What did you do in the Apiary today?

[elainemary]

I have a large and productive colony I want to keep together so I'm trying what Pete Little recommended. Will see

I've tried it a few times but mainly late in the summer (July) & it worked fine. I wonder whether they will attempt swarming again if done early in the season?? Please keep us posted!

 

[elainemary]

Tried the air freshener unite method for the first time today. Lightly sprayed between both brood boxes. Didn't want to spray the super so gave another light spray in top of the second (unrelated brood box). Seemed nice and quiet an hour or so later.

 

[StephenT]

That's it but I'm not interested in adding a new queen. I'm trying to keep my hive numbers static so the old one goes back in but not in an introduction cage...I'm planning on uniting the nuc back. They are much less likely to make swarm preps again if you put in a new queen, though. I must admit I've never tried it

Please keep us updated on the progress on this one.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Tried the air freshener unite method for the first time today. Lightly sprayed between both brood boxes. Didn't want to spray the super so gave another light spray in top of the second (unrelated brood box). Seemed nice and quiet an hour or so later.

It really is very effective, it also works with queen introduction! I had tried introducing a new queen to a nucleus but every time I released her from the cage they tried to ball her. The last time I tried I was finding it hard to get her out of the tight ball so I gave the ball a blast with air freshener and they all separated but the queen disappeared between the frames. In desperation I gave the nuc a quick blast and left them to it. Next inspection all was calm and she was laying well.

 

[elainemary]

Said I would report back on my first use of plastic super foundation and getting it drawn. I painted the frames with moulten wax with a brush (see pic).

Added a full super of these pre-prepared frames to a colony on Thursday, underneath 2 supers, the colony is strong. Checked progress yesterday and every frame, even the ones at the edges were being drawn very evenly and well (see pic). Great progress in only 3 days. Hoping to take it off at the end of this week and give it another.

Unfortunately as the colony is doing v well in their polyhive, they had eggs in a few cups on the edges of brood frames ( I took down 2 on Thursday before adding the super) but they’ve built more, so I nuc’d the queen.

Hopefully they’ll continue to draw the comb. Plan to use the plastic supers for the heather later this season and if works well, will do more next year

 

[madasafish]

Made up a double lang 5 frame jumbo nuc for Q rearing.(easier to move boxes ) Cloake board to come.
Added a fourth super to one hive - 8 frames of capped brood (Lang jumbo). Massive. Never seen one so big this early.

 

[Arfermo]

Didn't do anything 'cos my bees have gone for good. Sold the lot very smartly on the NextDoor website.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Didn't do anything 'cos my bees have gone for good. Sold the lot very smartly on the NextDoor website.

That will be a weight off your mind in one way. I’m glad you managed to sell them quickly. You’ll have to beekeep by proxy.

 

[Moobee]

Decided to preempt swarming preps and split my big hive (on double brood boxes) into two and leave the incumbent queen in one and let the ‘new’ hive raise a new queen.
All was going well, I surprised myself by finding the queen who I haven’t been able to spot since the start of the season as her white mark was almost gone.
Caught the queen, re-marked her and popped her to one side to let the paint dry.
Split the hive with equal amounts of brood (6 each) and stores & drawn frames. Shook some nurse bees into the new hive.
Bees really calm.
Gently ran the queen into original hive and all fine and then a sudden furious buzzing….. pulled the frame she went onto and the bees were balling her
Brushed them off but she was lifeless so put her back into the catcher & my pocket to sort out later.
So having completed the split and reassembled everything, I started to get my stuff together to leave and pulled out the catcher from my pocket and Madam was slowly wandering around!
So I decided to try to gently introduce her to the new hive as by this time, a lot of foragers had returned to the original site.
Seemed to go ok, she sort of fell in but the nurse bees were attentive and gently touching her.
So, is ‘playing dead’ normal?
I hope she recovers from being balled, if not I’ll have two more hives requeening themselves

 

[Newbeeneil]

Perha

Perhaps the commercial guy is ill and unable to do any swarm prevention. Do you know who he/she is?

He was on site a week or so ago. I thought it unlikely I would get any swarms as he was inspecting some of the hives.Today I dropped by to make sure the 4th swarm was well and truly in the box ready for collection one evening this week and there were others scouts at the second box.....Swarm number 5?

 

[OldFarm]

Last week I removed some surplus queen cells. One was a particularly nice cell, and I wondered if the queen would emerge if I put the cell in the incubator with the chicken eggs. So I cut a cradle from an egg carton, sat it on top of a small glass and popped the QC in. The queen emerged yesterday, but I didn't realise until this morning, by which time she had managed to get under the turntable and had perished. I realise I need to support the queen cell in a cage, none of the cages I have are big enough to take a QC. Any suggestions? Incidentally, if I had managed to capture the queen I would have made a particularly unpleasant nuc queenless and run her in.

