Frames of brood or brood on frames

[Erichalfbee]

Just been talking about brood in another thread
Thought beginners might like to see what a frame of brood looks like
If you don’t have this then you have brood on a frame which is vastly fifferent

 

[Bee Boys]

My brood frames are like that.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My brood frames are like that.

Brilliant.

 

[user 18806]

If I could figure how to get the picture from this phone onto here, I would post mine.

 

[user 18806]

Hoping this has worked

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hoping this has worked

Good stuff
Now you need to get those hands into nitriles or marigolds

 

[user 18806]

Good stuff
Now you need to get those hands into nitriles or marigolds

I did buy marigolds yesterday. Can't find 'nitriles' yet. Did read on another thread, to wear marigolds with nitriles on top.
Or maybe I misread it.
If your pic was brood, and mine is, why are they different colours?

 

[Show me the honey]

I did buy marigolds yesterday. Can't find 'nitriles' yet. Did read on another thread, to wear marigolds with nitriles on top.
Or maybe I misread it.
If your pic was brood, and mine is, why are they different colours?

Just the age of the comb

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Good stuff
Now you need to get those hands into nitriles or marigolds

I still have a pair of leather gloves that I use when tackling a defensive (aggressive?) colony but I bought some extra large cheap vinyl disposables to cover the leather gloves. This way I have good defence against stings but the leather remains pretty pristine and does not emit the smell of previous stings/attack pheromones.

I generally use PRO Ultrasafe Violet Nitrile Gloves that I buy from the local farm suppliers. They are nice-fitting gloves but they won't stop a determined bee from stinging but they do keep propolis off your hands!

CVB

 

[Walrus]

Of course, both pics are frames of sealed brood (pupae). You could have a frame of brood looking quite different if it was mostly eggs.

The ratio of eggs: larvae : pupae is expected to be 1 : 2 : 4 because of how long each stage takes. It’s different when the rate of laying is changing. When a newly mated queen gets going after swarming it will be mostly eggs/larvae at first. If a queen slows or stops laying the ratio of sealed brood will be higher and there may be no eggs.

 

[XYZ]

I did buy marigolds yesterday. Can't find 'nitriles' yet. Did read on another thread, to wear marigolds with nitriles on top.
Or maybe I misread it.
If your pic was brood, and mine is, why are they different colours?

I wear marigolds under my jacket sleeves, with the jacket thumb loop over them. Then nitriles over the top of the jacket sleeve. Beefriendly gave me that tip - no bees crawling up your sleeves!

I get my nitriles from eBay. The general advice is not to buy black gloves as the bees go for it. My only experience of this is my phone cover is black and one particular angry worker kept ramming into it while I was taking a video of something else.

Try to look for nitriles that are decent quality. It may be a couple of quid extra per box but it goes down to pennies per glove and you'll appreciate the difference in quality (ie they don't snap as easily).

 

[pargyle]

I did buy marigolds yesterday. Can't find 'nitriles' yet. Did read on another thread, to wear marigolds with nitriles on top.
Or maybe I misread it.
/QUOTE]

No you didn't - bees can sting through marigolds although the sting is much reduced as they don't penetrate the skin as much but if you put a pair of nitriles like these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polyco-B...08:m:mTDFHlg9kRV6I5zFkGhiItg&var=412917149470

over the marogolds then the sting won't go through. There is also an advantage that you can also change the nitriles mid inspection when they get sticky. Any sting pheremones are kept to the disposable nitriles and they are as cheap as chips ..

Buy the nitriles a couple of sizes larger than the marigolds as you will find it easier to get the nitriles over the top of them -- or from that supplier you can buy one pair for 99p and see how they fit ..before you commit to 100.

Still retains the 'feel' that you need when bee wrangling .. those leather gauntlets can be retained for visitors and trimming thorn hedges or welding .,.. Mostly useless for bee wrangling !

 

[XYZ]

Just been talking about brood in another thread
Thought beginners might like to see what a frame of brood looks like
If you don’t have this then you have brood on a frame which is vastly fifferent

Thank you for posting this Dani it's really informative!

I now know I do not have a single frame of brood, but many frames with brood on them

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thank you for posting this Dani it's really informative!

I now know I do not have a single frame of brood, but many frames with brood on them

I hope it’s helped someone
Walrus is right in that brood includes eggs and larvae but that was a little difficult to photograph convincingly.
You learn to take that into account.
Sometimes you get a whole frame of eggs, if she is working fast, which is an awesome sight.
The other type of frame to recognise is Emerging Brood
The queen lays in the middle of a frame and works outwards so the oldest brood is in the middle. When that emerges and gets filled with eggs you know that the capped cells adjacent are next. You can often see bees just starting to chew their way out.
So that’s what you look for. Capped brood with a circle of eggs in the middle. A frame of emerging brood is a valuable resource

 

[Swarm]

Of course, both pics are frames of sealed brood (pupae). You could have a frame of brood looking quite different if it was mostly eggs.

The ratio of eggs: larvae : pupae is expected to be 1 : 2 : 4 because of how long each stage takes. It’s different when the rate of laying is changing. When a newly mated queen gets going after swarming it will be mostly eggs/larvae at first. If a queen slows or stops laying the ratio of sealed brood will be higher and there may be no eggs.

Some useful info for beginners on how to 'read' what's going on. I wish I'd taken a photo of a brood frame last week, it was entirely eggs, surrounded by a ring of sealed brood, a good example of a new cycle of laying.