Page 1 of 6 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 52

Thread: And another thing......

  1. #1
    Member Castor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ebley Nr Stroud, Glos
    Posts
    99

    Default And another thing......

    I am annoyed with my favourite queen.

    Disappointed.

    She has been laying the most consistent brood pattern for the whole season - and did the same at the back end of last season too.
    The colony wintered nicely, is nicely tempered and was prime a selection for a few quoons.

    So I caught her - nicely and without trauma - and plonked her in the hive acclimatised Nicot "Cupularve" that is my standard method. 100 nice cells all ready for Mrs Quoon to bung her fecund rear into.
    Normally I'd expect to see most of the cells laid after 30 hours of queen confinement - on this occasion she gave me 2. Two. Just two. Not together or in any sensible kind of place, but just kind of random, in the middle-ish.

    What is more, one of the cells has two eggs in it - the other, three.

    When I released her she looked smug and I thought I saw her give me two fingers.

    Any suggestions, team?

  2. #2
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Jurassic Coast.
    Posts
    1,480

    Default

    Grafting

  3. #3
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Belfast, N. Ireland
    Posts
    5,122
    Blog Entries
    94

    Default

    seconded!
    You should be able to graft 100 larvae in well under an hour without having to mess around catching queens and putting them into cages. (which they may or may not lay in!)

  4. #4
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Norfolk East Anglia, South Scotland
    Posts
    962

    Default

    I did see the same as you a couple of years ago. I recall that I picked up the queen very early in the inspection and didn't look any further and put her in a cupkit so she could lay some eggs for me. She laid just a few. As I saw eggs in the cupkit cells I let her go back into the hive without further inspection and just thought "that's odd, she's a bit thin and why did she not lay the full 100?". However the reason was that the bees were preparing to swarm so despite being clipped, I lost her.
    Most disappointed.
    Gutted.
    Miffed.
    Annoyed with myself for not putting two and two together and not checking the hive for queencells.
    The good part is that one of her daughters is my favourite; I bred from her last year and this. Not cupkits though, but larval transfer.

  5. #5
    Member Castor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ebley Nr Stroud, Glos
    Posts
    99

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Adam View Post
    I did see the same as you a couple of years ago. ............
    Annoyed with myself for not putting two and two together and not checking the hive for queencells.
    Good point, well made.

    To be certain I shall despatch my esteemed missus on a rigorous QC hunt tomorrow. It's a monster hive - double brood, filling a super in four/five days at the mo..... she can't get the supers off when they are full.......lol
    Last edited by Castor; 14-07-2014 at 05:37 PM.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Boston, 320 miles south of Falkirk
    Posts
    206

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Castor View Post
    Any suggestions, team?
    Yes - ignore the instructions (which I suspect were written by a salesman, trying to convince people how 'hands-off' this kit is), and watch the informative Youtube video by DC Honeybees instead. www.youtube.com/watch?v=btfPnqwhyHw

    In particular, the presenter stresses that it may take - for reasons known only to the queen - several days to lay all the cells, and the only sure way of knowing which cells have been laid in and ready for use is to visually check the base of the cell cups for a build-up of Royal Jelly. If there are only a few of these, then remove them to the cell starter and leave the queen in situ for a further day, or even two.

    Hope this info is helpful - as not everyone likes to graft ...

    LJ

  7. #7
    Member Castor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ebley Nr Stroud, Glos
    Posts
    99

    Default

    Thanks LJ, I'll watch later when not in the office. :-)

    I've twice had reasonable success with the "Corpularve" before this dismal attempt. Single eggs laid in almost all of the 100 cells. What intrigued me was the two and three eggs bit - why would a queen decide to do that??

    We have a full-on inspection of the hive and the Queen Errant later today.... don't forget to tune in to the next episode........

  8. #8
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Jurassic Coast.
    Posts
    1,480

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Castor View Post
    What intrigued me was the two and three eggs bit - why would a queen decide to do that??
    Just my own thoughts although I bet there's some sound research out there somewhere -I may be tempted to have a look later...

    From personal observation I reckon that it's not that uncommon to have more than one egg in a cell. On this occasion it may have been highlighted by your micro-comb.

    There is a reference in Mike Palmer's Queen Rearing video from the National Honey Show, I think he shows a photo of two slightly different aged larvae in the same cell -in an otherwise sound colony which he's trying to graft from.

    edit:

    Queen Rearing in the Sustainable Apiary (Mike Palmer).
    from approx. 33.20, but the whole video deserves attention.

    Last edited by prakel; 16-07-2014 at 08:28 AM.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Boston, 320 miles south of Falkirk
    Posts
    206

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by prakel View Post
    JQueen Rearing in the Sustainable Apiary (Mike Palmer).
    from approx. 33.20, but the whole video deserves attention.
    Great video - thanks for the link ...

    I've seen some of Mike's other talks, but not that one. Some really good tips there - I particularly like the one about putting combs containing nectar under the brood box, so that the bees will re-locate it, thus simulating a honey flow. Clever

    LJ

  10. #10
    Member Castor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ebley Nr Stroud, Glos
    Posts
    99

    Default

    Next Episode:-

    Thanks to all.....

    So Mrs Quoon of Contrary and I had another encounter last night. Having failed to lay in the Corpularve jobbie the other day, she then proceeded to fill both sides of an entire frame during her 48 hours of freedom. So last evening I stuck her back in the Corpularve. Take that.

    If she lays two eggs or more in only a couple of cells I'll call the phenomenon repeatable. What I shall call her will be totally unrepeatable.
    Last edited by Castor; 16-07-2014 at 11:09 AM.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •