I went out on a swarm call to find a bird box full of white tailed bumble bees. The homeowner was keen for me to remove them, so I've said I'll go back later and just take the whole box and put it in my garden.
Doh! No eggs in hive that is supposed to be filmed next week, but loads of bees and queen cells. I think they tried to swarm and because she was clipped, they just came back. She is probably dead. It is 9 days since the last inspection.
One of the nucs at the wasteland is not so strong and I looked for the queen again, but I suspect that the robin or blue tit that are eating the bees, got the virgin when she went out on her mating flight. I put in a frame with a queen cell and some brood, so see what happens.
One of the mated queens that I bought for the colonies that are going to the recycling site has disappeared, so I combined the colony with another. I'm not sure how queens just disappear, but my guess is one was a virgin that didn't make it back, one died on the ground outside the hive and the third one is an enigma...so eggs, no QCs no queen. Hmmm.
Altogether I was 3 queens down.
There was more nectar coming in at the wasteground site, but no need for more supers yet.
I went back to check the mininucs and delivered 2 virgins to my buddies who have their area flooded with the drones from their fancy queens.
Another buddy rang to ask if I would lend her a mated queen....the only queen who is spare and who has a good laying pattern (and I was going to sell her). We put her in the cage together and clipped and marked another queen in one of the nucs.
Doh! No eggs in hive that is supposed to be filmed next week, but loads of bees and queen cells. I think they tried to swarm and because she was clipped, they just came back. She is probably dead. It is 9 days since the last inspection.
One of the nucs at the wasteland is not so strong and I looked for the queen again, but I suspect that the robin or blue tit that are eating the bees, got the virgin when she went out on her mating flight. I put in a frame with a queen cell and some brood, so see what happens.
One of the mated queens that I bought for the colonies that are going to the recycling site has disappeared, so I combined the colony with another. I'm not sure how queens just disappear, but my guess is one was a virgin that didn't make it back, one died on the ground outside the hive and the third one is an enigma...so eggs, no QCs no queen. Hmmm.
Altogether I was 3 queens down.
There was more nectar coming in at the wasteground site, but no need for more supers yet.
I went back to check the mininucs and delivered 2 virgins to my buddies who have their area flooded with the drones from their fancy queens.
Another buddy rang to ask if I would lend her a mated queen....the only queen who is spare and who has a good laying pattern (and I was going to sell her). We put her in the cage together and clipped and marked another queen in one of the nucs.
