We tend to do it at the heather and just spray both side of the interface and stick them together. The bees then generally fill in the empty frames them fill in down behind them so not much sorting to do.
We have had lots of colonies evict the drones way earlier than usual. I don't think its a bad trait in general hives but it a bummer in the mating yard where (a few) chosen drone mothers are now devoid of drones. Largely it means that the colony itself is now stable for the season as they now have no use for drones and thus new queens preparations are over. Oddly I might be a bit more concerned about the one that is still making drone brood.....but concerned in a very minor way, probably ranks about 97 in the list of the top hundred things to worry about. (Non existent list btw before anyone asks.)
We finished nest examinations about 5 weeks ago at the point we give then unlimited space. The number that swarm after that are not viable to look for and frankly, as they do not fit into our ways of management, are no great loss.
Fatshark mentions the nucs. It is an issue here too and the queens are trying to ease back laying somewhat. As the brood in the outer frames hatches they are not relaying in those faces and they are starting to tighten in the stores arc round the nest. Stimulative feeding needed to keep them going forward AND to avoid starvation setting in. It has been a very autumnal spell and hopefully the weather itself will reverse this in the coming days, but this better spell has been long predicted but when we get to within a few days of it it fades away and a new set of low pressure areas appear instead. Shame as the heather looks SO good. Was a potential klondyke up to a week ago, still has the potential to be well above average, but the earliest areas have about 10 days left before the flowering is in decline.
I would agree that the bees have indeed done well (for themselves) and are off to the heather in generally not too bad condition. Honey yield is a different matter but then the way we manage the bees blossom honey is essentially a by product, with the heather being the goal from day one. Our blossom yield was looking like it would be good, but then we went *seven weeks* with no nectar and much was eaten (costs me 30K to do a full round of feeding so we are careful not to over harvest the OSR) and the end result is a much below average early season honey crop.
If its any consolation the unit of hives in England was even worse! No honey at all until the last three weeks, and the hot weather fell smack in the middle of the gap. No nectar and lots of swarming and robbing in the middle of a heatwave.
Our best areas this year would be a small pocket west of Edinburgh (and even two miles away it was poor), Crieff, and the area round the Kincardine Bridge.
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