a question about feeding different foods to hens

[stehaggan]

Hi,

 

well we got our bees late on last year - early august I think so we didn't really do much with them other than build up the stores.

 

Both colonies have survived the winter (so far). One (which was the strongest) is now noticeably weaker - on the days its been really sunny, hardly any are out and about whereas the other one seems to be doing really well! The hive was buzzing with activity today.

 

This is our first year beekeeping so I was just wondering how everyone is doing and what you are upto with your bees at the minute.

 

They have stores still as I check when the weather is nice but we haven't done any full hive inspections so far. We are on holiday until 27th March so am contemplating doing it about that time.

[Olly]

Mine are flying, and are taking pollen in which indicates that there is brood. I haven't done an inspection yet,atlhough it's probably been warm enough lately. With this mild weather they could need a super on quite soon.

[Chicken Licken]

Both our hives have survived the winter so far. They are flying and collecting pollen. I put on a feed of fondant, but they really haven't needed it. Too cool for an inspection yet, but soon. It is really noticeable, that whilst they are only abouT 2.5 M apart, they are busy at different times of the day, dependent on when they get the most direct sunshine.

Glad yours have overwintered so far. My improvers course starts in a fortnights time!

[Old Speckled Hen]

No inspections yet, too cold.

My Buckfasts in the 14x12 poly are covering all the frames (as far as I can see through the PC crownboard), are busy bringing in pollen when the weather allows and having chomped through most of their stores I have given them fondant.

The small colony in a dummied down poly national,from a late mated queen last year, are probably struggling on three frames. I gave them Neopoll last month and as soon as I can I will pop them into a nuc box.

The cedar 14x12 has a wooden crownboard so I can't see down but they are pretty heavy and there is lots of activity outside the box on a good day so they remain closed for now. There is a super under which I must get off pronto!

1st Inspection last year was 25th March but weather forecast for next 4 weeks is pants

Glad everybody else's are fine.

[MedusA]

We've now carried out two full inspections (on some of the warmer days).

 

We did lose one colony over winter. The old queen we united back (because the new queen didn't get properly mated) failed to come back into lay so the colony just dwindled away.

 

All our surviving colonies are building up at an alarming rate and we've been warned to be on the look out for early swarming preparations in this area. They have drones being produced already, but no sign of queen cups yet.

 

We've even got two supers on a couple of colonies already as they are bringing in loads of nectar, with the weather being unseasonably warm.

 

The current cold snap may slow them down a bit though.

[Olly]

I heard the first reported swarm in our division last week Mine aren't anywhere near that, thankfully - but the warm spell has encouraged colonies to build up. It's very likely that there will be some swarms after this current bit of cold weather.

 

Mine made it through, but I've had some mouse damage - kicking myself for not putting the mouse guard on, I won't make that mistake again. Luckily it's not too bad, I think it was fairly recent.

[Old Speckled Hen]

1st inspection finally on 22nd.

Both 14x12 boxes, one cedar one poly, with brood in all stages and queens seen.

The smaller colony on three frames is now in a polynuc. We'll see!

 

The bees in the cedar hive are definitely in front of those in the poly and when I looked in again on the 28th the brood on four frames had become seven frames full of brood. I made the decision to super even though bad weather was forecast today. These bees swarmed once last year and I had to AS them twice after that. I can't be doing with that again so last year one of the splits was re-queened with a Buckfast. Now they are in bigger boxes I might contain them. If not it's bye bye,Queenie.

 

I'm trying to get a look in this week but this might have to wait till the weekend.

Does anybody on here clip their queens?

[Olly]

I've never clipped mine - partly out of sheer cowardice, I'll admit! However my understanding is that while it may prevent the first swarm leaving, they will still take off as soon as the first queen cell hatches. The risk of damaging a perfectly good queen while trying to clip her has never outweighed the saving of a couple of days on the risk of swarming, for me.

 

I don't know many people who do clip, to be honest, although one of our local division swears by it.

[stehaggan]

Ok we did our first full inspection on wednesday - the one which was noticeably weaker - really hasnt survived well!

 

There is only really a handful of bees in there

 

My other hive seems to be doing really well and I will be putting on a super on the next inspection to prevent any swarming etc.

 

So this is my first year - have now gone from 2 colonies to 1. So it looks like one will be standing empty until the other hive builds up more and i can split it Unless anyone has any recommendations?

[MedusA]

My advice would be to make sure you burn all the old combs and start afresh and scorch out the boxes well, before you use the old hive. Just in case there was disease present. Your local BKA should be able to test a sample of bees for you.

 

Apologies if I'm preaching to the converted. I'm panaroid about hive hygiene because my role model is our local seasonal bee inspector. He has instilled it in me now.

[Old Speckled Hen]

I'm having to feed the biggest colony with all this bad weather. They have wall to wall brood and no stores.

The little colony is dwindling, has no brood and is stuffed with pollen. Just goes to show that bringing in pollen is not indicative of rearing brood.

[Olly]

I've just inspected mine - lucky I did, as it's now raining (again) - and very disappointed to find they have not increased at all, the bad weather has really knocked them back. They have had a small feeder of syrup on, and I will need to replace it if we get the cold weather I've seen predicted for May.

 

The queen is laying but there aren't enough bees overall, she's laid more than one egg in some cells which suggests they can't clean out cells fast enough to keep up with her rate of laying (the queen is definitely there, it's not laying workers). There's been plenty of pollen going in, but as OSH says, that's no guarantee of brood.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Yes, a disappointing Spring with its early promise.

