Just checked the bees with Mrs FG (I was kitted up, she is hard core and laughed at me).
I'd been very worried about colony 2. We got it from PH quite late in the season as a nuc, then Apiguarded it which stopped it expanding much for 3 weeks or so. Overall it's much smaller than colony 1 which we got from GWW and Widders last Spring.
In the warm weather recently, both had been flying but colony 2 dumped a load of dead bees out in the process and wasn't seen at all in the last warmer period, despite colony 1 flying strongly.
Colony 1 is clearly big and strong and colony 2 much smaller or dead.
I thought I'd try the 'bang and listen' test with a stethoscope I got last year. Colony 1 gave me a decent 'sod off! We're sleeping' roar. Colony 2 was more of a gentle whisper, but convincingly alive
We took off the poly roof and prised open the central bee escape from the crownboard and looked in. Not much to see :-( then a live bee turned up from the right hand side (where most of the stores had been put). We slapped a kg of Neopol bee goo on the hole with a small cut-out to let them get at the food. We put a blanket round it to stop the roof pivoting on the block of candy.
I thought about it for a bit and nearly moved the candy to the other hole in the crownboard which seems to be over the cluster itself. When we started to lift the candy up though, Mrs FG saw loads of hungry bees chomping into it already where it was so we left things be.
Hooray! Both colonies still alive!
I'll check the smaller one again in a few days to see if they need more food. I don't know how long 1 kg of goo will last them.
The poly hives seem to be doing the trick with the weather though - it's -4 or so outside and nice and warm (apparently) in the hive.
FG
I'd been very worried about colony 2. We got it from PH quite late in the season as a nuc, then Apiguarded it which stopped it expanding much for 3 weeks or so. Overall it's much smaller than colony 1 which we got from GWW and Widders last Spring.
In the warm weather recently, both had been flying but colony 2 dumped a load of dead bees out in the process and wasn't seen at all in the last warmer period, despite colony 1 flying strongly.
Colony 1 is clearly big and strong and colony 2 much smaller or dead.
I thought I'd try the 'bang and listen' test with a stethoscope I got last year. Colony 1 gave me a decent 'sod off! We're sleeping' roar. Colony 2 was more of a gentle whisper, but convincingly alive
We took off the poly roof and prised open the central bee escape from the crownboard and looked in. Not much to see :-( then a live bee turned up from the right hand side (where most of the stores had been put). We slapped a kg of Neopol bee goo on the hole with a small cut-out to let them get at the food. We put a blanket round it to stop the roof pivoting on the block of candy.
I thought about it for a bit and nearly moved the candy to the other hole in the crownboard which seems to be over the cluster itself. When we started to lift the candy up though, Mrs FG saw loads of hungry bees chomping into it already where it was so we left things be.
Hooray! Both colonies still alive!
I'll check the smaller one again in a few days to see if they need more food. I don't know how long 1 kg of goo will last them.
The poly hives seem to be doing the trick with the weather though - it's -4 or so outside and nice and warm (apparently) in the hive.
FG
