Me 2: Bees 1 (I think)

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

keithgrimes

Field Bee
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
614
Reaction score
0
Location
Northumberland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3
I got my first nuc last Sunday and hived them Monday. Today, twenty minutes before the England Germany game, they swarmed. They plastered themselves under the hive so I assumed the queen was clipped (like a fool, I hadn't asked when I bought the nuc). Got them in to a new hive, saw the queen (marked, thanks Dave) and went through the original hive - sure enough, queen cells. After a phone call to the guy I bought the nuc from, established that the queen is NOT clipped. Lucky or what? I missed the game, but from what I heard I had a better afternoon than most.;)
 
I got my first nuc last Sunday and hived them Monday. Today, twenty minutes before the England Germany game, they swarmed. They plastered themselves under the hive so I assumed the queen was clipped (like a fool, I hadn't asked when I bought the nuc). Got them in to a new hive, saw the queen (marked, thanks Dave) and went through the original hive - sure enough, queen cells. After a phone call to the guy I bought the nuc from, established that the queen is NOT clipped. Lucky or what? I missed the game, but from what I heard I had a better afternoon than most.;)

lets find out why they swarmed

Did you feed them syrup?

how much did they take down?

how many frames was in the nUc and what were the frames ? stores? brood? Drawing?

How many frames of foundation did you add ? standard or 14x12 brood ?
 
Last edited:
I fed them 1:1 syrup in a quart feeder and it was completely empty today. In retrospect that was the problem I think, not enough feed. I'm still learning I guess. Six frames of nuc with 5 frames occupied; brood, stores and drawing. I made up with foundation to 11 frames in a WBC standard brood box, OMF.
 
I fed them 1:1 syrup in a quart feeder and it was completely empty today. In retrospect that was the problem I think, not enough feed.

more likely too much feed....

the bees would have brought it down and filled every available empty cell, leaving no-where for the queen to lay, as they wouldn't have had time to draw new frames out enough to store it in.....
 
right, I've just re read the posts. now I understand, thanks. Its tricky this bee keeping lark ain't it. Too much feed, not enough feed, etc etc.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top