madasafish
Queen Bee
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2010
- Messages
- 8,874
- Reaction score
- 131
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
- Hive Type
- langstroth
- Number of Hives
- 8x Langstroth, a few Lang nucs,1x TBH, and about 17 mating mini nucs
I have two TBHs:
one with a strong colony of carnies - 16 frames of brood and honey - and growing at one frame a week. No problems at all.
One - a recent swarm - has 6 frames and is obviously younger so less strong. Problem is that on some combs up to 20% of the brood is bald... bald brood. The Bee Inspector recommends I might requeen it. As it was recently treated for mites - Api Life Var - it is possible the treatment affected the queen/brood temporarily. The bees are very dark.
I have a new queen on order - arriving next week..
Should I :
requeen the weaker hive , and solve the bald brood issue.
or
Make up a nuc with 4 frames of stores and brood from the stronger hive and the new queen? And hope the bald brood issue resolves itself naturally.
I have a half size TBH waiting to be occupied. Both colonies are very docile.
All advice welcomed. Thanks.
one with a strong colony of carnies - 16 frames of brood and honey - and growing at one frame a week. No problems at all.
One - a recent swarm - has 6 frames and is obviously younger so less strong. Problem is that on some combs up to 20% of the brood is bald... bald brood. The Bee Inspector recommends I might requeen it. As it was recently treated for mites - Api Life Var - it is possible the treatment affected the queen/brood temporarily. The bees are very dark.
I have a new queen on order - arriving next week..
Should I :
requeen the weaker hive , and solve the bald brood issue.
or
Make up a nuc with 4 frames of stores and brood from the stronger hive and the new queen? And hope the bald brood issue resolves itself naturally.
I have a half size TBH waiting to be occupied. Both colonies are very docile.
All advice welcomed. Thanks.
