Don't despair

[enrico]

Hi to all you beginners.
I just think some of you may need to be told you are not alone!
It is at this time of the year when most new beekeepers begin to wonder what on earth they are doing, especially if you are in your second year. You are up to your ears in bees, untidy frames with holes in, not enough equipment, a real feeling of despair. Well chin up! We have all been there and you will get through it! Had any swarms this year? Wonder why all the oldies don't have them? Well we do! Most people who have kept bees for a few years have out apiaries, they don't even see swarms! Most new beekeepers watch their bees at every opportunity and see everything! Anyway, we are the ones who are trying to tell you how to control swarming, do you honestly think we would let slip that ours swarm!
I have quiet bees but yesterday I removed a roof and was stung four times in as many seconds, sometimes it happens! Today they were fine again!
All I am trying to say is that although you think you are not coping, your bees are!
I love beekeeping, today I took 25lbs of lovely spring honey. That's what makes it all worth while.
Keep smiling and ...... Just relax! Every year will bring new challenges. Enjoy them.......amen!

 

[Swarm]

Well said, Enrico.

 

[enigmatica]

Thanks for that very welcome piece of reassurance. I'm just finishing my second month and have already hived two swarms which means I have potentially 3 colonies.

I thumbed my nose at one small cast way up in the tree tops because I'd seen the weather forecast and they hadn't. First few drops of rain and most were beating their way back In again.

I'm feeding them much more than they'll feed me this year!

I've worked out a plan to correct a major cock up from the very beginning when I received my nucleus on frames with spacers rather than the Hoffman's I had. Oh and I discovered that they would be happier about 6 foot away from where they are now so I've a plan for that too!

I want to redesign my miller feeder's top and I think just maybe a few more bits and pieces.....

 

[SireeDubs]

I read this post just as I was in deep despair about poss laying workers

Thread here...
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=29848

But anyway, thanks Enrico. Your comments come at just the right time! And I did get 30lbs of spring crop for the first time, so can't complain at all!

Thanks.

 

[Minxpinx]

Thanks! Good to know that I'll still be cocking stuff up in the years to come!

 

[Marton]

Great post. In my 11th month. DLQ last year. No swarms yet but holes in frames. AS in the rain. New colony filled with nectar and no where for brood.

Thank goodness for gentle bees who have patience with me.

As of this week two Q+ colonies and some honey.

Love every minute of it, just wish I had resisted SWMBO's reluctance 30 years ago.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Glenviewbee]

First nuc in June 2012, added another nuc Sept 2012.
One colony made it through to Spring 2013 - then b**er swarmed when only on 5 frames of brood end May 2013 after an AS
So - 2 colonies built up slowly to go into winter (no honey 2013)
Both colonies survived the winter and started building nicely spring 2014
One took advantage of my absence over a critical 10 day period to swarm
Other was doing well - but then newbie error managed to relocate HM into a nuc with 2 QC's leaving suddenly Q- colony to go into emergency QC overdrive
Nuc with HM building back up again transferred to BB
So currently waiting on 2 colonies with, hopefully now, mated new queens to get building up for July flow, with Q+ colony also building back up
Sincerely hope for SOME honey this year - OH hasn't been particularly impressed in the bee keeping project thus far.....

So thanks for the positive vibes Enrico!

 

[Erichalfbee]

To get some honey this year why don't you unite the old queen with another of your newly mated colonies. That way you have a better forage force.
Remember egg to forager is nine weeks so that takes you to August when most stuff apart from Balsam has gone over.

 

[Terry G]

Nice post! A refreshing change from some of the sneering sarcasm and patronising superiority ladled out by certain 'experts' on this forum, who sadly tend to be the most prolific posters.

 

[Putnamsmif]

"Nice post! A refreshing change from some of the sneering sarcasm and patronising superiority ladled out by 5]certain 'experts' on this forum, who sadly tend to be the most prolific posters."

Spot on.

 

[MeatheadSnowman]

Very kind words, thank you.
I am in my 2nd year. It has kept me awake many a night so far this year. Combine this with the mild winter and 3 square miles of OSR less then 20 metres from the hives and i have been very busy!
On the plus side i have learnt a lot about swarm control and collecting swarms! Oh, and the 65lbs of honey so far has helped too!!

