What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Wilco]

You are down south so she should be laying plenty of visible capped worker brood by now. If you are only seeing drone brood you have a drone laying queen. This nuc is doomed. Sorry. It happens. Nothing you can do. Unless you are worried about disease you can just let them dwindle for couple more weeks, then shake out and autopsy. No point trying to merge them with another hive.

Potentially handy to have some drones around at this time of year though. I'd leave be(e) for the time being.

 

[StephenT]

Potentially handy to have some drones around at this time of year though. I'd leave be(e) for the time being.

Agree with @Boston Bees that there should have been plenty of visible brood now and so am not holding out hope for it. I'll leave it a couple of weeks. Still got 3 hives although one looks a bit quiet. One though is foraging like it’s summer.

 

[Barbarian]

I collected a bait hive from a friend's garden. It's on on my list to clean up but I won't be returning it for a couple of months.

 

[gregior]

Had a very quick look inside 6 of mine today I know it's a bit early but I lost a swarm before my 1st inspection on 6th of April last year and don't want that happening again. All the queens were laying well ranging from 3 to 6 frames of brood. Signs of some fresh nectar along with tons of stored pollen so with the weather set fair for the forseeable it's looking like a vary good start to the season.

 

[Antipodes]

Had a very quick look inside 6 of mine today I know it's a bit early but I lost a swarm before my 1st inspection on 6th of April last year and don't want that happening again. All the queens were laying well ranging from 3 to 6 frames of brood. Signs of some fresh nectar along with tons of stored pollen so with the weather set fair for the forseeable it's looking like a vary good start to the season.

I remember last year when I was asking about how early in the season a swarm might happen in the UK , some did report knowing of the odd early swarm in the last week of March.

 

[Nannysbees]

Had a very quick look inside 6 of mine today I know it's a bit early but I lost a swarm before my 1st inspection on 6th of April last year and don't want that happening again. All the queens were laying well ranging from 3 to 6 frames of brood. Signs of some fresh nectar along with tons of stored pollen so with the weather set fair for the forseeable it's looking like a vary good start to the season.

Happened to us last year in April as well but I'm still to nervous to go in just in case!!

 

[E&MBees]

Happened to us last year in April as well but I'm still to nervous to go in just in case!!

That’s happened to me too! Starting to feel jittery especially as temperatures are getting warmer. Max of 17c before dropping off again.

 

[W0otz]

I'm planning to go in at lunchtime - entrance has been incredibly busy for a while now, looking through poly crownboard bees are over all frames, box is heavy and gaining rather than losing weight so I'm a bit concerned about space, forecast is good for the next 2 weeks.

You lot talking about early swarm cells aren't helping!


My plan is to pull end frames until I hit brood to get a feel for how much space they have, but try and disturb the brood nest itself as little as possible. Hopefully less chance of squishing the queen and chilling brood that way. Spare foundationless frames at the ready (I don't have drawn comb) in case I need to pull stores frames to make space.

I know it's early, but on the offchance there's loads of brood, how many full frames of brood would you say are needed before supering?

 

[madasafish]

Observed the girls flying, they sound incredibly contented right now.

Please forgive the mess visible in the second video.

Sheep always make a mess.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

how many full frames of brood would you say are needed before supering?

seven to eight.
Nothing much for them to bring in at the moment to put on weights so it's probably just more bees.
Why foundationless frames?

 

[W0otz]

Why foundationless frames?

I like the idea of natural beekeeping, but I'm pragmatic enough to know that they (usually) need treatment for varroa and in an urban environment I've got to try and avoid losing swarms all over the place. Going foundationless is one thing I can do a bit more naturally.

Add in potential for miticide buildup in wax, stories of beeswax being cut with paraffin wax etc - going foundationless means I know 100% that I'm not introducing anything untoward.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I like the idea of natural beekeeping, but I'm pragmatic enough to know that they (usually) need treatment for varroa and in an urban environment I've got to try and avoid losing swarms all over the place. Going foundationless is one thing I can do a bit more naturally.

Add in potential for miticide buildup in wax, stories of beeswax being cut with paraffin wax etc - going foundationless means I know 100% that I'm not introducing anything untoward.

just be mindful that putting two foundationless frames in side by side is a recipe for disaster (or at least creative comb building.)

 

[Curly green finger's]

Hefted 40 colonys yesterday had to feed 6 with fondant as they were light in weight when using three fingers to lift, the ones I feed were lifting up with one finger quite easily so they have had 2kgs for the bigger colonys and 1kg for the smaller single brood.
Going out today shortly to heft some poly nucs.
My few mini nucs that I've wintered for the first time are looking good.
All hives were flying yesterday and bringing in pollen.

 

[Erichalfbee]

just be mindful that putting two foundationless frames in side by side is a recipe for disaster (or at least creative comb building.)

Yes. Good place for a foundationless frame is next to the brood between two drawn frames ( or better still in the middle of the brood nest but care needed there.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Vaped a couple of last years swarms that got treated with Oxalic strips last year

 

[W0otz]

Inspection complete, averaging things out I'd say 6.5 frames of brood, of which 3/4s of a frame was drone. I was surprised by the amount of fresh nectar - at least a frame and a half.
Given the nectar coming in and the forecast I've stuck a super on and scored some of the capped stores to encourage them to shift them (or use them to draw the super). Hope it's not too early...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Inspection complete, averaging things out I'd say 6.5 frames of brood, of which 3/4s of a frame was drone. I was surprised by the amount of fresh nectar - at least a frame and a half.
Given the nectar coming in and the forecast I've stuck a super on and scored some of the capped stores to encourage them to shift them (or use them to draw the super). Hope it's not too early...
View attachment 30882

Not sure bees will use stores to draw wax. Mine never have.
Happy to be corrected.

 

[Boston Bees]

Inspection complete, averaging things out I'd say 6.5 frames of brood, of which 3/4s of a frame was drone. I was surprised by the amount of fresh nectar - at least a frame and a half.
Given the nectar coming in and the forecast I've stuck a super on and scored some of the capped stores to encourage them to shift them (or use them to draw the super). Hope it's not too early...
View attachment 30882

Useful reference information for us, thanks.

How many hives did you inspect and take this average across?

 

[W0otz]

Useful reference information for us, thanks.

How many hives did you inspect and take this average across?

Possibly useful, but I imagine the weather's a bit cooler in deepest darkest Yorkshire than it is in Kent and so the bees will be behind. My bees are also in town, so again possibly slightly warmer than rural locations and plenty of gardens for forage.

Just the one hive - plan to change that asap. Taking one hive through the winter is nerve wracking though looks like it's made it. Plan going forward is 2 hives and a nuc going into winter, if they all survive sell the nuc.

 

[Boston Bees]

Possibly useful, but I imagine the weather's a bit cooler in deepest darkest Yorkshire than it is in Kent and so the bees will be behind. My bees are also in town, so again possibly slightly warmer than rural locations and plenty of gardens for forage.

Just the one hive - plan to change that asap. Taking one hive through the winter is nerve wracking though looks like it's made it. Plan going forward is 2 hives and a nuc going into winter, if they all survive sell the nuc.

Ahh, fair enough, if just one maybe hard to read across from it. But still, that's a good amount of brood.

Yes, we will certainly be a week or two behind up here.