What a complete F**k Up!!

[colinc]

Apologies for the bad language but "oh my days!!!"

Not proud of this one, but if what happened today can be a lesson to anyone then it is worth me stating, but what a total F*c*ing Doofus I feel right now for todays misdemeanour.

Went through 3 colonies, all overwintered well no losses building up nicely really happy with life and ecstatic that the bees have done what bees do and seem to be in the perfect position to build now that spring is finally here.

Oldest Queen who is 2015 is laying a solid worker brood pattern but its a small patch on the frame, fewer bees but have a lot of stores left, so the syrup that I put on a few weeks ago in a Miller feeder to boost them, is not required. At the end of the inspections I decided to move it sideways onto the youngest queen to use up the syrup to draw out the super that I had added.....

Here it comes.

Lifted the lid on the new hive no bees in the super so moved the crown board onto the Miller feeder and then moved the feeder back onto the "youngest" hive. Big mistake. Did you spot it? I didn't check the underside of the crown board.

Fortunately after the bees stop flying, I like to remove the roof and crown board and look through the window on the Miller feeder to watch the bees harvesting the syrup which tells me when it needs topping up too. I moved the crown board slightly too far and noticed a few bees in the syrup. "What the ****?" I removed the crown board completely and there were 20 or 30 bees in there, and wouldn't you credit it one was the Queen. So in the 2-3 minutes from adding a super and deciding to move the feeder, this queen with a tiny entourage had legged it through an empty undrawn super to party on the ceiling. She went back into the hive between the frames looking like she had been out on the Dubonnets for a week like any good queen does, fortunately they didn't ball her and I hope she survives her swim.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well at least you didn’t lose her
I shook the remaining few bees out of a feeder once and the queen was there and took flight. Stan caught her in mid air.

 

[colinc]

That's an interesting image. Was he a goalkeeper in a previous life?

 

[For want of a better word]

I dropped a queen onto the long grass around her colony yesterday when attempting to freehand clip her...Wish Parkinson had kept his bloody syndrome to himself!

Must try out the new Maisemore queen plunger I bought in their sale!

I did find the lady ... after 1 hours searching!

Yeghes da

 

[colinc]

I had one queen run across my hand and fly off last year, this was a queen in full lay. she vanished. I closed up the hive and checked 3 days later and she was back laying and none the worse for her trip. She is expanding her colony well now.
The swimmer was last years queen in my strongest hive this spring.

 

[JWF]

I had one jump off the frame and onto the smoker - she didn't stay there for long before jumping back into the hive!

 

[Beefriendly]

Released one new queen from her introduction cage. Hoping, as per usual to see her walk down and into her new "home"....but no....off she flew never to be seen again....Adds to life's rich tragedies. 7 jars of honey she cost!

 

[Millet]

Released one new queen from her introduction cage. Hoping, as per usual to see her walk down and into her new "home"....but no....off she flew never to be seen again....Adds to life's rich tragedies. 7 jars of honey she cost!

I remember that last year, just aswell she was not from the more expensive breeder, still i would have been peed of either way.

 

[enrico]

I reckon one of mine may have jumped on the vapourisor tray and got fried, done it under the floor since, anyone else think this happens and if so why?
E

 

[colinc]

I reckon one of mine may have jumped on the vapourisor tray and got fried, done it under the floor since, anyone else think this happens and if so why?
E

Someone posted a photo of this last year. Took the tray out and there in the pan was HM. Not sure who it was though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I reckon one of mine may have jumped on the vapourisor tray and got fried, done it under the floor since, anyone else think this happens and if so why?
E

I do it under the floor too Enrico - read reports of Americans setting fire to their hives because of brace comb. A question - when I take my vaporiser out from the hive there is always a ring of Oxalic around it about half an inch away from the bowl. Any idea why? It means the bees don't get the full treatment.

 

[Beefriendly]

when I take my vaporiser out from the hive there is always a ring of Oxalic around it about half an inch away from the bowl. Any idea why? It means the bees don't get the full treatment.

And therein lies the big problem with Apibioxal (sans additive) treatment..
You have to make check mite drops afterwards and be aware of hives that can be mite bombs...something that is not fully understood yet.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

And therein lies the big problem with Apibioxal (sans additive) treatment..
You have to make check mite drops afterwards and be aware of hives that can be mite bombs...something that is not fully understood yet.

Thanks - I didn't know it's a known concern with Apibioxal. It did mean I had to treat one hive six times through the Winter to get to a minimal mite count. Exactly as you stated