What will you do with these queens over the winter if they dont lay.
What will you do with these queens over the winter if they dont lay.
They wont be overwintering if they are not laying soon!
I see your man Rodger on the BBKA forum says he has many queens mated in October, dam i could have had a go in late Sept just for the fun.
Roger is in the S of England so he is blessed with warmer weather than some of us. I quite often enviously look at the weather forecast and see 20+ degrees in the S of England or around London and I am getting a NE breeze off the sea and it's 5 degrees cooler so my queens can't go out to play.
Assuming my last queen does mate, I now have a quandry - I was thinking of using her in a hive where the queen was not doing the business. However checking yesterday she's now resumed laying. Do I keep her in the mini-nuc and hope, make up a nuc for her by stealing some frames of brood from strong hives, or do I replace the queen with a paralysed back leg although she is laying well? Descisions Descisions!
Last edited by Adam; 28-09-2015 at 09:15 AM.
Mini-nuc ... mainly because I have exactly the same quandary with a limping queen. She's laying well and the colony are fantastic, but I suspect they'll dispense with her in due course.
I don't want to be the only one making the wrong decision
I certainly wouldn't be weakening other colonies at this stage of the season and there's always the chance she won't be accepted by the hive ...
Hi Adam
What kind of mininuc
If its a keiler a second brood body can be fitted
Lift the drawn combs up into the upper box don't fit any more frames below just leave them to draw the wax down through both storeys
That gives a reasonable comb area for food and brood so the Queen might make it overwinter
I found a couple of apideas with queens just started to lay earlier this afternoon.
Be interesting too see if they are laying worker brood as these queens are 4 or 5 weeks from emergence.
I would be curious to know what they do, so let us know if its not too much bother tks.
Swi-bines - similar in size to Apideas.Originally Posted by The Drone Ranger
I overwintered one last winter although it was mild - welll actually it was a triple-storey one. They are not designed to fit together, however gaffa tape and squares of plywood over the front grilles worked, although a bit Heath Robinson.
I know the one you mean Adam they are a bit small for the job
Still you never know they might make it like last year
I think if you can arrange a continuous bit of comb from top to bottom it increases the chances
Not really possible with a swibine stack though
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