MJBee
Drone Bee
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2008
- Messages
- 1,812
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Dordogne 24360 France
- Hive Type
- Commercial
- Number of Hives
- 16 a mix of Commercial, National, 14 x 12, Dadant and a Warre
Lovely day yesterday so took the chance to go through all four colonies. One in particular astonished me:-
2008 Buckfast x ? queen, overwintered on double National brood boxes. I lifted off the top brood - it was heavy - and found the bottom brood crammed with bees, 7 frames of brood - eggs, larvae and big slabs of sealed worker and a few sealed drone round the margins, 4 frames of stores incl a lot of fresh pollen. Great I thought they have come through well.
I replaced the top box and opened it up to find another 6 frames of solid slabs of sealed worker brood![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
It was also crammed with bees including some very young drones
13 frames of brood on 12 March has to be unusual
I gave them a super to ease the space situation and will keep a very close watch for signs of swarming
Mike
PS the other 3 colonies were fine also, 1 a bit short of bees but with plenty of sealed worker brood and another with a very spotty brood pattern (old queen)
2008 Buckfast x ? queen, overwintered on double National brood boxes. I lifted off the top brood - it was heavy - and found the bottom brood crammed with bees, 7 frames of brood - eggs, larvae and big slabs of sealed worker and a few sealed drone round the margins, 4 frames of stores incl a lot of fresh pollen. Great I thought they have come through well.
I replaced the top box and opened it up to find another 6 frames of solid slabs of sealed worker brood
13 frames of brood on 12 March has to be unusual
I gave them a super to ease the space situation and will keep a very close watch for signs of swarming
![Cheers2 :cheers2: :cheers2:](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/cheers2.gif)
PS the other 3 colonies were fine also, 1 a bit short of bees but with plenty of sealed worker brood and another with a very spotty brood pattern (old queen)