Using the new polynucs

[Kate Atchley]

Keep watching Gavin and I look forward to the pic of the mouse being end-nibbled by the kestrel, with the owl and cat in attendance wondered when/where to pounce. The woodpecker meanwhile is sulking nearby. Ol' McDonald'll have nothing on these!

[gavin]

And where you are (also where I am come to think of it) a sea eagle skulking in the background waiting for a nice cat fillet ....

Seriously though, winter rodent attack is one of the bigger problems for bees and beekeepers. Putting hives on exposed high stands deters mice, I was once told by an observant countryman who sometimes reads the forum. Maybe your slabs will also help.

Cracking day here. It looks like the clover and lime are both flooding in. The ragwort is out too and the comb is getting yellow-stained here and there by hives that are collecting it. Had a great afternoon at the association apiary with a bunch of enthusiastic helpers. We shared grafting into a row of cups and I'll have a look in a couple of days to see if they have taken.

Ooops - I'm drifting off topic. We moved the queen from a strong colony to provide the safest kind of cell raising colony but maybe the grafts were out in the warm too long. The queen was moved into a polynuc (Phew! Got back on topic.)

G.

[Jon]

Had a great afternoon at the association apiary with a bunch of enthusiastic helpers. We shared grafting into a row of cups and I'll have a look in a couple of days to see if they have taken.

Staying off topic, you can check if grafts have taken in a couple of hours. Any larvae they don't like will be gone at this point.

[fatshark]

I've used a small piece of correx (held in place with gimp pins) as a landing board to funnel them into the entrance:


which seems to do the trick:


and have used Gorilla glue to stick both plastic or metal frame runners in place:


This one needs a bit of tidying up ... Finally, rather than using a plastic sheet as a crown board, I've used a 2mm sheet of perspex.


This has the advantage that you can gently slide it across, which forces the bees down between the frames and makes closing up the box very straightforward. In due course I'll make a simple wood-framed, kingspan-filled eke with a space for fondant to overwinter colonies with ... I've yet to use the integral feeders and am beginning to think they might have been better as a simple poly box in which we could add frame feeders if required.

[The Drone Ranger]

Many thanks Kate Gavin & Jon for your experiences
I am going to fit landing platforms
I have a theory that my bees are too thick to find the entrance after the mating flight
They can't even find their way though an open window just above their head.

[gavin]

You might be right. I have seen queens struggle to return to observation hives

[Kate Atchley]

Yer ... the bees do seem to find these entrances tricky. (Hope the painted lotus/sunstars are helping them and the Qs when they take off soon ... see pics above!)

If I overwinter some polynucs I'll find a way of putting them up, well off the ground ... not just to help re mice but also pinemartens and the damp. My guess is that these hives wouldn't stand a chance if a pinemartens decided to get in. And mice too perhaps? Maybe I could create a wee mouse guard to cover the whole of the "porch" around the entrance. That would deter both from exploring further perhaps.

By the way, I realised only when I gave the first of the new colonies to a beginner to take away that a strap tied lengthways round fits neatly over the foam placed in the entrance, so no way it could have slipped out on the journey. Neat heh?

Kate

[Adam]

I did have a problem with the integral feeder.

Some syrup had gone in and had been taken. Unfortunately there were quite a few dead bees down the bottom of the feeder but also wood for them to stand on so I wasn't too worried about it. The bees seemed dry. Of course it's not easy to take them out. The colony of bees needed more syrup to draw comb so I put in an inch or so in there - not a big quantity. On the next inspection - about a week later there were even more bees in the feeder, drowning in a fermenting mess - most of the syrup had gone by this time. I suspect that the dead bees that I hadn't cleared out were the cause of the fermentation as the large jar of syrup was used elsewhere so the syrup was fine. For some reason the bees were unable to climb up the side-walls of the feeder prison. Maybe got drunk on the alcohol? Does this happen with bees?

Fortunately I had just emptied my other 6 frame poly nuc so I was able to transfer the bees into a new box.

Was it my fault? Maybe I should have removed the dead bees and they would have been OK thereafter. However the design does not allow for easy removal. A frame feeder - or just a box with a crown-board and eke would be better.

[GRIZZLY]

I use AMBROSIA to feed the bees in my poly neucs - no floating wood.The bees seem to cope o.k. and I haven't experienced drowning.Also the AMBROSIA doesn't seem to ferment.I use 1mm thick polycarbonate sheet as an inner cover board , this stops the bees propolising the lid shut and lets me re-fill the feeder.Successful matings using these neucs so far.

[GRIZZLY]

Paynes are now producing a "lek" for the polyneuc.The intention is to be able to convert them to accept 14 x 10 size frames.I purchased a set for the standard size Paynes polyneucs I am running - not to convert them to 14 x 10 but to allow me to put fondant or pollen patties on top of the frames.They also supply inner covers made from clear plastic sheet which they gave me free of charge to complete the set-up.This can be trapped between the brood box and the lek to allow a slab of expanded foam to be added under the roof for better insulation if the colony is overwintered in these units.They also supplied the wooden floats F.O.C.for the feeder slot.I think these additions make the polyneucs more versatile.