What to do...keep Queen cells, destroy or other?

[TryingToLetThemBee]

OK
I had a delivery from Holtermann last year. They do deliver to the UK. My stuff came via DHL

Yeah it's a great lead and thanks very much; when I have a bigger order I'll certainly use them; the delivery constraints are usually pretty flexible.

I've really hijacked this thread; sorry. But the OP got some good answers : - /

 

[sugarbush]

Why HOPE?

Reduce them down to one and clip the queen.

Why interfere with a system that has ensured their survival for the last 100 million years? Honey bees did not start having problems until man intervened.

Supersedure is the bees selecting a few larva, developing them into queens and letting the strongest win out over the others and go on to lead the colony.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why interfere with a system that has ensured their survival for the last 100 million years? Honey bees did not start having problems until man intervened.

Supersedure is the bees selecting a few larva, developing them into queens and letting the strongest win out over the others and go on to lead the colony.

because it's definitely not certain it is supersedure

 

[B+.]

Why interfere with a system that has ensured their survival for the last 100 million years?

Because I don't want bees that merely survive

 

[sugarbush]

Because I don't want bees that merely survive

I never saw a dead bee make honey.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

But I've seen plenty of live ones who don't.

 

[Etton]

Back to my original problem and thanks for all the opinions. I went in today and removed the two youngest sealed QC's and kept the two oldest, sealed around 15th July...5 days ago, so approx 3 days to go. Still finding eggs. I have put 3 bait hives around my apiary with lemon grass oil and a frame of foundation, hoping if they swarm they do the job for me. Seen a few bees going into one bait hive (a nuc), does anyone know when do bees go searching for a new home? Is it before swearing they go 'house hunting' or after they leave the hive?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Back to my original problem and thanks for all the opinions. I went in today and removed the two youngest sealed QC's and kept the two oldest, sealed around 15th July...5 days ago, so approx 3 days to go. Still finding eggs. I have put 3 bait hives around my apiary with lemon grass oil and a frame of foundation, hoping if they swarm they do the job for me. Seen a few bees going into one bait hive (a nuc), does anyone know when do bees go searching for a new home? Is it before swearing they go 'house hunting' or after they leave the hive?

After. Beg steal or borrow a copy of "Honeybee Democracy"

 

[tudorcd]

Back to my original problem and thanks for all the opinions. I went in today and removed the two youngest sealed QC's and kept the two oldest, sealed around 15th July...5 days ago, so approx 3 days to go. Still finding eggs. I have put 3 bait hives around my apiary with lemon grass oil and a frame of foundation, hoping if they swarm they do the job for me. Seen a few bees going into one bait hive (a nuc), does anyone know when do bees go searching for a new home? Is it before swearing they go 'house hunting' or after they leave the hive?

If you are finding eggs this means that the queen is still in the hive (as of a few days ago).

Part of the prodrome of swarming is that the bees reduce food to the queen to slim her down for flying, and she usually stops laying as a consequence.

Unless there are lots of bees choking the hive, you are probably dealing with a supersedure situation. But if you are really worried about swarming, why not do an Artifical Swarm / split to remove the drivers and give them more space ?

 

[sugarbush]

But I've seen plenty of live ones who don't.

Yes, but low or no production is a much easier problem to fix than dead is.

I did a search and reviewed some of the honey production threads to see what average production is over there. The bulk of post look exceptionally low compared to what I am used to. In an average year my hives will make 120 +- lbs each. I have already surpassed that this year and should be in the neighborhood of 180-200 lbs per hive.

Now looking at last years threads I see a lot of posts where production average seams to be around 40 lbs per hive, some as high as 80. There are many things that can impact the output beside the quality of the queen. Hive saturation is a biggy, too many and hive production goes way down. Weather of course. Interruptions in production due to beekeepers muddling through the hive too much is another.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

the bees reduce food to the queen to slim her down for flying, and she usually stops laying as a consequence.

No - she just reduces her laying rate, she'll lay right up to the point of leaving, just less - seen too many swarmed hives still with eggs for that to be the norm

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Yes, but low or no production is a much easier problem to fix than dead is.

I did a search and reviewed some of the honey production threads to see what average production is over there. The bulk of post look exceptionally low compared to what I am used to. In an average year my hives will make 120 +- lbs each. I have already surpassed that this year and should be in the neighborhood of 180-200 lbs per hive.

Now looking at last years threads I see a lot of posts where production average seams to be around 40 lbs per hive, some as high as 80. There are many things that can impact the output beside the quality of the queen. Hive saturation is a biggy, too many and hive production goes way down. Weather of course. Interruptions in production due to beekeepers muddling through the hive too much is another.

You forget forage. I am lucky, and can maybe approach your numbers if I do not mess up (lose a swarm etc.) but the landscape of the UK and Vermont are wildly different in most part. Loss of forage is a huge, and recognized, effect of modern farming methods. That may or may not get better if the CAP is indeed shaken off, but I tend to doubt it; you are not going to un-invent "productivity"-raising methods.

 

[B+.]

Yes, but low or no production is a much easier problem to fix than dead is.

I did a search and reviewed some of the honey production threads to see what average production is over there. The bulk of post look exceptionally low compared to what I am used to. In an average year my hives will make 120 +- lbs each. I have already surpassed that this year and should be in the neighborhood of 180-200 lbs per hive.

Now looking at last years threads I see a lot of posts where production average seams to be around 40 lbs per hive, some as high as 80. There are many things that can impact the output beside the quality of the queen. Hive saturation is a biggy, too many and hive production goes way down. Weather of course. Interruptions in production due to beekeepers muddling through the hive too much is another.

Honey yield is a combination of genetic ability and environmental conditions. People often neglect the environmental factors.
My average yield in 2015 was a little over 72Kg with odd hives producing over 100Kg (Max 133Kg or almost 300lbs). The weather has not been so good this year so production is down. Even so, I still have over 100Kg on this hive (http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=751&pictureid=3744)
Don't read too much into forum comments. They usually don't tell the full story. Those people who had low yields probably split the colony.

 

[sugarbush]

Honey yield is a combination of genetic ability and environmental conditions. People often neglect the environmental factors.
My average yield in 2015 was a little over 72Kg with odd hives producing over 100Kg (Max 133Kg or almost 300lbs). The weather has not been so good this year so production is down. Even so, I still have over 100Kg on this hive (http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=751&pictureid=3744)
Don't read too much into forum comments. They usually don't tell the full story. Those people who had low yields probably split the colony.

Yeah thinking about your landscape vs ours I would think you should be able to out produce us, we are 90% forested. I put hives on old logging sites because that is where the best production comes from. Brambles, dandelion and golden rod thrive in logged off forests.