I really like Stewart’s videos from the Norfolk Honey Company. Very clear and well presented -warts and all!
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I really like Stewart’s videos from the Norfolk Honey Company. Very clear and well presented -warts and all!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Big blizzards coming through Methlick area this morning. Crazy weather for May.
Indeed - blizzards and 90% OSR must be a rare combo!?
Go West young man ... fabulous day on Ardnamurchan with nearly unbroken sunshine and the first cuckoo of the season :)
Posts about double brood, second supers, splits and swarms has me thinking I must be living on a different planet! Last week my best colonies had five frames of brood which is pretty good for this time of year. 5-8c in the middle of the day here and the latest forecast predicts it’s to be cold and windy till the middle of next week. There’s a lot of open brood in the hives now and I’m worried about the bees being able to keep it warm. So last night as a precaution I gave seven hives a feed of light syrup and I’m hoping that the extra energy will help the bees to maintain their colony temperature. The last thing I want is a lot chalkbrood which is common here when the colonies are under stress. Also I’ve got a poly nuc bursting with bees and brood that should have gone into a beginners full sized hive by now. But it’s too cold to be drawing out foundation so the bees will just have to stay put for now.☹️☹️☹️
P S. I’m sick to Fatshark, with jealousy about how well your bees are doing 😝😝😝
Just to update anyone interested - 3 colonies set up to initiate Bailey comb change, strong (9 combs worth of brood, and actually not really in need of any new comb!), medium (6 combs brood), weak (5 frames brood, less bees, pretty scabby comb, lots of chalkbrood). All colonies in poly nationals.
Within 1 week, after 4 consecutive nights of being given 1 kg sugars worth of syrup, the strong colony has drawn out every cell on 10 frames and Q has laid up at least two of them. She also went back down to the bottom box and laid down there as well. Feeding stopped.
The same treatment given to the medium strength colony - 8 frames drawn out well, the ends left. The weak colony - have not taken down the feed and refused to come up to the new box. So, mixed performance.
Now the weather has turned cool again. I expected too much from the weak colony - in every sense lagging behind the other two.
The strong colonies have been left as a double brood system and should bring in a crop of honey if the sycamore yields well. I'll keep them as double brood until I need to split.
I am won over by getting alot of lovely new comb and keen now to try this in the autumn as wel, as C4U advocates, when there is beepower to exploit.
I need to do something with the weak colony - I have a spare Q but I am thinking about a shook swarm and then re-queening (the replacement Q had to be moved out of the garden so need to wait till her flying bees are done).
Now in a panic, just assessed equipment and realize I don't have enough for whats to come. End of last week there were huge loads of pollen coming in and quite a bit of nectar. OSR around Tayside looks to be at its peak.
Thanks for sharing FD - as a newcomer I'm still short on drawn comb so keen on info like this. I think one of the reasons C4U advocates doing it in the autumn is less/no drone brood. Did your lot make a lot of drone brood this time?
I had a go at the autumn method last year with reasonable results.
Also spent a lot of yesterday staring at piles of equipment still flat that I was supposed to build up over the winter...
Hi - no issues re drone cells, just a couple of small patches. In the past I've put a shallow frame and the bees put a large mass of, exclusively, drone brood on the bottom bar which I then remove. Nothing like that on these new frames.
I've a colony that just has not come on as others have and its on grotty comb with more chalkbrood than I've seen before. Action required - so shook swarmed for the first time and jeez its harsh! Hopefully they will take down the feed, tonight the varroa treatment starts then will requeen shortly. My notes from last year commented on noticeable chalkbrood in this colony and I hoped a good summer had just dealt with it. I have been too tolerant of this disease - DR up near Forfar, has been posted missing in action I think, has been strong advocate of dealing with this disease - good advice.
Lovely smell and sound around the strong hives last night, and like most of you the swarm control has started - one Q has made good her escape.