What did you do in the Apiary today?

[OutStanden]

3 or fewer usually suggests supersedure, though during this part of the season bees will often swarm on them. Your friend may also find that they supersede the given queen.


Plenty of time yet.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/supersedurecells.html

What a shame for my Queen if they are supersede. She was a brilliant layer and had built them up extremely fast. I had a little soft spot for her.

Helped a young chap earlier this year with his hive that was queenless, jeepers they were nasty and followed us some distance, One was so determined it managed to sting my wrist through gloves and 3 layer suit...there must have been a sweet spot and it found it. The bees came from Yorkshire and clearly were not happy in Lancashire

These lot don't let me near the Hive. If I bump it they come flying out. I'm taking frames from them on Friday. I'm not looking forward to it.

 

[drex]

Take queen out and put her in a nuc then. She will last longer in a smaller colony, so you will still have her genetics. Also a good move if they do decide to swarm on these "supercedure " cells

 

[Do224]

If they are decent I put them in my dryer to reduce the water. If they aren’t they get put back under the bees for a week.

Dryer? Is that something homemade?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Dryer? Is that something homemade?

Having messed around with fan heaters and dehumidifiers for a couple of years I bought one of these
https://www.abelo.co.uk/shop/warming-honey/supers-heater-trolley/

 

[Wilco]

Checked the uni hives, lovely contented buzzing albeit slightly warm. A couple of grumpy guards on one colony with one of this year's queens, others doing well. Hopefully three shallows from the Buckfast colony, others- a locally caught swarm and their descendants less productive. Useful illustration of different genetics between colonies for the participants.

 

[Moobee]

One colony had a queen cell very close to emerging. Sadly I had to get home as I wanted to stay & watch. I did observe that the hive was wonderfully calm and humming contentedly and several bees were vibrating their abdomens near the cell or actually on the side of it. Have a video but too large to upload. It was a lovely sight and I’ve never seen them do that before. They never fail to amaze me.

 

[Wilco]

One colony had a queen cell very close to emerging. Sadly I had to get home as I wanted to stay & watch. I did observe that the hive was wonderfully calm and humming contentedly and several bees were vibrating their abdomens near the cell or actually on the side of it. Have a video but too large to upload. It was a lovely sight and I’ve never seen them do that before. They never fail to amaze me.

You can almost feel their expectation can't you.

 

[Curly green finger's]

80% balsam the other 20% a mix of thistle,rosebay and bramble.

I’ve had a constant flow for 5/6 weeks now mostly lime but now there are lots of ghost bees galore in the town, most colony’s I’ve managed to keep in one brood box by donating and splitting but at best some of the single brood will have produced 4/5 supers, three of @mbc queens from late June have supers on and are filling them up might end up putting a second on them.
Not all apiarys are the same though but there is a lot of lime honey around the garden stinks of it .

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Nuced the queen in my biggest colony.
Playing safe. 2 capped QCs in upper frames of brood area. Reduced to one.
Thinking it is too early for this to be a supercedure?

 

[pargyle]

Having messed around with fan heaters and dehumidifiers for a couple of years I bought one of these
https://www.abelo.co.uk/shop/warming-honey/supers-heater-trolley/

That's a nice bit of kit ... how does it collect any drips of honey ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's a nice bit of kit ... how does it collect any drips of honey ?

There is a drip tray over the top of the heater and fan which you can simply slide out to clean.
I did buy mine a few years ago and the price has risen considerably
It’s useful for keeping supers warm for extracting too.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

hardly use mine - thinking of selling it

 

[ericbeaumont]

too early for this to be a supercedure?

Supersedure can occur at any time, so don't go by the manual. During the swarming season they're just as likely to swarm on supersedure cells: best clip the queen.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Supersedure can occur at any time, so don't go by the manual. During the swarming season they're just as likely to swarm on supersedure cells: best clip the queen.

Not clipped a queen before. It's the first year I've even managed to mark all my queens. Not good at it. Will have a try.

Saw a post on here that they are still seeing swarms. A couple on Facebook near me also. Even tho' we're 6 weeks after the solstice.
Having slept on it thinking could have clipped her and pulled down the QCs. The hive is so big the pheromones may not be strong enough to suppress supercedure.
Still, hoping to get a daughter of this, my best queen. Nucs taken when I demareed her, failed early on. And the queen I didn't want to breed from produced 5 offspring. Typical!

Thanks. . . . Ben

 

[Erichalfbee]

hardly use mine - thinking of selling it

For commercial numbers I would agree, waste of time. You can't get more than six supers on it.

 

[ericbeaumont]

could have clipped her and pulled down the QCs. The hive is so big the pheromones may not be strong enough to suppress supercedure.

Yes, clip her, but why pull down good QCs? Leave them one and make up a small nuc with the other.

 

[pargyle]

For commercial numbers I would agree, waste of time. You can't get more than six supers on it.

I tend to extract late (last week August) and last year the supers had to be left off the hives for a couple of days and it was a bit chilly when I spun them out. Do you think a warmer like this makes a difference? My honey was a bit slow flowing but the frames spun dry ... is there a benefit warming them prior to spinning ? I was thinking of making something like this as I'm not up to £580 but ... is it worth the time it would take to make one ?

 

[ericbeaumont]

a warmer like this makes a difference

Yes, but easier to make an insulated cabinet that holds full supers.

 

[pargyle]

Yes, but easier to make an insulated cabinet that holds full supers.

The downside of something that big is that I already have three sheds and a double garage full of stuff and storing another thing that size, for once a year use, would cause me some problems ... what attracted me to the one Dani has it is just the size of another super -which I could squeeze in ..

 

[Wilco]

The downside of something that big is that I already have three sheds and a double garage full of stuff and storing another thing that size, for once a year use, would cause me some problems ... what attracted me to the one Dani has it is just the size of another super -which I could squeeze in ..

You can store several shallows in it for the rest of the year when they're not on the hives post extraction. That way it will only occupy marginally more space than you currently use.