Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 21 to 26 of 26

Thread: Newly hatched Q ejected from nuc

  1. #21

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Calluna4u View Post
    Curiosity killed the cat?
    Not wishing to detract from the helpful comments and useful advice in this thread - but curiosity does go along with other ways of learning such as listening to others, reading about bees and practical working.

  2. #22

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by alancooper View Post
    Not wishing to detract from the helpful comments and useful advice in this thread - but curiosity does go along with other ways of learning such as listening to others, reading about bees and practical working.
    There have been some nice days when a quick check gave a good picture of how the best and worst were progressing
    On balance I think it has been a good thing for me but you couldn't contemplate doing that as part of your planned work for the year in a business setting where you have hundreds of hives and lots of staff
    Most of the time the same risks of bumping the queen are there but without drones to mate a replacement it's more serious
    If I only had one or two hives I might not risk it either
    I'm thinking about Snelgrove boards now just waiting for first rape flowers and seeing drones in the hives

    Sent from my LIFETAB_S1034X using Tapatalk

  3. #23

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by alancooper View Post
    Not wishing to detract from the helpful comments and useful advice in this thread - but curiosity does go along with other ways of learning such as listening to others, reading about bees and practical working.
    Sorry if it seemed to have a tone about it that ruffled you...was not meant that way.

    I get a wee bit fed up of the emails I have been getting since early march from people who think they might have killed their queen doing early inspections...at a time when bees should be very much left alone. You can only hurt them early on, not help them.

    They are looking to buy queens to introduce. I think they read too many high peeing competitions on various forums as they are sometimes surprised we don't have any new seasons home bred queens yet, and cannot offer any certainty of home bred supplies until well into June.

    Curiosity? Well yes of course its a good thing, but in bees it can cost you. They do best when disturbed only as necessary.

    I wish I could claim so high ground on this but no.....I do the nosey trick myself too often, though much less than I used to....and it rarely works out better than leaving well alone.

  4. #24
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Belfast, N. Ireland
    Posts
    5,122
    Blog Entries
    94

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Calluna4u View Post
    They are looking to buy queens to introduce. I think they read too many high peeing competitions on various forums as they are sometimes surprised we don't have any new seasons home bred queens yet, and cannot offer any certainty of home bred supplies until well into June.
    Again I think that is a geography thing. In the south of England some start grafting mid April but that is never going to happen up north.
    I have managed to get a batch started on 1st May last couple of years but this year I am hoping to get going around the 10th.
    First queens ready will be in the second half of June at the earliest.

    Some people just don't understand the process. I get emails looking for current year queens from the start of April.

  5. #25

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Calluna4u View Post
    I get a wee bit fed up of the emails I have been getting since early march from people who think they might have killed their queen doing early inspections...at a time when bees should be very much left alone. You can only hurt them early on, not help them.

    I wish I could claim so high ground on this but no.....I do the nosey trick myself too often, though much less than I used to....and it rarely works out better than leaving well alone.
    Hi C4u

    Mostly I have been looking at the Paynes poly nucs I overwintered
    I don't think I will overwinter them again its too tricky

    Some at about 23 April (or whatever that good day was) had 2 or 3 frames of brood on double nuc no worries
    Some had 5 or 6 getting a bit ahead of themselves again on double
    One had 9 on a double poly getting very crowded not ideal
    One single nuc had 5 solid frames of brood no space left and only 1 frame with food

    The Smith hives on the other hand were all just left till yesterday and today (double broods)
    Much easier to manage
    The cold weather hasn't held them back by much if at all but there is wide variations in colony size
    Wish all my queens were more closely related like the NZ queens you mentioned
    Only 4 breeder mothers might have its advantages
    Did all the hives develop at the same pace ?

  6. #26

    Default

    This is an update on my Q accident and subsequent attempts to re-queen:
    The "accident hive" turned out to be queen-less and developed laying workers - so I emptied the hive 50 yards from the apiary.
    Inspection of apideas and a nuc, started with salvaged sealed emergency Q cells, showed that the Qs had hatched but that there were no signs of her or eggs about two weeks after hatching , despite the best warm, sunny, windless May for a long time. A couple of emergency Q cells that hatched in an incubator were, indeed decent looking Qs. Would laying workers have found their way back to the apiary and killed newly hatched apidea Qs (I used nurse bees from other hives in the apideas but the nuc had brood and bees from the "accident hive")? I can understand laying workers killing the emergency Q hatching in the nuc with its associated frame bees.

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
  •