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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #7212  by AdamD
 19 May 2020, 06:57
I wonder Patrick, whether fast-moving young queens in mini-nucs can quickly walk off the comb as you often see them in the bottom of the box. Larger frames slows down the exit from the frame so they tend to stay on them better?
 #7213  by AdamD
 19 May 2020, 07:07
I took some more honey off yesterday (home apiary) and promptly extracted it; some was capped at 20.5% water content, in another hive it was uncapped at 16%. I will blend them this evening to get something below 19%.
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that one queen was slowing down her egg-laying; yesterday there were 3 supercedure cells (I assume that's what they are). She did very well last year and with no swarming impulse, so the frame with two of the cells has been taken with some bees to make up a nuc. I've re-marked her, left no queencells and I'll have to keep an eye on this colony as I expect to see more cells soon.
 #7216  by NigelP
 19 May 2020, 08:53
AdamD wrote:
19 May 2020, 07:07
I took some more honey off yesterday (home apiary) and promptly extracted it; some was capped at 20.5% water content, in another hive it was uncapped at 16%.
Didn't check my capped honey yesterday but like you I had uncapped at 16%....never seen moisture content that low in uncapped. After extracting 6 supers worth it was averaging 18%.
Although, in the past I have had capped OSR honey at 22%.
 #7217  by Patrick
 19 May 2020, 10:34
AdamD wrote:I wonder Patrick, whether fast-moving young queens in mini-nucs can quickly walk off the comb as you often see them in the bottom of the box. Larger frames slows down the exit from the frame so they tend to stay on them better?[/quote

You are just being kind 😁!

But you are right, they seem more often found in the box itself than when in full hives. I hadn’t made the connection.
 #7218  by Steve 1972
 19 May 2020, 10:51
NigelP wrote:
19 May 2020, 08:53
Didn't check my capped honey yesterday but like you I had uncapped at 16%....never seen moisture content that low in uncapped. After extracting 6 supers worth it was averaging 18%.
Although, in the past I have had capped OSR honey at 22%.
Over the past two OSR seasons i have noticed that around 50% uncapped and 50% capped never got above 18% and a lot of the uncapped was the same as you at 16%..maybe the bees are bringing it in that quick they do not have time to cap it..?.
 #7263  by stechad
 21 May 2020, 18:53
Got a call from a friend beek today, needed a hand as there were bees everywhere.

She has 2 colony's and when I arrived it was obvious that one had swarmed, found the clipped queen and put her safe then using storage containers proceeded to collect all the small swarms from around the garden and stuck them in a nuc. Next dived into the hive that had swarmed, this is a 14x12 with a standard brood on top and 1 super, Started checking the top brood for QC's and found several destroyed and one that a queen had emerged from, this box had 11 frames of capped brood, took three out and placed in the nuc and replaced these with frames of foundation. Then to the 14x12, this was pretty much the same but about 1/2 stores and 1/2 open brood and 1 charged half drawn queen cell which was removed and added to the nuc, never managed to find the virgin queen but will check in a weeks time to see what has happened then.

Second hive, 1 brood and 1 super, not lots of bees but enough, super was half full and the brood box has 2 frames of capped brood a small patch of open brood but no eggs, She thinks the queen is 3 yr old and I obviously caught it just as she had failed, found no QC's and nothing to make any from so caged the queen from the swarm originally from hive one and placed her into hive 1 between the frames of brood, re-assembled and closed up.

I took the nuc home (bonus) as she doesn't want another to look after. I will return next week to see whats happened unless I get another panic phone call lol.
 #7321  by Japey Edge
 23 May 2020, 11:54
Well I wanted to do inspections yesterday but too windy. Today is the same, anything not anchored down is being relocated by nature! Glad I screwed the hive stands to the bee deck...

I have so much to check!
Nuc 1 - queenless and given buckfast frame of eggs to raise their own
Nuc 2 - tiny but accepted queen. Need to unite with another
Hive 1 - don't have a clue. Virgin? Queenless? Whatever, they have a test frame. Also the top super looks capped from what I could see through clear crown board. Ideally these would get the new queen from nuc 2
Hive 2 - fine. I hope
Hive 3 - Swarm we collected Wednesday. Need to remove QE from under BB. Trickle Api-Bioxal. Give test frame to see if I captured queen or not.

Maybe this can all wait until tomorrow. My poor lovely buckfast colony must be sick of losing frames with eggs in.

Might have to just buy in more queens as I'm not overly confident the mating options in my area will give good genetics.
 #7323  by Steve 1972
 23 May 2020, 13:11
Same as you Jazz but the weather is holding me back..i have a pile of supers to take of but the weather is pants..supposedly and hopefully it is supposed to be calming down after today with the temperatures creeping back up.
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