Pennyfold Bees
New Bee
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
- Messages
- 22
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Petersfield
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 2
Hi everyone,
I have a question, similar one which has been asked before (2 years ago on this post: http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14027). However I just wanted to ask for advice regarding my specific situation to confirm if all is 'normal'.
I have 2 hives, located in Petersfield, Hampshire. Both hives are new this year, the first colony was quite a challenge as the bees kept making QC and after tearing them down for couple of months, I decided to make a nuc from the old queen (as my dad was looking for a new colony of bees anyway). That was a fun experience for a first year beekeeper and it worked. I had removed the original Q and brood frames mid-July. The new queen started laying 4 weeks after I'd seen the capped QC that I had left, I was feeling a little concerned as I'd had to travel overseas and left the bees in the care of another green beekeeper, but the new Q came good. Obviously the number of bees in this colony was a lot less as she only started laying again mid-August, with a gap of nearly 5 weeks with no eggs laid. Q has continued laying although today (24 Sept) when inspecting the colony the eggs/larvae was only on 3 brood frames and not many. I believe this is to be expected given the time of year. Hive has plenty of honey, half the brood & 1 super and pollen stores. Colony is looking strong.
The second colony has been really great. This was a really good quality nuc that I received as a replacement to the first troubled one. This second colony has been very busy and productive, draw comb and filled 3 supers full of honey from when I got them at the end of June to early August. They looked particularly busy in the last month compared to the first, however given the split of the first hive I think quite normal. My friend has been inspecting, during Aug/Sept, and he definitely saw eggs/larvae & capped brood on 31 August. He said the hive was busy on 7 Sept but didn't specifically confirm seeing eggs. When I inspected the bees on 16 September, I couldn't see any uncapped brood, just capped brood, and no eggs. The inspection was in the afternoon and the light wasn't so good so I thought I may have missed eggs. I did however see the Q and she look fine. I then inspected the bees today, 24 Sept in good light and definitely saw no larvae, just a few capped brood and around 10 eggs, on one frame. I didn't see the Q on the inspection today. I'm a little confused by this, it definitely looks like a few eggs (have a photo but struggling to crop it to attach), but no larvae. Hive has plenty of honey, half the brood & 2 supers and pollen stores, colony is looking strong.
Was early September too early for the Q stop laying in hive 2?
Could this behaviour be due to the hive having plenty of bees and the weather getting colder in early September? Then over the last few days we've had some warmer weather so she started laying again.
Has Q started laying again or could it be a worker laying a few eggs?
Should I be concerned/do anything or just wait through to see how they are in Spring?
Note that I have not applied any varroa treatment to my hives. Probably should have done, but being overseas meant I've not got around to this. I've seen very little evidence of varroa in either hive.
Thanks so much.
I have a question, similar one which has been asked before (2 years ago on this post: http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14027). However I just wanted to ask for advice regarding my specific situation to confirm if all is 'normal'.
I have 2 hives, located in Petersfield, Hampshire. Both hives are new this year, the first colony was quite a challenge as the bees kept making QC and after tearing them down for couple of months, I decided to make a nuc from the old queen (as my dad was looking for a new colony of bees anyway). That was a fun experience for a first year beekeeper and it worked. I had removed the original Q and brood frames mid-July. The new queen started laying 4 weeks after I'd seen the capped QC that I had left, I was feeling a little concerned as I'd had to travel overseas and left the bees in the care of another green beekeeper, but the new Q came good. Obviously the number of bees in this colony was a lot less as she only started laying again mid-August, with a gap of nearly 5 weeks with no eggs laid. Q has continued laying although today (24 Sept) when inspecting the colony the eggs/larvae was only on 3 brood frames and not many. I believe this is to be expected given the time of year. Hive has plenty of honey, half the brood & 1 super and pollen stores. Colony is looking strong.
The second colony has been really great. This was a really good quality nuc that I received as a replacement to the first troubled one. This second colony has been very busy and productive, draw comb and filled 3 supers full of honey from when I got them at the end of June to early August. They looked particularly busy in the last month compared to the first, however given the split of the first hive I think quite normal. My friend has been inspecting, during Aug/Sept, and he definitely saw eggs/larvae & capped brood on 31 August. He said the hive was busy on 7 Sept but didn't specifically confirm seeing eggs. When I inspected the bees on 16 September, I couldn't see any uncapped brood, just capped brood, and no eggs. The inspection was in the afternoon and the light wasn't so good so I thought I may have missed eggs. I did however see the Q and she look fine. I then inspected the bees today, 24 Sept in good light and definitely saw no larvae, just a few capped brood and around 10 eggs, on one frame. I didn't see the Q on the inspection today. I'm a little confused by this, it definitely looks like a few eggs (have a photo but struggling to crop it to attach), but no larvae. Hive has plenty of honey, half the brood & 2 supers and pollen stores, colony is looking strong.
Was early September too early for the Q stop laying in hive 2?
Could this behaviour be due to the hive having plenty of bees and the weather getting colder in early September? Then over the last few days we've had some warmer weather so she started laying again.
Has Q started laying again or could it be a worker laying a few eggs?
Should I be concerned/do anything or just wait through to see how they are in Spring?
Note that I have not applied any varroa treatment to my hives. Probably should have done, but being overseas meant I've not got around to this. I've seen very little evidence of varroa in either hive.
Thanks so much.