Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 36

Thread: I was revisiting the BBKA Course in a Case....

  1. #21
    Senior Member EmsE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Longbenton
    Posts
    404
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    If you leave 2 Queen cells in the queenless colony, does the first Queen to hatch leave with a cast straight away or does she need to mature further before doing so?
    If she does need to mature further could a factor in whether you lose a cast, or the new Queen kills the remaining Queen cells be the different stages of development the remaining QC(s) is(are) at?

    This year I thought I had removed all but 1 Queen cell as part of an AS (the queen was definitely in the other section), however on the following inspection (I must have timed it well) there was a cast in tree. When I went through the hive, I found a Queen cell 'not' where I expected, and in the one I had intended to leave, the Queen hatched not long after.

  2. #22
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Somerset
    Posts
    1,884
    Blog Entries
    35

    Default

    ******** Musing post to follow *********

    My understanding is that it isn't down to the Queen(s) whether they get to knock off their siblings. The instinct might be to go kill the other queens, but it's down to the colony itself as to whether they'll allow her to do that.

    Regarding maturity, I'd assume from what I've seen of newly hatched queens that they'd need some time to properly fill their wings, I.e. they couldn't just hatch, walk out the door and then take to the wing.

    I had it drummed into me that there is a holy trinity required for a swarm:

    1) Queen
    2) Brood
    3) Flying bees.

    Break that and bees won't swarm hence most AS methods trying to leave you with a box with a Queen and flying bees and a box with Brood and a queen cell in it.

    Problem is that bees are fairly precise and we aren't; so cash in the attic comes on and we forget to go and play with the bees. So the box that had no flying bees in it a week ago when the queen cells weren't hatching now has flying bees and two queens due to emerge any time now. With no flying bees the first queen should be allowed to kill off her unhatched sibling, but if there are flying bees the colony will almost certainly stop her and make her swarm instead.

  3. #23
    Member susbees's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Montgomery, Wales....turn west for England
    Posts
    91

    Default

    Hooper on AS "The old brood chamber which is now a couple of feet from its original hive, with its entrance facing the same way, is examined and all sealed queen cells are removed, providing there are some unsealed queen cells in which the larvae are almost fully fed and ready for capping. A crown board and roof are put on the hive and it is left for a week. At the end of a week this brood chamber is moved to the other side of the original site on which now stands the artificial swarm. The
    result will be that all the workers that have learnt to fly during the week, and there will be quite a number of them, will return to their last site and from there to the original site, thus further augmenting the population of the artificial swarm.
    It is in order to be able to do this move of the old brood chamber without the fear of a young queen flying from it that sealed cells are killed when the colony is first split up. Queen cells are sealed for eight days, and therefore with no sealed cells there can be no virgin queen to lose her bearings when the switch is made at the end of seven days. The old brood chamber can be left alone after this until the new young queen has emerged, mated, and started to lay. Usually there is no need to go through it to remove all but one of the queen cells because the drastic reduction of population will cause the bees to give up any idea of swarming and will destroy all but one themselves." My emphasis. Good, eh?

    Part of the issue being that the queen-pin of the BBKA exam system is so besotted with this book; it's hard to know what to write when faced with things like this...
    Last edited by susbees; 31-12-2011 at 11:09 AM.

  4. #24
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    North Wales
    Posts
    639

    Default

    I think that Hooper's advice works sometimes. Conflicting advice does too!

    Hooper's book has the same error as every beginner's book that I have read so far - they make their systems sound foolproof so that all a beginner needs to do is follow the instrucitons to the letter and all will be well. When it all goes pear-shaped the beginners will naturally blame themselves and lose confidence. That then hold sthem back for about 3 or 4 years before they realise that it's ok to experiment and every situation needs a different answer. Hooper also has a downer on native bees so that alone is enough to put me off him. I still recommend his book because it's better than most.

    When I write mine it will be perfect of course

    Rosie

  5. #25
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Tayside
    Posts
    4,464
    Blog Entries
    41

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rosie View Post

    When I write mine it will be perfect of course

    Rosie
    I should send you the address for the SBAi review copy ....

  6. #26
    Member susbees's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Montgomery, Wales....turn west for England
    Posts
    91

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    I should send you the address for the SBAi review copy ....
    And you can drop one down the road to me too. I'll send a pigeon

  7. #27
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Tayside
    Posts
    4,464
    Blog Entries
    41

    Default

    Must be mighty strong pigeons you breed in Wales.

  8. #28
    Member susbees's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Montgomery, Wales....turn west for England
    Posts
    91

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    Must be mighty strong pigeons you breed in Wales.
    nope, we're almost neighbours....well in Welsh terms!

  9. #29
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    North Wales
    Posts
    639

    Default

    And if I put all I know into one book the pigeon will still have capacity on his other leg for more!

    Rosie

  10. #30
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Tayside
    Posts
    4,464
    Blog Entries
    41

    Default

    I'm only going to accept that answer if you put your book onto one of them new-fangled USB stick things ...

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •