Old Costessy hives.
I opened all four hives today. Marked the (young) queen in the double brood box. She was in the bottom box so I have put the queen excluder down to the top of that.
I didn't see the other two 2008 queens that I would like to mark. They are in the one hive that faces South and the hive on bricks. Both seem to be laying well and both hives have plenty of stores but there was signs of a Varroa spread virus as there were one or two bees with deformed wings. This is an indication of high mite infestation so it was good to see the Apiguard trays (that I put in the hives on my last visit) were empty. I put three more trays in - one in each hive.
I took a quick look into 'Sticky's' hive just enough to see that she was laying. She is beginning to lay in the top brood box so I gave that box a liberal sprinkling of thymol crystals.
I have made other visit to Golden Stripes hive and pulled it to bits and put it back together again. In the process I have given the hive a clean floor and put the brood box to the bottom. The middle brood box is still in the middle but now on top of the brood box with the queen in with the queen excluder between the the two. The third brood box I have taken off altogether.
Stripes mother is a swarm queen (circa 2007) who's bees are not the easiest to handle. The swarm was originally picked up in Hellesdon and taken to Old Costessy before being moved to the UEA site. On a full inspection today I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was laying extremely well and had covered over half the frame in the brood box and started on the super frames (they are on a brood and a half) and only just started laying drone brood.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Allotment apiary and Postwick
I opened up the last three hives in the allotment and checked they had laying queens. The swarm hive near the path has a good looking leather brown queen marked red and she seems to be laying well. The hive at the end by the Russet apple tree is on brood and a half and looks OK and the hive that was from Thorpe that re-queened in the allotment also has a laying queen
At Postwick I took out the two frames that I had put into the hive that had the old queen that had stopped laying and put them int a nuc box with a frame of stores. One of the frames has a couple of small queen cells on so we will see what will happen in a few weeks time.
I stole a second frame from the double brood box hive at the front (and saw a marked red queen) and put that frame into the brood box of the old non laying queen and reduced the hive to just one brood box. I don't think I should steel anymore more frames from that same hive from now on.
The next job to do in Postwick is to give all the colonies a tray of Apiguard each. I bought two more packs today.
At Postwick I took out the two frames that I had put into the hive that had the old queen that had stopped laying and put them int a nuc box with a frame of stores. One of the frames has a couple of small queen cells on so we will see what will happen in a few weeks time.
I stole a second frame from the double brood box hive at the front (and saw a marked red queen) and put that frame into the brood box of the old non laying queen and reduced the hive to just one brood box. I don't think I should steel anymore more frames from that same hive from now on.
The next job to do in Postwick is to give all the colonies a tray of Apiguard each. I bought two more packs today.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Honey Stripes
Even though the weather wasn't perfect for opening up bee hives I didn't like leaving Honey Stripes with missing frames in her brood box.
And it turns out the bees didn't like it either and had already started making their own comb hanging down from the crown board to fill the spaces. I gave them a bucket with feed to encourage them to draw the three frames of foundation I put in today and those I put in on my last visit a couple of days ago.
The next stage will be to re-site the brood box on a new hive stand and take out the old broken frames and put a super on. I don't want do that until the weather looks set for a fine spell. Hopefully they will have finished the feed by then.
They will need checking again on Sunday 29th Easter Sunday to see if the bees decided to make queen cells in the middle brood box.
And it turns out the bees didn't like it either and had already started making their own comb hanging down from the crown board to fill the spaces. I gave them a bucket with feed to encourage them to draw the three frames of foundation I put in today and those I put in on my last visit a couple of days ago.
The next stage will be to re-site the brood box on a new hive stand and take out the old broken frames and put a super on. I don't want do that until the weather looks set for a fine spell. Hopefully they will have finished the feed by then.
They will need checking again on Sunday 29th Easter Sunday to see if the bees decided to make queen cells in the middle brood box.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Honey Stripes
I am still opening up hives for the first time this year in some of my apiaries. I have been fairly confident that the three hives in the garden at Thorpe would be fine. Not so. The third hive had a double brood box full of stores and no bees at all. The middle hive had a small patch of brood and eggs but it was barely the size of my hand. It was only the old queen that was OK. Her yellow dot has nearly worn away but she was there and laying in the top brood box.
The two hives at the UEA site were in a much better condition. The hive that was knocked over in the winter has a very good looking new queen that I marked today and surprise, surprise they seem to be much better tempered bees than the ones they bred from which are in the hive next to them.
