What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Parsonage Bees]

Inspected all but my home apiary today. I have one colony still in a Demaree, two supers in the middle and two on top. I'm going to take the top two off tomorrow and work my way down. Partly I'm doing it piecemeal because clearly at some point I had brainfade and put the Demaree board in with the entrance to the side rather than the front. So now I have lots of bees to train to look for the entrance on the correct face of the hive. I put a super and a clearer board into the stack of boxes and it's now so high that I can't see over it Lifting a full super to head height and putting it gently on top of the stack of boxes is not easy.

Just keep throwing on another super!

Haven't taken any honey yet this year. This is the only colony collecting anything.
Making increase by leaving QC in top of demaree (hope she can't get down through QE) and making nuc. Demareed 2 weeks ago with BB and 3 supers, 2 with brood. VQs in top and in the nuc just emerged so don't want to open them again for 2 weeks so added another empty super today. Probably an empty BB and 2 empty supers across the stack.
A bit crazy. At least I know there are some serious foundations under that stand.
. . . Ben

 

[E&MBees]

Mixed bag today.
Had to put a test frame in one hive. Should be a newly mated queen in situ, but multiple eggs in cells and they have drawn queen cells with eggs but no royal jelly. Replaced a queen prone to chalkbrood and sacbrood. Will remove tab on cage tomorrow. Bees were positive with their response to the replacement queen. First time I have deliberately squashed a queen. Prepared another colony for combining. Fairly certain they are queenless but will give them another week just in case. My new 2024 queen is laying well, good pattern. I was worried about the back filling of nectar, but her bees have cleared space for her.
Brambles have started flowering at one site, frames were quite sticky with fresh nectar but at the other site, the buds are tightly closed still.

 

[Do224]

Replaced a queen prone to chalkbrood and sacbrood. Will remove tab on cage tomorrow. Bees were positive with their response to the replacement queen. First time I have deliberately squashed a queen.

what’s the process for replacing a queen in that way? Is it as simple as squashing the unwanted queen and then adding the new queen in a cage with attendants straight away…then remove the tab the next day and let the bees release the queen in their own time by eating the fondant?

 

[E&MBees]

what’s the process for replacing a queen in that way? Is it as simple as squashing the unwanted queen and then adding the new queen in a cage with attendants straight away…then remove the tab the next day and let the bees release the queen in their own time by eating the fondant?

Yes, that’s what I’m doing. I didn’t add attendants though. I caged her in the car after capturing her in my marking tube having put the fondant in the cage first. Popped her in my bee suit pocket whilst I drove to the other site. Found the other queen, squashed her and then hung the cage with the replacement queen in between the frames. For once, it was straight forward.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

what’s the process for replacing a queen in that way? Is it as simple as squashing the unwanted queen and then adding the new queen in a cage with attendants straight away…then remove the tab the next day and let the bees release the queen in their own time by eating the fondant?

yes, put the replacement queen in the hive immediately on removing the old one

 

[Erichalfbee]

what’s the process for replacing a queen in that way?

It’s really easy if you are introducing a laying queen.

 

[Do224]

Yes, that’s what I’m doing. I didn’t add attendants though. I caged her in the car after capturing her in my marking tube having put the fondant in the cage first. Popped her in my bee suit pocket whilst I drove to the other site. Found the other queen, squashed her and then hung the cage with the replacement queen in between the frames. For once, it was straight forward.

Sounds nice and straightforward . What are the circumstances when attendants are required and why weren’t they in this instance?

 

[Roger.Wilco]

Sounds nice and straightforward . What are the circumstances when attendants are required and why weren’t they in this instance?

I'm assuming as there was no Royal Post involved - there was no delay - so feeding the queen during transit was not a concern.

 

[Do224]

I'm assuming as there was no Royal Post involved - there was no delay - so feeding the queen during transit was not a concern.

Ah ok, so the attendants are just for when the cage is out of the hive then…presumably workers can feed the queen from outside the cage (through the breather holes?) if it’s within a hive

 

[Curly green finger's]

View attachment 40188

Just keep throwing on another super!

