Mrs Webmuppet Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 (edited) Disaster has struck our beekeeping efforts twice! Our first hive of bees failed to make it through the winter, despite having so much food in the hive. After a post mortum by our mentor it appear the queen had failed So our mentor set us up with another nucleus and guess what? The queen looks to be failing. ......our mentor is coming Saturday afternoon to investigate and bringing more bees..... I feel so upset (so does little Miss Webmuppet). I think our mentor is a little embarrassed by his queens not being up to scratch. On the upside Little Miss Webmuppet is starting her bronze Duke of Edinburghs award soon and she is doing beekeeping as her skill Edited June 20, 2014 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 All may not be lost - it's frustrating when this happens, but it's not irrecoverable. I lost my first queen in circumstances unknown (I suspect that I squashed her in my inexperience!) but was rescued by being given a frame of eggs by my mentor from one of his hives - the bees raised a new queen and all was well. It's all part of the learning curve, so don't panic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 I am hoping that the bees are going to raise a new queen but as I don't have any drones (another mystery) there won't be any drones for a queen to mate with and the nearest hives are some distance away(and apparently the bees there aren't very nice bees - I don't want any queen of mine associating with the rough crowd ) Hopefully all will be sorted on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Buy a new queen. There are plenty around already I recommend a nice gentle Buckfast. The best are bred by Pete Little but he hasn't got any for a week or two. By the way, you don't need your own drones. There will be more apiaries near you than you might expect. I'm on Beebase and according to them there are 75 ( and that's only those registered with them) within 10 Km of me and I'm in the middle of Welsh Wilderness!! PS If you breed your own queen it will be 9 weeks before her daughters are foraging. No honey this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 We have had this problem for 2 years running. Buy a new queen. Your girls will make drones when they decide the time is right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Our mentor came over this afternoon and has taken away the bees and put a brand new nucleus in our garden. The old bees were not happy, I think they realised that they were in trouble with the 'master beekeeper'. .We decided to go for our garden this time instead of an out apiary to see if that makes a difference.we have done a lot of work in the garden so there was room for a hive (the corner had been like chicken heaven, a total jungle). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Do you know, I would find this completely unacceptable. You need to know what was wrong; the bees, your "master BK", you or nothing. There will be no lessons learned as it all goes wrong and somebody pitches up and says, "OK never mind here's another lot to play with." PS edit I am absolutely astounded at the cavalier attitude of the chap who supplied, removed and resupplied your bees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Our mentor said the queen was failing and that he wanted to investigate why as this was the second queen that had failed on us. I had said I was happy to have a go at re queening the hive but as there were no queen cells and the hive was failing rapidly he said he wouldn't recommend it for a novice (our first hive died due to the queen failing and the colony died off so I think he was rather embarrassed by the whole thing) He is hoping to sort out it out so that when I see him in a week or so I shall know more, I suspect that both our previous queens were related and that there was a genetic problem or that neither mated properly. Even so I have learnt how to spot a failing hive and I know the theory of how to re-queen. My last lesson with him was about getting the bees to raise a new queen but mine hadn't done this. I know it did seem a little cavalier of him to whisk the old hive away and I kind of expected him to turn up with a new queen not a new nucleus. He has put the hive in our back garden rather than where we had the other colonies in case it was site related and we can keep a better eye on things in the back garden. Hopefully third time lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 There are so many issues here. Hive failing rapidly....no, not really, unless there is a disease issue colonies dwindle as bees die and are not replaced. Has disease been explored? Requeening as far as novices go is no different than for older lags. You buy a new queen and introduce her either directly in a cage or via a nuc. What you don't do is use queen cells from the problem hive.....asking for trouble. As for re siting in your garden....what is the problem about the old apiary. I smell something fishy here. Change your mentor and buy a nuc from a reputable breeder. Sorry to sound so negative but I think you are being taken here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 While it is a little cavalier to take your bees away and replace them, it sounds as if your mentor is acting with your best interests in mind, I presume you are not being asked to pay for this and at least it gives you a chance of raising a healthy colony. If your garden is suitable, there's a lot to be said for keeping bees there rather than an out-apiary as you'll be able to observe their daily behaviour. There's always something to learn from any experience but you will get more benefit from watching a healthy nuc that is building up than from trying to sort out a hive with a defective queen, so I think your mentor did the right thing. It may be that he doesn't explain things as fully as he could, as an experienced beekeeper he may have forgotten that you don't know all the fine detail! Let us know when he reports back to you, it may be as you say that the queen did not mate properly and wasn't laying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 I went over and saw my mentor yesterday. He had kept my hive exactly as it was when he took it away. He got me to do an inspection on it and explain why I thought there was something wrong and to see if there had been any improvement. There hadn't been any change at all, the queen is still there and laying but she is only laying enough to replace the bees that are dying off, the nucleus isn't growing in size, and barring in mind it was a lovely afternoon the bees were being rather lazy. I will be going over later this week to see the hive again and to see if my mentor has worked out what has happened and to work out how to remedy it. Interestingly I gave him a hand with inspecting some of his other hives so I could see what a good colony should look like, I found several queenless hives, where the bees had killed off their queen. My new bees are much more industrious and have been out in force today. No money has changed hands for the bees, just homemade cake and chutney! