What did you do in the Apiary today?

[user 15607]

Ergh!



Horrid... haw horrible for you.



This is one of the many reasons I get nervous using a queen excluder... I have one on at the moment to clear some brood out of a super, but I really would rather never use them... and this one is on my queen of queens! Fingers crossed she's ok!



It's a pretty solid wire excluder, so hopefully that helps.



What sort of excluder was it... is this common? Makes my stomach churn a little.

The Queen Excluder is a round wire type, I'm wondering if she had become undesirable so she is being superseded and not fed allowing her to squeeze (partway at least) through the wires, plenty of drones in the hive.


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[bjosephd]

The Queen Excluder is a round wire type, I'm wondering if she had become undesirable so she is being superseded and not fed allowing her to squeeze (partway at least) through the wires, plenty of drones in the hive.


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That's it. QE off asap!

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's it. QE off asap!

I hate Bailey changes....personal foible.
I would rather get a whole new box by doing a Pagden swarm control .....properly

 

[bjosephd]

I hate Bailey changes....personal foible.

I would rather get a whole new box by doing a Pagden swarm control .....properly

Mine's not a bailey, it's just a super of brood made on droopy unwired foundation that i want to clear fill and extract.

Hopefully queens stuck in the lower most box or 2nd empty brood and ignored the trying to get into the top space.

 

[maddydog]

I've often talked about how docile my A.m.c. colonies are and how I test them according to the criteria described on Coloss (http://coloss.org/beebook/I/queen-rearing/3/3/2) but, until now, I've only really talked about it in the abstract sense with the score I've given them. Well, I had to drop some boxes of foundation at the apiary this afternoon so I thought I'd take a short video of one of the colonies to illustrate what I mean (see: https://youtu.be/KGZ0ZmN-W8M). This is the sort of behavior I look for in potential breeding queens.

Lovely looking bees. I noticed one of the viewers gave your video a thumbs down - sometimes you just have to wonder......

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mine's not a bailey, it's just a super of brood made on droopy unwired foundation that i want to clear fill and extract.

Hopefully queens stuck in the lower most box or 2nd empty brood and ignored the trying to get into the top space.

Sorry bj comment was really in response to busibee's disaster

 

[bjosephd]

Sorry bj comment was really in response to busibee's disaster

Nah, all good, i was just bringing it back to ME! Haha

1, 2, 3, and back to Me

But I agree... bailey seems a little hardcore. My understanding is some colonies take to it, and for others it can make a right mess of things.

 

[user 15607]

Nah, all good, i was just bringing it back to ME! Haha

1, 2, 3, and back to Me

But I agree... bailey seems a little hardcore. My understanding is some colonies take to it, and for others it can make a right mess of things.

Ive got a feeling it was nothing to do with the comb change, she was probably on her last legs, would have pegged it anyway.

 

[B+.]

Lovely looking bees. I noticed one of the viewers gave your video a thumbs down - sometimes you just have to wonder......

Yes. There are some strange people out there maddydog. Whatever their reasoning, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the video.
That colony is in a double Langstroth. It is, perhaps, not the strongest in the test group, but it is certainly the best behaved. It will be interesting to see how it performs as the season progresses.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I loved it. What a beautiful queen

 

[B+.]

I loved it. What a beautiful queen

Thanks Dani. I'd give her a B+

 

[Fritillary]

Well I can't get out there to the bees today. But of course what I really want to know is: what is going on in the apiary without my being there? Now that the weather's cooled off... no rain here though... Are those bees in there thinking "Wait a minute; maybe we were ahead of ourselves and we should hunker down for a little until it warms up" or "Well! There do seem to be a lot of us in here now, so ..." Etc!!

 

[colinc]

Thanks Dani. I'd give her a B+

Lovely calm colony and pretty bees. Love their really sharp colour bands.


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[colinc]

Nothing. Cool wet grey and monitoring mite drops post MAQS but that's it.
Varrox on order [emoji6]


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[B+.]

Lovely calm colony and pretty bees. Love their really sharp colour bands.


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They are pure A.m.c. (island mated on Neuwerk or Vlieland, or instrumentally inseminated) so there shouldn't be any variation in colour at all. I will send samples to Germany later in the year for testing (so they can be awarded a "Korschein" or breeding licence) but they do look pretty consistent.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Checked a few hives and added supers as needed, checked a few mini nucs to see if the virgin queens had emerged okay.

Checked to see if these virgin queens were laying okay, they are, inseminated some more this morning...apart from that just another normal days bee work.

Roads have suddenly become very busy too, lots of cars and teams of two wheeled Lycra clad road hogs.

 

[JWF]

Chucked my last three supers on and united the remnants of a swarm with a small colony. One colony now has three supers on.

I've got another 50 super frames and foundation on order with Thornes - hope they don't dilly dally!

 

[B+.]

Checked to see if these virgin queens were laying okay, they are,

I hope not.

Looking at the night-time temperatures for the week ahead (min 1 degree C), I'm glad that I wait until May to start queen rearing.

 

[Millet]

..

 

[B+.]

The traffic today put 1hr on my journey.

Easter holidays = lots more people around during the day. The kids will all be back at school next week and things will return to normal.