It gets easier you say,....... Lol

 

[Glenviewbee]

To get some honey this year why don't you unite the old queen with another of your newly mated colonies. That way you have a better forage force.
Remember egg to forager is nine weeks so that takes you to August when most stuff apart from Balsam has gone over.

If I did this would you recommend making one of the newly mated colonies queenless and then putting it over the Old Queen colony? If I did this won't I lose all the current flying bees from that colony as they will go back to the old location? Or will the time it takes for them to chew through the newspaper to the queenright portion below kick start their relocation reflex?

Or should I despatch the Old Queen and put that colony on top of one of the newly mated colonies? I don't know how successful the new queens are as yet...

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes, this is a good well timed thread as I always get stressed at this time of year, despite this my ninth year and it always comes right....Well extracting honey is pretty stressful as I don’t enjoy that bit.

 

[beeno]

Thanks for that Enrico. Yes, beekeeping can be exhausting mentally and physically at times! The best comfort to me has always been that there is not a mistake that I or you can make that has not been made a thousand times x before. In general, the degree of work involved in beekeeping is very undersold. However, as Chris B once said, it is the recovery that matters or words to that effect!

 

[garlicpickle]

I'm in my second full year and struggling. I had high hopes during the early spring build up, did my Snelgrove A/S on my 2 colonies in a timely manner (or so I thought). Had to skip 2 weeks inspections because I was ill, went back on Monday hoping to find effectively 4 colonies, 2 of which would have nice new queens to replace the old ones with.... only to find one of the A/S has swarmed anyway (must have missed a QC) and the other seems to now have a DLQ.

The sun is shining today so I'm back over there in a bit to see if I can find and squish the drone layer. I used to be able to get the beek who shares the site with me to give me a hand, but he's retired now and doesn't visit the apiary at the regular time he used to, so I haven't seen him this year.

Feeling a tad out of my depth.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Feeling a tad out of my depth.

Please, get some help from your club. Nobody will mind you asking.

 

[Bobl]

Good to know it's not just me panicking, and I don't even have bees yet, hive placed in the field but no takers so far, guess I will have to have a nuc from my local BKA, unless anyone knows of a swarm near Great Torrington they don't need (hopeful !!)

 

[garlicpickle]

Please, get some help from your club. Nobody will mind you asking.

unfortunately I didn't renew my membership in January due to domestic circumstances. I do have a couple of contacts and wil email them to see if anyone can pop over and give me a hand. Tried to find the DLQ again this morning but without success. She is still laying some worker brood as well, and there was a QC with some royal jelly in it on one of the frames, so I am wondering if the bees have realised she's duff and are planning to supersede her.

On the plus side the other colony's new Q seems to be laying up well.

 

[enrico]

If she is laying worker brood as well then....... She ain't just a drone layer! What percentage of drones to worker brood? I have a queen who has laid a couple of frames of drones this year but she also lays lots of workers and they are my best nectar collecting hive!

 

[chezbee]

advice for confused beekeeper please

Its nice to get some reassurance that even experienced beekeepers don't get it right all the time.
Hope you can help me take the right action folks - my hive swarmed about 3 weeks ago, saw them but they were too high up tree to get down and wrapped around trunk, they departed the day after they emerged.

Found 6 queen cells in hive so split the hive into 3 with 2 queen cells each and divided up the brood and stores between them. Up to now lots of bees and no sign of brood - should I be patient and see what happens.

Four days ago a swarm arrived around 11 am one morning and there was lots of fighting outside the hive that swarmed - did the swarm change its mind??

After 2 days no sign of swarm moving on so managed to put them in a nuc only to have them swarm on to another tree. Another 2 days and no sign of them going, and still fighting, so this time waited until evening and managed to get them all into a brood box with queen excluder on bottom. They are still there, have drawn a little comb but mainly clustered on front inside of brood box.

Problem is if this swarm queen is my only one do I take off queen excluder and take a chance they will swarm again or wait longer to see if they make an effort to settle in. I would have thought queen would have had chance to mate while hanging about in the tree but maybe I'm wrong.

Hope someone can help me make sense of this.
Thanks in advance