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Thread: todays news

  1. #4001

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    Good news. Any wisdom on the longest you would wait before assuming the queen has failed to mate and uniting?? Also if there is a queen present but one who has failed to mate will this prevent the bees making qc if presented with eggs from another hive?
    The cold wet weather has abated here in Ullapool so I am still hoping that one or two of my breeding colonies will produce a viable queen.


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  2. #4002

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    I'm a bit new to this to be sharing anything that could be termed wisdom, but as with Neils and Lindsay these colonies have taken the best part of six weeks from finding well developed cells and taking action to having a new queen laying. Hopefully there is still just time to build them up for the mental heather flow we're going to get from all this rain....!?

    I'm not just sure what the bees would do with a test frame in the presence of a poorly mated queen, but I am glad I gave most of mine test frames last weekend as one of them drew a bunch of cells so something went awry with their previous attempt and the others started laying.

  3. #4003

    Default and it was all going so well!

    Geez - been busy few days. This season was purring along, strong colonies, easy splits and got a good crop from bees north of Dundee, then found two of my strongest colonies starving last week, and so been emergency feeding everything in dreary conditions. Ran out of feeders. These two colonies lost alot of bees but seem to have recovered now. They need a careful inspection. Nucs are fine because I left them with frames of stores but I overestimated the ability of colonies with lots of flyers to look after themselves. Old Qs slowed right down and new Qs not laying yet.

  4. #4004
    Senior Member
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    Mar 2010
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    Orkney (it’s usually cool and windy but somehow the bees survive!)
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    284

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    We are averaging about one good foraging day a week here at the moment. Queens are off the lay and several beekeepers I spoke to are having to feed their colonies. I’ve a few hives bursting with bees that need to be split. Their supers are empty and there’s a lot of sealed brood to hatch but they aren’t keen on making Q cells! We don’t normally have a June gap here but we’re still waiting for the fields of white clover. Everything is down to the weather🌧🌧💨💨🌧🌧 and there is no sign of it improving. A local shop asked me today if I could supply them with honey this year, I said ask again in September.☹️

  5. #4005
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Sep 2011
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    On the edge of a mature pine forest, Kingussie, Inverness-shire
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    I’ve been feeding mine for about 10 days now. So emergency I didn’t dare delay 24 hrs and take the supers off. Not that it matters as there will be no blossom honey here and I can have a sort out before the heather starts. It’s a little weird cos you are always told no eggs, no queen and then you suddenly realise no eggs cos there are no stores and the Q is on strike. Some of the colonies were moving around like they were drugged but I’m happier now they seem to have perked up a bit and two colonies stopped taking down feed.


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  6. #4006

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bridget View Post
    I’ve been feeding mine for about 10 days now. So emergency I didn’t dare delay 24 hrs and take the supers off. Not that it matters as there will be no blossom honey here and I can have a sort out before the heather starts. It’s a little weird cos you are always told no eggs, no queen and then you suddenly realise no eggs cos there are no stores and the Q is on strike. Some of the colonies were moving around like they were drugged but I’m happier now they seem to have perked up a bit and two colonies stopped taking down feed.


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    Same here in Ullapool. I gave one strong but storeless hive a gallon of syrup yesterday having found it empty of food. Hoping for a lime flow fingers crossed


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  7. #4007

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    Hi all,
    Posts from 16th and 17th mirror the story in my west Fermanagh apiary - great start to the season, now empty brood frames, feeding, cross bees (usually pussycats), Qs off lay and Apidea virgins not mated. Cold comfort that I am not the only one trying to cope with difficult conditions.
    Alan.

  8. #4008
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Ardnamurchan & Fife
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    But here in balmy Fife it's ... exactly the same

    Some colonies are managing to bring in a bit of nectar but it's very patchy. It also doesn't seem to be related to the size of the colony (or maybe the strong ones are just scoffing it down as soon as it arrives). I'm extracting at the moment and there are a few frames I've left with the hives as they didn't pass the shake test.

    I stockpile frames of sealed stores and am busily using them now rather than feed syrup.

    Spring honey yield is probably 30% what it was last year ... but last year was pretty exceptional.

  9. #4009
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    I underestimated ... just finished extracting ... a bit under 50% of last season. It might have helped if I'd taken the supers off 7-10 days ago
    Colonies I went through this evening still have unmated queens ... or no sign whatsoever of her
    On a more positive note, I fitted casters to the extractor and it's been a revelation

  10. #4010
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Sep 2010
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    Aberdeenshire, on top of a wind-swept and exposed hill.
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatshark View Post
    ...
    On a more positive note, I fitted casters to the extractor and it's been a revelation
    Three or four castors, Fatshark?

    Somebody told me some years ago an extractor needs three castors (or ballbearings) - like washing machines.

    I fixed mine to an old dolly I had with two swivel castors and two fixed ones. I thought that probably works a bit like having only three castors (?). It’s now working a lot better than when I had it fixed to the pallet on which it arrived. Then I could hardly set it higher than 7 or it would hop around frighteningly. Now a 10 is easy.

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