Bees making drone brood like this feel good about themselves. if a colony is under pressure it gets rid of its drones so I would take that as a sign of a healthy colony.
Most of my colonies have at least 2 or 3 frames mainly covered with drone brood and some of them would have literally thousands of drones.
It's hugely reassuring to read replies such as this - thank-you. I know I'm in the right place to ask things I'm still unsure about, and maybe in time, I can return the compliment to other beginners.
When you look through a hive try and make sure you see brood in all stages (BIAS) ie eggs larvae and sealed brood.
Also make sure there are stores.
In your pictures I can see sealed brood and sealed stores but it would be reassuring to know that you saw larvae and eggs as well.
There are also pollen cells of various colours which is a good sign.
Even if you can't find the queen the presence of eggs means that your colony is almost certainly fine and dandy.
Your bees look like a mixed bunch, dark but quite a few with yellow banding, which suggests you have some kind of a local mongrel.
Last edited by Jon; 20-07-2012 at 09:01 PM.
Hey Marion, I started the same time and also can never spot the queen. I also have not found a bee buddy and the local association seems v small and meets on a day I can't do - also its 35 miles away. Interested to see your photos but I cant help as my problems are different. This post is just for moral support :0)
Moral support always welcome and returned - thanks
Hi Marion, I know that we all do things differently (thankfully) but you may find it worth trying my standard inspection procedure which is to always kneel down when going through the brood. Obviously your own build combined wth the height of your hive stands may have a bearing on whether this is possible.Originally Posted by marion.orca
When I kneel down I am able to pull a comb for inspection while simultaneously scanning the newly exposed side of the next comb in the box thus increasing the likelihood of spotting the queen. In fact, I would claim that it's very rare that I don't see a queen during a normal inspection which considering that I'm not looking for her on the majority of occasions isn't bad going.
Another advantage -as I perceive things- is that when kneeling down I present less of a target/threat/obstacle/what-have-you than I would if I was stood up and I'm convinced that I receive fewer stings even from agressive colonies (of which I've had more than my fair share of experience).
I adopted this method about 15 years ago while suffering from a back injury; it was recommended on more than one occasion in the writings of Steve Taber. My back is now 100% but I never wanted to return to stand-up inspections.
Thanks for that tip Prakel - I'll give that a try - especially as I can see the logic in presenting less of a threat. My thinking is also that perhaps she will be easier to spot later in the year when there are less drones present, so it is not imperative that I mark her straight away, but it would make life easier for next year. So I'll give that one a go, along with all the other tips I have read on here.
When Meg Seymour visited our association apiary in May I noticed she did the inspections kneeling down if the hive stand was low.
26th May, a beautiful sunny day, one of the few this summer.
Has a kind of a Buddhist temple look about it.
meg-first-hive.jpg
I hope that it (I'll call it the Steve Taber method for the sake of naming it) helps.
It may take a while to train your eye to scan the face of the following comb simultaneous to removing the one that you're inspecting next but it's well worth persevering with. It realy can save a lot of time.
With regards to the idea of presenting less of a 'threat' that's pretty much what I've come to believe over the years although it may strike some as being rather counter intuitive to actually get your face closer to the bees. Not necessarily the obvious thing to do. No matter what, it certainly reduces any obstruction which you might otherwise cause to returning foragers.
"Your bees look like a mixed bunch, dark but quite a few with yellow banding, which suggests you have some kind of a local mongrel."
Bees meanz Heinz then. Happy to have a mongrel variety, in the dog world, mongrels are usually more robust than pure breeds - wonder if that applies to the bee world too ?
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