What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Sutty]

I'm thinking an a/s may be better than nucing the queen in terms of avoiding swarms whilst you are away. Queen on one frame of brood (no QCs) on original site so the flying bees driving the swarming return there. The rest of the hive further away and cut back to one cell of whatever flavour you have at that point.
Then plan to unite once you are back once the new queen is mated. (And perhaps make a nuc with the other).

 

[MrMouse]

I'm thinking an a/s may be better than nucing the queen in terms of avoiding swarms whilst you are away. Queen on one frame of brood (no QCs) on original site so the flying bees driving the swarming return there. The rest of the hive further away and cut back to one cell of whatever flavour you have at that point.
Then plan to unite once you are back once the new queen is mated. (And perhaps make a nuc with the other).

Thanks for your thoughts - in essence removing the brood as opposed to the queen?

Sadly I don’t have a spare floor/roof to do so - my only option would be to leave the queen on a single frame of brood in a nuc on the original site and move the rest of the hive away. But then of course the supers would be away from the flying bees.

 

[Sutty]

Thanks for your thoughts - in essence removing the brood as opposed to the queen?

Sadly I don’t have a spare floor/roof to do so - my only option would be to leave the queen on a single frame of brood in a nuc on the original site and move the rest of the hive away. But then of course the supers would be away from the flying bees.

Maybe you could bodge something for now? A bit of board on the floor with a few strips of wood to raise the hive and create an entrance, then a bit of board on top would do for now.

 

[Sutty]

Maybe you could bodge something for now? A bit of board on the floor with a few strips of wood to raise the hive and create an entrance, then a bit of board on top would do for now.

I think this is less likely to get a swarm occurring as the multiple cells (swarm or EQCs) are separate from the flying bees.

 

[gregior]

Inspected 4 of mine that hadn't attempted swarming yet this year,2 had loads of cells the other 2 are ok for now. Quite a bit of fresh nectar coming in now and the bees are calming down a bit, I always find June the worst month for temprament with the gap and lots of colonies not queenright. Nuc'ed a cast from one of mine but no idea where they came from and doubt they will stay put. Queens laying at full pelt again now after a very stop-start May and June. Bramble and clover in full flower, rosebay and thistle still a week away,saw a few ghost bees already!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

couldn't inspect the home apiary yesterday as it was pis raining heavily and I was twitching over two colonies that were bursting with bees and brood but the sun appeared about six PM, too late to start inspecting but I had to go to the shed to get more honey labels and I noticed the bees were making up for lost time. When I was in the shed, the noise from the bees reached a crescendo and when I looked out, the air was thick with bees and I could see a load disappearing over the hedge, bugger I thought.
Today, although the afternoon weather wasn't fantastic I went through all the hives capable of swarming and............ no QCs and all the queens were at home! so either it was a passing swarm from elsewhere or a mating swarm from one of the many hives with new, virgin queens in.

 

[Sutty]

couldn't inspect the home apiary yesterday as it was pis raining heavily and I was twitching over two colonies that were bursting with bees and brood but the sun appeared about six PM, too late to start inspecting but I had to go to the shed to get more honey labels and I noticed the bees were making up for lost time. When I was in the shed, the noise from the bees reached a crescendo and when I looked out, the air was thick with bees and I could see a load disappearing over the hedge, bugger I thought.
Today, although the afternoon weather wasn't fantastic I went through all the hives capable of swarming and............ no QCs and all the queens were at home! so either it was a passing swarm from elsewhere or a mating swarm from one of the many hives with new, virgin queens in.

Dodged a bullet!
Or..
One of the colonies "not capable of swarming" was!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Charged 3 5 frame nucs today no eggs or larvae in any of the frames,
3 mated queens coming from mbc tomorrow hopefully.
Got a few brood frames to make for tomorrow what do you think of my makeshift bench

 

[JamezF]

That twinwall polycarbonate is quite expensive for a bench top

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

One of the colonies "not capable of swarming" was!

pretty bloody difficult for a nuc to swarm on a newly emerged queen

 

[Sutty]

pretty bloody difficult for a nuc to swarm on a newly emerged queen

True enough!

 

[Curly green finger's]

That twinwall polycarbonate is quite expensive for a bench top

James

I’ll be using that for clear cbs and second floors it’s balanced on boxes of equipment which I’m going to need to get at

 

[Wilco]

Got to one apiary I've not been to for around 10-14 days. Some queens have failed to mate, some haven't. One double brood split as making swarm prep. Shallows all empty.

Delivered honey to a client.

 

[Newbeeneil]

School boy error today!!!!!
I harvested some cells from my requeening of my fiesty WBC hive and thought I would use them to queen two Q- hives I have in one apiary. Popped the cells into those two hives and realised that another was Q- as well. (Well if was pretty sure it was Q-) I popped a 3rd cell in this hive while I carried out an inspection.
Within a matter of minutes there were bees buzzing around my head and I realised that 3rd hive was swarming.
They eventually settled in the middle of a large group of gorse bushes and I knocked them into a nuc box and removed them to a different apiary.
I assume the addition of the cell triggered the swarming with a virgin queen already in the hive?

 

[Sutty]

I really don't know but suspect the queen cell to swarm time is too short for that to have been the cause.
Did you check thoroughly for other cells?

 

[Beth]

Heavy heavy going up here. 5c this morning but sun now and bees flying like crazy. I think 2 hives are Q+ now but it's too early to go meddling to check. One has a homegrown QC, nuc'd to frames from that hive, then united back as the hive itself failed to requeen. The other got a mated BS BF Q. Honestly it seems impossible that a virgin could get mated now. Too cold, too windy, always raining or about to.

Hive 3 is doing my head in.They've been Q- a while and no laying workers. Put a mated BS BF Q in Friday, all ok, no aggro. I moved her to a push in cage Monday due to them being touchy, just to give a bit of time to be sure. Today she's out, but where? Being balled. I managed to rescue her and put her in a Q- nuc, alone in her cage. They're being fed anyway so they're pretty settled.

Question - they don't seem interested in her at all! What's the story with that? And will she be ok? She seemed to be walking fine in her cage.
Edit: It was very aggressive balling, they were trying to get in the cage with her and wrap round her as if to sting. It took quite a bit of effort to just to get her alone in a cage again, even away from the hive.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hive 3 is doing my head in.They've been Q- a while and no laying workers

You know they are queenless? Have you had queen cells on a test frame?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Two test frames in mid May splits
I really hope they are queenless then I can give them their queens back

 

[Swarm]

Twenty four colonies checked today, lucky if there's half a dozen capped supers but the bees have managed their stores well during the dearth and nectar is piling in now, dripping from the frames. Marked three new queens and gave some extra combs to a couple of the older queens in their split nucs. Looks like two colonies failed to requeen so they can have their old queens back next week.
Fifteen colonies checked yesterday, which became eighteen as three needed splitting, I hate finding cells in June. They had some heavy supers but only a few capped frames.
Another twelve to check tomorrow and I'm really hoping I don't find more cells.

 

[Beth]

You know they are queenless? Have you had queen cells on a test frame?

They had a single QC that I accidentally squashed, weeks ago. I went through them very carefully. They are ratty. If I missed something, she would have had to be laying by now. The BB is pretty much empty now, they're living off the super.