Disaster - again

[aberreef]

Following a disasterous winter, my one remaining hive was doing superbly having filled 2 supers with nectar and pollen. I put them onto double brood and the queen laid in about half the frames, all despite the varroa troubles.

Then, yesterday as I went to check on the bees and add supers/food to my 2 new colonies, disaster has struck me once again. The big have had fallen over

What a bloody mess. I managed to put the bottom BB straight and found the queen being balled by some workers. I'm almost certain she's dead or at least in a very poor way. The 2nd BB I split into 2 nuc boxes with a good shake of young bees and the QE and supers were replaced.

I've been offered a few unmated queens to put in so hopefully this will happen in the next few days then fingers crossed the weather will improve enough to allow them to mate. At least there's a chance I can make increases out of this disaster.

What a total t*&$ of a year

 

[scuttlefish]

Disaster is right! Hope it works out okay in the end.

 

[tonybloke]

sorry to hear of your tragedy, hope it works out OK for you

concrete blocks and 3"x3" bearers is the way forward for hive stands.

 

[Luminos]

That's really disappointing, Aberreef. I hope you can make something good out of it all - good luck

 

[VEG]

How did it fall over?
Did the stand collapse?

 

[E1M]

That is a shame, we were worried yesterday afternoon and evening as the heavens opened. Never seen rain and wind like it and we had no strap on the hive or even bricks on the roof.
During a lull in the storm I ventured out to look and saw through the entrance that they were all quiet and quite ok.
This morning however, I have placed four bricks on the roof and hope that we do not get a repeat of this weather, although, from the forecast, it is not looking good.
Beware.

 

[meidel]

once i saw a virgin queen being balled at the bottom of a mini nuc and thought she'd had it but the next day there she was, fit as a fiddle! so here's hoping the queen made it

 

[thepliedes]

What is 'balled' - propolised after being killed?

 

[VEG]

its when the bees gather round the queen in a ball (not a swarm) they can kill her this way

 

[aberreef]

Thanks for the kind words

The stand collapsed sadly. Concrete blocks from now on and a very painful lesson learned

If all goes well from now on I should gain 2 colonies plus sort out the last of the varroa during the gap in the brood. One minor bit of luck is that this has happened at the start of the June gap. Things have got to go right eventually

 

[aberreef]

I ran a virgin queen into the main hive and one of the nucs. The main hive killed theirs but they've made a few nice looking QCs. The one in the nuc was accepted but one of her wings doesn't look too good so I'm not holding my breath for her. If she fails I'll put some eggs in for the nuc to sort itself out.

The other nuc has made a few nice QCs but I'm thinking those in the main hive would make stronger queens so I'm thinking of ripping them down later this week and replacing them with a nice, fat, sealed one from the main hive.

Fingers crossed for some decent mating weather

 

[aberreef]

Took a look in the main hive today with the intention of removing QCs to leave 2 nice fat ones and placing 2 in the nuc. They've all been ripped down though so presumably there's a virgin in there somewhere, couldn't see her though.

I'll leave them to it for a few weeks and hope she mates successfully

 

[aberreef]

Took a look in the virgin hives this weekend and all 3 are laying

The one with the bonk wing isn't laying too well though so may need replacing. I'll give them all a few weeks to make sure they are fertlie but things seem to be improving for me at last

Now where's the sunshine

 

[Luminos]