What have you done today bee-related?

[JoJo36]

Oops for got another question is my new queen emerging beginning of June has now filled out brood box with about 6-7 frames of completely sealed brood! Only one super on this one as they had to draw out foundation a few weeks ago.
Again should I leave be as super not full and just add another super if and when required??!!

[Alfred]

Stupidly,stupidly left three nice brood frames lying in the sun whilst distracted by non beekeeping taskage.

Some wax liquefied nice and clean and all the combs sagged and torn from the frames
Wiring still tight as a drum.

Which casts doubt on the notion that wired is better than foundationless

Waxmoth took to my spare super too, so we wont be short of candles this winter.

[NigelP]

Clearer boards on the first 4 hives to be taken to the moors, other supers are filling nicely.
Alas I expect I will be manually clearing the bees off tomorrow AM as I find clearer boards quite inefficient in hot conditions, no real incentive for the bees to gain the warmth of the colony underneath.
And I second Steve on the OZ ventilated suits a real bonus in this hot weather, but even in shorts and little else one doesn't half perspire in this weather regardless.

[Caroline]

My hive 1 is jam packed with bees upon checking today and I couldn't see queen as literally dripping with bees!
There were a few swarm cells which I pulled as couldn't find the queen to put her in a top brood box

Hi JoJo, by 'pulled' I assume you mean cut out. To most beekeepers 'pulling' a Q/C is to release a virgin queen from a cell into a hive. I don't mean this comment to be anything but helpful, it saves confusion when asking for help if common terminology is used.

Some may disagree, but in my opinion if you continue to cut out Q/Cs, you run the risk of the bees swarming anyway, prior to any Q/C being sealed. Also, adding more hive capacity may not deter swarming (even more so if you have a prolific queen).

You have mentioned you do not wish to make increase and are short of space, but in your situation I would remove the queen into a nuc for safe keeping (can be as small as a 2 frame nuc), then unite the bees once the new queen is up and laying (using the old queen if the new queen proves unsuitable). I have used nucs twice this year, placing in a corner a few feet from the parent colony with no issues.

Yes, this does mean checking for Q/Cs and reducing to one, but to me you have already created yourself additional work with the vertical splits and removing of Q/Cs that you have been doing. It always seems a shame to have to dispatch a queen but we've all had to do it at some point.

I hope whatever action you decide to take works for you.

[JoJo36]

Hi Caroline

Yes sorry I did mean destroyed them not pulled!!

My problem now is that there are so many bees in the hive, I couldn't see the queen anyway??!! I will check in a couple of days as I'm sure they will make more as there were eggs and larvae there!! Yes you are right re taking her out and I shall, as I do have a brand new poly nuc ready to use!!

I just wanted the bees concentrating on bringing in honey??!!:)

[AdamD]

Oops for got another question is my new queen emerging beginning of June has now filled out brood box with about 6-7 frames of completely sealed brood! Only one super on this one as they had to draw out foundation a few weeks ago.
Again should I leave be as super not full and just add another super if and when required??!!

Difficult one to judge - new queens are much less likely to swarm so the queen should be OK in the brood box at the moment and brooding should reduce from now anyway. With plenty of emerging brood and one super, it might get quite full in the hive, so you may need a second super soon. It's good to have drawn super comb; if you have the space to store it over winter, so even if the bees part-draw the comb but don't put any honey in it, it's not a bad thing to have for next year.

[AdamD]

My hive 1 is jam packed with bees upon checking today and I couldn't see queen as literally dripping with bees!
There were a few swarm cells which I pulled as couldn't find the queen to put her in a top brood box

Hi JoJo, by 'pulled' I assume you mean cut out. To most beekeepers 'pulling' a Q/C is to release a virgin queen from a cell into a hive. I don't mean this comment to be anything but helpful, it saves confusion when asking for help if common terminology is used.

Some may disagree, but in my opinion if you continue to cut out Q/Cs, you run the risk of the bees swarming anyway, prior to any Q/C being sealed. Also, adding more hive capacity may not deter swarming (even more so if you have a prolific queen).

You have mentioned you do not wish to make increase and are short of space, but in your situation I would remove the queen into a nuc for safe keeping (can be as small as a 2 frame nuc), then unite the bees once the new queen is up and laying (using the old queen if the new queen proves unsuitable). I have used nucs twice this year, placing in a corner a few feet from the parent colony with no issues.

Yes, this does mean checking for Q/Cs and reducing to one, but to me you have already created yourself additional work with the vertical splits and removing of Q/Cs that you have been doing. It always seems a shame to have to dispatch a queen but we've all had to do it at some point.

I hope whatever action you decide to take works for you.

I agree that removing queencells is not a long-term solution but it buys you a couple of days. (Most of the time). The conditions in the hive will be the same after you cut out the queencells compared to before, so the chances of queen-cell removal working is slight. However if changes are made, that might just reduce the swarming tendancy - changes could be a change to the weather or giving more space, for example. An additional super might just help; especially if it gets bees away from a full brood box. In general, if the colony wants to swarm, they will, unless significant action is undertaken.

(An example this year where removing queencells didn't work for me:- The colony was getting full and I previously had an inkling that they would want to swarm; on a Wednesday I cut out a few queencells and made a note to inspect on the Saturday. However they swarmed on the Friday - just 2 days after cutting out the queencells. As the queen was clipped, she remained (rather than got lost which sometimes happens) and she was still there on the Friday evening. Thankfully with the nightclubs closed at the time ( ) I had time to deal with them).

[JoJo36]

[JoJo36]

Just added a super so if they go, its tough I'm not fussing over that hive any more!!

[Bobbysbees]

Went through my splits today and bingo 2 new colonies. So to say I'm chuffed is an understatement.
I lost one colony and 3 supers of honey. There are a few girls left and one capped QC I must have missed last week.
So if anyone has caught them good luck lol. They were going to get requeened but i used the new queen for an extra split.
Pulled 2 boxes of honey and will spend the evening using my shiny new electric extractor I finished building.
Its beyond me why next to all the extractors I have seen have the honey gate on one side and inch off the bottom.
So I converted mine to have a conical base with the tap on the bottom, had a bit of a faff lining up the bearing that is supported in the middle by 3 steel rods welded straight to the outer bearing case and out to the sides of the tank.
The power is supplied by an old motor from a band saw with a speed controller wired in.
I did away with the gearing system in favour of belt drive cause the chances of the plastic gears dealing with a motor were pretty remote at best.
Tomorrow is long hive inspection day so we shall see if they have any honey to add to my growing stock.