Had the same thing happen two years ago..all I did for a quick fix was push some drawing pins through the mesh .
British Beekeepers Association Official Forum
What have you done today bee-related?
- General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
I have colonies to unite virgins and Queen cells to check on and supers to remove but i can not do Jack poop..i know we where needing a bit of rain but not a months worth in three days..and with more on the way with thunder storms it looks like the colonies are going to go into there 2nd weekend without being opened..
Today was strange. The green hive swarmed. This is the hive I couldn't find eggs or the GM queen in last week. I also thought I had reduced them to one QC and was concerned as I had shook that frame.
Turns out that QC emerged. There was also another emerged QC and one not emerged. The swarm today must have been a virgin. They appear to be up high in a tree right now so I have placed a bait hive out with lemongrass oil and a dead queen from my "jar of dead queens".
GM queen is well and truly long gone, which is a huge shame.
In other, more positive news, my push-in introductions worked on the big hive and the nuc I split from it. No aggression was seen toward queen, however plenty toward me - probably due to the weather.
And slightly-positive is that I put clearer boards on both hives as there is some ripe honey, but also the colonies aren't big enough. It also means the hives are lighter for moving to the new apiary...
Take the rough with the smooth...
Turns out that QC emerged. There was also another emerged QC and one not emerged. The swarm today must have been a virgin. They appear to be up high in a tree right now so I have placed a bait hive out with lemongrass oil and a dead queen from my "jar of dead queens".
GM queen is well and truly long gone, which is a huge shame.
In other, more positive news, my push-in introductions worked on the big hive and the nuc I split from it. No aggression was seen toward queen, however plenty toward me - probably due to the weather.
And slightly-positive is that I put clearer boards on both hives as there is some ripe honey, but also the colonies aren't big enough. It also means the hives are lighter for moving to the new apiary...
Take the rough with the smooth...
Jazz
Jazz a tip here.
When you purchaser expensive queens don't use them to requeen a whole hive. Set them off in nucs first. One of the reasons for swarming is the behaviour of the older "scout" bees (there are many others as well!). Something you have no control over when you requeen a whole hive that is determined to swarm.
A generalization if you like but I always start new queens in a nuc. And wait......until they have built up enough to warrant a full hive (you can add frames of sealed brood to the nuc to speed the process up). Then you can unite the problem hive to your newly established hive.
When you purchaser expensive queens don't use them to requeen a whole hive. Set them off in nucs first. One of the reasons for swarming is the behaviour of the older "scout" bees (there are many others as well!). Something you have no control over when you requeen a whole hive that is determined to swarm.
A generalization if you like but I always start new queens in a nuc. And wait......until they have built up enough to warrant a full hive (you can add frames of sealed brood to the nuc to speed the process up). Then you can unite the problem hive to your newly established hive.
Cheers Nigel, that's what I wanted to do but I could only guarantee one hive was queenless. So I split a nuc from it and introduced a queen to both.
Maybe I should have moved the hive away so the flyers came back and went next door. Would that have helped?
A relative collected my swarm and brought them back for me, which was very kind
Checking on out-apiary bees tomorrow
Maybe I should have moved the hive away so the flyers came back and went next door. Would that have helped?
A relative collected my swarm and brought them back for me, which was very kind
Checking on out-apiary bees tomorrow
Jazz
"The green hive swarmed. This is the hive I couldn't find eggs or the GM queen in last week. I also thought I had reduced them to one QC and was concerned as I had shook that frame.
Turns out that QC emerged. There was also another emerged QC and one not emerged. The swarm today must have been a virgin".
Yep, done that! Frustrating isn't it!
Turns out that QC emerged. There was also another emerged QC and one not emerged. The swarm today must have been a virgin".
Yep, done that! Frustrating isn't it!
May your bees read the same books as you do.
Yesterday I was checking honey supers. The first two colonies were fine; a couple of supers each are now under clearer boards. I tilted up the top brood box in each and no queencells were visible. The third colony had a new queen about a month ago. I had checked and she had been laying fine. My thoughts were that I hardly need to look in the single broodbox for the rest of the season. However I lifted off the 6 supers (none capped enough to take off) and did check the brood box. No open brood. A spotty brood pattern and a lot of drone brood at the bottom and sides of the frames; and no queencells I could see - I went through twice. A frame of brood from another colony has gone in, just in case a queen is there as I didn't want to put a new queen in straight away. I'll check next week for queencells. I then went to check the mini-nuc where I thought I had a 2 week-mated queen which I could perhaps pop in next weekend. Turns out she's a drone layer so is no more.
