What did you do in the Apiary today?

[victor meldrew]

My day consisted of watching the pesky bombus hypnorum ceaselessly prowling around my hives plus a small cast !
One managed to get in the lure hive occupied by the cast but got pounced on and ejected !
Still better than wasps !


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[MuswellMetro]

Watched one of our hives swarming, I did actually get hold of the queen as she left the hive, I though I was holding her a little too hard so I loosened my grip and she flew off. They only flew about 10 yards away so I left them to settle then put them into a Poly Nuc (14x12) and a super, it was a large swarm. A little bit gutted as they were doing so well, thats what happens when you leave an inspection a few days longer. On the bright side at least I managed to gather them all in.

treat the swarm just like an artificial swarm, place it on the old site, add the supers and move the queenless side away 3ft or turn it 180 deree and place torear (after reducing QC to one)

 

[Obee1]

Beastly bees! They killed my Aga queen..

Oh dear! Virgins are notoriously hard to introduce - pheromones are weak. I had two bought in virgins and put them in apidea. They both got mated. Woohoo. Then I made up little colonies for them and placed them in introduction cages.
My beastly bees killed them both.

Think we need a better method of introducing virgins.

 

[Obee1]

I went to look through my mean colony which had been sieved through a QE overnight and moved away from the original site to bleed flyers.

Yesterday they were as bad as ever - despite being much reduced in size. No queen to be seen between those two frames under the QE. Maybe the QC mean that she had gone- but why fresh eggs! . Left them in their new position with QE between the main part and the two frames. Will have to see if eggs appear anywhere now. Annoying as I darent put my new queen in there till I KNOW they are q-

Have had to rethink where to put my new queens. Got test frames in three hives at the moment- all drawing QC. Must make sure to get timing right or sneaky virgins will scupper my queens.

 

[B+.]

I had two bought in virgins and put them in apidea. They both got mated. Woohoo. Then I made up little colonies for them and placed them in introduction cages.
My beastly bees killed them both.

Think we need a better method of introducing virgins.

This usually means the receiving colony wasn't queenless

 

[B+.]

why fresh eggs! . Left them in their new position with QE between the main part and the two frames. Will have to see if eggs appear anywhere now. Annoying as I darent put my new queen in there till I KNOW they are q- .

Laying workers? Where are the eggs? How many per cell?

 

[Obee1]

Laying workers? Where are the eggs? How many per cell?

Nope beautiful eggs one per cell placed at bottom. This was a young queen, colony nasty but they had a proper laying queen that they made themselves after swarming - unmarked though so never can be sure where she's from. Looked like eQC plus normal eggs. I suspect she went AWOL in the past few days.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Got test frames in three hives at the moment- all drawing QC. Must make sure to get timing right or sneaky virgins will scupper my queens.

If they're drawing QC's then they've served their purpose,proved they're Q- so no point leaving them carry on - tear down all the QC's then requeen

Laying workers? Where are the eggs? How many per cell?

Found four QC plus fresh eggs but can't find queen.

The oft repeated belief that queens magically stop laying four days before swarming. They will often lay up to the actual take-off, so you will find 'fresh eggs' after they've swarmed.

 

[Obee1]

This usually means the receiving colony wasn't queenless

Nope they didn't have queens. I made the little colonies from the colony of a retired queen. She's still at home in her hive.

 

[Obee1]

If they're drawing QC's then they've served their purpose,proved they're Q- so no point leaving them carry on - tear down all the QC's then requeen





The oft repeated belief that queens magically stop laying four days before swarming. They will often lay up to the actual take-off, so you will find 'fresh eggs' after they've swarmed.

Thanks jbm. The QC that have done their job.... I have some queens arriving Wednesday. When is it best to remove those QC - should I get as close to queen intro day as I dare?

Re the swarm one - they had swarmed back in early/mid May. Made new queen. She was laying ok. Isn't it a bit soon to swarm again?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks jbm. The QC that have done their job.... I have some queens arriving Wednesday. When is it best to remove those QC - should I get as close to queen intro day as I dare?

Personally I would just take them out ASAP,I prefer to leave them hopelessly Q- (that includes QC's) I've been caught out once like that but if you want to leave them - just make sure you don't cut it too fine.

Re the swarm one - they had swarmed back in early/mid May. Made new queen. She was laying ok. Isn't it a bit soon to swarm again?

It can happen - got one this year swarmed early, new queen mated, filled five frames and swarmed again.

 

[B+.]