The new queen is large and striped and I'm going to call her Honey Stripes (super cell) . She is now in the top brood box in a stack of three with a queen excluder under that box. The frames need sorting out a little as there were a couple that were full of stores but were coming apart. I put several new undrawn frames in and it needs a couple more. It's possible that the brood that is in the box below will have queen cells made in it if the bees think the queen is too far away. They were eating fondant and still have a little left but I think I may put a bucket of feed on to help them draw out new wax.
I gave all the hives a Postwick a quick look. The hive that had the old queen that had stopped laying had two small queen cells in on the frame that introduced on my last visit. I put in another frame of eggs to keep them going. I may take the frame with the queen cells out and see if they can't make some better looking ones in their place. The other hives all had laying queens.
The two hives at the UEA site were in a much better condition. The hive that was knocked over in the winter has a very good looking new queen that I marked today and surprise, surprise they seem to be much better tempered bees than the ones they bred from which are in the hive next to them.
The new queen is large and striped and I'm going to call her Honey Stripes (super cell) . She is now in the top brood box in a stack of three with a queen excluder under that box. The frames need sorting out a little as there were a couple that were full of stores but were coming apart. I put several new undrawn frames in and it needs a couple more. It's possible that the brood that is in the box below will have queen cells made in it if the bees think the queen is too far away. They were eating fondant and still have a little left but I think I may put a bucket of feed on to help them draw out new wax.
I gave all the hives a Postwick a quick look. The hive that had the old queen that had stopped laying had two small queen cells in on the frame that introduced on my last visit. I put in another frame of eggs to keep them going. I may take the frame with the queen cells out and see if they can't make some better looking ones in their place. The other hives all had laying queens.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Suffolk bees - a mistake?
Suffolk bees - a mistake?
I made a trip out to my bees in Suffolk today for the second time this year. My first visit this year was to assess my winter losses and there was one failed hive there. That was on February 16th. I didn't write much about it at the time as I had made a quick visit to 28 hives that day and couldn't write about them all.
The hive that had failed was a 2008 queen - parent Bill's bees - that I took out there at the start of the season. Bill's hive made a lot of rape honey and then swarmed. The queen that went into the winter was one of two from that original swarmed 'Bill's' hive.
On inspection in February the bees were dead without any real explanation as to why. There was plenty of food in the brood box.
Of the other two hives one was doing really well with an old queen and the other (the second of Bill offspring) was hanging on in there. I gave both hives a quick inspection and a full bucket of feed each.
The hive with old queen took me a little by surprise with the number of bees in the brood box and I closed it down quickly as this was not supposed to be an inspection and I didn't have my smoker with me (big mistake!). I left it with a full brood box of bees, a crown board on top, (that I couldn't move) two supers above that and the bucket of feed on a second crown board at the top. The queen excluder was left out and I think now that was another fatal mistake.
The bees apparently did get up through the center hole in the crown board and did get the feed as the bucket (unlike the other hive) was completely empty. The brood box was still full of bees but apart from a few capped drone cells and couple of uncapped odd cells of drone brood here and there there were no cells or eggs.
It seems the queen may be missing she must have been laying after I left as that was over a month ago and that is enough time for all eggs including drones to be hatched out since then. Did she get taken up above the crown board into the empty supper frames and perish there? I don't know. But if I had put the queen excluder on (even if was above the crown board as it would have been) I would at least now be sure that she hadn't perished in the supers.
I suppose it is possible that she is there but not laying as the old Queen at Poswick.
The other hive was small and weak in comparrison but the queen was there (small and dark). I took out a frame that had a few eggs and a small patch of brood and put the frame in the other hive. I closed up I dropped the feeder bucket down to the brood box taking off the supers.
I hope they can build up their numbers and was tempted to unight the two hives there and then.
I made a trip out to my bees in Suffolk today for the second time this year. My first visit this year was to assess my winter losses and there was one failed hive there. That was on February 16th. I didn't write much about it at the time as I had made a quick visit to 28 hives that day and couldn't write about them all.
The hive that had failed was a 2008 queen - parent Bill's bees - that I took out there at the start of the season. Bill's hive made a lot of rape honey and then swarmed. The queen that went into the winter was one of two from that original swarmed 'Bill's' hive.
