Q rearing by numbers

[The Drone Ranger]

Thanks guys, I can see that we need to think again to some extent.

Just park a big roofing slate on the top of the apidea ?

[gavin]

Just park a big roofing slate on the top of the apidea ?

Thanks DR. That may help a little. Being up in the air and drafty may also help in comparison to being on a hot slab or other structure. And this is on a long N/NE facing slope which should help keep temperatures down. We'll see ...

[fatshark]

And this is on a long N/NE facing slope

… several thousand feet above sea level.

They won't abscond … there's nowhere for them to go

[Jon]

I often wonder where they end up when they abscond. I suspect they just hang in a tree somewhere until they starve or freeze.
A big slate on the roof would certainly be a help in terms of providing some shade but it is making extra work lifting it on and off.
Once you have a lot of Apideas any wee thing which saves time on each inspection becomes important.

[The Drone Ranger]

I often wonder where they end up when they abscond. I suspect they just hang in a tree somewhere until they starve or freeze.
A big slate on the roof would certainly be a help in terms of providing some shade but it is making extra work lifting it on and off.
Once you have a lot of Apideas any wee thing which saves time on each inspection becomes important.

Its a handy weight though and gives a bit of shade
As to where they go ?
Once one of the ones in my garden I had been ignoring till it was totally overcrowded baled out and I can't be 100% certain but I think it went into the top box above a snelgrove board and took over (no adult opposition ?)
A sort of Royal coup
I was trying to follow them so I could catch the little blighters and thats where they appeared to go

[Jon]

I have had a queen fly from an Apidea and fly back into a nearby queenless full colony with queen cells which she then tore down.
Crafty bugger.
I have seen Apideas abscond a few times and the little cluster often ends up 30 foot up a tree but I don't know if they scout and move on somewhere else.
A lot of my queens mate over the apiary and the entire contents of the apidea tends to leave with the queen when she takes her flight.
Sometimes the queen settles and the bees cluster around her and they fail to make it back home.

I wrote a description here

This looks like absconding but is actually a mating flight gone wrong.
same result though.

[Poly Hive]

Have you got any Lyson kit yet Gavin? If not take a sample first.

PH

[gavin]

It hasn't yet arrived. However, as well as listening to folk on here I've handled the boxes at two different bee shows and like what I see.

Abelo in the UK supply them. I swithered about getting them from Wilara in Lithuania but instead ordered queen cages and other sundries from them. Easy to deal with, responsive, courier costs not too bad, low prices.

[Beefever]

Jon,
Would the same thing happen if there was brood present in the Apidea and this being the second introduced virgin to mate from it?

[Jon]

Yep. They sometimes totally abscond leaving brood behind.
Re.the queen mating flights, that's a good question. I am pretty sure I have seen it happen when there has been brood present in the apidea from a previous incumbent but I will make sure I check that properly the next time I see it. I honestly can't remember.