first full inspection

[dscanlan81]

I've checked the hive today after having a peek and putting the super on when the weather was good earlier in the month.

The drone cells were all under the super and came away when i took it off. This was disappointing but did give me an opportunity to check for veroa, which was there. Some cells had a quite a few in but in others there was only 1.

What should i do about this?

I was expecting to see frames with capped honey and others with capped brood. Both were sporadic. Is that normal? From what i have been told its good to have capped brood and a full ciricular pattern - which they were but only small circles (about 20x20 cells). Is this something to worry about? Or is it only early in the season?

But the most worrying thing is that there was condensation at the top of the hive and pooling on the lid. Apart from moving the hive, is there anything that can be done about this?

 

[Cazza]

Hi Dscanlan81

It's hard to know from here in Suffolk where I WOULD be worried if I had so little brood in this early season. However, this could just be normal for Cheshire but I suspect not.

How many frames had brood on them and where they all such small patches?

I suspect that you have jumped the gun with the super on top IF your brood area is so small.

Do you have any insulation above the super. I suspect you need to take the super away. You may not have enough bees to keep it warm enough to prevent the condensation. Hard to tell from your information.

Cazza

 

[Mellifera397]

I've only had two winters with bees but it seems to me that at the beginning of the year the brood pattern takes a little time to develop as the queen is not at her full rate of laying. My hive, which I checked today has patches of sealed brood with brood in different unsealed stages dotted about. I put this down to the fact that three weeks ago the queen was confined to a small area due to temperature and laid a few eggs here and there. Now she can move about more she is laying anywhere she can including between sealed brood cells.

M

 

[drstitson]

"Some cells had a quite a few in but in others there was only 1."

formal count and check on beebase tool.

 

[beeno]

Hidscanlan81,
I agree with Mellifera and you have possibly supered too early for the strength of the colony. As drstitson, I am also concered about your varroa count on the basis of what you have stated - Page 31 in the fera booklet Managing Varroa. 20 x 20 not so bad if they have been cold. A picture of your brood would be useful to the forum as I am amazed that you have so much drone brood.

 

[alanf]

...The drone cells were all under the super and came away when i took it off. This was disappointing but did give me an opportunity to check for veroa, which was there. Some cells had a quite a few in but in others there was only 1...

What you're looking for is the percentage of drone cells with mites. Whether a cell has 1, 2 or more is not relevant for the calculation. Count the total uncapped, and the number with mites and put that in the Beebase calculator As a rough rule of thumb, the previous RBI suggested if there are 10-15% with mites you should be planning when to treat within the next couple of months.

 

[Mellifera397]

A photo of the problem is, as others have said, vital if we're to get a realistic idea of the problem.

I think, correct me if I'm wrong, that the presence of so much drone brood would suggest that the colony is building up quite strongly. I've not got any drone brood yet. So if there is so much drone brood then the bees are probably not in a dangerous position.

If the super went on this year then you have definitely put it on too early. If it is still on from last year as winter stores then its probably a good idea to take it off until they have built up as a colony.

Without a photo were all speculating.

M

 

[Mellifera397]

What you're looking for is the percentage of drone cells with mites. Whether a cell has 1, 2 or more is not relevant for the calculation. Count the total uncapped, and the number with mites and put that in the Beebase calculator As a rough rule of thumb, the previous RBI suggested if there are 10-15% with mites you should be planning when to treat within the next couple of months.

An idea might be a drone cull. There discussion about whether one should cull drones or not, but last year I used it early in the season to knock the varroa population down.

It seemed to work.

M

 

[YorkshireBees]

I've checked the hive today after having a peek and putting the super on when the weather was good earlier in the month.

The drone cells were all under the super and came away when i took it off.

My first question would be, how were the drone cells attached to the super? If you put a super on for honey then it would normally be above a queen excluder (unless you don't use them) which means that the drone cells couldn't be attached to the super!

Some cells had a quite a few in but in others there was only 1.

What should i do about this?

As others have said you need to do a proper count of some description to get an idea of the amount of varroa in the hive before deciding if you need to treat or not.

I was expecting to see frames with capped honey and others with capped brood. Both were sporadic. Is that normal? From what i have been told its good to have capped brood and a full ciricular pattern - which they were but only small circles (about 20x20 cells). Is this something to worry about? Or is it only early in the season?

In terms of amount of BIAS (Brood in all stages) again it's difficult to give advice as each and every colony will vary. I have inspected 3 colonies today that had 5, 9, and 6 frames of BIAS respectively. (My count is not just the number of frames that have some BIAS but frames that have mostly BIAS).

But the most worrying thing is that there was condensation at the top of the hive and pooling on the lid. Apart from moving the hive, is there anything that can be done about this?

More info required about hive type? On my polyhives I almost always have some condensation on the clear crownboard. This hasn't affected the bees for the last 2 seasons so I am not worried about it.


Yes it is still early in the season and there are a lot of factors that will be different depending on location / hive type and many other things.

Photos and or more details would help others understand your hives situation better.

Lastly I would agree with the others that unless there is a very good reason for the super being on you should take it off asap.

 

[madasafish]

In neighbouring (and colder) Staffordshire, far too early for supers, nectar and inspections..

 

[itma]

I've checked the hive today after having a peek and putting the super on when the weather was good earlier in the month.
...

You put two supers on in February, and were advised to take them off.

I'm afraid that your wild optimism isn't doing your bees much good.

The name of the game at this time of year is getting an increasing bee population with new brood vastly exceeding natural die-off.
The increased workforce *might* then produce a surplus to share with you.


Your colony does not sound to be expanding strongly.
Yet it is producing drone brood.
This sounds worrying.
I'd be very concerned indeed if there wasn't *worker* brood in evidence.

And I suspect, from your report, that your colony is lousy with varroa.
Which isn't going to help.

I'd suggest that you ask a more experienced member of your Association to pop round for a quick look. And take it from there.

 

[itma]

From 24th February

Hi All,

This'll be my first post - HELLO!

It's my first full year of bee keeping this year as i bought a hive and nuc in July last year and i'm glad to say they've made it through the winter very well.

I had a look in the hive at the weekend as there was quite a bit of activity at the entrance and so thought it would be warm enough.

Anyways... I observed the queen, lots of capped brood, capped honey, and plenty of bees. But i also saw an open queen cell but no drone cells. I'm fairly sure it was a queen cell as it was more oblong shaped and had the entrance at the bottom - am i right? I would have thought that i would see drone cells before a queen cell - is that right?

Also i have put the queen excluder on and both supers so will the additional space postpone the raising of a new queen? I was expecting to split the hive sometime in April so this has brought my plans forward somewhat.

You bought the bees and hive last summer, but you haven't mentioned anything about what training you might have received?