Highs and Lows
We hoped to see two new queens over at The Rectory. We were a bit early to check in hive 3 but hive 2 should be going by now. Yes, hive 2 revealed a new queen - pale with a darker tail - and we marked her blue. She's laying in a lovely pattern across 9 frames in a double brood. Then, when we opened up hive 3 - no sign of a new queen there at all. As we knew hive 1 was laying so well, we took a frame of eggs from that hive and gave them to hive 3. So, we'll check again in a week and see if they take the opportunity to raise a queen.
Back home and some checks in the garden ...
Hive 2 does seem to have a drone layer - that's the second one we have had this year. We managed to reduce the brood to a single box with the QX placed below what is in effect stores in a brood size box. We'll plan to unite that colony, assuming we can find the queen and remove her.
Colony 3 is doing well. She is on 9 frames and this hive is always busy.
Colony 4 has a new queen but we haven't seen her. She's on a double brood with 9 frames of brood but they are making queen cells so we wonder if they have decided to replace her.
Then the little nuc - colony 9 - we saw eggs but only in drone cells along with multiple eggs. We've left three sealed queen cells so we'll see what happens there.
Posted by Sally on Sunday 11 July 2010 - 22:57:08 |
Saturday is Bee-Day
Thirteen hives we inspected today! And there will be more tomorrow ...
On the Hill
Over to the Hill and Harry told us that hive 2 had seemed almost non-existent until just in the last week when it burst into life. We explained that we had taken bees from hive 1 to form a small colony in 2 so flying bees would likely have returned to the original hive but we hoped things were continuing to happen inside. Well, they certainly did because we saw the new queen and she was laying on 5 frames. We've marked her blue but she is a creamy pale colour.
When we looked in hive 1, that was less promising. We saw no sign of a queen so decided to add some eggs from hive 2 to see what they might do. We had a frame with stores on so replaced the frame we removed from hive 2 with that.
So, we'll see what happens there.
Can't actually remember which queen this is - probably one at Little Piece ...
[ Read the rest ... ]
Posted by Sally on Saturday 10 July 2010 - 22:06:40 |
The Rectory - early evening visit
She's a beaurtiful dark, long queen in hive 1 at the Rectory. We added a brood box below the existing one last visit and she has gone down, good as gold. She's on 3 frames in the lower brood and 9 in the upper. We added a second super for good measure too as they are going so well. We'll have that first super to clear soon. Now that was a good early June swarm.
Hive 4's new queen by contrast is quite pale and she is now on 7 frames in the brood and they are working well on the super.
Posted by Sally on Thursday 08 July 2010 - 21:53:43 |
Garden Apiary update
A look in three hives in the garden this evening.
Well, hive 2 in the garden has been raising a queen since mid-June and we had seen early evidence of a laying queen during the last inspection. Well today, we have only seen drone brood so have we a drone layer? We may introduce a frame of eggs to test out this hive.
Then, a look in hive 5. 9 wonderful frames of brood and one on a very interesting curtain-style comb. That's a result of using unwired frames - sometimes they just collapse. But, bless them, we had left some comb for the bees to clean above the crown board and they have made a wonderful sculpture! I think David took a photo - must ask him.
Hive 7 which we had in the green nuc is expanding well and is now on 4 frames so we have transferred it to a national hive and added an extra 3 frames.
Posted by Sally on Monday 05 July 2010 - 21:43:00 |
A plan
It's always good to have a plan. At least if you have a plan you can make adjustments to it along the way. We spent a lot of time today talking about our options for Green Lane and we have decided to treat the apiary as a whole rather than addressing the one colony that we know is highly infested. With our increase in colony numbers this year we just haven't had the kit we needed, although to be fair we did get enough kit for the colonies we wanted. So, we are only able to measure mite drop on three colonies out of six at Green Lane but today, our suspicions were confirmed when we took a reading for the third hive. We have decided to treat with Apiguard - not immediately but in the next few weeks. Our discussions today were around reaching that decision and about the measures we would employ before then.
Today, humidity is just too high to sugar but that would have been good. We may sacrifice some brood in colony 3a and at the same time reduce to a single brood box. If we are going to use Apiguard we want it to be the most effective we can make it and I suspect that spreading it across a double brood might reduce its efficacy. Maybe not but with a double brood there is often a good few inches of stores at the top of frames so to get the treatment closest to the brood nest is certainly achieved in a single brood.
