gone2seagirl Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Hi all, We did an inspection on tuesday and despite having added extra frames (15 in the beehaus) and 2 supers a few weeks previous, our bees had still made some queen cells so we've had to a/s them already. Last year we were too late adn they swarmed so this is our first go at an a/s. We used the 2nd method that omlet recommends, eggs to the front, queen and brood to the back. My only concern is whether i should feed the colony at the rear, they have no foragers and while they have some stores they've been using most of what they've brought in to produce wax to draw out the supers. Was just wondering if anyone has tried this method with the beehaus before and how well it worked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Bit confused here - eggs to one end and brood to the other??? Aren't the eggs surrounding the brood (capped cells). This is the normal laying pattern. More info needed, I think, before advice can be given... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I'm not understanding, either ... however if you've got a hive with developing brood and no foragers, I wouldn't have thought you would need supers on there? Afraid I'm not familiar with the method, I only know the traditional AS where you separate the brood from the queen and the flying bees. I inspected mine today - it was a new queen last year, and I have been kidding myself that with lots of space, they might not swarm this year. 3 sealed queen cells .... I had better get the spare hive ready! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 I inspected mine today - it was a new queen last year, and I have been kidding myself that with lots of space, they might not swarm this year. 3 sealed queen cells .... I had better get the spare hive ready! Likely they've gone already, Olly I've had one lot swarm with NO QCs at all. They were in such a hurry after a huge flow,congestion and bad beekeeping. 3 days later we do have 2 QCs.....phew!!! And a swarm drawing out lovely fresh comb in a new box Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 No, they've not swarmed yet - I destroyed the QCs I'd found, so unless I missed one, they should be ok till I can do an AS next weekend. They have plenty of space but round here I heard of the first swarm nearly 3 weeks ago - like everything else in the garden, they seem to be early this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedusA Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 We've had the busiest beekeeping week ever! On Monday we had the local bee inspector do an inspection for us. 3 of our 4 allotment colonies were full of queen cells (there weren't any last week, honest) and he said he suspected that they'd swarmed already. We did later find 2 swarms nearby and managed to capture them both (even though one of them was 20 foot up in the air and took a bit of ingenuity to get)! We checked those 3 colonies next day and one of them still had the queen so we cut out queen cells to give us a bit of time to play with. The other 2, we cut out all bar one of the queen cells. The next day, one of our nuc boxes of swarms absconded, never to be seen again. We have since artificially swarmed the 3rd colony as they had knocked up more queen cells. We left a nice fat open one in the hive. So we've got 4 colonies (3 of which are queenless but with a queen cell each) plus 2 nucs (with last year's queens) at the allotments as well as our colonies at home. I have done nothing but bee-related things this week. I'm also in the middle of a Bailey Comb Change on my home hive. Can I have a rest now please? A few of the bees are very persistent too. Is this normal during swarm season (as local beekeepers are saying) or is there anything else we can be doing? We've had a plot holder get stung, which is unusual for our bees, who normally keep themselves to themselves and are very well behaved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 This is what worries me............ I think we all really really need an alternative site for our bees. I don't as mine are in a neighbour's field but I have heard of 150 metre followers and 100 metre "hey who are you and I don't believe in simply pinging"...........ouch!!! So I am on the look out, just in case. I don't want to lose my bees where they are so I need somewhere to put the asbos while I re-queen......if I need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 No, they've not swarmed yet - I destroyed the QCs I'd found, so unless I missed one, they should be ok till I can do an AS next weekend. They have plenty of space but round here I heard of the first swarm nearly 3 weeks ago - like everything else in the garden, they seem to be early this year! Phew Olly, I hope you're right. I looked in my big hive on brood and a half, still plenty of room to lay and found six cells, one capped. Amazingly the queen was still there (thank God I managed to mark her) and I was prepared with cobbled kit to do an AS so that's done. Hope she doesn't go anyway!!! I bumped off the capped one and left one only(hopefully). Phew again. I've got five boxes now..........I need to requeen one colony with chalk brood so will use the parent colony once the queen comes into lay. Praying for good weather next week then. Exciting stuff this beekeeping........had to do it all on my own as hubby at work.The sun is blazing down and I am liquid inside my beesuit. I need a beer!