Last weeks swarm, doing ok!

[merylvingien]

I was going to leave it a couple more days before doing an inspection on last weeks swarm, but work is building up and my mentor said lets do it, so!

They have drawn all 5 frames out lovely, the queen is there somewhere although as this was a quick inspection to see what is happening, we didnt go looking.
She is laying across three frames.

Here are a few photos that i snapped...

 

[VEG]

nice pics

 

[rae]

A swarm drawing foundation is a sight to behold. We lifted the crownboard of our large swarm, and we saw masses of lovely pale white comb. Full inspection next week.

 

[Haughton Honey]

Nice shot of the eggs in the cells.

 

[merylvingien]

Hopefully i am going to get a decent macro lense, watch this space!

 

[merylvingien]

A week on, and i am on my own, so i made a frame holder that i can plonk on the top of the bb and take a photo of each side, it works pretty well.

This frame looks ok to me...

This one i am not too sure of, maybe its just the angle the photo was taken. Do the larvea look ok to trained eyes?

First time i seen the queen, but i got her name and address..

The second swarm i collected is another story, one frame with some brood, didnt see the queen or any eggs and there was plenty of play cups available to gawp at. I couldnt see any larvea in these play cups though. I may have to get the mentor to come and have look.

On the bright side, those new rubber gloves work a treat.

 

[Mike a]

looks very good. A few more brood cycles and they will be good for a full size hive.

 

[merylvingien]

Cheers, actually that lot are already in a commercial BB.

I will try and get some photos of the other lot, which dont appear to be doing so well, its only been a week mind, so hopefully they will sort themselves out and get going.

Is it normal for a new queen to lay up some brood, then stop for a while?
Or once she starts, does she just bang on?

I am concerned that i didnt see any eggs in the second box, or her. I will leave a couple days and go back for second look. Maybe with a magnifying glass!

 

[BKF Admin]

Very nice pics,thank you.