What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Millet]

That is good news for you, its walking distance with a wheel barrow full of kit..

 

[madasafish]

Removing a national brood box full of honey following successful conversion to Langstroth and the heavens opened and it poured. Managed to bag it, place it on top of the other brood box full of honey, replaced roofs and legged it.

Very wet.

New vortex board appears to work

 

[Robbo8916]

Had a bit of a shock to be honest. It would appear I have lost a swarm. My last inspection around ten days ago had to be cut short due to forgetting my smoker. Hadn't seen any signs of swarm preparations at all. Not been able to get in since due to work and weather conditions.

Third frame in and there were sealed queen cells on the bottom of the frame, the same on the next two! Around 9 in total. No sign of the queen although young larvae seen (I'm not yet adept at spotting eggs). I had a really thorough search for her but to no avail.

Myself and the lady who hosts my bees went to the immediate neghbours' gardens to see if we could find the swarm but they must have moved on by the time we got there.

So looks like someone has got lucky and got my bees. The hive was still very busy but the bees were understandably very grumpy. The plan is to make up a nuc with two of the cells to get a double shot at a mated queen, and if I end up with two then thats a bonus I guess.

I knew something was wrong as soon as I started walking towards the hive and the activity at the entrance was minimal. Steep learning curve!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Had a bit of a shock to be honest. It would appear I have lost a swarm.

Don't worry....it happens.
Never mind....forget the honey and go for two nucs to make for winter

 

[Robbo8916]

Don't worry....it happens.
Never mind....forget the honey and go for two nucs to make for winter

Thanks for that. Must say I was expecting to get shot down lol.

Thats the idea, making up a nuc tomorrow to keep along with my full sized hive. They should be ok in the full hive as we still have the massive balsam flow to come in August which should give them a good boost.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Must say I was expecting to get shot down lol.

Don't be silly
Even the most experienced beekeepers lose swarms
I don't think I will ever get it right

 

[Obee1]

Not in my apiary but went to collect my new queen castle- and a right Royal palace it is too! A great big thanks to nantmoel for doing the conversion for me

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Don't worry....it happens.

Never mind....forget the honey and go for two nucs to make for winter

No need to write off a crop but keep one as strong as you possibly can, shifting brood etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BMH]

Not in my apiary but went to collect my new queen castle- and a right Royal palace it is too! A great big thanks to nantmoel for doing the conversion for me

Looks great!

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Good points today... Marked 2 recently mated laying queens. Reorganised the two parts of a sucessful unite.
Less good points today...... Shook out a colony which had developed laying workers. Investigated a sealed queen cell due to have emerged last weekend. Dead bee inside.

 

[Robbo8916]

No need to write off a crop but keep one as strong as you possibly can, shifting brood etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wasn't really expecting a crop this year as such, but certainly wasn't expecting them to swarm. We live and learn. I feel that the full sized hive and a nuc will do ok as in this area we have an abundance of balsam, which I reckon will give them a good boost. I may be wrong but I am learning by making mistakes sadly.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I may be wrong but I am learning by making mistakes sadly.

That's how we all learn

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

First delivery of this year's honey then dodging thunder showers to do a few inspections. Confirmed queen in one Demarree tower has turned her toes - BB full of EQC's. all cells taken down and a new queen added as soon as possible, luckily I also confirmed that the first batch of queens have been mated so a spare is at the ready. All other hives and new queens doing nicely, just need the weather.
Only colonies anywhere near tetchy was aforementioned Q- one and another waiting queen mating.
Bottled up some more honey.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Confirmed queen in one Demarree tower has turned her toes - BB full of EQC's. all cells taken down and a new queen added as soon as possible

JBM, How do you introduce a queen to a Demarreed colony?
They must be huge...the colony not the Queen
Do you just risk her in a cage or a push-in cage?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

JBM, How do you introduce a queen to a Demarreed colony?
They must be huge...the colony not the Queen
Do you just risk her in a cage or a push-in cage?

Already reduced it to one BB - I suspected things weren't right a few weeks ago, she was slowing down and by now there's little brood, it'll just be a double newspaper unite as there's two supers on it (luckily I got my free Telegraph on the flight back from Glasgow the other week )

 

[Erichalfbee]

Double newspaper unite?

 

[Obee1]

Already reduced it to one BB - I suspected things weren't right a few weeks ago, she was slowing down and by now there's little brood, it'll just be a double newspaper unite as there's two supers on it (luckily I got my free Telegraph on the flight back from Glasgow the other week )

Double newspaper unite?

Two sheets of newspaper as mentioned the other day on a thread about uniting?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Double newspaper unite?

Still undecided yet whether to put Q+ colony directly over Q- brood box, in which case I'll also need to put newspaper between top BB and the supers (done it before, it does work) but on mulling it over last night, as the Q- colony will be virtually broodless by the time I do it, I'll probably just slap the Q+ colony on top of the supers

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes that's why I asked. I'm going to give the colony that assassinated it's queen a smaller queen right colony. There are two supers on the Q- one. I thought that a small colony having to fight two fronts ( supers above and brood below) might get overwhelmed

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As important is making sure the bees are well in contact with the Q+ colony before they break through to get used to the new colony smell - if the Q- bees were mostly bunched in the bottom brood box and not that many in the supers I'd probably go for the double - as it is, especially with the reduction of the Demarree they're evenly spread.