todays news

[Bridget]

I noticed last Sunday problems with one hive. Discovered discarded pupae and some dead bees. Starting feeding immediately all hives. Since then they have taken down litres. One hive super back on today, others still draining their syrup. Pretty sure reason for lack of stores is big expansion of brood. We have never had double brood on at this time of year here in the highlands. Lots of pollen but little nectar. Can anyone advise whether 1:1 or 1:2 is best in these circumstances at this time of year? Also how long to continue feeding. I would estimate they have taken down about 4-5 litres each. Can one go on feeding too long? We don't have any great nectar flow here until the Heather starts.


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[The Drone Ranger]

Hot as hell in a bee suit all afternoon, but good to see how things are progressing. Looks like swarming has finished here for a bit. Colonies seem to be settling down. Forage is now patchy, but stores levels are reasonable and none of the colonies were too tetchy.

one of the mesh suits helps a lot
I bought the Mann Lake one
Mrs DR got a HumbleBee one XXS for somebody just over 5ft
Any lady beekeeper a couple of inches taller than 5ft should​ go to XS
Other manufacturers small size mesh suits will almost certainly be too big for vertically challenged females

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[madasafish]

I noticed last Sunday problems with one hive. Discovered discarded pupae and some dead bees. Starting feeding immediately all hives. Since then they have taken down litres. One hive super back on today, others still draining their syrup. Pretty sure reason for lack of stores is big expansion of brood. We have never had double brood on at this time of year here in the highlands. Lots of pollen but little nectar. Can anyone advise whether 1:1 or 1:2 is best in these circumstances at this time of year? Also how long to continue feeding. I would estimate they have taken down about 4-5 litres each. Can one go on feeding too long? We don't have any great nectar flow here until the Heather starts.


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1:1 .. is what I use in summer.. easily taken.. (I had to feed two nucs with no stores and full of brood..

How long? Until they start storing nectar/capped honey - as then they have surplus stores.. Then I stop and review next inspection.

[The Drone Ranger]

Is DNA profiling practical as a method for identifying Native Bees ?
Or is morphology the only option available to the general beekeeping population
Im glad that chopping the wings off thousands of bees each year is no longer relevant
It did seem unreasonably cruel
Could one drone recently hatched tell everything about the queens genetic heritage ?
Does Bibba have equipment for analysing DNA yet if not perhaps a lottery grant could be on the cards

I actively improve my bees all the time so have no issues with bee improvement
Just a reasonable level of scepticism about ice age and Viking ancestor bees
After all we dont have any Vikings running around the place now either
Is morphology just Crufts for bees (I like the look of the one )





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[Feckless Drone]

After all we dont have any Vikings running around the place now

You have obviously not been in Carnoustie on a Friday night!

I guess if there are specific markers then its possible to type the bees by race. But - where would we find a true marker? Specimen from museums perhaps? I'm just becoming more and more aware of the large number of imports going way back - Amm from France and the Netherlands, the trend for caucasian bees in the 70s (?), both types even into north of the country. How similar are Amm from central France to what we had here? Does it matter?

I'm in pessimistic mood given a weekend of making a botch of pretty much everything (damaging a nice Q when clipping, chasing one that flew of the comb, going to mark and clip a new Q only to find 3 lovely frames of brood and 5 mature Q cells, two colonies where new Q is now almost 5 weeks from emergence and not laying) and then watched a colony with an old clipped Q try to swarm a week before I was planning to unite. Have to deal with that one now. I would have been better off attending a day of lectures on basics never mind breeding better bees.

[The Drone Ranger]

sorry you have had a few issues FD it can be a bit disheartening
I stabbed a really good queen with a crown of thorns when marking
That was a couple of years back
This year I thought I had decapitated a really good queen when marking with the one handed queen marking gadget
She curled up looked dead I put her back in the hive anyway
luckily she was playing possum and next check was there in good health
Just catch them by hand and mark them now

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[Adam]

I've not stabbed with a crown of thorns as I pick up queens or just hold them on the comb to mark them, but did once chop a queen in a queen cage.
I've not ha d a queen faint on me for a while now. It can be a bit disconcerting for a few moments until she stops playing dead.

[Bridget]

1:1 .. is what I use in summer.. easily taken.. (I had to feed two nucs with no stores and full of brood..

How long? Until they start storing nectar/capped honey - as then they have surplus stores.. Then I stop and review next inspection.

Thank you



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[greengumbo]

I feed my splits, well those that are in apiaries with full sized colonies, with fondant at this time of year to discourage robbing as I have a tendency to slosh syrup all over the place ! They take down fondant and use it readily.

Went round the splits I made after spring honey crop last night and knocked down queen cells ready for mated queens

Lots of clover out at the moment and bees still working rasps and blackberries. Some summer rape up here as well. Rosebay willow herb shooting up so will be open soonish.

Do (honey) bees get anything from buttercups ?

[Jambo]

Do (honey) bees get anything from buttercups ?

My reading says no. Apparently they are toxic and bees tend to avoid them totally. Have you seen yours on them?