What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Hivemaker.]

I think a lot of new beekeepers imagine selling honey is going to be profitable when they start out

It will be more profitable than not selling it.

 

[B+.]

There is lots of talk on here about breeding bees. I just wanted to give you all a taste of what that means:
In order to breed, you have to rigorously test and select. Well, sometimes the testing throws up results you don't like. One of my 2018 test group that I had high hopes for has eaten most of it's stores. It won't survive without help. Do I make excuses for it and say the autumn was too mild? Do I help it out and give it some fondant?
No. You have to be ruthless and let nature cull those that are unsuited for a harsh world.
If you can't be ruthless and let a favourite colony die, you aren't really testing. You're just fooling yourself. That weakness would be sure to come back and bite you in future generations if you spared it. So, I'm letting it go.

 

[Erichalfbee]

. So, I'm letting it go.

Eeeek! I would keep them alive and re-queen in late spring. Call me sentimental

 

[B+.]

Eeeek! I would keep them alive and re-queen in late spring. Call me sentimental

ok. You're sentimental.

It would be easy to feed them. The data is whats important though. In BeeBreed, every queen is an informant on all of her sisters. If I hid the truth by intervening, I'd be hiding a potential weakness in her sisters. That could lead to sub-optimal decision-making. It's the same with varroa and the other traits I test. You have to score the colonies objectively or the data isn't worth anything.

 

[Hivemaker.]

So, I'm letting it go.

Kill them off by tipping some petrol in the hive or gas them.

 

[B+.]

Kill them off by tipping some petrol in the hive or gas them.

You're missing the point, There's no data in that
https://youtu.be/V4j9tSneoL4?t=15m15s

 

[Millet]

Kill them off by tipping some petrol in the hive or gas them.

Or send me some they seem to die for no reason.,, it would save on petrol at least.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

You just don't know the reason lol

 

[B+.]

Or send me some they seem to die for no reason.,, it would save on petrol at least.

See point 1
https://youtu.be/R7tinVIuBJ8?t=23m13s

If they do succumb, I need to know when.

 

[Millet]

hell ye

 

[Erichalfbee]

ok. You're sentimental.

It would be easy to feed them. The data is whats important though. In BeeBreed, every queen is an informant on all of her sisters. If I hid the truth by intervening, I'd be hiding a potential weakness in her sisters. That could lead to sub-optimal decision-making. It's the same with varroa and the other traits I test. You have to score the colonies objectively or the data isn't worth anything.

Yes yes I understand. So keep the bees, requeen with a spare queen and just keep them out of your calculations. They are dead. I’ll have them

 

[Erichalfbee]

See point 1
https://youtu.be/R7tinVIuBJ8?t=23m13s

If they do succumb, I need to know when.

Oh I see.
Do they succumb when the last bee is dead or when they reach a minimum colony strength. Is there a point of no return; a point when you can requeen and let me have them. Don’t give them to millet

 

[B+.]

Yes yes I understand. So keep the bees, requeen with a spare queen and just keep them out of your calculations. They are dead. I’ll have them

The absence of data (even if the colony failed, or was unsatisfactory in some way) would reduce the denominator and increase the mean for her sisters. I have to test them "to destruction".

You can usually tell when a colony is dead. I only need report the month/year and reason for passing

 

[Hivemaker.]

You can usually tell when a colony is dead. I only need report the month/year and reason for passing

Yes, I agree, easy enough to tell when their dead.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Fed eighty mini quad boxes today, all looking good and strong and most out collecting pollen.

 

[B+.]

Yes, I agree, easy enough to tell when their dead.

The "take home" message is:

If you can't be ruthless and let a favourite colony die, you aren't really testing. You're just fooling yourself.

 

[madasafish]

8C, windless, so ideal to check on nucs...
Mini Mating nucs all alive added fondant but not really needed I suspect.
Topped up fondant on 5 frame jumbo nucs..

A few bees flying but damp and grey day so no great enthusiasm..


Only 3 months to Spring

 

[drex]

Total respect for B+ and all his work. I do not breed bees, but do select and raise my own queens. In that I agree with his " being ruthless". If I do not like a queen she is squashed with no hesitation, plenty more where she came from. Queen rearing is not difficult, breeding as per B+ is a lot of hard work I am sure

 

[B+.]

Total respect for B+ and all his work. I do not breed bees, but do select and raise my own queens. In that I agree with his " being ruthless". If I do not like a queen she is squashed with no hesitation, plenty more where she came from. Queen rearing is not difficult, breeding as per B+ is a lot of hard work I am sure

TY drex. None of it is really hard. It's just a matter of doing the right test at the right time.
After you've been through the cycle a couple of times, you begin to see the tests not as discrete events but see the links between them and what it all means.
Anyone who is prepared to learn could do it - just like learning to rear queens.

 

[Dadnlad]

Arrived at the apiary at 1pm remarkedly different to last week, sun out just clearing over the trees onto the fronts of the hives, everybody out relieving themselves and chucking out their dead
By 1.30pm sun had gone and everybody back indoors again