Newbie needs help!

[Samurailord]

We have just started out in beekeeping this year with a swarm captured from a neighbour's garden after two other swarms. given to us by beek friends, had decided not to hang around in our hive for more than a day.

We bought a hve and other bits from E*ay last summer, but haven't been able to add to our equipment just yet.

The hive we bought came with castellation strips, so I fixed them to the brood box. I now know this was a mistake and we have loads of mutant and double comb everywhere.

Our queen is a good layer, but a master at hide and seek as we have only been able to see her twice since the beginning of June!

In an attempt to give the girls some more room to put stores into we added a super without excluder a couple of weeks ago. (at the time there were seven frames drawn in the brood box, five with brood on both sides and plenty of stores)

Within a week there were three quite heavy super frames filled with honey and no sign of any eggs so we decided to add the excluder at that point as we couldnt find HM in the super.

This week when we opened up the top, there were eggs and sealed brood in the super - looks like she had been up here all along- and several queen cells too.

We have disposed of the qc's and removed the excluder in the hope that HM will return to the brood box and start to lay there as most of the existing capped cells have hatched whilst she has been absent so there is plenty of spalce on the frames

We have also started to tidy up the mutant comb, there is now only one frame with significant amounts of it, but as this is full of brood we have moved it away from the centre of the hive to see if we can get the larvae hatched before we have to do more surgery on it.

We do have a mentor, whose help has been invaluable, but I just wondered if anyone else on here can give us some suggestions as to what we can do next, or even tips on how to spot the queen.

For example, will HM sit on the wall of the boxes as I'm certain that she hasn't been on the frames - we checked each one twice last night!

Also, would the qc's in the super be the result of her having very little comb to lay into, or is there something else going on?

Thanks

 

[Teemore]

Sometimes the use of smoke makes the queen abandon the comb and take to the floor but I would say that this is not always the case but is worth noting. I have come across queens who were usually to be found on the floor or walls of the hive during inspections; I think the simple opening of the hive was enough to make them run ahead of the beekeeper, moving from frame to frame.
A number of past threads have highlighted techniques for finding a queen. Bear in mind that you do not need to see the queen each time you inspect a hive. I tend to be satisfied if I can see eggs, larvae and sealed brood.

 

[Dishmop]

You seem to be doing the right things.

Dont get paranoid about not finding the queen.

 

[Samurailord]

You seem to be doing the right things.

Dont get paranoid about not finding the queen.

Thanks Dishmop

We're not paranoid, it's just that we have to do major modifications to the extra comb on the brood frames caused by me using a castellation strip when we first set the colony up, and I want her safely caught and out of the way so I don't do accidental surgery on her too

 

[Samurailord]

Bear in mind that you do not need to see the queen each time you inspect a hive. I tend to be satisfied if I can see eggs, larvae and sealed brood.

Thanks Teemore

We realsise that we don't need to see HM, and there is always plenty of larvae and sealed brood so we know she is around.

With my poor eyesight I have never been able to see any eggs!

The main reason I need to see her is to make sure she isn't hiding at the back of the lump of brace comb I am about to slice off!

 

[Fatbee]

Get a magnifying glass. Being able to spot eggs is invaluable. Often the queen can be found on frames with eggs (makes sense really), plus just because you have brood doesn't mean queen is there. Spotting eggs means she's been there at least in the last 3 days!

 

[Rich0909]

One piece of general advice - never knock down queen cells without considering why they are there. At this time of year are they thinking of swarming? Possible but unlikely - they are more likely to be there because either the queen is no longer alive and they are trying to replace her or the bees sense she is failing and wish to supersede her - in either case it is probably a good idea to let them do so. In your case as you saw eggs chances are she is still around but I would want to be sure before I knocked down the last queen cell.

Rich

 

[milkermel]

might be worth popping queen x back on don't try and find her first just wait a few days then see if you have eggs up top that are fresh if you are lucky and she is there you have less area to search. have you thought of just getting a cheap brood box ready for next year then let them move up into that and remove the gumph in your own time rather than having to worry where she is?

 

[oliver90owner]

Castellations still there? How many frames in the box? What hive format? Was it a prime swarm or cast?

With all the relevant details, you are less likely to be sent in the wrong direction by well meaning responses.

Getting those frame spacings sorted ASAP may be a priority, even if it means buying/borrowing a box. You need all the brood box filled with drawn comb if over-wintering on just the brood box, or maybe something to take up the space. We have no idea of when the bees might start using stores, rather than collecting surplus, so better to be ready earlier than too late. So concentrate on being ready is my advice. Effective end of season can be any time soon or perhaps right not until late November.

One question is how are the castellations fixed in? Have you used the wrong ones in brood and super? If so can they be changed around? If the bees fill your brood frames with stores, they may lengthen the cells and cause more hassle later.

My advice is not to search for the queen unless you need to find her. She may even run to the coverboard or queen excluder on occasions.

One point to action now is to reduce the entrance width to avoid any wasps gaining easy access. Avoidance of wasp attack is far easier than stopping it once started.

Even spotting eggs only means she was there less than three days ago. Young larvae is sufficient at this stage.

Shall stop now, so you can gather together all the info and sort out your priorities.

Start sorting out how you intend to feed them for the winter and have some sugar or fondant handy, should it be needed. I would not be expecting a honey crop this year, but if a few frames were available that would be a bonus. Guessing here that you do not have an extractor? Perhaps your neighbour might extract for you. Certainly destroying the comb to recover any honey should be avoided unless they get plenty drawn.

 

[beeno]

Hi Samurailord,
Spotting the queen is not an easy task to begin with, especially if she is not marked. However, it does get better with time, but that does not help you now. My best tip, which I probably learnt from the forum, is not to smoke them if I need to find the queen. Very often she pops out at me very near the top of a frame. Recently, someone told me that she is most likely to be on frames where the seams are very full of bees, but I have not had a chance of testing that hypothesis yet. If you cannot find her get help from someone who has the knack before you tidy up the frames. You are right to be concerned about losing her sods law and all that...

 

[Samurailord]

Hi and thanks for the tips and questions - i will try to answer them one by one

Castellations still there? How many frames in the box? What hive format? Was it a prime swarm or cast?

No, the castellations have gone - once we realised what the problem was we moved the frames to a spare brood box and added plastic spacers to each frame as we did.

The hive is standard national, currently with 10 frames (as we don't have any more) and we assume that the swarm was a cast as we had a virgin queen. Don't know where they came from as we aren't aware of any other beeks within a mile or so of home

One question is how are the castellations fixed in?

They were supplied loose when we bought our hive and I wrongly assumed that they were for the brood box. they were only tacked into place so were easily removed.

One point to action now is to reduce the entrance width to avoid any wasps gaining easy access.

Already done - we have a reducer in place.

Start sorting out how you intend to feed them for the winter

We are expecting to have to feed a sugar syrup in Autumn and fondant over winter if needed. We gave them syrup when they were first hived which seemed to work well.

I would not be expecting a honey crop this year, but if a few frames were available that would be a bonus. Guessing here that you do not have an extractor? Perhaps your neighbour might extract for you.

We aren't expecting anything at all this year, but as you say, anything more is a bonus. Our friend will rent us her extractor, should we need it, so we should be Ok this year at least.

Andy