Insy
House Bee
- Joined
- May 23, 2011
- Messages
- 304
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Essex
- Hive Type
- Commercial
- Number of Hives
- Only I know :D :D
Hello All
Im a beginner in beekeeper been doing ltos of reading and building like ive said in previous posts, but in the last weeks ive had some luck and half .
A week or so ago i picked up a cast swarm from paloabee and ive been watching closely its been swarming due to virgin queen needing to mate but last 2 visits it looks like shes stayed inside so she may be mated. The wax foudnation is sloewly drawing out but its VERY slow progress due to small amount of bees, i also have them on 1:1 syrup to try and help them. There progressing but like i said slow so im going to leave them to it now and fingers crossed they make it, but they are bringing in pollen on there legs so looking good i just think its wheres its a small cast.
2-3 days ago i took a national hive which i steralised up to the land im allowed to use for keeping my bees, i stuck some old comb inside it and i place pure lemongrass oil on the frames and on several wooden posts ina circle surrounding the hive. I had reports from the shooters up there saying there seemed to be a few bees going in and out, so today i went up there loaded up with me smoker, suit, bee brush and tool and braced myself and prayed it was good news. I took off the lid and i could see lots of bees through the little hoel in the crown board, i got all excited i then took off the crown board and i was like JACKPOT!!!!!!! Bees everywhere! so i took a stpe back and fired a bit more smoke in there direction getting ready to check the frames. I starting pulling the frames out and checking 1 by 1 and at least 5-6 frames were completely covered in honey bees and the other frames had bees on but wasnt full. LOTS of bees flying in and out collecting i suppose, i tried to look for queen but no luck was so many bees it was hard. I found queen in the cast swarm above but coudlnt find in this one due to so many bees, BUT there seems to be alot of shiny honey/jelly in the combs which wasnt there when i place there so there collecting and sotring honey/jelly. I couldnt see eggs but i didnt check all frames as i didnt want to disturb them to much as its a present colonized swarm.
So now i have a few questions:
1) I was planning to leave for a week or so to let them settle in properly and make themselves feel at home, would u recommend shoudl i be checking every 3 days.
2) Bees wings didnt looked deformed as far as i could see and they all looked healthy but as a beginner i could be mistaken.
3) What tips could u give me to help find the queen on next inspection, i know what a queen looks like but there was alot of bees to try and shuffle through.
4) Is it a good sign that there was already LOTs of shiny sibstance in the combs?
Any tips or advice about other stuff is also welcome.
They didnt seem aggressive at all they were friendly, not 1 attempt of stinging me even tho there was 1 buzzing drone sounding very annoyed but thats it .
thanks
regards
ben
Im a beginner in beekeeper been doing ltos of reading and building like ive said in previous posts, but in the last weeks ive had some luck and half .
A week or so ago i picked up a cast swarm from paloabee and ive been watching closely its been swarming due to virgin queen needing to mate but last 2 visits it looks like shes stayed inside so she may be mated. The wax foudnation is sloewly drawing out but its VERY slow progress due to small amount of bees, i also have them on 1:1 syrup to try and help them. There progressing but like i said slow so im going to leave them to it now and fingers crossed they make it, but they are bringing in pollen on there legs so looking good i just think its wheres its a small cast.
2-3 days ago i took a national hive which i steralised up to the land im allowed to use for keeping my bees, i stuck some old comb inside it and i place pure lemongrass oil on the frames and on several wooden posts ina circle surrounding the hive. I had reports from the shooters up there saying there seemed to be a few bees going in and out, so today i went up there loaded up with me smoker, suit, bee brush and tool and braced myself and prayed it was good news. I took off the lid and i could see lots of bees through the little hoel in the crown board, i got all excited i then took off the crown board and i was like JACKPOT!!!!!!! Bees everywhere! so i took a stpe back and fired a bit more smoke in there direction getting ready to check the frames. I starting pulling the frames out and checking 1 by 1 and at least 5-6 frames were completely covered in honey bees and the other frames had bees on but wasnt full. LOTS of bees flying in and out collecting i suppose, i tried to look for queen but no luck was so many bees it was hard. I found queen in the cast swarm above but coudlnt find in this one due to so many bees, BUT there seems to be alot of shiny honey/jelly in the combs which wasnt there when i place there so there collecting and sotring honey/jelly. I couldnt see eggs but i didnt check all frames as i didnt want to disturb them to much as its a present colonized swarm.
So now i have a few questions:
1) I was planning to leave for a week or so to let them settle in properly and make themselves feel at home, would u recommend shoudl i be checking every 3 days.
2) Bees wings didnt looked deformed as far as i could see and they all looked healthy but as a beginner i could be mistaken.
3) What tips could u give me to help find the queen on next inspection, i know what a queen looks like but there was alot of bees to try and shuffle through.
4) Is it a good sign that there was already LOTs of shiny sibstance in the combs?
Any tips or advice about other stuff is also welcome.
They didnt seem aggressive at all they were friendly, not 1 attempt of stinging me even tho there was 1 buzzing drone sounding very annoyed but thats it .
thanks
regards
ben