Nuc/ Colony wanted south Shropshire area.

[Curly green fingers]

Hi, I'm looking to start another hive at my home apairy I wish I had started with two. Can anyone help pref locally Cheer's mark.

 

[enrico]

Having my own problems this year so can't help but is your first hive strong enough to split?
E

 

[Curly green fingers]

Having my own problems this year so can't help but is your first hive strong enough to split?
E

In the process of having a new queen inspection yesterday no queen 7 frames of capped brood no larvae. 2 QC with larvae in so probably not ? The hive has lots if bee's though more than I've ever seen.

 

[colinc]

I bet both QC’s are on the same frame aren’t they? If not can you split?


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[Curly green fingers]

I bet both QC’s are on the same frame aren’t they? If not can you split?


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Yep side by side the one's bigger than the other so I've got to choose . what ever happens to that hive I would like another one . I wanted to move one to 30 acres of heather later on a permanent site hopefully if all goes well .

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Why you got to choose.. bees know alot more than you
Dont run b4 you can walk forget heather

 

[Beefriendly]

. I wanted to move one to 30 acres of heather later on a permanent site hopefully if all goes well .

Are there other nectar sources there or nearby?
Heather is a 6 week crop....most take hives to heather and bring hives back afterwards. I'd be wary about having a permanent site on heather.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Are there other nectar sources there or nearby?
Heather is a 6 week crop....most take hives to heather and bring hives back afterwards. I'd be wary about having a permanent site on heather.

Its a nice apiary site lots of woodland hedgerows ect to the north woodland hedgerows a hundred metres. To the south heather going back up the hill lots of gorse Hawthorne/ blackthorn willow by the streams
Picture painted?

 

[Beefriendly]

Its a nice apiary site lots of woodland hedgerows ect to the north woodland hedgerows a hundred metres. To the south heather going back up the hill lots of gorse Hawthorne/ blackthorn willow by the streams
Picture painted?

Not quite your original description. Hence the concern.

I wanted to move one to 30 acres of heather later on a permanent site

Your description suggests this is not a heather site....at least by my definition..... which is about 2 miles into a heather moor with NO other major nectar sources around.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Why you got to choose.. bees know alot more than you
Dont run b4 you can walk forget heather

Lots of factors to consider. You saying bigger isn't always best .lol
Sorry for the pun.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Not quite your original description. Hence the concern.

Your description suggests this is not a heather site....at least by my definition..... which is about 2 miles into a heather moor with NO other major nectar sources around.

Im able to move the hive up into the heather with tractor ect. Would they forage on it then?

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[Beefriendly]

. Would they forage on it then?

There are a lot of depends here. Bees do not "like" working heather for several reasons and will, if available, choose easier nectar sources. But if heather is the easier or only nectar source they will work that.
I've found it's best to not give them any choice in the matter.

I live less than a mile from heather, but my bees never work it( I check pollen in honey), as better and easier sources available at that time of year (Balsam mainly) . Yet others in different parts of the country whose hives are a couple of miles from heather say they work it. I can only presume their alternative nectar sources are so poor that heather is the best source for them in their area.
Only thing you can do is try and see,

 

[Gwr]

Not quite your original description. Hence the concern.

Your description suggests this is not a heather site....at least by my definition..... which is about 2 miles into a heather moor with NO other major nectar sources around.

Thier description sounds just like my area where my own apiary for the last 14 years has been permanently based directly in a heather moor and I think I’m well in heather area as I travel about 4 miles once I past the first signs of heather and gors to get to my apiary ( and my home ), and my bees do well enough all year.

Even here there’s plenty of flora around to give me summer honey and keep my 14 hives busy all year, plus I have the luxury of having a very decent heather honey crop for no extra work every year.

 

[Beefriendly]

Even here there’s plenty of flora around to give me summer honey and keep my 14 hives busy all year, plus I have the luxury of having a very decent heather honey crop for no extra work every year.

Sounds like mixed moorland if there are plenty of other nectar sources around. The Yorkshire grouse moors appear very barren out of heather season, although I have never placed hives there out of season. Perhaps I might get a pleasant surprise.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Thier description sounds just like my area where my own apiary for the last 14 years has been permanently based directly in a heather moor and I think I’m well in heather area as I travel about 4 miles once I past the first signs of heather and gors to get to my apiary ( and my home ), and my bees do well enough all year.

Even here there’s plenty of flora around to give me summer honey and keep my 14 hives busy all year, plus I have the luxury of having a very decent heather honey crop for no extra work every year.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry
There's these in abundance also do you have these near your apiary.?
Also lots of alpine herbs . I saw my girls on vetch last year .
Just wanted to ask will a Queen less hive forage like mad or be knocked back some what because my girls have been bringing in nectar and pollen like mad. Will they still fill a super?

 

[Curly green fingers]

Hi folks I've bought two new colony's I'm moving them this week. The one hive is going to double brood the other seems fine. I plan to use some of the brood to top up my original hive so thankfully I've got my self out of a dilemma .
Thanks to the beeks getting back to me much appreciated cheers mark
Three new hives are on order . and I'm having ago at making my own hive body's.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Just wanted to ask will a Queen less hive forage like mad or be knocked back some what because my girls have been bringing in nectar and pollen like mad. Will they still fill a super?

That's a really good question and is on my mind. Why not open a new thread? I was told once (i.e., careful with this) that the sadness of being Q- means they do not bring in a crop as well as you would expect with no brood to feed or attend to. Otherwise it seems really obvious to me to remove an old queen 3 weeks before the main flow, take off supers, treat, and replace her in time for winter bees but I've never tried it and would love to hear opinions.

 

[Beefriendly]

Without a queen they are quite disorganized and won't really forage. What you can do is cage the queen and restrict her laying to a single frame or 2 or three frames. This frees up a lot of nurse bees to assist the foragers.

 

[Millet]

That's a really good question and is on my mind. Why not open a new thread? I was told once (i.e., careful with this) that the sadness of being Q- means they do not bring in a crop as well as you would expect with no brood to feed or attend to. Otherwise it seems really obvious to me to remove an old queen 3 weeks before the main flow, take off supers, treat, and replace her in time for winter bees but I've never tried it and would love to hear opinions.

From past experience with Q- hives which had produced laying workers on two occasions and in doing so produced a lot of drones, and i would have thought that them drones need feeding.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Without a queen they are quite disorganized and won't really forage. What you can do is cage the queen and restrict her laying to a single frame or 2 or three frames. This frees up a lot of nurse bees to assist the foragers.

Temperament has been some what nasty as well as the Inspection's have gone on to. When you say restrict could I use a Q excluder cut down to restrict the new Queen? I get the idea.

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