What did you do in the Apiary today?

[REDWOOD]

Need to put some more supers on tomorrow, I can't believe what they have done in six days.

 

[Roola]

Checked on two of the swarms I caught, one going great guns with beautiful queen, the other is much slower... The queen has only laid a few sides and appears quite small, does a small queen mean poor quality? Am I looking at a re queen here?

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[REDWOOD]

Checked on two of the swarms I caught, one going great guns with beautiful queen, the other is much slower... The queen has only laid a few sides and appears quite small, does a small queen mean poor quality? Am I looking at a re queen here?

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Was she a virgin Q, if so she might take a bit of time to get going, if not then probably best to requeen

 

[richardbees]

Hi Roola
The smaller one may be from a cast swarm - so suggest you give her time, I had a Q last year that was impossible to mark because she kept slithering out of the mesh in the 'crown of thorns'
Richard

 

[Roola]

Not sure if she was a virgin, was about a week after I'd last checked bait hive and saw they had moved in, there were eggs in the frames then hence I moved them. She just seems tiny compared to my other queens... I'll give her a couple of weeks to show me what she can do!

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[jenkinsbrynmair]

Checked the Demaree hive at the association apiary - they must be reading the same book as me! nice queen cell (open) on frames 2 and 9, safely and securely tucked in. Began to feel good in myself.
Checked my demarree - no closed QC's, it is day three so I'm expecting a few decent ones by the end of the week, and so smugly on to the Gsarn Cottage hives..........
First one, open QC's O.k. no problem a young prolific queen but with a bit of swarminess in her genes methinks found seven or eight open QC's, egs but no sign of madam after checking, double checking and triple checking!!!!! It's in the middle of nowhere so i think I'll have to take the hit on this one (unless she's gone already.
Second hive, yellow queen - open swarm cells again luckily I'd put plenty of kit in the jeep - also lucky she was still there as I found a sealed QC tucked away in a hole in the middle of the frame!. I decided to A/S this one into two nucs (she's a good queen, went from a weak nuc in May last year to giving nearly 60 pounds of honey) which I'll move up to Brynmair (very slowly) to be mated next week.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Just a quick visual look all caught swarms look as if they have stayed.

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[YorkshireBees]

Stole a frame of eggs (well that's what I wanted when I opened the demareed hive) which turned out to have some nice open QC's on for a colony that had a DLQ.

As I didn't have a lot of time I turfed out the DLQ colony in the field and let them move back to the hive. Carefully inserted the frame with the QC and closed up.

 

[leonotron]

Did a usual inspection. Had fallen behind so it was 9 days since the last. Found a sealed queen cell at the top of a frame. It was the only one. Plenty of space in the hive though. Any thoughts? Are they trying to supercede?

 

[Rio]

I tore down queen cups from hives and found a queen cell in one hive that I had missed. Damn! Queen had hatched but hive doesn't appear to have swarmed.

 

[einsteinagogo]

@leon I've had two small colonies swarm on supercedure this May!

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[Hivemaker.]

@leon I've had two small colonies swarm on supercedure this May!

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Was not supersedure then, was it.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Clearly not but strange places for sealed cells middle of frame. Not at base of brood frames. No eggs No larva plenty of laying space no queen present. Local Beek said you queen has failed just leave them Supercedure and then they swarmed leaving Q- ?

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[einsteinagogo]

Both were Queen 2013 Sisters same in two colonies....

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[Hivemaker.]

No eggs No larva plenty of laying space no queen present.

Not supersedure then.

 

[einsteinagogo]

@hive.... So what was it...... Clearly not usual as sealed cells not hanging on the bottom of frames but have read sometimes swarm cells can be middle of frames...just surprised with 3 week 6 frame nucs into nationals all is well drawn out frames plenty of stores and space to lay queens disappear no eggs no. larva no qcs just a sealed queen cell mid frame and only one and emerges and leaves with small swarm

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[garethjbarry]

Went to pick up my first ever harvest. Left with my super and another colony! Up to my magic number of 4 hives (no more splits now please bees). Extrated the honey and its lovely. I think its hawthorn from reading the description of honey tastes and there being lots of it around. A few more supers are nearly full so may get more honey next month! Happy days.

 

[oliver90owner]

just a sealed queen cell mid frame and only one and emerges and leaves with small swarm

The plot thickens. Not supercedure and not swarming - with only the one single cell.

Must be absconding.

If I were you I think I would get rid of all the queens and start again, with a fresh gene pool, if this is actually what is happening.

 

[leonotron]

There was still plenty of eggs in my hive and just the one queen cell. So is this a standard supercedure then? Do I leave them to it to supercede or is there a danger of a swarm?

 

[Summerslease]

Harvested 120lbs of honey from my three productive hives this week. Very pleased as last year's total was 160lbs and I'm nearly there already. This spring has been the best I can remember for blossom. If the Limes are as productive as the Hawthorn has been then this will be a bumper year.