I have been keeping bees for about 10 years and each year. My bees are dark locals supplemented with Qs from good local breeders. They are productive, good tempered and not plagued with disease. But - I struggle to get queens mated consistently. The climate in west Fermanagh is mild, wet, windy and cloudy, with May and June the driest month. Regardless of the Q rearing method I use, getting the Qs mated seems to be the bottleneck.
Can fellow beekeepers on the Scotland west coast plagued with a similar climate help with this - or is poor mating something that bee keepers on the edge of the honey bee distribution limit just have to put up with?
Alan.