It's going to take seconds to find out if there is a colony in there - if there is close them up and feed them .. if there isn't those hives will be toast by spring .. robbed out comb is a wax moth feast. If there are no bees in there and thriving they need sorting and sealing up.
Lift the roof off and place your hand on the crown board . Should there be a colony in there, you will detect it’s warmer than ambient .Nb it won’t be as warm as when brood is present !
Yes .. it's surpising how much heat they generate ... good idea. No heat then it's worth having a look.
Carry one of those pocket thermometers used for Covid testing.... if yoy do not want to risk sticking your hand in????
Good idea, I do have one and the rain is not forecast to let up here ... pretty much ever from the looks of things and definitely won't be opening in the rain. The constant rain over the last couple of weeks is one of the reasons I would be surprised at robbing, the fanning being the other.
Funnily enough I have been looking at one this morning and wondering if it would be useful. I couldn't decide whether you would have enough control once it was in the entrance to see much.This is one of the situations that I find my endoscope camera useful for. Highly recommended as a beekeeping accessory
Or you could use an infra red camera attached to your phone and video up through the omf
Haha ... Worth a try but it rarely happens ... it will just veer off in a different direction !We still don't know. Weather forecast is OK tomorrow in Derbyshire so frankly if we don't get confirmation by close of play tomorrow I am going over there myself to open them up, just so this thread can wind up
We still don't know. Weather forecast is OK tomorrow in Derbyshire so frankly if we don't get confirmation by close of play tomorrow I am going over there myself to open them up, just so this thread can wind up
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I dunno.. it's fascinating ... bit of an enigma whatever the result is ....
07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 Not that great, with a max temp of 6 degrees. Best it's been for over a fortnight though. Might be able to sneak a peek about lunchtime and then I shall not darken the doors of this thread again.
I don't think they are. There is absolutely nothing flying, nothing going in or out of the entrances and they were not on the fondant, but in the box below it. They only appeared to investigate when I let some light in. It is 4 degrees where I am and is also raining pretty persistently apart from the odd short break so they would have to be very tough to be out in this robbing.
Well ... probably been there for some time ... can't think that two swarms arrived this late in the season in which case there will almost certainly be queen present if they were swarms ... fondant may help them through and make them as cosy as you can... if you do get a reasonable day when they are flying I would be tempted to have a quick look to see how big the colony is in the full hive and possibly be prepared to dummy them down abit if small.
This is one of the situations that I find my endoscope camera useful for. Highly recommended as a beekeeping accessory
