BBKA Forum

Painted my mini mating hive blue and painted the brood box and a super of my new poly hive green. Will try and make a camo effect with another shade of green - see how that goes...

Saw a lot of action today around the main hive. They seem happy.

I also noticed a few drones struggling in the grass. I picked one up and he crawled a bit then "flew off" straight to the floor. Flew like a chicken...

Should I be alarmed at seeing a bunch of drones dotted about the grass struggking and unable to fly?

Japey Edge wrote: ↑

22 Jun 2019, 18:20

Should I be alarmed at seeing a bunch of drones dotted about the grass struggking and unable to fly?

No...been lots of drone throw outs over the last few weeks due to the inclement weather. They are a luxury item that hives get rid of when forage pollen collection goes pear shaped.

First inspection in 2 weeks. All was fine. BIAS, Queen. 12 frames in the top box (still need to manufacture my dummy boards!) all drawn. Brood on 10 of them, many dotted with a few cells of nectar or pollen; a few with a band of capped honey on the top. 6 drawn frames in the middle of the bottom box, some with nectar. Lots and lots of bearding on the outer frames as they were drawing those out. I felt bad that I disturbed them by inspecting. No QC's. No apparent health issues. Not much honey, but that wasn't expected.

Adam Bee wrote: ↑

23 Jun 2019, 19:10

First inspection in 2 weeks. All was fine. BIAS, Queen. 12 frames in the top box (still need to manufacture my dummy boards!) all drawn. Brood on 10 of them, many dotted with a few cells of nectar or pollen; a few with a band of capped honey on the top. 6 drawn frames in the middle of the bottom box, some with nectar. Lots and lots of bearding on the outer frames as they were drawing those out. I felt bad that I disturbed them by inspecting. No QC's. No apparent health issues. Not much honey, but that wasn't expected.

You need to go to double brood on that description...Queen is short of laying room.
And please go to 11 frames per brood box....long term it helps. Forget the dummy frame...you will find soon enough it'snot necessary.
Second brood box, I'd stick below and I'd move 4-5 frames of brood down and fill in above with undrawn or whatever you have. Sure others would do it differently.

No more waiting for smoker to cool down,no more smelly car

https://ibb.co/CW59JFK
https://ibb.co/CP4tyzy

Alfred wrote: ↑

24 Jun 2019, 13:45

No more waiting for smoker to cool down,no more smelly car

https://ibb.co/CW59JFK
https://ibb.co/CP4tyzy

Hmmm, waiting for smoker to cool down eh? Radical thinking Alfred. What’s so wrong with a car full of choking smoke and random scorch marks on the upholstery...??

Nothing wrong whatsoever, Patrick.
Unless you happen to be Mrs Alfred
Watch out boy

Up till now I've needed a quick getaway with one colony,sliding across the bonnet like starsky and hutch

Today I gave my mini mating hive a couple of sprays of water. They seemed lively so I'm happy so far. Looking forward to putting them outside and opening the entrance for them.

NigelP wrote: ↑

23 Jun 2019, 22:07

Adam Bee wrote: ↑

23 Jun 2019, 19:10

First inspection in 2 weeks. All was fine. BIAS, Queen. 12 frames in the top box (still need to manufacture my dummy boards!) all drawn. Brood on 10 of them, many dotted with a few cells of nectar or pollen; a few with a band of capped honey on the top. 6 drawn frames in the middle of the bottom box, some with nectar. Lots and lots of bearding on the outer frames as they were drawing those out. I felt bad that I disturbed them by inspecting. No QC's. No apparent health issues. Not much honey, but that wasn't expected.

You need to go to double brood on that description...Queen is short of laying room.
And please go to 11 frames per brood box....long term it helps. Forget the dummy frame...you will find soon enough it'snot necessary.
Second brood box, I'd stick below and I'd move 4-5 frames of brood down and fill in above with undrawn or whatever you have. Sure others would do it differently.

Ah! Nigel, my bad for not being clear. I am running two brood boxes. That's the 6 drawn frames in the middle of the bottom box! Well, to be honest, I'm running two boxes, but with no QE, so she can use both as brood right now as she sees fit.

On the next inspection, I will remove one frame from each box. I should have done it this time, but didn't. Why? Dunno. I guess I thought I'd wait until I had a dummy board. But, it's clear that with so many bees, especially in that top box, there needs to be only 11 frames, even if there are no dummy boards.

Say - with the extra space, if there is no 12th frame and no dummy board, would you push all the frames against one end? Or balance the space and push the frames together in the middle of the box, distributing the space on either side?

Either...my tendency (with supers on) is to leave the gap at the entrance side which gives returning bees/house bees easier access to the supers....
Not sure if it has any effect or not, but they rarely draw brace comb in these larger passageways.

I'd also manage you brood next, move three framers of brood from your bottom box into the top box directly above the remaining three frames of brood in the bottom.