We decided not to mess with that colony today though. It was windy and has been a dull day with rain in the air although not actually materialising where we were.
We did take a look in the two colonies raising a queen though. Colony 1 has a new pale queen with three bands at the bottom of her tail. She's only just got started but David spotted the newly laid eggs on one frame. Then in 2a we didn't see her but did see eggs on one frame - looked like only drone so far but we will assess in a week or so. So, two new queens over at Green Lane. That gives us a few more options.
We thought we might swap over the super on colony 4, incase they just didn't like it, in an attempt to encourage them up but when we looked they had drawn out nearly all the frames. What a difference a day makes!
On the way home we called in at the Rectory and once again the mesh insert was part pulled out. It looks like it might be an animal of some kind interested in getting access to the hive from below so we have put in varroa trays in hives 2 and 3 to make it less attractive an action. We will need to watch that.
Posted by Sally on Sunday 04 July 2010 - 21:01:01 |
Evening checks at Green Lane
After the Association meeting we headed over to Green Lane. We will need to address varroa over there. Colony 3a might have reduced a little but is still way too high. It's probably not too late to do a shook swarm but we'll talk it over and see what our best option might be. Apiguard is recommended for use August onwards although that is what is being used at the Association Apiary now - not sure it's the right approach at this time but I'm not dismissing it as an option. I just want to make sure we have considered everything.
We're leaving colonies 1 and 2a alone and will check for new queens next week.
In 2 we saw our familiar queen, marked green (one of last year's) and she is laying on 6 frames. The top super is quite heavy and almost fully capped although the two below it are quite light.
In colony 3 I saw the queen David had first spotted a couple of weeks ago. There were a couple of sealed queen cells though and so maybe they are planning to replace the new queen. We have left the bees to sort out what they want to do. We didn't get the sense that they would swarm - famous last words!
Then, in colony 3a, we also have a new queen. She was pale and long, with a dark tail and is laying well on 9 frames in the upper brood and 4 below and we also added a super. But this is the one with high varroa and we saw wing damage too so we must act.
Finally, colony 4 - a bit feisty this lot (well it was cloudy and muggy) and a few stings later (for both of us) we established this new stripey queen was laying on 7 frames and does not have a lot of space. They may benefit from a brood box placed below their existing one. They certainly don't seem interested in the super.
Posted by Sally on Saturday 03 July 2010 - 21:22:38 |
Saturday morning in the Garden Apiary
Whilst I scrambled around to make a few frames (and failed - must order some foundation or work out how to make it!), David very slickly went through and tidied up our newly united colony 3 and managed to reduce it down to a single brood. Well, that's freed up a few frames!
A quick check in G4 revealed a few hatched queen cells with 1 sealed cell remaining. So, we shall see ...
We transferred colony G9 into a 5-frame nuc, enabling us to add a frame. She's only on 2 frames so far though.
Posted by Sally on Saturday 03 July 2010 - 13:45:00 |
Result!
Varroa in G3 down to 12 in 2 days and then 7 in 3 days so it was well worth sugaring and shaking!
Posted by Sally on Saturday 03 July 2010 - 13:18:03 |
"Ginger" doing well ...
Thanks Mark for the greetings you sent from that lovely ginger queen you have in your care. She sounds like she is blossoming and quite a handful. You may even get a pot of honey for the table at this rate.
Posted by Sally on Friday 02 July 2010 - 18:30:08 |
Today's lesson ...
Yes, David said he went all the way over to Little Piece yesterday and still had to make a return trip today. All sorted though now.
He saw the new queen in LP1 and she's laying on 2 frames. He describes her as plump, tan and striped. We're not tending to mark our queens anymore so these descriptions are useful.
LP3's queen is fairly small, pale ginger with no stripes and seems to be doing OK on 2+ frames.
Now with LP4, he saw our new dark queen. She's laying on 6 or 7 frames but the bees really needed space and he didn't have the extra frame to make up a full brood or a QX with him. So, he added a super and returned today to add the additional frame and a QX. Already they had pulled out comb in the super.
Similarly, when he looked in LP5 yesterday he needed to add an extra frame but didn't have one with him so today returned to add that. The queen is on 6 frames so far.
So all seems to be looking pretty good at Little Piece. Well done ladies.
Posted by Sally on Thursday 01 July 2010 - 23:41:25 |