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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #3944  by NigelP
 06 Jul 2019, 21:14
[quote=AdamD post_id=3931 time=1562416827 user_id=111

The queen is transferred to the left hand and held between the thumb and first two fingers - for me, I generally have the queen's feet resting on my middle finger with the thumb and forefinger on either side. Sometimes she will wriggle and try to get away and it's a bit of an art to reposition her in your fingers - obviously you don't want to squeeze her too much!


[/quote]
Adam I know of no serious beekeeper who practices this tweo finger/thumb hold. Sorry to be blunt but it's a really difficult technique to learn. BBKA idea for some reason. Holding on comb is far easier, or...
1. Crown of thorns. Not always successful bet really easy to mark queen and a bit of twisting and turning can usually get wing stuck through the grid.
2. Buy one of thees twist and mark cages from Thornes. Depth stopped so you can't squash queen...Of course here you have to pick queen up.
#Image
3. My favorite way is as you say...simply trap queen on comb with two fingers and clip....
 #3945  by NigelP
 06 Jul 2019, 21:23
Alfred..queen spotting... you are either a natural or you have to work at it. I'm not a natural. I have to tune into one task if I want to find a queen. None of this nonsense about looking for eggs/karvae queen cells etc If I wnt to find mark queen just focus on queen spotting.
When your eyes start to pick out drones as different to other bees you are headed in right direction...Beware some can be absolute sods to find.....
 #3947  by Japey Edge
 06 Jul 2019, 23:26
I put more feed on today. Main hive and secondary nuc have plenty - hopefully they'll build big enough to be two strong colonies maxing out my two Abelo poly hives soon.
I also gave the mating hive some feed - I tried to save a couple bees that just stuck down the bottom.
Then I poured sugar syrup into the comb for the micro swarm. They were fine with that. No smoke used at all today. They seem to be nicer without smoke. Or maybe it's just because they're being fed...

Later on I saw a bee on my living room window so I took the opportunity for some up close shots. Saw some wax on her too. Lovely!

Image

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 #3956  by AdamD
 07 Jul 2019, 11:58
NigelP wrote:
06 Jul 2019, 21:14
[quote=AdamD post_id=3931 time=1562416827 user_id=111

The queen is transferred to the left hand and held between the thumb and first two fingers - for me, I generally have the queen's feet resting on my middle finger with the thumb and forefinger on either side. Sometimes she will wriggle and try to get away and it's a bit of an art to reposition her in your fingers - obviously you don't want to squeeze her too much!

Adam I know of no serious beekeeper who practices this tweo finger/thumb hold. Sorry to be blunt but it's a really difficult technique to learn. BBKA idea for some reason. Holding on comb is far easier, or...
1. Crown of thorns. Not always successful bet really easy to mark queen and a bit of twisting and turning can usually get wing stuck through the grid.
2. Buy one of thees twist and mark cages from Thornes. Depth stopped so you can't squash queen...Of course here you have to pick queen up.
#Image
3. My favorite way is as you say...simply trap queen on comb with two fingers and clip....
[/quote]

I've never clipped the queen whilst on the comb - only marked her. I'll have to have a go. Always willing to learn and try new things.

I'm not sure whether picking up and holding is a BBKA thing (although it is part of the General Husbandry exam I recall). It works for me. The first few times I was quite nervous about doing it and it's easier if you are comfortable with it, so after some practice. So far I have never cut off a leg or damaged one.
 #3957  by Adam Bee
 07 Jul 2019, 11:59
Honey-geddon!

I inspected yesterday and I got my learning experience for the week that ended up with the recovery of 6.5 lbs of honey and comb.

Last week I had taken a frame out of each box and nadired a third box, leaving the fame 12 space in all three boxes empty. I didn’t make any dummy boards for the space. This was good advice, except it didn’t work for my bees. Now, absolutely no hard feelings! It was an interesting learning experience!

So, yesterday I show up at the apiary, get the kit out, open the hive and the crown board is a bit more stuck than expected... and when I get it off, a comb - filling the gap 3 boxes deep - collapses into the bottom of the hive! The top 3rd was capped honey, the middle open honey & nectar and the very bottom freshly drawn wax.

The little ladies had completely filled the empty space with one giant comb!

I recovered a small Tupperware’s worth of honey and comb at this point, but it was becoming clear that I needed to take different and decisive action. Not only was there this huge collapsed comb on the bottom of the hive, but building it had thrown off the comb in the frames at the open end of the lower two boxes. The bees were deconstructing the drawn frames there to make room for this new huge wild comb and they were rebuilding the frames with cross comb. That needed to be rectified. I also felt that if they were able to build this huge piece of wild comb in one week, simply removing it would mean they’d build it again by next Saturday.