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 There have been a lot of swarms round here lately. I went to help a friend collect one last night, she got a bit over-enthusiastic and started shaking them into the box before I'd got togged up. Ouch! A sting on the side of the face, I've got a very puffy eye today (especially annoying as I had to go on a client visit today) I'm definitely not feeling like doing mine tomorrow, but as far as I know they're still there. On the positive side, it was a lovely swarm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 We had an exciting day at the apiary last weekend. Lots of capped queen cells and no queen who'd already swarmed!! We removed some of the queen cells for someone who needed a new queen and they emerged in the jar we were holding . . . day 16!! We made up a nuc in the site of the original hive and left queen cells in place. The original hive is a few feet away with no queen and capped cells. What is really exciting is that names will go in a hat to buy the nuc in five or six weeks time!!! There are six of us on the course together. We are all keen for bees and in Northumberland demand outstrips supply so we were all told it would be next year!! I was later told there might be another nuc available from a different source so I'm very excited. Time to buy the hive!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Err, putting a nucleus hive on the original position is not such a very good idea. How will all the flying bees fit into this half sized accommodation? Where will they store all the goodies they are bringing back? If you made up a good nuc they will be over-crowded, to say the least. As an edit: I now see this is what you are being taught on your course and was a collective teaching session, not you manipulating your bees. I never cease to be amazed at some of the practices being passed on to learners for them to think it is the right way to do things. RAB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Erm I think it was because the original colony had swarmed 8 days previously so there was a reduced number of flying bees and no baby bees or brood. My understanding was the flying bees return to nuc, new queen hatches, goes on a mating flight and starts laying a few weeks later, in the meantime some worker bees die naturally and so there is no overcrowding. They have been given syrup as they have no stores. Original colony same situation in a brood box with supplie of honey and pollen to keep them going, new queen hatches, goes on a mating flight, starts laying a few weeks later. I may have this all wrong?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 new queen hatches, goes on a mating flight, starts laying a few weeks later. If only it would stop raining. I have hopefully two emerged. There have been sunny spells; how tight a window of warm dry weather can a queen get away with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 OSH, Not sure about this but my understanding is that once initially mated she has only a couple, or few, more days to make further mating flights. If the weather turns unfavourable the queen will then commence laying in a few days - but without a proper complete mating, she will likely soon run out of sperm and be superceded early. Some queens come into lay after only about ten days (sometimes less), but if the weather is unfavourable she may not get on a mating flight until well into her third week. Queens successfully mating and laying after a month are rare. It is not something I have any control over whatsoever, other than not interfering with the colonies too early in the spring, so I have not updated on the latest science of the matter. Doesn't actually bother me too much but for anyone with just one or two colonies, it can initiate considerable strife throughout the whole season. Regards, RAB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 AJuff, It would seem that your idea of a nuc and the general expectation of what a nuc should contain are far apart. Without sufficient honey stores, sufficient pollen stores, sufficient brood and most importantly sufficient house bees it is not much of a nuc. The purpose of a nucleus (usually with a laying queen) is to provide a balanced colony which can expand advantageously. Anything less is a waste of time, effort, and resources. I spend time removing stores from expanding nucleus hives and certainly don't want them storing honey in a nuc at this time of the year. A nuc is for expanding the number of bees, not the amount of stores. The place for the honey is in the supers, not in the brood box. Go figure, if the nuc was made up properly in the first place, what extra stores should it need in the next couple of weeks or so? There were 8 days worth of new flying bees transferred to the nuc. Why? What good will they do for the new colony? I think that with some thought you must agree - not a lot. RAB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJuff Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Thanks for that. I'm on a steep learning curve at present with Ted Hooper's guide in hand and every beekeeper I meet doing things differently!! It's such a puzzle at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 OSH, Queens successfully mating and laying after a month are rare. Regards, RAB Thanks RAB, I know most of that and have worked out a worse case scenario of both producing foraging bees as late as mid July so not much of a honey crop. I do have three laying queens and hope to go into winter with three colonies out of the five I have at present. I was more interested in how long a mating flight might last and this was the weather window I was cogitating. Anyway, I have checked the cells have hatched and I will leave them alone till the month is up. Thanks, as ever, for your good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
