Hi again everyone!
As per usual I am riding high after a great inspection. Not everything was ideal but I was impressed by what I saw, although as I type this all out and retrace my steps I realise some things I did wrong. I'll do a brief summary with the questions I have, then if you fancy reading the rest I'll elaborate.
Summary:
Colony 1: no brood, virgin queen somewhere maybe? This one was artificially swarmed and then a caste swarm left
Colony 2: oldest Queen (red 2018), BIAS, growing, still to complete some frames
Colony 3: micro swarm. Angry. Growing a bit. Saw some BIAS.
Colony 4: big swarm. Found queen, big. Built 10/11 brood frames of comb AND 9/11 shallow frames in 6 days. 3 frames of eggs.
Mini mating hive: BIAS, plenty of capped brood. Beautiful laying pattern
Questions:
Colony 1: should I keep an eye on them? Are they at risk of being hopelessly queenless? Saw queen last week. Not today though
Colony 3: getting tetchy. I'm trying to decide whether to splat angry Thirsk queen and replace with Mini mating hive queen or just shake them out into the grass
Colony 4: Is this fast for comb building? Is the queen a laying machine by doing at least 3 frames of eggs in 6 days?
The Inspection:
So colony 1 was my first colony, even if the original queen is now in Nuc 2. I saw a queen last week, piping away. I took down all remaining QCs as I want no further swarms. I couldn't find the queen today though. Maybe she was gobbled on her mating flight. Any tips on how to monitor and ascertain the situation would be greatly appreciated. Thankfully I have a decent queen in the mini mating hive.
Colony 2 is slow going, just because I'm impatient. Saw no QCs this week though. Also noticed BIAS. I just want them to grow. Hmm. Now I'm thinking of uniting them with colony 1 since they were all one family anyway. Saves my new mini mating queen.
Colony 3, I wanted them to grow so much but they're just not doing anything. I'm not sure I'll get them strong enough come winter. They're pretty tetchy too and were the only colony to give me grief (flighty, flying at me etc.) despite the fact I was quickest with them. I gave them a drawn frame of comb (no bees) from the super swarm as well. Ungrateful little rats.
Colony 4 is my new super duper colony. They're the big swarm I caught last week and I couldn't help smile. My reaction to finding the queen was a smile and "Hello darling" she's a beauty. I'm impressed by their amazing comb-building, pollen gathering, honey*storing and her egg-laying. But I want to know what the experienced ones think about this progress in 6 days. Queen wasn't marked either. I'm sure that doesn't matter but still. I marked her green as it's the only colour I have. But I hadn't even thought she could be older. Oops.
Mini mating hive - what a way to end the inspection. I'll put some pictures up but wow they've done so well
That queen is laying nicely and they're such a good little colony. I'll have to start thinking of where to stick her soon.
I think my options for mini mating queen are:
Give to queenless colony 1 - providing they're deffo queenless and not just with a virgin
Give to micro swarm (3) - providing they're not just worthy of shaking out
Supersede last year's queen in nuc 2. I'm not sure that's ideal though really I just wanted to table a third option.
For anyone who has had the patience to read through this, please type out your thoughts, experienced/inexperienced I would like to read them!
As per usual I am riding high after a great inspection. Not everything was ideal but I was impressed by what I saw, although as I type this all out and retrace my steps I realise some things I did wrong. I'll do a brief summary with the questions I have, then if you fancy reading the rest I'll elaborate.
Summary:
Colony 1: no brood, virgin queen somewhere maybe? This one was artificially swarmed and then a caste swarm left
Colony 2: oldest Queen (red 2018), BIAS, growing, still to complete some frames
Colony 3: micro swarm. Angry. Growing a bit. Saw some BIAS.
Colony 4: big swarm. Found queen, big. Built 10/11 brood frames of comb AND 9/11 shallow frames in 6 days. 3 frames of eggs.
Mini mating hive: BIAS, plenty of capped brood. Beautiful laying pattern
Questions:
Colony 1: should I keep an eye on them? Are they at risk of being hopelessly queenless? Saw queen last week. Not today though
Colony 3: getting tetchy. I'm trying to decide whether to splat angry Thirsk queen and replace with Mini mating hive queen or just shake them out into the grass
Colony 4: Is this fast for comb building? Is the queen a laying machine by doing at least 3 frames of eggs in 6 days?
The Inspection:
So colony 1 was my first colony, even if the original queen is now in Nuc 2. I saw a queen last week, piping away. I took down all remaining QCs as I want no further swarms. I couldn't find the queen today though. Maybe she was gobbled on her mating flight. Any tips on how to monitor and ascertain the situation would be greatly appreciated. Thankfully I have a decent queen in the mini mating hive.
Colony 2 is slow going, just because I'm impatient. Saw no QCs this week though. Also noticed BIAS. I just want them to grow. Hmm. Now I'm thinking of uniting them with colony 1 since they were all one family anyway. Saves my new mini mating queen.
Colony 3, I wanted them to grow so much but they're just not doing anything. I'm not sure I'll get them strong enough come winter. They're pretty tetchy too and were the only colony to give me grief (flighty, flying at me etc.) despite the fact I was quickest with them. I gave them a drawn frame of comb (no bees) from the super swarm as well. Ungrateful little rats.
Colony 4 is my new super duper colony. They're the big swarm I caught last week and I couldn't help smile. My reaction to finding the queen was a smile and "Hello darling" she's a beauty. I'm impressed by their amazing comb-building, pollen gathering, honey*storing and her egg-laying. But I want to know what the experienced ones think about this progress in 6 days. Queen wasn't marked either. I'm sure that doesn't matter but still. I marked her green as it's the only colour I have. But I hadn't even thought she could be older. Oops.
Mini mating hive - what a way to end the inspection. I'll put some pictures up but wow they've done so well
That queen is laying nicely and they're such a good little colony. I'll have to start thinking of where to stick her soon.
I think my options for mini mating queen are:
Give to queenless colony 1 - providing they're deffo queenless and not just with a virgin
Give to micro swarm (3) - providing they're not just worthy of shaking out
Supersede last year's queen in nuc 2. I'm not sure that's ideal though really I just wanted to table a third option.
For anyone who has had the patience to read through this, please type out your thoughts, experienced/inexperienced I would like to read them!
Jazz