What next - double brood 14 x 12 ?

[pargyle]

You'll have more hives than Finman soon
Think of the power that will give you

..... more through good luck than good management I fear ...

I wonder who lost a red queen though ?... and whether she really is a red queen or whether she's a green or blue from a colour blind beekeeper ? Didn't hear anyone running down the road banging a saucepan so they are MINE NOW... ALL MINE MINE MINE ...

 

[Tremyfro]

Luckily MY red queen is still at home!

 

[pargyle]

They are round in my apiary now ... popped another frame of honey/empty cells in there and another empty frame but could not get the 5th frame into the nuc as there were a lot of bees in there ... may have to rethink - they could have outgrown the Nuc before the LDH is ready for occupation .... here we go again .... I feel the pain of another Paynes Poly tugging at my wallet ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I feel the pain of another Paynes Poly tugging at my wallet ...

This is where a Paynes nuc with the feeder cut out giving you eight frames, comes in useful.....better get one of those too

 

[pargyle]

I feel the pain of another Paynes Poly tugging at my wallet ...

This is where a Paynes nuc with the feeder cut out giving you eight frames, comes in useful.....better get one of those too

That's a good idea ...It's £100 to make up the carriage free value (groan !!) so that might just do it ...

Just making up a couple of litres of 1:1 as the weather is foul today (raining) and not much improvement until Wednesday so I reckon that just a couple of litres will give them a hand comb building for the next couple of days and then they are on their own.

 

[pargyle]

It never goes to plan does it ?

A couple of weeks ago I cut out a colony from a compost bin ... Put it in a nuc, fed it, queen was a nice fat lady and laying well.

I have had one of my hives that was (I thought) hopelessly queen less, one of the splits from my Long Hive .. No eggs or brood for nearly three months. I gave them as long as I thought they could possibly need for a queen to get laying but nothing, certainly no swarms .. So I figured that the queen that I knew was in there originally had not made it. They have had three test frames ... the first two each time they made queen cells but then tore them down. No sign of any drone laying - bees as placid as they usually are but no sign of a queen. All the signs were that there could be a queen in there but the bees were clearly as confused as I was. I'd tried all the tricks to find her but no sign. I put the third test frame in three weeks ago .. no queen cells, still no signs of laying of any sort as of Wednesday 29th when I last looked in there.

So ... I thought ...Today I'd have one last shot at finding the queen and then risk doing a newspaper combine with the compost colony. I've no spare brood boxes so I knocked up a pine brood box to use just for the combining.

Got everything ready this evening, roof off the 'queenless' hive, pulled the first frame ... wall to wall capped brood ... and larvae and eggs ...

Why does it never go to plan ?

So ... the only brood box I've got is the one I've just made - no floor, no roof. no stand, no frames made up ... bugger it !!

Other options are to finish modifying my Long Deep Hive or buy another Paynes poly... the compost colony is too big to stay in the nuc for much longer so it's going to have to be another full size hive - or possibly a Paynes Nuc with the feeder cut out to give me 8 frames ?

6 Hives now ... How did that happen ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Go shopping at Paynes. You know you want to

 

[BeeJayBee]

Why does it never go to plan ?

They have their own cunning plan, but is it possible that a swarm moved in?

6 Hives now ... How did that happen ?

All too easily!

And it'll be at least 12 next year, if you're not careful!

 

[pargyle]

They have their own cunning plan, but is it possible that a swarm moved in?

Very unlikely .. the hive has always been full of bees .. I look through the clear crown boards almost every night when I get home from work at midnight .. head torch and LED torch ... sad aren't I ?? Just love to see them working ... I can't think that they would have accepted a swarm and it's certainly not one from my hives.

All too easily!

Yes ... can't believe how it's escalated this year ...

And it'll be at least 12 next year, if you're not careful!

Hmmm ... I'll need a bigger garden or another apiary ... and a plan ... and a second mortgage ... I don't think this year's honey sales are going to make enough to cover another 6 hives .. of whatever sort !

 

[Tremyfro]

Have you put bees back in the long hive yet?
Sounds like congestion in your home apiary! An out apiary might just be on the cards.

 

[Erichalfbee]

So many of us in the same boat. I have eight boxes. I planned on 2. They WILL be sorted into 5 and I'll sell one on in the spring. At least you are clever enough to make your own

 

[Tremyfro]

Ha ha...lots of bees but no honey this year for many of us. Although I was planning increase. My 2 production hives have struggled to make much honey as the weather has been so poor. The last few days have been good and the girls have been out...I would love to see some white ladies!
I now have 8 hives plus a nuc. I sold 2. My autumn plan is to install 3 colonies into long hives...for easier management next year...and that will release some hives for the spring swarm control....so that is it!
I will see how they all get on this month and may combine a few....which is scary as I haven't done a combine yet! I aimed at about 6 hives.
My main problem is that I love all my queens!.....my originals....the ones I helped to create this year...and the bought in ones. I think squishing any is going to be very difficult.