I needed something to hold the recovered honey, I needed to realign the cross comb and I needed to fill that gap.

So, I throw the hive back together and rush back home, grab two large Sainsbury’s bags for life and saw up some dummy boards from some scrap plywood I have hanging abound.

With three dummy boards for the current set up, and one extra for luck, and - ignoring the nasty bleeding cut on my hand from where the saw jumped and tried take off my thumb - I’m back at the apiary opening the hive again.

I didn’t get the chance to do a real inspection at all. At this point the association elders were drinking tea and trying not to laugh too hard while I was close enough to hear. They were going to lock up soon so I needed to get a move on. I did see lots of brood, but didn’t see the queen nor really look for eggs and larva. I was able to recover all of the dropped comb that had folded over and on top of itself like a collapsing banner. I was also able to save most of the bees that were folded into it. I cut out the sections of cross comb that were being redrawn to accommodate the wild comb and put everything back together. Luckily the cross combs were all honey.

Now, to be fair, the association folks were fairly interested in my set up and even took some photos of the massive bearding going on. We discussed all mediums and no QE and my choice to go foundationless. I got a thumbs up and pat on the back for trying something different, which was great. They all pitched in at the end to help me button up and make sure all the bees were happy. Then went back to finish their tea as I extricated bees from the recovered comb.

When I got home, I had about 6.5 lbs of honey and wax.

I’ve saved 3 small containers of cut comb honey and the rest I'm doing crush and strain with, using an old pillowcase I put through the rinse cycle about 6 times to make sure there was no soap products left in it.

I had ordered 2 new boxes and frames from Thornes last weekend, but they have not arrived yet. The bottom box is still only half drawn, but the colony is rammed. Every frame in the bottom box was covered in bearding bees. The frames in the top two boxes were covered with workers. They could use the extra space, as a super in the very least.

Next week I’ll have to go back and make sure we have a queen... all this activity made me nervous about her well-being. Now, I didn’t see any sign of the queen in the wreckage, but still... I’ll be happy when I see her happy and laying.

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 #3963  by Alfred
 07 Jul 2019, 15:34
Inspired by recent posts I've been to appiay to see if I can catch a queen
Didn't see royalty
Didn't see ANY eggs on any hive.
Looks my short run of luck has expired. :o
 #3968  by Adam Bee
 07 Jul 2019, 16:35
Alfred,

Do you have a mentor from your local association who could help you? They may be able to spot any odd thing that could be contributing to the issue.
 #3969  by Alfred
 07 Jul 2019, 17:14
That's a final option,Adam
I work unsociable hours which prevents me attending meetings,there's a knife edge split in the group between pomposity and incompetence,but above all it my fatally strong independence which always gets in the way .
The nuc I built with a bought queen is at home and she's laying,so I might do another while I still have a month's worth of house stock.
None of the colonies in hives were by my hand and all but one were free of charge so 30 quid for a saving shot isn't unreasonabe.
There's a lot of queen cells all of a sudden plus lots of drone comb and I've done two inspections with remarkedly good behaviour across the board.
My Apidea box should arrive by tomorrow so hopefully I can make a start on that too.
 #3971  by NigelP
 07 Jul 2019, 18:22
AdamD wrote:
07 Jul 2019, 11:58
I've never clipped the queen whilst on the comb - only marked her. I'll have to have a go. Always willing to learn and try new things.

I'm not sure whether picking up and holding is a BBKA thing (although it is part of the General Husbandry exam I recall). It works for me. The first few times I was quite nervous about doing it and it's easier if you are comfortable with it, so after some practice. So far I have never cut off a leg or damaged one.
I find it much easier with Crown of Thorns...although the number I've re-threaded after cutting the mesh is considerable (Big grin). I've been playing around with the Thrones twist and mark cages and I like them, easier than CofT to get a wing sticking through the gaps....and you can mark at same time.
If it s an essential part of BBKA husbandry to hold between fingers and clip then I rest my case.......
I can do it, but feel there are easier and safer ways to clip queens......
 #3979  by Japey Edge
 07 Jul 2019, 21:55
NigelP wrote:
05 Jul 2019, 20:10
Japey Edge wrote:
05 Jul 2019, 18:26
She must have been hiding from when Nigel gifted me them.
They were pretty nasty today.
Well they are a swarm of local bees from my area /big grin/......glad queen is still around ...I was worried In had gifted you a duff budgie.
Just read this sorry for not responding Nigel. Nope, she's going. I think this colony might just rally you know!

....In my vast experience.... :lol:
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