What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Took a break from putting clearer boards on to respond to a Hornet call.
Family acquaintances had a hornet problem - fuelled by all the hype about Asian hornets they had phoned the hornet hotline to be met by total disinterest and basically invited to bugger off!! So I was called -
'are you sure they're not wasps'
DEFINITELY
'Bumbles?'
definitely not!
Have they got black and yellow stripes?
No - Brown and black, bit of yellow - they're big!

So off I go, they're in the eaves by the bedroom window, I popped the window, stuck my head out To come face to face with the most beautiful ........
Adult Vespa crabro.
spent ten minutes watching them fly to and fro, ten minutes chatting about crabro and social insects in general over a cup of tea.
Then home - safe in the knowledge that the colony is safe from pest controllers or shop bought fly spray.
And another regular order for Brynmair honey

 

[Erichalfbee]

And another regular order for Brynmair honey

Award winning Brynmair honey......I hope you advertise it as such

 

[B+.]

Another fantastic opportunity landed in my lap today.
I just ordered 2 instrumentally inseminated Amc queens (NL-55-2-4-2017 x DE-6-198-35-2016) from an AGT contact. They will augment my VSH testing group for next year.

 

[Beefriendly]

I guess your annual bill for apibioxal is minimal
Not having varroa resistant/tolerant/hygienic bees my bill is about £5 (on the urban black market of OA sans additives)...and about 4 hours time spend vaping.

 

[B+.]

I guess your annual bill for apibioxal is minimal
Not having varroa resistant/tolerant/hygienic bees my bill is about £5 (on the urban black market of OA sans additives)...and about 4 hours time spend vaping.

I'd rather spend the money of good stock than bad medicine (my annual bill is £0/year).
I am "over the moon" at getting these!

 

[Beefriendly]

I am "over the moon" at getting these!

Pleased for you. And it's not bad medicine it works fine.
Don't have clue what them fancy numbers mean though regarding the queens themselves. Perhaps you could elucidate?

 

[B+.]

Pleased for you. And it's not bad medicine it works fine.
Don't have clue what them fancy numbers mean though regarding the queens themselves. Perhaps you could elucidate?

The first two letters are the ISO country code for the breeding group (NL= The Netherlands and DE = Germany). The next set of digits is the group number within that country. Then its the breeders number. Then it's the queen number in the stockbook. The last number is obviously the year that the queen was born.
My code is NL-55-15
The two sets of numbers identify the queens used to provide the daughters and the drones. Effectively, this means they have the same fathers as my other 2018 test queens but different mothers.....so, they're half-sisters

 

[Beefriendly]

The first two letters are the ISO country code for the breeding group (NL= The Netherlands and DE = Germany). The next set of digits is the group number within that country. Then its the breeders number. Then it's the queen number in the stockbook. The last number is obviously the year that the queen was born.
My code is NL-55-15
The two sets of numbers identify the queens used to provide the daughters and the drones

Yes, but what does it mean in beekeeping terms about the queens...?
Why are you so pleased?
What is so special about them...and please, if possible, not in DM's or KL's big words, go for something a layman like me can understand.

 

[B+.]

Yes, but what does it mean in beekeeping terms about the queens...?
Why are you so pleased?
What is so special about them...and please, if possible, not in DM's or KL's big words, go for something a layman like me can understand.

They're half-sisters to my other test queens....except...I know this breeder. I know his stock. His queen 55-2-70-2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGZ0ZmN-W8M) is the best queen I have ever seen in over 30 years of beekeeping. She was destined to be the foundation of ALL of my 2018 breeding if the "Beast from the East" hadn't killed her colony. I was gutted!

These queens have the same fathers as my other test queens but different mothers. It's the maternal line I'm so excited about, although I know the paternal line is also excellent. On paper, these could be the best queens I've ever had.
It takes a lot to get me using superlatives...but...I am so excited about this!
Watch this space folks!

 

[Beefriendly]

She was destined to be the foundation of ALL of my 2018 breeding if the "Beast from the East" hadn't killed her colony. I was gutted!

Perhaps not good to breed from seeing their survival characteristic? What marked her out as the best queen you had seen in 30 years?

 

[B+.]

Perhaps not good to breed from seeing their survival characteristic? What marked her out as the best queen you had seen in 30 years?

Docility & Stability on the comb are my primary breeding goals. As you can see from the youtube clip, they were near perfect. Brian Bush visited my apiary and saw them...he can verify them as being excellent.
Honey Yield...they filled 2 Langstroth deeps with brood...drew 3 Langstroth deeps of foundation and Filled them (and back-filled some of the brood area).
I don't know about the rest of you, but, I'd be happy with an average of 90Kg of honey if the stock was that easy to manage.
Oh...I didn't mention varroa....very good (but I try to remember there is always room for improvement)
No sign of swarming....no disease... etc, etc... all good!
A daughter was sent to ITLD for testing...I leave it to him to comment on their performance.

 

[Beefriendly]

Thanks B+ its sometime difficult to know what you are talking about when you quote those funny numbers.
I'm still slightly puzzled.
I thought your main breeding aims were varroa tolerance/resistance/hygienic behaviour etc not docility and stability on the comb. Although i do realise that these traits are important. Amm breeders should take note.

 

[B+.]

Thanks B+ its sometime difficult to know what you are talking about when you quote those funny numbers.
I'm still slightly puzzled.
I thought your main breeding aims were varroa tolerance/resistance/hygienic behaviour etc not docility and stability on the comb. Although i do realise that these traits are important. Amm breeders should take note.

Yes. There is a portfolio of traits assessed.....but I am particularly careful about the docility end of the spectrum.
IMHO if you have super-docile colonies, its easy to scale up and raise your average yield. However, if you have aggressive bees, it can be hard work managing just one or two colonies. Nobody wants that!

 

[Beefriendly]

However, if you have aggressive bees, it can be hard work managing just one or two colonies. Nobody wants that!

I'm hearing that in Cornwall this is exactly what they are doing

 

[B+.]

Perhaps not good to breed from seeing their survival characteristic? What marked her out as the best queen you had seen in 30 years?

I think you'll find we lost some excellent stock to "The Beast from the East". Not because the stock was inferior...because they were expanding at the right point, but were caught out by freak weather conditions.. In a "normal" year, these are exactly the sort of stock you want.

 

[Beefriendly]

It's called survival of the fittest. One bad spring they die.....hunmmm

 

[B+.]

It's called survival of the fittest. One bad spring they die.....hunmmm

If it were normal conditions, I would agree with you, but, this was an exceptional event which struck after the colonies had broken cluster and were building up strongly. Not just a "bad spring" but two exceptional snowstorms.
Did you lose none of your colonies?

 

[steve1958]

I think you'll find we lost some excellent stock to "The Beast from the East". Not because the stock was inferior...because they were expanding at the right point, but were caught out by freak weather conditions.. In a "normal" year, these are exactly the sort of stock you want.

I am in agreement with you on this.
I too lost my very best colony early this year due to the "Beast from the east"
and there was absolutely nothing I could have done to change things.

 

[B+.]

I am in agreement with you on this.
I too lost my very best colony early this year due to the "Beast from the east"
and there was absolutely nothing I could have done to change things.

I think the point Beefriendly is trying to make is that survivors are better than anything else, merely because they survived. However, these are usually not the best performers and usually not what we'd choose to breed from. They are, however, all we can breed from....unless we make contingency plans.

 

[Hivemaker.]

It's called survival of the fittest. One bad spring they die.....hunmmm

Wasn't that bad a spring, never lost any here due to the weather, not even any of the mini nucs... and all in wooden boxes.