George's bees have united successfully with the new queen and one of the boxes had a new stripy laying queen that is now marked.
All three hives at Thorpe were queen right and the one under the hazel tree had a nearly full super on and an empty feeder bucket.
It was after seven in the evening and I was just checking that the nuc boxes had enough empty frames to keep them going for three weeks when I became aware of the buzzing all around me. The bees were swarming and it looked like they may settle in the greengage tree between Bill's greengage hive and my allotment 83 greengage hive. I looked around to see where they were coming from but I couldn't be sure. Only one of the nuc boxes at the end of the plot seemed a little excited. Maybe the queen had got back from her mating flight but didn't like the old home. They did settle in the greegage tree and it was easy to cut the twig on and pop them into another box. I stole a frame from the top brood box on Bill's Greengage hive that was half filled with fresh honey. Hopefully that will bribe them to stay. I saw the queen decend into the box but didn't try to mark her. (another striped queen)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Thymol
I put thymol crystals on two of my hives today. One was a Cherry's colony (one of the swarms I picked at the start of the season). They had made a fair amount of honey but I spotted a bee with virtually no wings and that is an indication that the mite levels are getting too high. I took off the suppers and have now extracted the capped honey. The thymol may put the queen off laying for a few weeks but the bees will all be much happier without so many mites.
The other was Bill's greengage hive.
The other was Bill's greengage hive.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Extracting honey
Some of the honey is ready to be taken off the hives. But there is still a lot that is not quite capped enough yet to be taken.
I have also been stealing frames of brood and giving them to small nucs with new queens in them. The brood from the 2008 swarm queen on frames of new foundation put into the second brood box a few weeks ago was just about flawless and without a single cell missing or any chalk brood.
I have also been stealing frames of brood and giving them to small nucs with new queens in them. The brood from the 2008 swarm queen on frames of new foundation put into the second brood box a few weeks ago was just about flawless and without a single cell missing or any chalk brood.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Furgle's queen
Furgle's queen is small and dark and her bees have given up laying eggs in queen cells
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Two queens in the same hive?
I have split up the hive at station three in Old Costessy - (this was the hive that I united two brood boxes together at the end of last season). On inspection yesterday there seemed to be a queen below the queen excluder and one above the queen excluder. Judging by the number of dead drones on top of the queen excluder it has been like this for some time. (drones can't get through a queen excluder)
There were three supers on this hive which I thought were filling nicely with honey. As the queen was new this year I havn't been giving a full inspection. The bees seem to have acomodated the situation OK with the bottom queen inhabiting the brood box and her bees using the first super. Then it seems the other queen was laying in the second super and her bees were putting honey in the top super. This is how it appears be but as these are black bees and the hives are under trees I find the queens almost impossible to find. I spent all year looking for one in this hive in 2007/8.
As the bees in the brood box are only on four or five frames I have taken all three supers off and stood them as a stand alone hive. I figure it won't do any harm to let the bees fill up the brood box now. The flying bees are likely to return there even if they are used to going up the the accomdation on the third floor.
Although the hive on bricks has a queen that is laying well now with several frames of brood I can't find her.
The nuc box above had it's second laying queen this year that was hiding in two slabs of comb hanging under a shallow frame and on inspection yesterday it had eggs but one queen cell as well. I was going to try again to find the queen today before deciding what to do with her and the queen cell. The queen cell was quite sneaky and hardly looked like one. It was built into the wax at the join between the bottom of the shallow frame and the 'wild' comb and didn't really stick out at all. I was too late. Today the queen cell was empty. I may as well leave these bees alone now and let them sort them selves out. If they swarm it will be a very small swarm.
All the problems I have had with this hive this year stem from leaving it on a brood and a half last year.
Quite a few of the new queens have bees that seem to want to supercede them. Furgles bees had eggs in queen cups a few days ago and now needs a closer watch.
There were three supers on this hive which I thought were filling nicely with honey. As the queen was new this year I havn't been giving a full inspection. The bees seem to have acomodated the situation OK with the bottom queen inhabiting the brood box and her bees using the first super. Then it seems the other queen was laying in the second super and her bees were putting honey in the top super. This is how it appears be but as these are black bees and the hives are under trees I find the queens almost impossible to find. I spent all year looking for one in this hive in 2007/8.
As the bees in the brood box are only on four or five frames I have taken all three supers off and stood them as a stand alone hive. I figure it won't do any harm to let the bees fill up the brood box now. The flying bees are likely to return there even if they are used to going up the the accomdation on the third floor.
Although the hive on bricks has a queen that is laying well now with several frames of brood I can't find her.
The nuc box above had it's second laying queen this year that was hiding in two slabs of comb hanging under a shallow frame and on inspection yesterday it had eggs but one queen cell as well. I was going to try again to find the queen today before deciding what to do with her and the queen cell. The queen cell was quite sneaky and hardly looked like one. It was built into the wax at the join between the bottom of the shallow frame and the 'wild' comb and didn't really stick out at all. I was too late. Today the queen cell was empty. I may as well leave these bees alone now and let them sort them selves out. If they swarm it will be a very small swarm.