I think a lot of colonies went into overdrive at the end of March only to be kicked back by the cold weather.

I put a super on one of mine at the end of last month only to put it under ten days later.

They are going crazy on the sycamore between showers though.

I was sure they would be making queen cells like mad but when I got in on Friday although there were drones there wasn't even a play cup to be seen.

[Chicken Licken]

I managed to get into both hives, they are about 2 metres apart and worlds away from each other!! The original hive is struggling, althoug we did find and mark the queen today. Lots of drone brood, very few larvae and erratic egg laying - not good.

The second hive is bursting at the seams, it has already gone from brood to brood and a half and now has 2 supers on!! I took out queen cups and 2 queen cells - they are planning on swarming. The trouble is it is an unmarked queen and I can't see her! Thinking about doing a 'shook swarm' with them to keep them from swarming and not need to find the queen...hmmm, decisions, decisions

[Old Speckled Hen]

Assuming your bees haven’t already swarmed, if you put all the bees in a box then the queen must be among them.

Move the hive to one side

Put a new floor + new brood box (with drawn frames or foundation and one space) on original site.

Inspect the frames for queen-cells and as you do this, gently brush all the bees into the new box on the original site.

Select one good unsealed queen- cell (a sealed cell could be empty), preferably at the top of a frame, mark the frame with a pin, and remove ALL other queen-cells from that frame. Brush the bees off it.

Place floor on original site; place old box with the frame with the queen-cell along with all the frames with their brood and food (but no bees), minus one frame of brood which you swap for one frame of foundation. Add the super(s) if any.

Using a queen excluder, add the new box where you have left all the bees (including therefore the queen), place one old frame with brood and the rest as drawn frames or foundation.

Place crown board and roof.

Leave overnight. The nurse bees will move up to the top box to cover the brood. Next day, lift off the top box and move it to one side onto its own floor; add crown board and roof.

Check both colonies 4 days later and remove any emergency queen cells that may have appeared.

Do not disturb the colony with the queen cell until the new queen has had a chance to be mated - approximately three weeks.

[Olly]

Sorry OSH but I'm not following this - do you mean add the old brood body on top of the new one, on the original site? I am probably being dim but you mention putting the floor on the original site, when we've already put the new floor there ... I am easily confused!

[Old Speckled Hen]

No you're right. It's badly worded.

The new floor is in the old place already.

Perhaps this is more clear

 

to A/S without finding the queen

you need 2 brood boxes, floor, and at least 1 queen excluder ( + crown board and roof)

 

take 1 frame of brood in all stages from the parent colony (no queen cells on this frame), place in new brood box with rest of frames all with foundation, on floor, on original stand.

shake/brush ALL the bees ( therefore including queen) into this box.

add excluder, then original brood box with all other frames, including 1-2 queen cells ( + one of foundation removed from other box), then possibly another excluder and any supers, crown board, roof.

 

leave overnight, nurse bees will move up to cover the brood, leaving queen in lower box.

in morning, move top brood box to one side.

 

I have done this at the association apiary and I must admit it's untidy, bees flying everywhere but it worked.

I think there is another method that might be better and I'll see if I can find it.

[Olly]

Ah, thanks - now I understand! I could have done with this in my first year, I think my queen was a floor-crawler - I never found her. The current one is marked and a lot easier to spot. I think the difficult part of what you describe would be getting all the bees into the box including those on the sides, floor etc - although as long as the queen is in, they should follow. Definitely worth trying if an AS is needed.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Well, had to AS a colony on Friday last week. With hindsight I should have put the AS into a nuc box,rather than the cavernous 14x12 they occupy at the moment, the weather being so bad.

I'm looking into the parent colony tomorrow,being 5/6 days after AS to k"Ooops, word censored!"ble any queen cells they have made and to check the one I left behind. I might take a nuc box along and pop the AS into it if they haven't drawn any comb.

What a terrible year weatherwise!!!!!

I bet there won't be much English OSR honey about in the shops this year.

[Chicken Licken]

Today I called the bee inspector! One hive has been looking ropy for a while, and after the diseases session of the improver course I am doing, I had convinced myself they had AFB. Anyway - what a star - he came this afternoon and gave both hives a thorough inspection. Showed me how to take frame and queen cells into a nuc box and move the worker bees into it, so got a nuc started and made some room in the bursting at the seems hive. Then moved onto the struggling colony and took me through his inspection -pointed out what to look for, chalk brood etc. Watched him do the matchstick test for AFB and test three samples from the ropy hive with his test kits (all of which were negative for AFB and EFB) and confirmed that the queen (the one I had managed to mark) was drone laying.

I feel bad that I called him for no disease, but at the same time glad that he was able to come and put my mind at rest, and that the colony doesn't have any notifiable diseases - now just got to sort out some manky old comb (not yet 2 years old but blackened and hard to see into) and of coursse the DLQ.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Phew,what a relief.

That's the trouble with having just a small number of hives,disease recognition.

I really would love to be confident.

Glad he came so quickly.

Let us know how your nuc does.

[Olly]

I've only heard good things about bee inspectors - they are usually helpful and give useful tips, I've never had to call one round so far but I wouldn't hesitate if I had a problem. I'm sure they'd rather see lots of false alarms, than have people not call them out. There have been several instances of EFB around where I live - not within flying distance, thankfully.

 

I am feeling very chuffed - I heard yesterday that I have passed my Module 1 BBKA exam. I had minimal time for revision so I'm really pleased to have got 75%, which is a Credit. I was waiting to see how I got on, but now I think I will start preparing for another Module - I need to start working on it now, really.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Oh well done.