I had demareed a colony in which to graft some queencells. They were distributed early - on Friday afternoon. I left the Demaree brood box queenless on top of the supers and checked on Saturday. I though 'knowing my luck' there's a queen in there or something so I took the top bb off and checked. Sure enough there was a queencell on one frame. I left it there whilst I carried out other duties, when I came back an hour later, she was out. Thankfully I found her scurrying about and removed her (don't want to breed from that colony). I hope the next grafts (due to open today) will come good.
I had demareed a colony in which to graft some queencells. They were distributed early - on Friday afternoon. I left the Demaree brood box queenless on top of the supers and checked on Saturday. I though 'knowing my luck' there's a queen in there or something so I took the top bb off and checked. Sure enough there was a queencell on one frame. I left it there whilst I carried out other duties, when I came back an hour later, she was out. Thankfully I found her scurrying about and removed her (don't want to breed from that colony). I hope the next grafts (due to open today) will come good.
May your bees read the same books as you do.
I was complaining about lugging the supers off and lugging the supers back on again!
And sometimes the ' bee crunch' is unavoidable as the supers are returned, which I hate. With full supers, lifting two at a time is OK, sometimes three if they are not too full, so the squashing of bees is reduced.
It's odd how some colonies cap the honey as they go, so we can remove it, thanks girls, and others leave it all uncapped and keep adding to it.
And sometimes the ' bee crunch' is unavoidable as the supers are returned, which I hate. With full supers, lifting two at a time is OK, sometimes three if they are not too full, so the squashing of bees is reduced.
It's odd how some colonies cap the honey as they go, so we can remove it, thanks girls, and others leave it all uncapped and keep adding to it.
May your bees read the same books as you do.
How do the little devils always find your weakest point ...i,e a zip not fully zipped. Had several inside my veil today .....stung on the lips.....Ouch.
Then a mystery..... A Snelgrove Method 2, queen is in top box...I know because I saw her. Brood boxes separated by 4 supers. No queen in bottom box, just an added framed of sealed brood. Yet on one of the frames there is a patch of drone comb and inside every one of them is a single egg. How did that happen?
Boxes have been separated for 7 days now, not enough time for laying workers to develop and it was just a single egg in each.....
Then a double success story.
I really like Snelgrove's methods for swarm control, particularly method 2. Get the queen in the top box and the bees tear down every queen cell there is, including the ones I would miss. What I don't like is finding queen and putting her in bottom box after a few days.... as top box will then start drawing new queen cells. One of the instigators of swarming behaviour is the older guard bees and when they have got "swarm Fever" It can be difficult to dissuade the bees. So I figured if I left them queenless for 14 days most of the older scout bees will have died off . So I did straight forward unite of the top to the bottom box on 2 hives last week. Well today both queens are in full lay and not a queen cell insight. Fingers crossed.
It would seem to have done the trick, so feeling quite chuffed.
Then a mystery..... A Snelgrove Method 2, queen is in top box...I know because I saw her. Brood boxes separated by 4 supers. No queen in bottom box, just an added framed of sealed brood. Yet on one of the frames there is a patch of drone comb and inside every one of them is a single egg. How did that happen?
Boxes have been separated for 7 days now, not enough time for laying workers to develop and it was just a single egg in each.....
Then a double success story.
I really like Snelgrove's methods for swarm control, particularly method 2. Get the queen in the top box and the bees tear down every queen cell there is, including the ones I would miss. What I don't like is finding queen and putting her in bottom box after a few days.... as top box will then start drawing new queen cells. One of the instigators of swarming behaviour is the older guard bees and when they have got "swarm Fever" It can be difficult to dissuade the bees. So I figured if I left them queenless for 14 days most of the older scout bees will have died off . So I did straight forward unite of the top to the bottom box on 2 hives last week. Well today both queens are in full lay and not a queen cell insight. Fingers crossed.
It would seem to have done the trick, so feeling quite chuffed.