Two beginner issues

[gavin]

I'd wait. There could easily be a virgin waiting for better weather to get out and find the drones, and yes, may be a supercedure. Or you killed the queen, or they swarmed.

The bees will make space, and there is no point in adding brood to this colony. It is already the strongest colony. In large colonies sometimes they seem to want to wait until the brood is hatched before the queen lays.

[Neils]

Queenless/non laying hives seem quite happy to pack the brood area with stores even if there's comb in the supers above. If the space is there then once she starts coming into lay they'll quickly move the stores if they need to.

I think if you're not sure what the state of play is that adding a frame of eggs can be helpful, but if you think it's likely been three weeks since the previous queen was lost and you found open queen cell(s) then it's still early days to be worrying.

[voytech104]

Thanks for reassurance guys


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[Oilboffin]

Hi I have just moved to the isle of Lewis and would like to keep bees are there any beekeepers on this island?

[gavin]

Not only are there beekeepers on Lewis, there are enough of them and there was enough enthusiasm for them to try to form a group. Check out this thread, which includes one of my favourite SBAi posts. Whatever happened to Kennycreed?

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...-Western-Isles

I think that the ringleader was Judith. I'll try to look out her details and let you know, unless someone else gets there first.

Welcome to the forum!

Gavin

[gavin]

Judith?! Elizabeth. A Personal Message is on its way to you. They have a Facebook page too:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wester...08305115959478

[arsya]

Hello! How many hives to start with? I found some information http://keepingbee.org/how-to-start-b...for-beginners/ but maybe you know.

[marion.orca]

Hi arysa - I started with a single nucleus - it seemed logical to me to start small and build from there when I had more experience of working with the bees. I felt I would therefore grow in my learning as the bees grew themselves. It is of course a personal choice, but the old phrase of " don't run before you can walk " comes to mind. I now have 2 colonies, which over the course of the last 18 months have just about thrown every conceivable test my way - and in a strange sort of way - I'm almost glad they have, as I have gained so much more valuable insight into their lives. Good luck if you are starting out.

[Jon]

One to start with makes sense. A nuc is a good idea as in theory you should not have to deal with swarming issues until the second season.
In the long term, beekeeping is easier with at least two or three as you can solve a lot of problems, lack of a queen for example, by taking brood from one colony and giving it to another.