I know what you mean. I think the same way.Originally Posted by nemphlar
You can lose a swarm or if the queen gets lost on a mating flight you can end up with a large colony of very aggressive bees.
requeening by combining a queenless colony with a nuc which has a mated queen is tried and trusted.
I have 2 colonies now from an AS split which I checked yesterday fr the first time in a month (couldn't be helped) and no laying queen in either. Whether or not there a lre virgins yet to lay or mating was poor or even a lost queen I dont know. Im thinking if splitting the whole lot down to loads of mating nucs.. not rushing into anything either!
Sent from my GT-I8160 using Tapatalk
I've always found VQ mating in a full brood box frustrating, a mated queen from a nuc/apidea is always favourite, but like everything timing is the key and having new season mated queens prior to swarming time is tight, particularly this year. I've got 3 nucs to check for laying today and 4 apideas got a due cell today, so hope fully keep the messing about to minimum.
Part of my problem was not having enough supers, had to knock the cobwebs of some that have been stacked for years
All types of bees were enjoying the alliums today
Extracted 6 supers of rape honey yesterday, - all of which was completely capped. I was somewhat surprised that not a single comb had any set honey in it unlike in past years when the combs were nearly solid. I don't know if anyone else has had similar findings ? I ended up with 135 pounds from 3 hives.
Well I should have extracted some spring honey. A check today reveals we are well into the June gap and the supers are much lighter than 10 days ago. The weather in the interim has been reasonably good.
It's been perfect foraging weather today but not many were flying.
With the amount of rain we've had something is obviously doing well as colonies are starting to collect nectar again. Last w/e they were starving, now the brood frames are dripping with fresh nectar. I've no idea what it's from but will have to rush round putting some supers on this w/e.
Since yesterday my Ben Harden setup has built brace comb between several cells which again probably reflects that the flow has started again. I'd been feeding them a bit before then.
About 75% of my OSR crop was capped, and almost none of it was solid. I store the supers stacked on my honey warming cabinet for a few days before extracting.
Quick peak in a couple of suspected Q- colonies this evening and delighted to find eggs in both. A good end to the week.
Today's big news is I've passed my Basic Beemaster Exam woohoo. Thanks in the main to all the lessons (good, bad and downright hilarious) & hours of fun with EmsE. 👍👍
Well done, it's always good to see something for all the hard work you do
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ta v muchly 😊
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks