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  • Apidea water

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #4080  by Alfred
 14 Jul 2019, 08:54
Any ideas on a watering method for Apideas?
I thought of a sponge in a saucer in a box put on top of the units.
I want to put them in the apiary to ensure a good supply of drones but I can't get there every day.
They are watered here at home but theres only a couple of very young nucs with not many lads about.
 #4083  by NigelP
 14 Jul 2019, 16:10
Alfred, not sure what you are trying to achieve. Apideas by nature of their size won't produce any (if at all) drones. Nucs are more or less the same. Drones are luxury that only large colonies can afford to waste resources on.
As for water why not leave a chicken waterer in your apiary with the the bit where the water would be filled with moss.
 #4086  by Alfred
 14 Jul 2019, 18:02
Thats what the problem is Nigel-If I take them to the apairy I cannot 'nurse' them but if I keep them at home and there is any success hatching out, then there is not much chance of mating.
I followed advice and took shake from qx-ed supers.
The nurse bees wont have been outside so would they know to venture out for water?
Or am I being precious and should let them just get on with it on their own?
 #4089  by NigelP
 14 Jul 2019, 20:57
When i doubt let them get on with it.
But be careful with oft hackneyed phrase "bees know best". They often don't.
But they usually manage to survive despite our bumbling attempts to assist them.

Last thing you want to do if you want queens mated with your own drones is stick them in the same apiary that you think the drones come from. Queens fly to more distant areas than drones from same apiary. It's an evolutionary strategy to avoid inbreeding.
 #4093  by Alfred
 15 Jul 2019, 08:41
Thanks Nigel
Well I opened the doors this morning, the cheap box is doing nothing-I think that's a goner.
The Apidea is swirling as if orienting-these were from a super,I didn't think they would do that.
I'm still undecided on location.
There's a beekeeper a mile away from the apiary and I'm suspecting one a few streets away from home so on reflection it's either/ or.
As far as inbred genetics, I don't mind as long as I can get bias going again .
At the moment if my nuc fails, I could be back to
ground zero which for me is worse than tetchy bees.
 #4095  by AdamD
 15 Jul 2019, 09:12
Whether a mini-nuc has fondant or syrup, they seem to find what they need in the way of pollen - when they need it - or water or nectar which often has a high water content in any case. You are correct that bees from the super are not generally the older foragers, however some will start to fly and forage. I suspect that a larger container would be needed for water if left for a day or two - with a few sticks as floaters on the top perhaps.
 #4096  by AdamD
 15 Jul 2019, 09:13
Whether a mini-nuc has fondant or syrup, they seem to find what they need in the way of pollen - when they need it - or water or nectar which often has a high water content in any case. You are correct that bees from the super are not generally the older foragers, however some will start to fly and forage. I suspect that a larger container would be needed for water if left for a day or two - with a few sticks as floaters on the top perhaps.
 #4100  by mikemadf
 15 Jul 2019, 13:08
Any ideas on a watering method for Apideas?

Our garden pond# has sufficed for hives and nucs and mini nucs for years...

# mosslined with lily pads..
 #4102  by Alfred
 15 Jul 2019, 14:59
Pond at home ,brook at apiary mike-its the sprayings with water twice daily that the instructions describe that has my brain stuck in a rut???

Edit,I've just seen an apidea occupant access the saucer of water so the sprayung thing surely can't be that vital after all?
 #4104  by Japey Edge
 15 Jul 2019, 16:22
You spray them with water when they're locked up (first three days). As yours are accessing water I'm guessing it's after those three days have passed and you've opened the entrance?