hi all.
Im the guy who supplied the nucs. today i looked through the two hives. both are coming along well and both are very strong for the amount of boxes given to them (single brood each one with a super).
one swarmed 3-4 days ago at a guess. this is based on lack of queen eggs or any larvae younger than 4 days old. ie nothing i would use for a graft.
the other hive is preparing to swarm the queen and one frame of brood have been removed and given the original site and the one super. (no queen cells on frame.)
the remaining hive has been moved to another stand in the apiary and the flying bees should leave it tomoro and the next day. the queen cells havnt been culled down to one.
for the hive that has already swarmed i have suggested either of three solutions.
either preform an AS using a queen cell as the queen or take a nuc from it or reduce down to one queen cell.
both queens are last autums queens and were marked and clipped. had a look in the grass for the swarmed queen but no sign.
Cheers Newport. I got in contact with the guy I gave hive to and he's going to get it back in the morning g if there's no bees in it yet. If not, I'm going to make one in the morning and hopefully do 1 of the suggestions you said above. What one will produce honey and what will give me 2 hives out of what you suggest.
Cheers again for calling out
Regarding the swarmed hive.....why split a colony that has already lost half its bees?
You also need to look up how to complete your artificial swarm. As the queen cells haven't been reduced (how many are left?) you will lose more bees unless you do something about it.
Personally I think Beginners' Courses should be re-named Pre-Beekeeping Courses, and the Intermediate - or whatever it is the respective Associations call the next step - should be the Beginners course. My beginners course was excellent, and I appreciate all the hard - unpaid - work those running it put in, but - at the risk of sounding big-headed - I knew most of it from Hooper and various other books I had read. What would have been better is a course which actually physically showed me queen cells, showed me how to A/S a hive etc. That, IMHO, is what really would have stood me in good stead for my first and second years. And I know the mentorship program is there for that, but even so, mentors aren't always available, and there is no better way to learn than actually doing something yourself.
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a normal case...
- queen cells
- no eggs, clipped queen is gone when it tried to swarm
Next:
- you must cut the swarming fever with AS
- you use in AS queen cell when you do not have the queen
- do AS to foundations. It kills best the swarming fever.
IMO, I don't think its lost half of it bees. It still looks like the colony has grew since my last visits.
preform an AS using a queen cell as the queen
Why not? or do you want the hive to throw casts until it's unviable?the queen cells havnt been culled down to one.
You need a queen to do an A/S so what's the point
Why not? or do you want the hive to throw casts until it's unviable?
Is it me or is thee a full moon or something or maybe the solstice is playng up with the humours
why would it produce casts? it has lost its flying bees. first cell should be due to emerge in the next two days at a rough guess even sooner if i am wrong. and they have more space than they had.
i fail to see the stimulus to produce a cast.
You also, obviously fail to know bee behaviour. Bees can and will fly after three days old - some at that age will go with the swarm - some older ones will stay.
If there are multiple QC's left you run the risk of a newly emerged virgin swarming and leaving the remaining QC's to emerge - this can carry on ad infinitum - it's what bees are instinctively geared to do - otherwise what is the point of creating loads of QC's. Space has got b*gger all to do with it.
The stimulus is the primeval instinct to make increase.
No point in discussing what an artificial swarm is - you have no idea, not my job to tell you.
I've given up on this thread.
Two different hives being considered, two different scenarios, one A/S, one not an A/S. Ond queen cell, lots of queen cells, all cells knocked down, hives moved several metres away for an A/S - whatever next!
Analogies to pilots that do a beginner course and go off flying fast jets without any exam or certificate of competency whatsoever. Beginner courses likened to what you can read up yourself (and should) at virtually zero cost, so clearly aimed at those that cannot read or simply to raise funds for, or the profile of, the BKA. You don't fly an aeroplane just by being present at a course. There is a lot of other work to do between the class sessions. Even then the budding pilot would not get their licence if every landing was so heavy it damaged the undercarriage! But a good analogy to demonstrate the technical worth of a course, to someone who thinks that is all they need to do - just turn up. Learn how to land after crashing the thing!
I was thinking these 2 overwintered nucs would have gave me a nice amount of honey in my first year, looks like thats not going to be the case
You need a queen to do an A/S so what's the point
best for 2 hives in my opinion is take a nuc from it.
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