All the problems I have had with this hive this year stem from leaving it on a brood and a half last year.
Quite a few of the new queens have bees that seem to want to supercede them. Furgles bees had eggs in queen cups a few days ago and now needs a closer watch.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
GW,
There was a lot of activity at the entrance of GW's hive and after the chaos created by pulling it apart the other day I thought I would give it another look. The queen marked green (she should be marked red) was there in the top brood box on the second frame in. I made a quick inspection for queen cells and put the hive back together. There was still some unhatched brood in the big old wooden feeder box and I released quite a few drones that had emerged from brood in the feeder box that is above the queen excluder. I need to put on another super.
I was going to take the queen and the brood out of the Wynmondham swarm and give them one of my queen cells to hatch out. The bees were ahead of me and had already made their own queen cell. I still removed the queen and a couple of frames of brood. But I did leave them with their own queen cell to look after.
I was going to take the queen and the brood out of the Wynmondham swarm and give them one of my queen cells to hatch out. The bees were ahead of me and had already made their own queen cell. I still removed the queen and a couple of frames of brood. But I did leave them with their own queen cell to look after.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tina's girls, Laburnham
We marked some good looking new laying queens from the queen cells that Tina's bees produced when she was removed from the WBC hive in her town garden and taken to Old Costessy a month or so ago.
I also took one of her queen cells to Postwick that I gave to the the second compost bin swarm to hatch out. That was after I had taken their lively queen out of the brood box with a couple of frames bees and brood. I put those in a nuc box and sat it on top of the brood box. Tina's girls had been laying for some time with plenty of capped brood and that was the case in the brood box here too. But what I found in the nuc box above was not what I was expecting. I found queen cells. One hatched, one torn down and one about to hatch with the antenna of the yet to emerge queen twiching. On closer inspection a virgin queen was on the other frame and she looking like she was ready for a fight. Why the bees had decided to make these queen cells is a mystery. The last time I inspected she was there and seemed OK. I suppose it is possible that I damaged her in some way on closing the box. Anyway I took the frame with the emerging queen out of the nuc box and put it in another box. To give the bees and the new queen some chance of making a nucleous big enough to survive I stole a frame of brood from the Bowthorpe compost bin swarm that had some young bees about to hatch out and plenty young brood for them to look after. It will be five days before these new queens take their maiden flight so lets hope the weather is good for them then.
The Bowthorpe swarm has done quite well and more than half filled the brood box. But they have made no honey in the super. I marked their banded queen. I should have put the brood box down on the floor and moved the super under it it above the queen excluder. Maybe next time.
The Laburnham bees are no longer yellow. The bees that left the original hive with the queen were yellow and the queen is yellow but her bees are much darker and are not as 'laid back' as the yellow bees. Hower, they are making honey and they look like they are good hard working 'mongrel' bees.
Last year's (Hellsden) Postwick swarm (I only took one swarm to Postwick last year) has two brood boxes and five supers on. That is after I put another one on today. I have liked the way these bees has steadily grown from a relativly small swarm to what is now a big hive. They have always had an independant air about them. They ignored the fondant until quite late in the season. It was almost as though it was beneath them to consume something that they hadn't stored for themselfs.
I also took one of her queen cells to Postwick that I gave to the the second compost bin swarm to hatch out. That was after I had taken their lively queen out of the brood box with a couple of frames bees and brood. I put those in a nuc box and sat it on top of the brood box. Tina's girls had been laying for some time with plenty of capped brood and that was the case in the brood box here too. But what I found in the nuc box above was not what I was expecting. I found queen cells. One hatched, one torn down and one about to hatch with the antenna of the yet to emerge queen twiching. On closer inspection a virgin queen was on the other frame and she looking like she was ready for a fight. Why the bees had decided to make these queen cells is a mystery. The last time I inspected she was there and seemed OK. I suppose it is possible that I damaged her in some way on closing the box. Anyway I took the frame with the emerging queen out of the nuc box and put it in another box. To give the bees and the new queen some chance of making a nucleous big enough to survive I stole a frame of brood from the Bowthorpe compost bin swarm that had some young bees about to hatch out and plenty young brood for them to look after. It will be five days before these new queens take their maiden flight so lets hope the weather is good for them then.
The Bowthorpe swarm has done quite well and more than half filled the brood box. But they have made no honey in the super. I marked their banded queen. I should have put the brood box down on the floor and moved the super under it it above the queen excluder. Maybe next time.
The Laburnham bees are no longer yellow. The bees that left the original hive with the queen were yellow and the queen is yellow but her bees are much darker and are not as 'laid back' as the yellow bees. Hower, they are making honey and they look like they are good hard working 'mongrel' bees.
Last year's (Hellsden) Postwick swarm (I only took one swarm to Postwick last year) has two brood boxes and five supers on. That is after I put another one on today. I have liked the way these bees has steadily grown from a relativly small swarm to what is now a big hive. They have always had an independant air about them. They ignored the fondant until quite late in the season. It was almost as though it was beneath them to consume something that they hadn't stored for themselfs.
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