What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Erichalfbee]

Is there a description of the Pete Little method anywhere? I searched the forum but haven’t come across a proper explanation

I tried this on two colonies when Pete first described it here on the forum. Keen to try anything new, me.
Both colonies swarmed later in the season anyway. So it was an awful lot of extra faff for nothing.
I’ve tried all sorts including Wally Shaw’s modified Snelgrove which was another magic bullet to keep the colony strong. Ha! That didn’t work either.
My proactive method is to Demaree and reactive to nuc the queen.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it is my motto ……..till the next time

 

[pargyle]

I tried this on two colonies when Pete first described it here on the forum. Keen to try anything new, me.
Both colonies swarmed later in the season anyway. So it was an awful lot of extra faff for nothing.
I’ve tried all sorts including Wally Shaw’s modified Snelgrove which was another magic bullet to keep the colony strong. Ha! That didn’t work either.
My proactive method is to Demaree and reactive to nuc the queen.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it is my motto ……..till the next time

Yes ... pretty much my experience .. They all have risks, the problem is always that the bees are going to do their best to do what they want to do. My goto method is usually to pick up when there are queen cells and nuc the queen. Mostly had success with this ... but nothing in beekeeping is infallible ! Anyone who tells you they've never lost a swarm has never kept bees for any length of time ...

 

[Do224]

I tried this on two colonies when Pete first described it here on the forum. Keen to try anything new, me.
Both colonies swarmed later in the season anyway. So it was an awful lot of extra faff for nothing.
I’ve tried all sorts including Wally Shaw’s modified Snelgrove which was another magic bullet to keep the colony strong. Ha! That didn’t work either.
My proactive method is to Demaree and reactive to nuc the queen.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it is my motto ……..till the next time

Haha, ok thanks. As an aside, what would you do if you find queen cells (uncapped) and you want to nuc the queen but just can’t find her?

 

[Dr. Abe]

I checked one of my relatively large hives and found a lot of pollen and honey reserves but not as many eggs as normal. I also found an abundance of drone cells and drones in the hive. Like frames with 5 to 10 rows of drone cells all the way across the frame. Is this a sign of a failing queen or what? It seems that the workers are ahead of the queen and are putting nectar in cells that should be laid in. The queen is almost one year old and was a OHB bred queen that I got shipped last year. Looking for advice.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Haha, ok thanks. As an aside, what would you do if you find queen cells (uncapped) and you want to nuc the queen but just can’t find her?

accept she's already gone and act accordingly

 

[Do224]

accept she's already gone and act accordingly

But she wouldn’t have gone in this scenario…newly built uncapped charged cell/cells. Just can’t find her…say she’s unmarked and it’s a busy hive. Is there no other option than to tear down all cells bar one? I thought there might be some clever way of doing a split…

 

[Erichalfbee]

Haha, ok thanks. As an aside, what would you do if you find queen cells (uncapped) and you want to nuc the queen but just can’t find her?

https://theapiarist.org/swarm-control-and-elusive-queens/

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

But she wouldn’t have gone in this scenario

why not? you said there were queen cells in there - capped or not unlike what 'the book' tells you they could be off at any time - as many swarms go before the cells are capped as what hang around for ages after they are capped

 

[Erichalfbee]

why not? you said there were queen cells in there - capped or not unlike what 'the book' tells you they could be off at any time - as many swarms go before the cells are capped as what hang around for ages after they are capped

Yes it’s still a chance. I’ve had a swarm go well before cells were capped and well after.

 

[Garry R]

Do you use this in place of a crown board or with? I am considering what I need for the tbh conversion to long hive which I'm doing now.

I used it as the crownboard but have 50mm celotex above it. I remove the insulation and can see through it. Its cheap too!!

 

[Garry R]

Did nothing in the apiary today. Bucketing rain as usual. Am away for 10 days (bad timing I know). SWMBO is meeting her long lost half sister for the first time (searching for 37 years) and we meet up in Ireland although she is from New Zealand (son lives near Galway). Bees-wise am keeping fingers crossed all will be OK - maybe time for a last inspection tomorrow but on Sunday not a queen cell in sight and the colonies not over strong. The strong ones were artificially swarmed 11 days ago. Will report back when we get good weather so it may be some time!!!

 

[Do224]

why not? you said there were queen cells in there - capped or not unlike what 'the book' tells you they could be off at any time - as many swarms go before the cells are capped as what hang around for ages after they are capped

So you would always just assume they’d already gone and never consider the method linked to by @Erichalfbee? I’m sure you’re right that they may have already swarmed, but if there’s only uncapped cells then there’s a reasonable chance they haven’t yet, right?….especially if the weather is bad

 

[Erichalfbee]

but if there’s only uncapped cells then there’s a reasonable chance they haven’t yet, right?….especially if the weather is bad

There's only one way to tell

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

So you would always just assume they’d already gone and never consider the method linked to by @Erichalfbee? I’m sure you’re right that they may have already swarmed, but if there’s only uncapped cells then there’s a reasonable chance they haven’t yet, right?….especially if the weather is bad

yes - if I couldn't find the queen, I'd just reduce the QC's to one and crack on.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

having not been able to inspect for a while because of weather...i found two colonies with capped swarm cells AND the existing queen...i can only assume that because the weather has been so poor, they hadnt managed to leave yet....caught just in time

also had charged QCs in lower box of a demaree stack with about 6 frames laid back up

 

[Parsonage Bees]

All this talk of queen cells! Nope. Checked the 3 at home and just a few cups.
Extra scan for supercedure cells in hive where queen will be 4 this year.

 

[Newbeeneil]

having not been able to inspect for a while because of weather...i found two colonies with capped swarm cells AND the existing queen...i can only assume that because the weather has been so poor, they hadnt managed to leave yet....caught just in time
also had charged QCs in lower box of a demaree stack with about 6 frames laid back up

I had 2 hives this morning with sealed queen cells with the queen still insitu also.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Managed to get some mini nucs sorted today , also split a starter into 3 nucs with cells and left the single brood on the original site with a good 5/6 day old open cell oh here’s one of my demarre boards which I’ll use as a normal cb

 

[Ian123]

Are those nucs put out for show? Id separate a little!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Are those nucs put out for show? Id separate a little!

Nope can’t you see the