What did you do in the Apiary today?

[beeno]

Hefted some hives, killed a drone laying queen and replaced her with a new one, now it's raining again.

Hi Hivemaker,
Some on the forum may want to know how you managed that without opening the hive and inspecting the brood
Would you mind opening up a separate thread on this, as it is very interesting, for the purpose of justifying your decision to do it now rather than wait. Also, I am interested in how you made your discovery, how long it took you to find the drone layer, how did you introduce the new queen, did you leave all the drone brood in for the bees to clear out as I assume it ended up chilled? Let us know in due course if the re-queening was successful. It would be interesting to know if others have done the same. Thanks in hopeful anticipation of a good thread!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Some on the forum may want to know how you managed that without opening the hive and inspecting the brood

No need to open the hive to know there is a problem, that can be observed from outside, when numerous stunted drones are seen at the entrance.
Five minutes to find and kill the queen, introduce new one, and leave them to sort out the brood situation, no not chilled,plenty of bees.

And no bee suit or smoke needed, well mannered bees.

 

[The Drone Ranger]

Do you have a link to info on winter cluster sizes please?

Hi Roola
This little booklet pops up for sale occasionally
http://books.google.co.uk/books/abo...es_throughou.html?id=18kvAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y

 

[Erichalfbee]

introduce new one

Usual way in a cage or something else?

 

[beeno]

No need to open the hive to know there is a problem, that can be observed from outside, when numerous stunted drones are seen at the entrance.
Five minutes to find and kill the queen, introduce new one, and leave them to sort out the brood situation, no not chilled,plenty of bees.

And no bee suit or smoke needed, well mannered bees.

Hi Hivemaker,
Thanks for the reply. Let us know if they pull through, as general opinion seems to be that the remaining workers are too old for brood rearing. I take it you have had successes this time of the year before? I like it that you gave the colony a chance. How did you keep your spare queen?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I recall my previous post on isotherms. In Jan, the W coast of Scotland, then ireland, Wales Cornwall and Devon, are rhe same temp as Spain, Southern Italy, Greece and Turkey.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Usual way in a cage or something else?

I often just do direct introduction, both laying queens or virgin,but never a traveled queen (one that hast been posted or spent a couple of days caged), but that is during active season, this one i caged with a tiny piece of fondant, just enough so as they would be able to release her within a couple of hours.

Hi Hivemaker,
as general opinion seems to be that the remaining workers are too old for brood rearing. I take it you have had successes this time of the year before? I like it that you gave the colony a chance. How did you keep your spare queen?

The workers were produced by the old queen in autumn, and lots of them, so should be no problem, they are already raising six frames of brood, i re-queened some last spring in mid April that had drone laying queens, and much older bees, they were also fine, but they do need to still have good numbers of bees, if not, best to just shake them out.
Queen came out of an over wintering mini nuc, in this case a Kieler, her worker bees were also added to the hive at the same time as queen was introduced.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thanks HM
YET another reason to have a spare nuc of some kind.

 

[Roola]

Thanks drone ranger

 

[Roola]

I often just do direct introduction, both laying queens or virgin,but never a traveled queen (one that hast been posted or spent a couple of days caged), but that is during active season, this one i caged with a tiny piece of fondant, just enough so as they would be able to release her within a couple of hours.



The workers were produced by the old queen in autumn, and lots of them, so should be no problem, they are already raising six frames of brood, i re-queened some last spring in mid April that had drone laying queens, and much older bees, they were also fine, but they do need to still have good numbers of bees, if not, best to just shake them out.
Queen came out of an over wintering mini nuc, in this case a Kieler, her worker bees were also added to the hive at the same time as queen was introduced.

So the original hive were happy to welcome her bees? No fighting? Did you just shake then in?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Did you just shake then in?

Yes, just shake them out over the tops of the frames, no problems with fighting, and no sprays or other things used.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I suppose at this time of year they would be a tad torpid and have other things on their minds.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I suppose at this time of year they would be a tad torpid and have other things on their minds.

Not clustered, flying to collect pollen in between the showers, but not in a defensive mode either.

 

[oliver90owner]

Clearly trickling oxalic acid would have been entirely ineffective at this time of the year for that colony!.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not clustered, flying to collect pollen in between the showers, but not in a defensive mode either.

Bit like me - getting out of bed and going to work, but not in the mood for anything 'hasty' like picking a fight

 

[drstitson]

"how long it took you to find the drone layer,"

presumably clearly marked? (not doubting innate queen finding abilities HM!)

 

[Hivemaker.]

presumably clearly marked?

No, not marked at all, i rarely mark queens, and of course she was a late supersedure queen.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Even from Heat Island, this whole conversation has an other-worldly feel. No pollen going into mine yet, And they stored none (that Italian component) so it's still winter in my apiary...

 

[alanf]

Even from Heat Island, this whole conversation has an other-worldly feel. No pollen going into mine yet, And they stored none (that Italian component) so it's still winter in my apiary...

There was pollen being collected on Saturday here, snowdrops are out but the colour was wrong, maybe mahonia?

 

[Amari]

I spent the afternoon trying to catch wasps that are raiding my hives! Yes, I know it's January, but they don't seem to know they should be dead or hibernating! Found lots of bee legs and wings on the inspection floor board, and severely depleted winter stores, so it seems bees and honey are being taken to wasp nest. What to do? Any suggestions gratefully received. (Am trying to locate wasp nest)

Very unusual. Could it be that the wasps nest is inside your hive?