Haven't taken any honey yet this year. This is the only colony collecting anything.
Making increase by leaving QC in top of demaree (hope she can't get down through QE) and making nuc. Demareed 2 weeks ago with BB and 3 supers, 2 with brood. VQs in top and in the nuc just emerged so don't want to open them again for 2 weeks so added another empty super today. Probably an empty BB and 2 empty supers across the stack.
A bit crazy. At least I know there are some serious foundations under that stand.
. . . Ben

I like the colours you’ve got going on

 

[gregior]

Mad day with the bees today, site 1 ,8 hives, 3 ok,2 swarming,2 waiting for Q's to mate 1 gone drone layer. Site 2, 15 hives only managed to get first 6 done, 2 ok 4 swarming!
Weather outlook for the next 10 days is very cool for the time of year with possible overnight frosts so that will slow the flowers down some. Plenty of spring honey in supers,not much capped but it's all ripe so i'll probably take some off next week to get some boxes emptied ready for the main flow.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Ah ok, so the attendants are just for when the cage is out of the hive then…presumably workers can feed the queen from outside the cage (through the breather holes?) if it’s within a hive

yes, attendants are put in to tend the queen when she's in transit for some time, if a queen is taken out of a hive and then put in an introduction cage for immediate insertion into a hive, then they are not needed.

 

[Antipodes]

Sorry to disappoint, but had a look in and it looks like yesterday they just had a funny five minutes. Same queen, large and a lovely amber colour. The eggs and young larvae seen last week have turned out to be workers, not more drones. This is the second time this year there was evidence she had become a drone layer, only to find worker brood a week or so later. Still a very large amount of drone brood though.
Their temperament today was pretty awful - as it was in April before greatly improving in mid May. I don’t know what these bees are on, but they’re no good as a garden colony. They do have two supers filled but only partially capped.
So I don’t understand what occurred yesterday.

Thanks for reporting back. am disappointed there is nothing more exciting going on, but more importantly, it sounds like they have behavioural issues which hopefully will improve.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Enjoying the good weather

 

[Murox]

Yesterday I enjoyed a day of warm sunshine and even pulled a couple of supers worth of honey. Routed around one long hive and came away with three full frames of what must be last autumn's heather honey. Of course today its back to 12 degrees and full cloud. Ho-hum!

 

[Nannysbees]

Checked on the test frame this morning, think they are queenless!!

 

[Do224]

Checked on a unite I did on 16th May.

They’re on single brood and they had brood on every frame…no stores whatsoever. Eggs everywhere. Loads of bees. Not touched the undrawn super.

Decided I couldn’t just feed them as they didn’t really have anywhere to put it, so I gave them a second bb and a couple of frames of stores…the rest foundation. Split the brood between the middle of the two brood boxes and put the stores frames on the outside of the lower box.

Placed the super back on top and fed about 200ml of 1:1. Plan to trickle feed this amount every day until next inspection and reassess then.

Curious to know if I’ve done the right thing in this situation?

Also, is this colony likely to produce much honey or have they got enough on their plate filling the second bb they’ve just been given? Is it late in the season to be going double brood?

 

[The Poot]

Checked on a unite I did on 16th May.

They’re on single brood and they had brood on every frame…no stores whatsoever. Eggs everywhere. Loads of bees. Not touched the undrawn super.

Decided I couldn’t just feed them as they didn’t really have anywhere to put it, so I gave them a second bb and a couple of frames of stores…the rest foundation. Split the brood between the middle of the two brood boxes and put the stores frames on the outside of the lower box.

Placed the super back on top and fed about 200ml of 1:1. Plan to trickle feed this amount every day until next inspection and reassess then.

Curious to know if I’ve done the right thing in this situation?

Also, is this colony likely to produce much honey or have they got enough on their plate filling the second bb they’ve just been given? Is it late in the season to be going double brood?

It’s what I would have done, without the feeding (as you gave them stores).
But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right thing to do……..

 

[drex]

About 3 weeks ago I made 3 splits from qc's in top box of a Demaree. Saw a virgin in one of them today and the other two had polished cells. Fingers crossed

 

[E&MBees]

Removed the cage tab on the queen that I introduced yesterday. They still seemed happy. I’ll give them a week or so before disturbing them to check she has been accepted.