 

[Erichalfbee]

So, is ‘playing dead’ normal?

Dead common.

 

[Sutty]

I incubated a few last year, in cages, just to see if it worked. They mostly emerged ok but didn't live very long, less than a day (no food or attendants).

 

[Sutty]

Last week I removed some surplus queen cells. One was a particularly nice cell, and I wondered if the queen would emerge if I put the cell in the incubator with the chicken eggs. So I cut a cradle from an egg carton, sat it on top of a small glass and popped the QC in. The queen emerged yesterday, but I didn't realise until this morning, by which time she had managed to get under the turntable and had perished. I realise I need to support the queen cell in a cage, none of the cages I have are big enough to take a QC. Any suggestions? Incidentally, if I had managed to capture the queen I would have made a particularly unpleasant nuc queenless and run her in.

Could have tried making it queenless and adding the cell.

 

[OldFarm]

Could have tried making it queenless and adding the cell.

I wanted to see if it was possible to produce extra queens using my existing incubators, having seen a few articles about queen incubators. The odds on getting from a queen cell to a mated queen are about 75%. If I can produce a couple of extra queens I can pop them in a cage on top of a super and the bees will take care of them for a week or two. Just a way to build in more flexibility.

 

[Sutty]

I wanted to see if it was possible to produce extra queens using my existing incubators, having seen a few articles about queen incubators. The odds on getting from a queen cell to a mated queen are about 75%. If I can produce a couple of extra queens I can pop them in a cage on top of a super and the bees will take care of them for a week or two. Just a way to build in more flexibility.

I had similar curiosity as I incubate chicken eggs.
Though if the bees will look after emerged queens in a super I would expect they would look after caged cells in the same way.

 

[masterBK]

Yesterday checked through 26 double brood colonies. Had to add third super to several but others not started on their first one. Bees going in two main directions to a field of Oil seed rape to the south about 100 yds away and to a large field to the north about 30 yds away sown with a flower mixture containing Phacelia, radish, mustard and kale plus others I haven't identified yet .
One colony was a bity of a puzzle at first. In the lower BC there were 7 combs each with a patchy brood pattern with lots of worker cells sealed with a domed capping ie containing a drone larvae developed from an unfertilised egg. Decided I would find and kill the failing queen. Didn't find her in the lower BC so went through the top BC (resting on upturned roof). Surprised to find 8 combs of solid worker brood with no domed cappings on any worker cells. Two distinct brood patterns usually equals two queens. I suspect supersedure back in september (although could have occurred in this spring ). Found the white marked queen in the top BC (as per hive records) but didn't find another queen (looking for unmarked one so not so easy to spot ). Didn't kill the white queen as not sure whether she was the failing queen. Decided to split the boxes with excluder between them and will examine next week. Maybe the bees will sort it out but which will they kill?

 

[Sutty]

Yesterday checked through 26 double brood colonies. Had to add third super to several but others not started on their first one. Bees going in two main directions to a field of Oil seed rape to the south about 100 yds away and to a large field to the north about 30 yds away sown with a flower mixture containing Phacelia, radish, mustard and kale plus others I haven't identified yet .
One colony was a bity of a puzzle at first. In the lower BC there were 7 combs each with a patchy brood pattern with lots of worker cells sealed with a domed capping ie containing a drone larvae developed from an unfertilised egg. Decided I would find and kill the failing queen. Didn't find her in the lower BC so went through the top BC (resting on upturned roof). Surprised to find 8 combs of solid worker brood with no domed cappings on any worker cells. Two distinct brood patterns usually equals two queens. I suspect supersedure back in september (although could have occurred in this spring ). Found the white marked queen in the top BC (as per hive records) but didn't find another queen (looking for unmarked one so not so easy to spot ). Didn't kill the white queen as not sure whether she was the failing queen. Decided to split the boxes with excluder between them and will examine next week. Maybe the bees will sort it out but which will they kill?

Not tempted to move the bottom box away as a separate hive, so foragers go back to the "good" hive and the probable failing queen is a smaller colony?

 

[northyorkshire]

View attachment trim.A251C01E-A8A2-4AD7-8DDB-788437D172A1.MOV
Pottering around on the allotment this afternoon not planning to suit up but then heard a large background buzzing. Looked up and the air was full of bees, which took me aback as I demaree’d my main hive last week and the other was the one in which I accidentally killed the queen a fortnight ago. Suited up and went to observe. Am I right in thinking this was the new queen returning from a mating flight? First time I’ve seen this but as I watched (before I had the presence of mind to find my phone and start filming) hundreds of bees were bearded round the front of the hive then started pouring in and then those outside were fanning.

 

[Sutty]

Sounds more like a swarm, though I've never seen a mating flight to my knowledge.
Usurpation swarm taking over your hive perhaps?? I've read it happens but don't understand how the swarm's scouts check it out!