee hive going down with nosemea this week so i have managed to collect from my hidy hole the last of the two bee hives i have. One of which i have used to make the varroa free video, I exspect to get absolutly slaughtered for my ideas and meathods but saying that i still have the ablity to say that i am varroa...
At last the temperature has climbed to 15 C and the little devils are coming out in some numbers!
A mixture of:
1) bees unable to fly properly, crawling off and dying;
2) bees coming out to do orientation flights, round and round the hive, up and down, underneath, voiding at some point, bit more flying, then back in the entrance - old bees?
3) bees doing orientation flights, as above, but with no obvious voiding - new bees?
There was also a kerfuffle at one point and what looked a bit like the queen coming out, and being ushered back inside. I've got it on video so, if it comes out properly, I'll post it and you can all see what you think.
Just checked and it seems to be just a worker with a fairly long abdomen.
The colony seems...
I sat outside the hive for an hour. It was 10 C with some occasional sunshine.
About every 5 mins or so, a bee stuck its head out.
Probably half of these walk around a bit, then decided against it and went back in. Of the rest, half flew around a bit, voided their guts very impressively, did some hovering to remember the hive image, then flew off purposefully.
The remaining ones (about a quarter) just fell out drunkenly, crawled around on the floor, chilled down and stopped moving.
I tried to 'rescue' one on a leaf and have a good look at it. It had the biggest Varroa mite on its 'neck' I had ever seen!
Maybe these dying bees are taking themselves out because the mites are weakening them? Maybe its a 'keep the colony mite level...
I had a look early, when the temp had risen to a balmy 8 C and still no activity.
The stethoscope was put to good effect and there's still a cluster of bees in there; I just want to see them!
There's loads of Hazel pollen almost within grabbing distance of the hive, and now there's even Crocus too! Come and get it, foragers!!!
BEES AND EQUIPMENT
Saturday 3rd April 2010. Lincoln District Sale of Bees and Equipment, County Showground, Scampton, Lincoln. 12 noon. Details 01522 522679
I think the only way to make the weather warm up a bit is to add some insulation to the hive. It's the same principle as taking an umbrella, so it doesn't rain.
RAB had suggested my roof insulation wasn't as good as it could be, and my little colony might need all the help they can get. This obviously gave me the chance to do some indirect beekeeping :-) so I leapt at the chance.
Despite all the messing about, and some dead bee clearing at the entrance, I didn't see any signs of life at all. Fortunately I had my trusty doctor's stethoscope and, using it, I can confirm that they are STILL ALIVE! :-) I could hear faint buzzing and occasional louder buzzing so I know there's life inside.
Dunno why they aren't coming out for the...
