what would you do

I remember Brian Rix, mand as I recall, the programs were referred to as 'farces'.

You are right. This thread must be wake-up thread to all the new beeks that are trying to follow these antics. It demonstrates the need for reading, and understanding, at least one good beekeeping book. It demonstrates the futility of flying blind and how much forum time can be wasted where misinformation and panic get mixed together, etc, etc, etc.

oliver90owner said:

I remember Brian Rix, mand as I recall, the programs were referred to as 'farces'.

You are right. This thread must be wake-up thread to all the new beeks that are trying to follow these antics. It demonstrates the need for reading, and understanding, at least one good beekeeping book. It demonstrates the futility of flying blind and how much forum time can be wasted where misinformation and panic get mixed together, etc, etc, etc.

Click to expand...

Agree,
Also I think new beeks should stick to managing two hives until they get use to management.



Love Beekeeping <3

Well, deed is done now - as my grandmother would say - no point lifting your peticiat after having a p!ss. so:
Leave Hive No 2 alone
Dummy down No4 as per original but consider feeding a couple of pints 1:1 syrup.
with the others:
Forget the cast, just dummy down to five frames and see what happens
Go in to the two hives with frames of brood added in six days:
No 1 - if there are queen cells destroy them all Put that frame of brood in hive #4 then paper unite these two
Same goes for hive number 3 - but brood frame into # 2 and paper unite with that one.

If no QC's don't do anything and report back here. Got to go now - dog needs taking to the vet. I'll log in on the train to London later

JBM's advice is sound.
That cast looks about the right size for an Apidea given that they all appear to have clustered on the crown board... it may or may not make it. IrishGuy, where are you based anyway?

I kind of feel sorry for you,it is plain to see that you care about these bees and have got yourself into a right pickle! You have trudged on and returned for advice, even with some sniping aimed your way, but you need to decide who's course of action you are going to follow. I would suggest JBM, but only you can decide who you trust the most.

It also kind of bunches my knickers. I would love a colony of my own and just know, with help, I could get one of these colonies running again.

kazmcc said:

I kind of feel sorry for you,it is plain to see that you care about these bees and have got yourself into a right pickle! You have trudged on and returned for advice, even with some sniping aimed your way, but you need to decide who's course of action you are going to follow. I would suggest JBM, but only you can decide who you trust the most.

It also kind of bunches my knickers. I would love a colony of my own and just know, with help, I could get one of these colonies running again.

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To be fair thou, I've been just doing as advised by other beekeepers. Its not as if I've been jumping in and just doing my own plan. With jbms advice, I think these bees will pull through. I'll pop out to the bees this afternoon and follow his plan

Good luck If nothing else, you will have gained a lot of experience from this that you might not have gained if everything went swimmingly. Got to look on the bright side, even if there doesn't seem to be one at the moment

kazmcc said:

Good luck If nothing else, you will have gained a lot of experience from this that you might not have gained if everything went swimmingly. Got to look on the bright side, even if there doesn't seem to be one at the moment

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Yes, gained all this experience is right. TBH, I'm loving all this because its just like life, nothing goes to plan even if you've planned everything to the tee lol. There's no better way to learn things than to learn the hard way.

Ever heard of the 7 P's?
Prior, Planning, Preparation, Prevents, P..s, Poor, Performance

Try and get to a place where you are managing your bees instead of them managing you.

jenkinsbrynmair said:

Well, deed is done now - as my grandmother would say - no point lifting your peticiat after having a p!ss. so:
Leave Hive No 2 alone
Dummy down No4 as per original but consider feeding a couple of pints 1:1 syrup.
with the others:
Forget the cast, just dummy down to five frames and see what happens
Go in to the two hives with frames of brood added in six days:
No 1 - if there are queen cells destroy them all Put that frame of brood in hive #4 then paper unite these two
Same goes for hive number 3 - but brood frame into # 2 and paper unite with that one.

If no QC's don't do anything and report back here. Got to go now - dog needs taking to the vet. I'll log in on the train to London later

Click to expand...

Seeing as i cant follow your original plan and above is abit sketchy, heres what i think what ive to do. You said leave no2 alone but didnt mention no1 untill maybe queen cells appear. Ive added my own thoughts on no1, i could be wrong but i wont touch hives untill youve replied but this is what o think i can do(read below)

Right so this is what ill be doing when out at the aipary again. Ill open up hive no3, reduced down to 5/6 frames with xtratherm, close up with crown board and put feeder in and fill with 1/1 sugar syrp. Take away other frames to put into the other hives.