Personally I would just take them out ASAP,I prefer to leave them hopelessly Q- (that includes QC's)

I wouldn't want them to be queenless for a whole week. Either replace that frame with a fresh frame with young larvae before you tear down the emergency queen cells or leave them for a few more days. Hopelessly queenless colonies can become quite aggressive
In any case, a queen excluder over the entrance will make sure you don't get a stray queen taking up residence (I had this happen years ago in a cell starter and I lost a whole batch of queen cells).

 

[Obee1]

So in an ideal world when the stars and moon align and postman pat delivers on time, how long prior to introduction of new queen (who will have been in the post for 24 hours) would you remove those emergency QC?

Also if the test frame went in a colony on 18 June, what is the latest you would dare leave the eqc?

 

[Robbo8916]

Just about to head down and check out the results of my split/nuc creation! Reports state that both hives have plenty of foragers however the home owner (who sits for hours watching my bees) did say she saw two wasps go into the nuc. She also said she didn't move for an hour and didn't see them leave, so hopefully the bees sorted them out.

Fingers crossed it is all ok!

 

[B+.]

how long prior to introduction of new queen (who will have been in the post for 24 hours) would you remove those emergency QC?

Also if the test frame went in a colony on 18 June, what is the latest you would dare leave the eqc?

The bees will know they are queenless within minutes of her removal. Within hours they are desperate. Overnight is more than enough.
Introduction via push-in cage, pushed all the way to the mid-rib, because they will be all over her in seconds and she will need some distance for them to get used to her.
That last question is a "how long is a piece of string?" question because it depends how old the larvae were that the bees selected to make emergency queen cells with. They won't be the ideal 12-18 hour old larvae - they will be older so they have a queen emerging asap - remember it is an emergency queen that they are making - not a perfect one.
That is why, I said, tear down the cells (having shaken all the bees off the comb so you get them all) and give them a new frame of young larvae....it gives you more time. Remember: queens emerge on day 16 (+ or - depending on temperature).

 

[beeno]

So in an ideal world when the stars and moon align and postman pat delivers on time, how long prior to introduction of new queen (who will have been in the post for 24 hours) would you remove those emergency QC?

Also if the test frame went in a colony on 18 June, what is the latest you would dare leave the eqc?

Hi Obee1,
The bees are not stupid they will most probably use a one day old larva, but in case they use a two day old larva I would not leave it any later than 27th of June. The arrival of your new queen may of course necessitate an earlier date.
Good luck.

 

[Robbo8916]

Checked the nuc and the main hive. Nuc queen cell has hatched, not very good at finding virgin queens but there was quite a bit of fanning at the entrance (nasonov) so they were either orienting new foragers or (fingers crossed) she has gone out on a mating flight!

Still plenty of sealed brood in there so plenty of workers yet to hatch too!

Main hive: Took the super off seeing as they have 5 frames of foundation to draw out (two are already well on their way. One queen cell has hatched and the other has been torn down. Again a fair amount of fanning going on, so maybe a mating flight too!

Had to do a bit of jiggling to get the nuc roof to shut properly, which then confused the bees who had been coming and going from the roof. Half an hour later everyone seemed to have found the front door.

And no need to worry about the wasps, seems they are managing them just fine!

Oh and I got to watch a new worker hatch in the main hive, followed by a drone as I was checking the queen cell had definitely hatched! Exciting!

 

[madasafish]

TBH - which swarmed and then returned - swarmed again today. Big cast and a tiny one : into the same tree but further up. Both nuc'd.

Tried my hand at grafting using head mounted light and magnifier.and IN THE DARK..should know if any took - I can now see them in the dark far better than I could with sunlight/artificial light.. Pity about my co-ordination

22C and not raining...bees busy. Lime flowers formed but not in bloom yet..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi Obee1,
The bees are not stupid they will most probably use a one day old larva, but in case they use a two day old larva I would not leave it any later than 27th of June. The arrival of your new queen may of course necessitate an earlier date.
Good luck.

Maybe not the bees - they can and will use a four day old larva. you could risk it to 12 days but ten is safer - 27th or 28th

 

[Charley]

Closing up for spraying

Neighbouring farmer rang this afternoon to say that they would be spraying the bean field next door in the morning.
Went down at dusk with sponges to block entrances, bees still chatting at the entrance.
Went down in the dark, bees still chatting at the entrance, think it must be the referendum.
Smoked entrances and jammed in the sponges to four hives. A few stragglers will be spending the night outdoors sadly.
Hope the weather improves and they can enjoy the flowering beans after all this palaver.