Some of my queens have finally started to lay in drone cells so I should have drones flying by the end of May. 10th-15th May should be ok to start grafting, weather permitting.
Some of my queens have finally started to lay in drone cells so I should have drones flying by the end of May. 10th-15th May should be ok to start grafting, weather permitting.
I previously removed a pizza slice of brood (on the 11/12th of April) and the bees quickly refilled the gap with drone comb which is now all sealed. The same hive has some drones in it already. I suspect most of these will have passed their prime by the time we get weather suitable for mating
With drones you really need continuous production to be sure of having plenty at optimum fertility.
Popped a qx between the boxes on a strong double brood today, grafting commences in 9 days time, theres increasing numbers of drones about down here and I expect there'll be plenty by the time the virgins from the first batch are wanting nuptials.
I don't think they're 'reared' as such - they just are. And they are winter bees mainly because they don't have to feed brood, and therefore their hypopharangeal and brood food glands remain young, and that in turn means, as DR said, high levels of vitellogenin and build-up of fat bodies. See Celia Davis, The Honey Bee Inside Out, page 147. I've just written Module 5 in March and made a bit of a hash of a question about vitellogenin and juvenile hormone - so, I won't try and expand on that!
Kitta
Two empty pairs of breeze blocks, some post-uniting newspaper fluff, a few foragers circling where an entrance used to be. After selling a queen and a nuc yesterday, today my apiary is down to 5 colonies. My plan for a boringly manageable beekeeping season is under way.
Bees ... 5 hives of them ... boring? How could that be Emma?!
Brrr. Added second brood box to a colony in the shed ... a balmy 14C indoors ... 5C warmer than outside. Bees busy fetching water in the sunny bits between hail showers.
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