The hive was checked last week and I saw the new queen being totally ignored by the workers and she hadnt started laying. Left it another week, so 3 weeks after the tabs were removed. No eggs and no queen. Is it unusual to get a duff queen?
Ive introduced 2 frames of eggs and larvae from...
Mine are also on a farm with no public footpaths nearby but that doesnt deter the dog walkers walking in front of them. I saw two guys with metal detectors last week and I stopped to ask if theyd found anything. "About 70p and some old cans but we did get stung by bees" they said; opps sorry...
I introduced on the 11th july and removed the tabs on 14th. Due to check 28th but im inspecting my other two hives today and desperate for a sneaky peak at her.
We found the feisty queen and marked her, put her in a clip between frames until new queen arrived. Putting the new queen in was nasty as they were very aggressive but two stings later she was inserted between frames and the old queen squished, that wasnt a nice thing to do. Three days later...
I am seriously considering changing. I was given a poly super and its so much easier to handle even when fully loaded. I need to change all my brood frames, they are so old and black, I might change to poly at the same time.
I like this idea but I have very old and heavy boxes. I seriously doubt I could lift the box, let alone carry It. And my partner is adamant he wont help if theres any chance of getting stung!
I have a hopelessly queenless hive with laying workers, and has been for over a month now. There was a queen at one point but I probably lost it in a swarm. I left them to see if they would sort themselves out but they showed no inclination to raise a new queen. Ive tried adding a frame of eggs...
Im following this with great interest as Im in a similar situation. Im a novice in my first year and the learning curve is very steep!
But I have a couple of questions. Do I wait until the queen has arrived before I try and find the old queen? (am really not looking forward to that!!) or do I...
I was due to be outside all day last week in ~30deg heat after collecting a super for extraction. To save time I slathered on sunscreen before collection. 5 stings later I realised what id done and abandoned the apiary!. It felt like a scene from a horror film but valuable lesson learnt. Suit...
Thanks for that. been again today and no chance in aggression/defensiveness. Still no eggs or larvae or the queen but I have seen queen cells, some empty but at least two fully capped. Ive left them too it and Ill see what has happened next week.
And yes, they are in acres of OSR. Does it act...
I have a hive that is totally confusing me . It was very aggressive, then it wasnt. Opened this morning and its a bit lively again but manageable. It was left with a super on the brood box over winter and I added the QX a few weeks ago between the brood and super after seeing capped brood and...