todays news

[prakel]

Thanks for that link, some good reading there. (I could type out the relevant Manley passage later today if you like).

My queens mentioned here are both (just) over a couple of years old so the damage is relatively late in life. The one which is still going strong is suffering from a dud right back leg which actually matches your queens. Coincidence? The one which I found outside of the hive had totally lost her front left and half of her middle left. Thinking about it now, I'm pretty sure that that was purposely inflicted damage and I have to assume that at least some of the amputation was done after she'd managed to walk around the outside of the hive, a distance I'd estimate as roughly ten or eleven inches. Just seems a long way to walk in that condition but I've no real way of knowing for sure.

[The Drone Ranger]

Slightly off the immediate topic but-
In the old thread I mentioned about picking up a small swarm or cast with a gammy leg queen
I held on to that in a nucleus hive, because the queen looked like a possible useful addition to the gene pool
What actually happened was the little colony dragged it's feet through the year, didn't make progress, and then collapsed when wasps attacked in the Autumn
Beekeeping sometimes brings us up against the harsh reality of "Survival of the Fittest"
It's not nice but any Queen issues it's probably best to forget sentiment and replace her right away
Goodness knows how many lame ducks I have nursed only to see them die out anyway.

[Jon]

Hi DR
I would tend to agree, but a failing colony is not always the fault of the queen.
Last winter was a disaster here and many of us had really tiny survivor colonies in April, often just a frame or so of bees with a queen.
A view put forward was that a lot of queens had mated poorly in the summer of 2012 which had relentless rain.
Anyway, I rescued a couple of these queens to apideas in April and kept them alive in the apideas until June.
They would have dwindled and died otherwise due to lack of bees and insulation.
I then used the queens to make up new nucs mid June and introduced them via introduction cages in the normal fashion.
The nucs built up to full colonies by July and the queens laid really well. Both of these colonies look great at the moment and should overwinter fine.

Sometimes the problem is nosema, or manky comb or too many mites or in this case, not enough bees.
In the case of a gammy leg I would agree that the queen has no future, although I remember one of mine laid quite well for a while.

[prakel]

Yeah I'd agree with the above too and no doubt will find a young drone layer in place of the remaining 'gammy' queen come the spring. Those rather odd events last January which I posted somewhere else on this forum showed me that they are able and willing to raise perfectly healthy looking virgins as late/early as January*.

She should have been replaced back at the start of August but it's been a difficult year for me and I've been stretched a little too far at times to get everything done when it should have been -there was also a bit of a wrong assumption on my part that they'd replace her themselves before the season got too old. Anyway, it's well established that I suffer BBD.

*I could kill her now and unite but I'm going to let things run their natural course as there's still plenty of brood in the combs.

[Jon]

Whenever I hear someone state 'the bees know best' I sometimes ask them why would they make supersedure cells in October then.
January is even worse.
They clearly don't always know best and often take decisions which would inevitably lead to colony suicide without beekeeper intervention.

The other 'bees know best' statement which bugs me is that they won't take sugar syrup unless they need it.
Of course they will, and will fill all 11 frames in the brood box if offered the free lunch.

Why would a queenless, broodless colony kill a laying queen offered in a cage. Seems daft but they often do just that.

[GRIZZLY]

Busy making equipment today. I've got 20 crown boards,2 Cloake boards , 5 swarm boards and 10 boards fitted with lozenge bee escapes under construction. I'm fed up having to scrabble about looking for gear so I'm providing myself with dedicated equipment. Also making hive stands etc. for the ass'n apiary. I shall manufacture wax foundation from my wax store and put a load of frames together ( wired but less wax ) to try to be better prepared for next season. If next year is a repeat of this, examination of the colonies was late and then everything happens in a rush. Our tonne of feed syrup is down to about a third and we'll be looking to bulk purchase 12.5kg blocks of fondant for next year. I'm also bulk buying honey jars at the honey show , It takes time but our membership is waking up to the fact that bulk purchasing saves a considerable amount of expense - especially on transport costs.

[prakel]

Just been looking at some of the gear currently selling on ebay ...solid topped frame feeders and follower boards with Hoffman spacers. Do people really buy this stuff?

[GRIZZLY]

Still making kit today, got 20 roofs on the go. The old finger jointer is getting red hot cutting160 sets of fingers. I am using standard national roofs on my plastic Swienty hives over the winter with 50mm foam board between the roof and the brood box. I think the swienty roofs are a bit scanty with minimal overlap so can blow off in one of our famous gales - alright in the summer tho'. I've just had an email from Gill at Thornes - I see they are offering THIRD quality hive bits with a note that they might need a repair or some other work. I shudder to imagine what they could be like - fit for the fire perhaps?. Surely they're not that desperate for sales !. I would be ashamed to offer this standard of equipment for sale.

[greengumbo]

Just back from Spain where the bees were plentiful and the flow was still on full speed. Trees alive with "native black" Catalonian bees - plus ca change !

Bought some lovely orange blossom honey and a jar of alpine thyme honey. Great stuff. Houses in the town of el perello were decorated with wee hexagonal tiles and while there I visited the regional beefarmer cooperative and this touristy place - http://www.melmuria.com/

Got back home and was pleasantly surprised that my bees were out and about as well and bringing in lots of ivy pollen

[mbc]

I've just had an email from Gill at Thornes - I see they are offering THIRD quality hive bits with a note that they might need a repair or some other work. I shudder to imagine what they could be like - fit for the fire perhaps?. Surely they're not that desperate for sales !. I would be ashamed to offer this standard of equipment for sale.

Isnt it a fair enough offer ?
It could be exactly what a keen but skint beekeeper is looking for, with a bit of time on their hands I can imagine it being quite enjoyable to make good some cheap kit in the spirit of 'make do and mend'( says myself, rapidly typing "fawns" into my browser !).
Its worth next to nothing as firewood, but could give many years of service given a bit of patching up.