has anynbody started Qrearing yet?

[B+.]

Did the first few grafts of the season earlier today,

I live in a village on the top of a hill which gets the wind from across the Downs so my colonies are not ready yet. I usually wait another couple of weeks

 

[For want of a better word]

Ordered a new cylinder of CO2 and marked about 40 drones today... lot of drone brood... perhaps a bit early yet for Natives... mid end of May
Queen raising for Amms will start on May the 4th... very auspicious day.. my youngest daughter's birthday!!


Yeghes da

 

[mbc]

Did the first few grafts of the season earlier today, so it begins again...mini nucs also need splitting very soon, they are starting to hang outside the boxes.

Sunny Devon jumps the gun on the rest of us again, I'm jealous but good luck and keep us posted on how it's going please

 

[protheroe]

Day off tomorrow so I will sort out a cell builder ready for grafting next week.

 

[mbc]

Day off tomorrow so I will sort out a cell builder ready for grafting next week.

Do you have many drones yet?

 

[sipa]

Doing the first cycle of grafts today, and a lovely day it is !

 

[thebeeman]

I may have to wait a bit before i start this was us on Saturday morning

 

[B+.]

I may have to wait a bit before i start

Still a bit nippy up in Scotland is it?

 

[For want of a better word]

Still a bit nippy up in Scotland is it?

No ... trying out new Thorne's sugar duster!


Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

Ordered a new cylinder of CO2 and marked about 40 drones today... lot of drone brood... perhaps a bit early yet for Natives... mid end of May
Queen raising for Amms will start on May the 4th... very auspicious day.. my youngest daughter's birthday!!

You just reminded me I need some more II consumables

May the 4th go with you

 

[For want of a better word]

Now I am baffled and bemused... all the marked drones are not there any more... or in any of the other nearby colonies!


"Smoke me a kipper I'll be back for breakfast".... and there they were... gone!

Duckular and Terrific Terrance ... my favorite too !!

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

Now I am baffled and bemused... all the marked drones are not there any more... or in any of the other nearby colonies!


"Smoke me a kipper I'll be back for breakfast".... and there they were... gone!

Duckular and Terrific Terrance ... my favorite too !!

Yeghes da

Were they in cages/above a queen excluder?

If they were free flying, they could be anywhere

 

[Hivemaker.]

Sunny Devon jumps the gun on the rest of us again, I'm jealous but good luck and keep us posted on how it's going please

Have had a few days of not so sunny, lot of sea mist rolling in blanking out the sun, and keeping the temperatures pegged back... yet just a couple of miles inland mostly hot with wall to wall sunshine.

Quite nice today though...so Just done a small second set of grafts.

 

[For want of a better word]

Were they in cages/above a queen excluder?

If they were free flying, they could be anywhere

Thanks B+
In a brood box above a qe....... a wire one, shall change it to plastic, possibly drones squeezed through it?......

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

Thanks B+
In a brood box above a qe

Unless there is a hole in the brood box, I can't think of anything. They have to have gone somewhere. Unless they are very small, I doubt they could get through the excluder.
I keep a clear plastic sheet over the box. In the morning they can be collected off the comb but in the afternoon, they are attracted to the light so I just peel back the sheet a little and collect them.
I am still a couple of weeks away from starting up the Schley and doing any II

 

[Hivemaker.]

Did a few more grafts into a recent strong split, give them something useful to start before they get their new queen.
Introduced a new mated laying queen to another using my favorite method, direct introduction onto a comb of brood, after removing the existing mated laying queen only minutes earlier.

 

[mbc]

Did a few more grafts into a recent strong split, give them something useful to start before they get their new queen.
Introduced a new mated laying queen to another using my favorite method, direct introduction onto a comb of brood, after removing the existing mated laying queen only minutes earlier.

Not one of your queens mated already Shirley? Or are you testing some new stock?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Not one of your queens mated already Shirley? Or are you testing some new stock?

Definitely none mated yet, is an over wintered mated laying queen, sorry, i meant new to that colony, the old (removed) queen has gone to a new home elswhere.

 

[protheroe]

Did a few more grafts into a recent strong split, give them something useful to start before they get their new queen.
Introduced a new mated laying queen to another using my favorite method, direct introduction onto a comb of brood, after removing the existing mated laying queen only minutes earlier.

I wouldn't like to try that with a newly mated queen easier when they are older

 

[Hivemaker.]

I wouldn't like to try that with a newly mated queen easier when they are older

I agree, recently mated queens can sometimes be a bit skittish, i would not use a none laying mated queen either.