checking my abandoned colonies

[beepig]

My first ever bee suit experience yesterday with a local beekeeper whose generous time allowed me to watch as he inspected my two orchard and wild flower meadow colonies which i have inherited.
They have not been inspected for over a year and no honey had been removed. Worried that they might be starving, the original plan was to introduce food.
To our amazement on removing lid to find two full supers and a full brood box of honey. The other brood box half full of honey also and a good amount of new brood. A truly enormous colony very healthy with no signs of disease. A lack of space yes for sure.
Clearer boards were introduced so shall be removing the two supers of honey later this afternoon.
New super to be introduced. or is it better to put the empty supers back in for now for cleaning.
The hive needs seriously cleaning but it is such an enormous colony. I will talk again with bee keeper as to best forward motion.

 

[pargyle]

They have not been inspected for over a year and no honey had been removed. Worried that they might be starving, the original plan was to introduce food.
To our amazement on removing lid to find two full supers and a full brood box of honey. The other brood box half full of honey also and a good amount of new brood. A truly enormous colony very healthy with no signs of disease. A lack of space yes for sure.
.......

Just goes to show that, sometimes, the bees get on better without our intereference than with it .. as for hive cleaning ... bees are one of the most hygienic creatures on the planet .. what you think of as 'dirty' is probably propolis that they have put there deliberately for a reason.

Lack of space ... well, possibly, but the worst case scenario is that they swarm early but it's still rather early for that ... I'd put the extracted super back on top and they will clean it up and probably move some of the stores up from the brood box as well if they need the space for brood.. much too early to be doing an AS or split. Or put the super on without a Queen excluder and go brood and a half ... lots os boring pros and cons for this and double brood on another thread. (Just my opinion ... too early to be messing about with them too much ...)

 

[enrico]

You lucky beepig, most people don't get honey on their first inspection!
Now you have to do as well this year!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lucky you.
I would put one super on top and run brood and a half to let the queen have enough room to lay.
THEN.....think about some varroa treatment.
Maybe a case for apivar? or shook swarm followed by oxalic Tx into a 14x12 in late April?

 

[pargyle]

Lucky you.
I would put one super on top and run brood and a half to let the queen have enough room to lay.
THEN.....think about some varroa treatment.
Maybe a case for apivar? or shook swarm followed by oxalic Tx into a 14x12 in late April?

Heathy colonies ? Thriving ? Lots of bees ?

Before I went anywhere near Varroa treatment I would do some thorough investigation that they actually NEED a treatment for varroa before sticking anything in these hives.

Certainly wait until it's time to do a proper inspection and I would think that, left to their own devices, there will be a fair amount of drone cells in there come April (ish) and at least do some drone cell uncapping as a starting point. If there's mesh floors in there I would get a sticky board in ASAP and see if there's any drop. If the OP is up to it (or his 'mentor') do an alcohol wash on a good cupful from the brood frames and see what the mite percentage is.

These are colonies that have been untreated for at least a year and appear to be doing very well ... no point in stressing them with mite treatments if there are only a few mites to worry about.

I think this sort of 'treat them regardless' policy put forward by some people needs to be tempered to 'treat them if it's necessary and when you are sure there's a real mite problem'.

Just my five eggs ...

 

[Elaine]

If the colony has been 'abandoned' for more than a year - I would check before doing any Varroa treatment - as they may have found their own 'equibirium' and putting in a treatment may upset the balance. I'm not saying don't treat - but just suggesting you think about it as a 'whole' including the proximety of any other hives, rather than just treating. If teh colony has been 'managed' untli fairly recently, it woudl be good if you can find out thier history of treatment.

 

[pargyle]

If the colony has been 'abandoned' for more than a year - I would check before doing any Varroa treatment - as they may have found their own 'equibirium' and putting in a treatment may upset the balance. I'm not saying don't treat - but just suggesting you think about it as a 'whole' including the proximety of any other hives, rather than just treating. If teh colony has been 'managed' untli fairly recently, it woudl be good if you can find out thier history of treatment.

SNAP !

 

[Teebeeaitch]

It aint broke pal, no need to fix it.

 

[beepig]

Thanks all for your positive views. I have just returned from orchard we have now removed the two full supers, which was very exciting and due to the warm sun the bees took it very well. Put in another super with seven frames on and they dived in straight away. Once honey is extracted i shall put the super back for cleaning and im pretty sure they need the space. These are indeed busy busy bees..
I am a beginner very much so, however, my instinct from fourty years animal husbandry tells me only ever treat if there are symptons. This is an incredibly lively and healthy colony who have managed themselves very well.
Again i appreciate all your views.

 

[beeno]

Hi beepig,
Well, what a very precious gift which has obviously gone to a good home. I wish you a lot of enjoyment in your new venture in the coming season. Let us know what the honey tasted like!

 

[Norton]

Treat now or weep later.

 

[Swarm]

Congrats Beepig.
By my reckoning they still have a full box of deep frames above them? I would be looking to remove a couple of frames at a time, replacing them with foundation (on the outside) Extract these, return and repeat until you have around nine frames of comb which are now available for the queen to lay up and run the unit as a double brood.

 

[itma]

Congrats Beepig.
By my reckoning they still have a full box of deep frames above them? I would be looking to remove a couple of frames at a time, replacing them with foundation (on the outside) Extract these, return and repeat until you have around nine frames of comb which are now available for the queen to lay up and run the unit as a double brood.

Ummm, I seem to think there are two colonies, and one of them has a brood box that is pretty much solid with honey.

If so, action needs to be taken to give Q some space to lay, otherwise we may have a contender for first swarm of the year!
If the brood box has little or no room for Q to lay, then, if you have an extractor available (usually a perk of association membership) extracting one load (likely 3 or 4 frames) is the quickest way to give the lady some space to do her business.

And since you have some supers full of honey, a proper extraction session will mean that you have drawn comb to put back on the hive -- drawn comb is precious and most beginners start with absolutely none. Treasure it!

However, if you can't get hold of an extractor quickly, I'd suggest pulling out one stuffed stores frame, and putting in a frame of foundation next to some brood. We could add the refinement of uncapping a little adjacent stores, but you are just starting!
They'll draw it in a matter of days if there really are lots of bees.
Then repeat with another frame. A few times.


If the hives have open mesh floors, put in an inspection board for a few days, to get a measure of the rate of varroa drop.
If they don't have mesh floors, order some!
You need data to inform your decision as to how urgent varroa treatment might be.

But ensuring adequate (read that as "lots") of queen-laying space is a very urgent priority at this time of the year.

 

[davnig]

what a result, and a great start to beekeeping

 

[Swarm]

To our amazement on removing lid to find two full supers and a full brood box of honey. The other brood box half full of honey also and a good amount of new brood.

A full brood box of honey would imply no brood, if it has brood it can't be full of honey

 

[beepig]

Thanks all,..
The results are in. extracted the supers and took 17.9kg of honey. Shall be jarring tomorrow night.
I have just learned that the queen is a buckfast queen and was introduced to the colony in 2011. So three years old and going strong.
I have been told to replace her this year, sooner than rather than later.
As i said i am a beginner, were moving into territory i simply have no knowledge of just now.
It is a big colony and they are working hard...
Priorities for me are.
1. move the colony soon. first to farm six miles away for a week,and then over to top of my woods. ten miles away. That will be their new permanent home.
2. find out more about the removal and introduction of a new queen
3...HELP

 

[VEG]

why the 2 moves of 6 then ten miles??

 

[beepig]

the woodland is only two miles from their current location. So to jump them from the orchard to my farm for a few days which is a further six miles away, and then from the farm to the woodland.
Does this make sense?