On inspection in February the bees were dead without any real explanation as to why. There was plenty of food in the brood box.
Of the other two hives one was doing really well with an old queen and the other (the second of Bill offspring) was hanging on in there. I gave both hives a quick inspection and a full bucket of feed each.
The hive with old queen took me a little by surprise with the number of bees in the brood box and I closed it down quickly as this was not supposed to be an inspection and I didn't have my smoker with me (big mistake!). I left it with a full brood box of bees, a crown board on top, (that I couldn't move) two supers above that and the bucket of feed on a second crown board at the top. The queen excluder was left out and I think now that was another fatal mistake.
The bees apparently did get up through the center hole in the crown board and did get the feed as the bucket (unlike the other hive) was completely empty. The brood box was still full of bees but apart from a few capped drone cells and couple of uncapped odd cells of drone brood here and there there were no cells or eggs.
It seems the queen may be missing she must have been laying after I left as that was over a month ago and that is enough time for all eggs including drones to be hatched out since then. Did she get taken up above the crown board into the empty supper frames and perish there? I don't know. But if I had put the queen excluder on (even if was above the crown board as it would have been) I would at least now be sure that she hadn't perished in the supers.
I suppose it is possible that she is there but not laying as the old Queen at Poswick.
The other hive was small and weak in comparrison but the queen was there (small and dark). I took out a frame that had a few eggs and a small patch of brood and put the frame in the other hive. I closed up I dropped the feeder bucket down to the brood box taking off the supers.
I hope they can build up their numbers and was tempted to unight the two hives there and then.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Permaculture bees OK
Permaculture bees OK. I open the three hives on the student's allotment today and all had laying queens. I marked the queen in the small new box.
Furgle's queen is laying
Tina's queen is laying
The three hives in the middle of my allotment have laying queens.
Furgle's queen is laying
Tina's queen is laying
The three hives in the middle of my allotment have laying queens.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Old Costessy apiary visit
Old Costessy apiary visit
The four hives at Old Costessy have survived the winter well and all were busy today. I opened them up for the first time this year. They all have plenty of stores but two were still eating fondant and had finished the last lump I had given them (I gave them a new lump). I think a large amount of the stores they have is fairly solid ivy honey.
The shallow frames at the edge of the brood box had solid blocks of honey at the bottom that broke of and got left stuck in the hive and in the way. I put these shallow frames in as part of my Varroa control as the bees often put drone brood at the bottom of them in the summer that can be brocken off and removed. I now think should these frames should be taken out of the hive before the autumn ivy flow starts and put back in the early summer.
All colonies had laying queens.
Out of the four hives three are 2008 queens and one (Sticky) is a 2007 queen. I put a tray of Apiguard on the three new queens.
Two of the hives are on double brood box - Sticky and the youngest queen.
The one hive on the south facing wall has a brood box and three supers on. I need to take a new brood box out for that one and the one next to it. The one next to it needs to be moved off it's wonky bricks and onto blocks and to that end I put down some new slabs and blocks today. I will move it when I give it a clean floor possibly on my next visit that should be a week from now when I need to put in another tray of Apiguard.
I removed all mouse guards.
All these hive have solid floors.
LINK BACK
The four hives at Old Costessy have survived the winter well and all were busy today. I opened them up for the first time this year. They all have plenty of stores but two were still eating fondant and had finished the last lump I had given them (I gave them a new lump). I think a large amount of the stores they have is fairly solid ivy honey.
The shallow frames at the edge of the brood box had solid blocks of honey at the bottom that broke of and got left stuck in the hive and in the way. I put these shallow frames in as part of my Varroa control as the bees often put drone brood at the bottom of them in the summer that can be brocken off and removed. I now think should these frames should be taken out of the hive before the autumn ivy flow starts and put back in the early summer.
All colonies had laying queens.
Out of the four hives three are 2008 queens and one (Sticky) is a 2007 queen. I put a tray of Apiguard on the three new queens.
Two of the hives are on double brood box - Sticky and the youngest queen.
The one hive on the south facing wall has a brood box and three supers on. I need to take a new brood box out for that one and the one next to it. The one next to it needs to be moved off it's wonky bricks and onto blocks and to that end I put down some new slabs and blocks today. I will move it when I give it a clean floor possibly on my next visit that should be a week from now when I need to put in another tray of Apiguard.
I removed all mouse guards.
All these hive have solid floors.
LINK BACK
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