Next in line is hive no2, i leave this alone.

Next in line is no1, leave alone or maybe i could reduce down and use a frame or 2 from this hive in my nuc (no6) Reason being is that these frames would be more advanced for laying in, maybe im wrong but ill wait for your reply


Hive no4, this is already reduced down to 6 frames, ill reduce it down to 5 frames as you suggest but take out empty frames and add frames with drawn wax and maybe stores.

If ive any frames with stores, drawn wax then add to the caste (hive no6)

Leave for 6 days and check the hives that i added the frames with larvae to to check for QCs and report back.

sharonh said:

Agree,
Also I think new beeks should stick to managing two hives until they get use to management.



Love Beekeeping <3

Click to expand...

I started with 2 over wintered nucs as suggested many times on here. They swarmed like quite a lot of bees here in the west, even 5 year beekeepers have had problems this year with swarms! My colonies grew in numbers but even if I'd give some away, I'd still be in same position only with fewer numbers because I would have still be waiting around on the queens mating. I would probably be in a worse position if I gave some away because then I wouldn't have so much frames to play about with. I do understand that this has been a bit of a rollercoaster first year but I'm loving every min of it. Its sure keeping me busy! Lol

irishguy said:

I started with 2 over wintered nucs as suggested many times on here. They swarmed like quite a lot of bees here in the west, even 5 year beekeepers have had problems this year with swarms! My colonies grew in numbers but even if I'd give some away, I'd still be in same position only with fewer numbers because I would have still be waiting around on the queens mating. I would probably be in a worse position if I gave some away because then I wouldn't have so much frames to play about with. I do understand that this has been a bit of a rollercoaster first year but I'm loving every min of it. Its sure keeping me busy! Lol

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I can see you want to do whats best for your bees and care a great deal about their welfare.
Yes it has been a great year for swarms. Started myself this year with nuc that were hived in spring in national and my main colony. I now have five hived colony's from swarm management . I am just going to unite them back down to two.
Unite weaker with stronger and let them go into winter strong.
Personally two colony's is enough for me as I keep my bees in my garden.
If I kept all five,i could end up with ten hives next year, where do ya stop?
I do feel for you and can also see you enjoy it. You are getting sound advice
JBM"s advice is good so it's up to you at end of day.
I enjoy bee keeping myself but for me it's a hobby. I'm not going to let it take over my life.
I have learned to be patient and access situations before acting. Educate yourself as much as possible is what I say.
Good strong colony's going into winter is my next plan, just have new queens to find first & mark.
I hope all works out well for you.
Regards







Love Beekeeping

I posted something similar a couple of weeks ago, no sign of brood in swarmed Hive after 3 weeks. One Swarmed on 22nd June - No Sign of New Queen laying until 26th July ( 33-34 days ) another swarmed on 25th June - First signs eggs / Brood last night ( 32 - 33 days ), So my lesson for this year is learned after going to the hive last night with a new queen in hand.

bobh1969 said:

I posted something similar a couple of weeks ago, no sign of brood in swarmed Hive after 3 weeks. One Swarmed on 22nd June - No Sign of New Queen laying until 26th July ( 33-34 days ) another swarmed on 25th June - First signs eggs / Brood last night ( 32 - 33 days ), So my lesson for this year is learned after going to the hive last night with a new queen in hand.

Click to expand...

That's where patience comes in. What did you do with the queen in hand ?


Love Beekeeping <3

Shes still in hand !!! probably pass her on to somebody in my assoc, Just the two hives in the garden and not confident that either is strong enough to split. If no takers in the next day or so, i'll split one and keep fingers crossed. I'm not a million miles from you if have a home for her.

Well JBM deserves canonisation after his efforts in the last couple of days St Jenkins of Brynmair has a certain ring to it ... Hope the dog is ok Emyr .., I know she's not the Mae West ..

