Gloves...true marigolds or just that genre of clove?

[drdrday]

I saw one queen cup with a tiny egg but no royal jelly as yet. Early days I guess and one to watch. Although to be honest, if it's just supercedure I guess I just let them get on with it.

I usually try to pop back in again in 3-4 days time if I find a couple of cups with eggs in. Sometimes the cups are just empty again, but sometimes they're not...

 

[RichardK]

I usually try to pop back in again in 3-4 days time if I find a couple of cups with eggs in. Sometimes the cups are just empty again, but sometimes they're not...

And if it's not empty, what do you do? Or are you simply keeping up with what may or may not happen?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Egg in queen cup check three days
Royal jelly? Then the cup is now a queen cell. AS of some kind

 

[RichardK]

Egg in queen cup check three days
Royal jelly? Then the cup is now a queen cell. AS of some kind

OK...I'm showing my ignorance here. I thought a queen cup (& right now there is only one) was a supercedure route and as such just let them get on with it. There must be some reason the bees have chosen to get rid of the existing queen. Were they looking to swarm wouldn't I find quite a number of cells and normally along the bottom edge of a / some frames. Why should I think about AS in this situation? Apologies if the answer is staring me in the face.... but I don't get it!

 

[pargyle]

OK...I'm showing my ignorance here. I thought a queen cup (& right now there is only one) was a supercedure route and as such just let them get on with it. There must be some reason the bees have chosen to get rid of the existing queen. Were they looking to swarm wouldn't I find quite a number of cells and normally along the bottom edge of a / some frames. Why should I think about AS in this situation? Apologies if the answer is staring me in the face.... but I don't get it!

Nope - queen cups can just be the bees practising building queen cells or they can be the pre-cursor to them deciding it's swarm time or they can be the start of a supercedure but ... as soon as they put an egg in there they usually mean business and you can find within days that one queen cup is now ten queen cells and if you are not on top of it .... they're off.

The positioning of queen cells is a myth ... the number of queen cells is a myth ... I've had bees swarm on one queen cell and supercede on five ... you just can't be sure what the little beggars are up to. Assuming that it's supercedure is russian roulette - you have to keep an eye on it. And .... check very thoroughly for other cells because they are very clever at hiding them in the corners of comb and in gaps and ... I even found one built on the dummy board on a bit of brace comb ...

As Dani said ... AS of some kind ... if it turns into nothing at least you are safe and you can combine back together ...

 

[Sutty]

I use two pairs of washing up gloves at once. One normal pair and one ‘extra tough’ pair, both from the supermarket. Not sure if they’re actually ‘marigolds’.

You lose a little dexterity with two pairs but I’ve not had a sting go through them yet despite seeing a lot of bees stinging them on a couple of occasions.

I can't help thinking if you are seeing lots of bees stinging your gloves you may be doing something wrong - you may be mishandling them, or they are ill tempered bees.
I tried blue nitriles for the first time today. Fresh pair for 2nd hive. Took them off for the last two. Bees seemed to react less to my hands than to the gloves, though it may be that one hive was slightly grumpy. No stings over 4 hives though.
Much better feedback with bare hands, though my nitriles are a little loose fit.

 

[Do224]

I can't help thinking if you are seeing lots of bees stinging your gloves you may be doing something wrong - you may be mishandling them, or they are ill tempered bees.
I tried blue nitriles for the first time today. Fresh pair for 2nd hive. Took them off for the last two. Bees seemed to react less to my hands than to the gloves, though it may be that one hive was slightly grumpy. No stings over 4 hives though.
Much better feedback with bare hands, though my nitriles are a little loose fit.

They were rough bees (not mine)

 

[Brenda]

My beekeeping marigolds are my cast off washing up gloves.
Original marigold last approx 12 months washing up, then leak and are relegated to beekeeping where they last for years.##
(not often used).

Vinyl gloves are my goto when stung too much.
Only used marigolds twice this year.

## yes I AM mean : Scottish blood and edukation sistem.

Last two words Spelling gone!wrong!

OK...I'm showing my ignorance here. I thought a queen cup (& right now there is only one) was a supercedure route and as such just let them get on with it. There must be some reason the bees have chosen to get rid of the existing queen. Were they looking to swarm wouldn't I find quite a number of cells and normally along the bottom edge of a / some frames. Why should I think about AS in this situation? Apologies if the answer is staring me in the face.... but I don't get it!

They were rough bees (not mine)

Could be (Hot Smoke) causing the stinging, if your smoker is puffing out blue instead of white smoke this will upset the Bees greatly and cause them to sting you in retaliation, make sure the smoke is white at all times.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Could be (Hot Smoke) causing the stinging, if your smoker is puffing out blue instead of white smoke this will upset the Bees greatly and cause them to sting you in retaliation, make sure the smoke is white at all times.

Or try not to pour gouts of it into the hive

 

[RichardK]

.

 

[RichardK]

I can't help thinking if you are seeing lots of bees stinging your gloves you may be doing something wrong - you may be mishandling them, or they are ill tempered bees.
I tried blue nitriles for the first time today. Fresh pair for 2nd hive. Took them off for the last two. Bees seemed to react less to my hands than to the gloves, though it may be that one hive was slightly grumpy. No stings over 4 hives though.
Much better feedback with bare hands, though my nitriles are a little loose fit.

Are your bees a particular breed, or just good old mongrel?

 

[drdrday]

And if it's not empty, what do you do? Or are you simply keeping up with what may or may not happen?

You can never be certain why the bees have created a queen cell - don't trust numbers or positions, which are usually completely meaningless.

• If all queen cups are empty there's no need to do anything.
• If there's an egg alone in a queen cup check again in 3 days. There's a chance it's a stray egg or a laying worker egg that the bees just haven't tidied up yet. But there's also a strong likelihood it won't be just an egg when you check back again, which is why you only want to leave it 3 days and not wait a whole week.
• If there's royal jelly in a queen cup it's definitely a queen cell and the safest thing is to do an AS. Even if it's just precautionary.

 

[Sutty]

Are your bees a particular breed, or just good old mongrel?

Local mongrels, there are noticeable differences between hives though, particularly in how much they run around and festoon on the bottom of the frames. They clear well when I blow on them to see under the bees which helps.

 

[Sutty]

They are quite dark - for what that's worth.

 

[Amaranth]

The version with “rolled cuffs” have a rim around the cuff edge which makes them very much easier to get on and off. Being able to clean them well with washing soda makes a difference to bee defensiveness - there can smell old stings on leather gloves.