Comb in the feeder Jazz??
By yesterday my late-mated queen had laid up a good solid frame of brood, in a mini-nuc with another started, so she has been transferred to a bigger colony from which I had stolen the queen 10 days before.AdamD wrote: ↑28 Sep 2019, 20:38It looks like the weather last week (24th/25th) was good enough for one of the queens to mate, with a few eggs seen in the mini-nuc this morning. The queen in the nuc has gone, I believe, as a frame of brood that went in 2 days ago resulted in queencells being made. So 50% success is OK at the end of September. I'll check that she is laying worker brood in a week or so's time, weather permitting, and then she can go into the queenless nuc. It's of a fair size so it should be good for winter if she is a good-un. There's a chance that she didn't mate well, of course, but I won't be able to see that, only the bees can tell me.
I've not done the coloured feed thing - I do understand that during the war, green coloured sugar was given to beekeepers to help their bees get through winter. The idea was that it couldn't be sold on the black market for other uses. Will be interested to learn if you have pink honey next year!Japey Edge wrote: ↑09 Oct 2019, 21:13
I filled the ashforth feeder about half full (as that's all I have) with thymol syrup with a little red food colouring. Heard it done before so I'm curious if I'll see red combs in spring. The colour and the thymol should be more than enough to tell me it's not honey