Irish guy ... Good luck. ... Lots of encouragement from people on here and some wise words ... Best take notice ... There's a saying - when you are up to your arse in alligators it's difficult to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp. Its NOT the best way to learn. Best try and be a little more cautious in your bee keeping until you are a bit more knowledgeable.

irishguy said:

Seeing as i cant follow your original plan and above is abit sketchy, heres what i think what ive to do. You said leave no2 alone but didnt mention no1 untill maybe queen cells appear. Ive added my own thoughts on no1, i could be wrong but i wont touch hives untill youve replied but this is what o think i can do(read below)

Right so this is what ill be doing when out at the aipary again. Ill open up hive no3, reduced down to 5/6 frames with xtratherm, close up with crown board and put feeder in and fill with 1/1 sugar syrp. Take away other frames to put into the other hives.

Next in line is hive no2, i leave this alone.

Next in line is no1, leave alone or maybe i could reduce down and use a frame or 2 from this hive in my nuc (no6) Reason being is that these frames would be more advanced for laying in, maybe im wrong but ill wait for your reply


Hive no4, this is already reduced down to 6 frames, ill reduce it down to 5 frames as you suggest but take out empty frames and add frames with drawn wax and maybe stores.

If ive any frames with stores, drawn wax then add to the caste (hive no6)

Leave for 6 days and check the hives that i added the frames with larvae to to check for QCs and report back.

Click to expand...

Sketchy FFS!! read my post, Im busy and can't spend all day nursemaiding you - follow your own plan if you must but you have a choice - either carry on merrily killing your colonies or follow what I've said and maybe we can salvage things - forget the cast swarm, it's not worth spending any time on - try and save your possibly viable colonies:



so:
Hive 1 check in six days if there are queen cells destroy them all Put that frame of brood in hive #4 then paper unite these two

Leave Hive No 2 alone no reticel, no taking anything off, leave super on and leave them expand as you have just taken two whole frames of brood off thus making them once again a weak colony

Hive 3 - 1 check in six days if there are queen cells destroy them all Put that frame of brood back in hive #2 then paper unite these two


Dummy down No4 as per original suggestion but consider feeding a couple of pints 1:1 syrup.
with the others:

Forget the cast! just dummy down to five frames and see what happens
Go in to the two hives with frames of brood added in six days:
No 1 -
Same goes for hive number 3 - but brood frame into # 2 and paper unite with that one.

If no QC's don't do anything and report back here.

No 6 leave well alone, jus a quick check to see if there's plenty of space - if there isn't report back here. Check stores situation - if the have no stores feed a couple of pints 1:1

Maybe in ten days we will have plenty of drawn comb etc to play with then we can address No 6 properly and maybe waste some time on #5

As you seem to have a good supply of xtratherm consider putting a piece (cut to size on top of each crown board under the roof – although the 2 inch stuff would probably sit a bit better.


We need to concentrate on getting hives 2,4 and 6 up to fighting weight, not fret too much about the others – if they shape up, it’s a bonus.

Is that clear enough? if not come back here and ask, no deviations or 'own ideas' let's stick to this shall we or I'll find some method less stressful to raise my blood pressure - I'm training some new recruits the next few days but I'll be on evenings and maybe lunchtime. I'm warning you all the new wave of customs/immigration officers are going to be carrying some deep mental scars!

We'll discuss the mechanics of uniting colonies in six days time as a separate subject

Good on you Jenkins. We all make mistakes and I always think that there is not one mistake that I can make in beekeeping that has not been made a million times before. Recovery is what counts, as so wisely stated by Chris B at some point on the forum. Irishguy make life easier for yourself, Jenkins has a plan just follow it. Fingers crossed and all that.

pargyle said:

Hope the dog is ok Emyr .., I know she's not the Mae West ..

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She's OK just unneeded complications that's all - had a massive lump removed from her mammaries last month, but has a sore she won't stop licking near the scar - also a lot of swellings under the skin. She's 12 so we can't give her too much of a hard time clinically, it may be cancer - who knows. on steroids now and things which has helped a lot, she's as bright as a button apart from this suppurating sore. Vet thinks all the swelling etc is down to an allergic reaction to the ctgut dissolving stitches she's had (unusual but it's following the wound and is identical to a system they were deliberately using in Africa as a 'tell-tale' when spaying strays) Just delaying the inevitable really, but after losing the bograt so suddenly digging two holes in quick succession will do my back no good! on antibiotics now, but if that doesn't do the trick............................. funny old thing she was never much good as a gundog (not her own fault nerves combined with being run over at six months old) but she seems to be outliving every other dog that comes to Brynmair!