beefaye
New Bee
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- central scotland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 3
hiya
received two new nucs last week and doing my first inspection tomorrow
when I was transferring the frames, I noticed the first nuc had some chalk brood. I didn't worry about this much due to the wet Spring we had and the fact they were now being placed in a well ventilated South facing hive. When feeding them throughout the last week, I have seen a lot of chalk debris on the mesh floor. I am assuming they will clear this out when I remove the entrance reducer in a few weeks time.
The second nuc is the one worrying me. All frames were gorgeous with brood, stores and dripping with honey and a lovely laying queen. However, a big fat queen cell is on the base of one of the frames. The keeper that provided the nuc is one of the most experienced keepers in the area but did admit that he hadn't spotted this cell when preparing the nuc for me. He is confident it is a dummy cell. I will find out either way tomorrow.
I would like some hints & tips to prepare myself just in case the cell did contain a queen. If a queen has emerged, I will look for my existing healthy queen then find the new queen. If they are both there, I can simply remove the new queen. What should I do if I can't find the existing queen? Should I close up the hive and let the virgin queen mate & lay or should I remove her and ask the supplier for a new queen?
I basically need guidance on what to look out for & what I should consider so that I can be prepared for any eventuality.
received two new nucs last week and doing my first inspection tomorrow
when I was transferring the frames, I noticed the first nuc had some chalk brood. I didn't worry about this much due to the wet Spring we had and the fact they were now being placed in a well ventilated South facing hive. When feeding them throughout the last week, I have seen a lot of chalk debris on the mesh floor. I am assuming they will clear this out when I remove the entrance reducer in a few weeks time.
The second nuc is the one worrying me. All frames were gorgeous with brood, stores and dripping with honey and a lovely laying queen. However, a big fat queen cell is on the base of one of the frames. The keeper that provided the nuc is one of the most experienced keepers in the area but did admit that he hadn't spotted this cell when preparing the nuc for me. He is confident it is a dummy cell. I will find out either way tomorrow.
I would like some hints & tips to prepare myself just in case the cell did contain a queen. If a queen has emerged, I will look for my existing healthy queen then find the new queen. If they are both there, I can simply remove the new queen. What should I do if I can't find the existing queen? Should I close up the hive and let the virgin queen mate & lay or should I remove her and ask the supplier for a new queen?
I basically need guidance on what to look out for & what I should consider so that I can be prepared for any eventuality.