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I am in touch with two or three people who have inexplicably lost queens.......Hmmmmm Back to your lot......I hope he's looked for varroa? A prime suspect in poorly doing colonies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I think you're getting some excellent experience - nothing beats going through several hives one after the other, and really seeing the differences between them. I'll be interested to see what conclusion your mentor reaches. Anyway it sounds as if your new colony is doing well. Are you sure the other hives were queenless? While they can destroy a queen it's relatively rare for them to do that without raising a new one so I'd be surprised to come across several hives at once with that problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 We checked for varroa. I suggested that my old bees could have Acarine, which would explain their lazy attitude and the failure to thrive. They are currently in an area away from other bees as a precaution. He was going to double check my suggestion and work out what to do. Those hives were definitely queenless, classic roaring sound on opening up and my mentor was stood over me checking too! He has about two hundred hives so I get plenty of experience of inspections..........the joke between his pupils is that we are never sure if we are 'slave labour' or he is making sure we have plenty of experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 I went to check my bees today and noticed an awful lot of bees hanging around an old hive (with some old frames in it )that my mentor had given me and I had stuck on an old bucket in the corner of the garden. While I had all my kit on I thought I'd have a closer look to see what was going on, it looks like a swarm may have moved in......there was an awful lot of bees smothering the old frames (there's no sign of laying yet but they must have only just moved in and they are all over 8 of the frames) The bees in the old hive are definitely not from my hive, my bees are pale and quiet, these are loud and dark. I let my mentor know......he laughed and said I was incredibly lucky and to get building super frames ready. I have gently broken it to Mr W that we will have to sort out a somewhat more stable stand than a dodgy old bucket urgently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 You lucky thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 You are lucky - it's never happened to me yet. I have a 'bait hive' specially for this purpose but when my bees swarmed a week or two ago, they didn't choose it. There have been a few swarms lately round here, following the sunny weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 Mr W, bless him, left work early and has done an emergency trip to the DIY store and is currently building a stand for the old hive (this will be much more robust than the old bucket!). He also bought an extra lottery ticket just in case it is a really lucky day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 What a stroke of luck. Sort out which queen is laying best and unite them....then you'll get some honey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 I have just inspected both hives. The swarm hive has a huge queen with a blob of green on her, which according to my book means she is a 2014 queen.she is laying well too and all the brood box frames are pulled out too. There's plenty of stores going in. My original hive now has a laying queen and is looking good too. Hurrah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Little Miss Webmuppet and I went for an afternoon out with our mentor today (LMW has already finished school for the summer) and as usual we expected the unexpected. We found a swarm and a cast at one of the apiaries so LMW collected the swarm (a nice easy one in a tree) whilst I assisted in collecting the cast. She was so chuffed with her efforts he allowed her to install her swarm in her new purple hive This was after a panic when our mentor realised that he had left his swarm collecting kit at home and we had had to improvise with some cardboard boxes we found laying around! There was also a lot of muttering about what's going on with the bees .......why are they so swarmy this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Round here it's the weather - a wet weekend followed by a sunny day today has led to a lot of swarms, I've heard of five in the same area today. The good spring has got colonies building up rapidly as well. I've never used anything other than a cardboard box to collect a swarm! That and a large dust sheet usually does the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 He normally puts the swarm straight into a brood box or nuc box. We had to rummage around the farm to find the boxes, must have looked a sight 4 people in bee keeping garb peering in skips and recycling bins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 He normally puts the swarm straight into a brood box or nuc box. We had to rummage around the farm to find the boxes, must have looked a sight 4 people in bee keeping garb peering in skips and recycling bins! This made me laugh I think most non beekeepers consensus is were a loopy lot anyway so they probably thought you were acting quite normally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
