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Thread: todays news

  1. #4101
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Oh, do give them that scabby comb, Neils, and perhaps another little treat from one of your other hives? Let us know how they progressed (or not).
    Kitta

  2. #4102
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    Well, not good news there I’m afraid. I wasn’t too hopeful but queens gone as far as I can see and a sad few bees remain.

    But the hive she came from already has a laying queen! I think that’s a record for me, they were sealed cells last week. Superseding hive also has a queen, found her sat on the crow board as I was closing up but not laying yet.

  3. #4103

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    Hi Mellifera Crofter
    Dangerous practice donating 'scabby comb' to colonies . Preferred action sterilise using Glacial Acetic acid or 85% formic acid - kill sl pathogend except AFB! Beginners beware!

    Eric McArthur

  4. #4104
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Yes, I know, Eric. They were combs from Neils’ own apiary. I didn’t think using them trying to save a colony would be a risk.

  5. #4105

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    Whatever!! Default sterilisation of spare brood comb is good practice.

  6. #4106
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eric McArthur View Post
    Whatever!! Default sterilisation of spare brood comb is good practice.
    Eric, do not disagree with you at all.

    Was a situation where circumstance ran away a bit, so forward planning ran out the window. I don't keep brood comb, just had some available. in the end I let them do what they wanted to. That turned out to be not to survive as a colony.

    As advice I'd have said let it go, but I had to try.

  7. #4107
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    Hi all it’s make or break time for my bees up here. After one of the best spring build ups in many years I had nine colonies at full strength by early June and was looking forward to a bumper honey crop. I had even managed six splits into poly nucs earlier than expected. But alas we are now enduring our fourth week of poor weather. It has been mostly cool rainy and dull with temperatures in the 11-14c range and with the odd warmer day. The poly nucs are ok because they got two good frames of stores when they were made up but it’s a different picture with my hives. Their stores are getting used up and they are just ticking over. The worst thing of the lot is watching the fields full of white clover slowly turning brown and thinking what if !!!

  8. #4108
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    I’ve been feeding 4 of mine. Stopped a couple of days ago as thought weather was improving. Just hoping I can keep them strong till the heather starts in a couple of weeks or more. Heather not looking like it will be early but it must be in good nick with all this rain. Do you get heather? I had some blossom from a hive that built up well but never get much as our start is so late. I was hoping to get some more blossom before the heather but supers are pretty light. Gosh we must be such optimists to keep bees!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  9. #4109
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    Hello Bridget
    This morning I checked three hives at my clover site and it was only 13c and overcast. If I hadn’t been wearing thick gloves and using cover clothes it would have been very difficult. 90% of the bees were home but they didn’t want a visitor. The hives were wall to wall with brood but with very little pollen and honey. Everything coming in at the moment is being used to maintain their brood nests . My hives are in the town and an area of mainly pasture so there’s no heather nearby. My main crop comes from the clover which should last for another month. Most of the Orkney mainland is actively farmed pasture. The heather honey here is more often a supplement rather than a main crop because it so variable due to our climate. The last person I helped at the heather was my mentor and that was over 20 years ago.

  10. #4110
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    I checked a few hives today and and it looks like my honey yield is going to be well down this year. Although there’s a flow on at the moment and a good forecast for the next few days it’s too little too late. I think most of what’s coming in will stay in the brood boxes because they are quite light at the moment.
    I’m used to seeing drones getting thrown out of the hives but one of my colonies is doing things differently this year. Outside of their hive I noticed a few dozen drone pupa on the grass at the front and on the inside I could see where they were uncapping more. They aren’t short of stores and there is plenty of worker eggs and larvae in the hive. I know bees will sometimes remove brood if they are starving or under stress but this is not the case. This is the first time that I have come across this!
    On the plus side I have six queens mated and laying well in poly nucs but I might need to use a couple of them to replace failing queens. What with a late swarm and quacking queens I have certainly had a very varied beekeeping year and it’s not over yet!

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