preyingmantos
House Bee
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2010
- Messages
- 114
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Northamptonshire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 300
went and take home 24 of our 48 welsh colonys the other day and to my dismay all were very hungry, 1 huge colony completely starved (bucket full of dead bees on the floor), 1 had be toppled by a rogue sheep and completly blocked the entrance so well over half the workers perished. Coultnt see the queen for dead bees but fed them and got my fingers crossed! 1 of the disadvantages of strapping the supers and the brood box together is if they go over they dont slip up and so trap the poor girls. the stench of dead bees is pretty bad but hopefully with a little tender loving care they will come round (they still had a little left in the food stores but had taken on board a lot of water.
the bees that perished obviously burnt them selves out breeding! there were loads! but not a scrap of food dispite going with a reasonable chunk in the brood box and 2 food frames. These were bought in buckfast queens.... similar results on the other 3 bought in queens, not a scrap of honey left.
On reflection the location we chose was to windy and august was really poor weather wise. In in all i think weve got about 5 pounds per hive (best performer 15-20pounds, worse, -5 pounds). Since it costs us 10£ per hive costs (petrol, rent, time) over all its a loss and they will go into winter in worse shape than when we took them as they were by far our best colonys.
my dad keeps telling me 'thats farming! and no we're not bad bee keepers, averaged 150pounds per hive this year. checked on 36 colonys which are kept by another commercial farm nearby (as my dad knows the owner), also very nearly starving!
derbyshire bees in a few days... fingers crossed
the bees that perished obviously burnt them selves out breeding! there were loads! but not a scrap of food dispite going with a reasonable chunk in the brood box and 2 food frames. These were bought in buckfast queens.... similar results on the other 3 bought in queens, not a scrap of honey left.
On reflection the location we chose was to windy and august was really poor weather wise. In in all i think weve got about 5 pounds per hive (best performer 15-20pounds, worse, -5 pounds). Since it costs us 10£ per hive costs (petrol, rent, time) over all its a loss and they will go into winter in worse shape than when we took them as they were by far our best colonys.
my dad keeps telling me 'thats farming! and no we're not bad bee keepers, averaged 150pounds per hive this year. checked on 36 colonys which are kept by another commercial farm nearby (as my dad knows the owner), also very nearly starving!
derbyshire bees in a few days... fingers crossed