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  • What have you done today bee-related?

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #3349  by Adam Bee
 02 Jun 2019, 17:35
What did I do that was bee related? I found a needle and thread and closed the 4”-6” gap that opened up in my suit when I gave it its first wash.
 #3350  by AdamD
 02 Jun 2019, 18:37
Cable_Fairy wrote:
02 Jun 2019, 16:52
I did my weekly inspection this afternoon, and there on the third frame looking up at me was the queen I have been looking for since she hatched last July. I have them double brood, and she has been laying all over the place, almost every frame, however I must be the only keeper without a Queen Cell or two. I have my other hive ready so I can split them, or should I just go ahead and hope for the best.
Large colonies don't HAVE to swarm. Most of mine don't in the queen's first full year.
 #3352  by Japey Edge
 02 Jun 2019, 19:23
NigelP wrote:
01 Jun 2019, 19:01
Japey Edge wrote:
31 May 2019, 21:17

Us newbies must frustrate you experienced guys. Don't be mean to me next time at Wynyard!! :lol: :lol:
Not in the slightest..it's a delight to hear of anyone starting beekeeping and sharing their experiences...there is no sniggering in the back seats...well not on this forum.
We have all been there... made all the mistakes you will make/are about to make/and invented new ones that you haven't even heard of. Oh and the first honey you get will be the best tasting honey in the whole wide world...no question about it.
Funny thing is our bees will survive despite our best efforts to bugger them up....but you will need more hives than you currently have . :P
Thanks Nigel :D
 #3353  by Japey Edge
 02 Jun 2019, 19:24
I'm a day late for this one but I went over to my cousin's apiary and three of us carried out an inspection on 5 hives, hoping to find and mark queens. We didn't find any but after I left, the other two caught one and marked her! Shocking :-(
 #3355  by AdamD
 02 Jun 2019, 21:01
Sometimes you find the queen, sometimes you don't. Smoke tens to make them move, so the tiniest bit of smoke, if it's needed, will not disturb her and she will be about her business rather than moving away from where you might expect (hope) her to be.
Young queens can be quite skittish and move more quickly than older ones. And young ones can fly off as you try to get them to mark them too.
 #3356  by AdamD
 02 Jun 2019, 21:12
On Friday I was called to a large swarm which was thankfully just 3 feet of the ground on the branch of a tree. I shook them into a box and sealed it leaving them there for the bees to collect in the box - there was a section of queen excluder over the side of the box so the bees could get to her but she couldn't get out. They were not all in until about 9:15 so by the time I took them to an apiary site it was just about dark.
The bees were dumped on an angled board in front of a hive. By torchlight I happened to see the queen - marked red - so she was caged and left inside until this morning - a day and a 1/2 later - when I clipped her wing before she scurried down into the hive. To give them some food to draw comb, I have a part-extracted super of OSR honey under a queen excluder under the brood box with an eke and entrance between the two boxes.
 #3359  by NigelP
 03 Jun 2019, 17:33
Every hive inspected in one day...now feel back on top of things.
Two weeks ago it was queen cell city or virgins not yet laying.....
Now have several new laying queens, some I managed to spot mark and clip...some still elusive...they will be found.
I had three Buckfast F1 colonies crammed with bees which were drawing queen cells.
With Buckfast my first line of swarm control is give them more space and KO the queen cells which I did about 10 days ago....now all three original queens still happily laying and not a queen cell in sight...

Interesting nuc where I was looking for a new laying queen, plenty of polished cells but not an egg in sight.... but found 2 queen cells with a nice big fat grub in each. Now what happened there...... new queen laid 2 eggs and bees decided they didn't like her....Unlikely to be laying workers due to time span and some sealed brood still present.
They found unhatched eggs 2 weeks after nuc was made up with sealed queen cells....
Bees...sometimes they drive you nuts.
 #3389  by Alfred
 05 Jun 2019, 18:55
First time ever completed inspection of all hives without getting nailed,including the nemesis colony (my hive records are by names not numbers!!!) but to be fair they got smoked longer and harder than the others.
One lot are starting to cap some of their honey super and there's new bees hatching from cells -all on my watch so I'm a bit like a new parent this evening.
 #3407  by Japey Edge
 06 Jun 2019, 18:29
Weather has been decent today but it's only day 6 so I didn't peek (obeying the 7-10 day rule). I'm hoping the forecast changes though or it'll be day 11 or 12 before I can get in. Supposed to be quite rainy for a few days.
 #3413  by NigelP
 06 Jun 2019, 22:50
Rules are for the obedience of fools.etc etc
If the weather pattern precludes an exact 7 day interval inspect when it's good. Weather (sic) that's 5 or 10 or whatever days.
Take the 7 day stuff as bit of beekeeping mantra....
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