Daphne Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 We did ours today and wow wow wow. It was like looking at a textbook. Pollen, loads of stores, capped brood, emerging larvae, eggs - the whole works. We didn't linger so as not to chill them, but we have a 14x12 brood box and bees/brood are active on 9 out of 11 frames. Super is on! We left the entrance block on as well. Can you tell I'm a bit excited And I got 7 eggs today from 9 hens - best result of the year so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 I had my first proper look today, too - lots and lots of different coloured pollen going in, and they were so busy that they really weren't too bothered about me taking the roof off! I've got five frames of brood, still couldn't find the queen but she's definitely been laying, still a couple of undrawn frames but I've been advised to put a super on in about two weeks, so I need to get busy with a hammer and make up the super frames. As I only got my bees in July last year I didn't get any honey ... I'm very hopeful that this year I might be able to fulfil all those wild promises I have made! It was great to see the colony looking so strong and active, here's hoping that this lovely weather continues, my garden is full of flowering plants now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted April 11, 2010 Author Share Posted April 11, 2010 Yes I noticed they weren't bothered as well - I thought maybe its because they'd been undisturbed for so long, but your explanation makes much more sense. Our honey haul was 3.5 jars last year from a June swarm (!) but my bee buddy sharer neighbour was so excited he asked I would be OK if we had to go to 3 supers this year - possibly running before we can walk! I said perhaps we could enter a honey show (thats the chicken influence) but I can see I shall have to work on him about that. We bought some local show winning honey this week but I think ours could give it a run for taste, although probably not for looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OXFORDBEE Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 This time of year is the easiest to manage bees; the colony is expanding and there are more young bees than old bees. Young bees don't defend the hive like old bees so this makes life easy! You should easily be able to see the queen as she will be coming into full lay shortly. There are no drones and few workers as the colony is starting to expand. Now is the time to mark the queen so you can easily find her when you need to deal with swarm control. One important thing to note is the bees will slim down the queen (starve her) so she can fly with the swarm. Slimmed down queens can be fiddly to find as they appear not much bigger than a large worker. Watch out for July; the bees come into this month like lambs and end it like lions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted April 12, 2010 Author Share Posted April 12, 2010 Thanks Oxfordbee - thats useful to know; although I wish it wasn't true! We're going to look again at the weekend if the weather is OK and so we'll look out for the queen. I have to say last year I was useless at it and only managed to spot her myself with no help after we'd taken the honey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 Well if it's any consolation, Daphne, my mentor who has kept bees for 30 years was watching me go through the hive on Saturday and he couldn't spot her! We could see eggs so we know she's been there recently, he said she could well be clinging to the side wall of the hive. I hope to find her on another occasion, but as long as there are eggs and brood I'm not going to worry too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 i picked up my nuc this weekend and set the nuc box in the hives final place. When i transferred them over later that day i spotted her and plenty of capped brood. As it was getting a little cooler i didn't hang around to look for eggs etc so i will have to wait till next week to do my first thorough check. I am desperatly trying to stop myself having another look today!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 i... I am desperatly trying to stop myself having another look today!! I know what you mean! Resist the temptation though: I was told inspecting too often "i's like digging potatoes up to see if they're growing yet" which I reckon is a useful thing to have in mind to quell the temptation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 i did go back to watch them go in and out. There was plenty of pollen being collected so i can only hope its a good sign until the weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
