Poor year so far

[maddydog]

As per the title.

Had numerous virgins either disappear all together or badly/not mated. Starter colonies are only rearing a few grafts per batch (despite feeding). Had a look around a few apiaries today and saw numerous dead drones that have been evicted so the next batch of queens may not be much better even if the weather improves.

How's everyone else fairing?

 

[SDM]

Pretty much the same , scrapped two batches of unmated virgins and restocked their mating nucs. Signs that some mated in the two day marginal window last week.
All we can do is keep making sure they're ready to mate if the opportunity arises.
Yes I've seen some drones get turfed out but tiny numbers compared to what's in hives.
It's not like I was expecting a repeat of last year's 100% successful mating , but this really is the sublime to the bloody ridiculous.

 

[Poly Hive]

LOL.

And you think you have issues. My new grafting tool is sitting at the base of the monitor all shiny and virgin. Looks as if it's staying that way for at least the next week.

In other words not even out the gate yet here. Zip, zero and the plan for the season is totally out the window.

Bugger!

PH

 

[B+.]

In other words not even out the gate yet here. Zip, zero and the plan for the season is totally out the window.

I've marked over 100 virgins so far this year

 

[Beefriendly]

I've marked over 100 virgins so far this year

You dirty old man........

 

[maddydog]

You dirty old man........

Not easy to raise queens in the UK (unless you're B+!) An important consideration for those trying to turn a few quid with a 'sustainable' apiary. Unfortunately all the failures have a price.

 

[Eyeman]

My first round of queen cells went into mating nucs on the 8th May and was lucky to catch a nice warm window as out of the 24 nucs only 2 were queenless- operator error as I had forgot to put a queen cell in the mini mating nuc.
This second round, 40 QC's went in on the 2nd June and have another week or so before I check.
My last round of grafts this year will go in on the 5th July.
Aim is to overwinter 60+ nucs wiith locally rearered queens for the spring market and any spare queens I may have left.

 

[maddydog]

Serious point this and not a trolling attempt.

Let's say I need 100 queens every year. To import those costs somewhere between £1700-2200 depending on where I get them from. All from reputable breeders and most of them will be better than my mongrels. So I need, at most, 15 production colonies to pay for them. To produce 100 of my own queens (if it was even possible!) is going to take far more time and resources IMHO than 15 production colonies.
Obviously I'm looking at this purely economically and not factoring in lots of the obvious but it does make you think.

 

[Eyeman]

Serious point this and not a trolling attempt.

Let's say I need 100 queens every year. To import those costs somewhere between £1700-2200 depending on where I get them from. All from reputable breeders and most of them will be better than my mongrels. So I need, at most, 15 production colonies to pay for them. To produce 100 of my own queens (if it was even possible!) is going to take far more time and resources IMHO than 15 production colonies.
Obviously I'm looking at this purely economically and not factoring in lots of the obvious but it does make you think.

I get as much if not more enjoyment from raising my own queens and testing them out than from processing all that honey.
Fortunately for me beekeeping is a hobby, but trying to make a bit of a profit adds immensely to the fun.

 

[Beefriendly]

Fortunately for me beekeeping is a hobby, but trying to make a bit of a profit adds immensely to the fun.

Yes, it's nice to have a hobby that pays its way and a few bills on top.

 

[maddydog]

I get as much if not more enjoyment from raising my own queens and testing them out than from processing all that honey.
Fortunately for me beekeeping is a hobby, but trying to make a bit of a profit adds immensely to the fun.

I agree. I'm increasing my queen rearing efforts for the same reason but it can be frustrating at times. Bit like the swarm collecting, it reminds me why I started beekeeping in the first place.