OP
ian wallace
New Bee
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2010
- Messages
- 57
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- wiltshire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 18
Firstly i would like to thank everyone for their help and opinions.
Because everyone bee keeps differently and there is no set rule on what is right and what is wrong, and the only one who knows best are the bees. I think is it wrong for people to say that you should never do this or never to that?
The guy who taught me beekeeping has used sugar dusting for years and we both think it is a nicer way of treating the bees then using chemicals. He has been a honey farmer for years and has over three hundred hives. He has not seen any evidence of lack of emerging brood or any other side effects. I also know a beekeeper who dusts his bees with dust from the roads and paths?
(The way I look at it is I would not like having chemicals put in my house or put all over me).
I have two hives and two nuc's on the go and the varroa count is very, very low.
All I am saying is this is what works for my bees.
My post was not about sugar dusting, but a general question about bad tempered bees and the amount of queen cells being made in a hive that has just been split.
Because everyone bee keeps differently I find it interesting reading other people’s ideas.
Bad temperament of my bees.
I made a split last year from my first hive, and everything went fine and last year I went into winter with two very strong hives both with very good temperament and a very low count of varroa and over 70lb of honey
this year I moved both hives to an out apiary in Wiltshire and on the first full inspection both hives were as good as gold, and still very strong and no signs of diseases.
The next inspection I added one supper to each of the hives, and still they were as good as gold.
ten days after hive one started loading up the top stores of the brood and a half and moving the queen down to the lower brood body, so the supper I added had not been touched very much, but hive two had already filled there first supper and wanting more space. The super I added were 11 new frames and also this is the new queen from the split from last year.
I added another supper and left them alone.
Ten days after I made a split from hive two into a full size hive I gave them loads of honey and pollen and loads of brood, and to this day these girls are doing fine, just waiting for the queen to hatch should be this weekend.
Hive one I found a nice ripe queen cell on one of the top frames of the brood and a half, I thought it would be a shame to waste it so I made a split onto a nuc. And to this day this nuc is also doing very well.
But hive one has started to be bad tempered, and I did not know if it was down to the following
1, queen getting old (I don’t know how old she is)
2, there stores are not as good as hive two so they might be defending their stores
3, the guy who owns the land has been sawing loads of trees down with a big rip saw
4, any other?
today I have been to see the girls and hive one seems to be in a better mood, still following a little, hive two is working fine loads of pollen coming in and very strong. Hive three and the nuc seem to be doing well also, loads of flying bees around the front.
I did not open any of the hives as I was only inspecting the varroa trays, and still very little varroa found.
Friday or Saturday will be there next inspection but I will properly leave hive 3 and the nuc alone as they are both waiting for their new queen to pop out.
But will have a play with hive one and two.
I think if I do see anymore queen cells in hive one I will lift her out into another nuc as suggested by Craig and itchyhives
Because everyone bee keeps differently and there is no set rule on what is right and what is wrong, and the only one who knows best are the bees. I think is it wrong for people to say that you should never do this or never to that?
The guy who taught me beekeeping has used sugar dusting for years and we both think it is a nicer way of treating the bees then using chemicals. He has been a honey farmer for years and has over three hundred hives. He has not seen any evidence of lack of emerging brood or any other side effects. I also know a beekeeper who dusts his bees with dust from the roads and paths?
(The way I look at it is I would not like having chemicals put in my house or put all over me).
I have two hives and two nuc's on the go and the varroa count is very, very low.
All I am saying is this is what works for my bees.
My post was not about sugar dusting, but a general question about bad tempered bees and the amount of queen cells being made in a hive that has just been split.
Because everyone bee keeps differently I find it interesting reading other people’s ideas.
Bad temperament of my bees.
I made a split last year from my first hive, and everything went fine and last year I went into winter with two very strong hives both with very good temperament and a very low count of varroa and over 70lb of honey
this year I moved both hives to an out apiary in Wiltshire and on the first full inspection both hives were as good as gold, and still very strong and no signs of diseases.
The next inspection I added one supper to each of the hives, and still they were as good as gold.
ten days after hive one started loading up the top stores of the brood and a half and moving the queen down to the lower brood body, so the supper I added had not been touched very much, but hive two had already filled there first supper and wanting more space. The super I added were 11 new frames and also this is the new queen from the split from last year.
I added another supper and left them alone.
Ten days after I made a split from hive two into a full size hive I gave them loads of honey and pollen and loads of brood, and to this day these girls are doing fine, just waiting for the queen to hatch should be this weekend.
Hive one I found a nice ripe queen cell on one of the top frames of the brood and a half, I thought it would be a shame to waste it so I made a split onto a nuc. And to this day this nuc is also doing very well.
But hive one has started to be bad tempered, and I did not know if it was down to the following
1, queen getting old (I don’t know how old she is)
2, there stores are not as good as hive two so they might be defending their stores
3, the guy who owns the land has been sawing loads of trees down with a big rip saw
4, any other?
today I have been to see the girls and hive one seems to be in a better mood, still following a little, hive two is working fine loads of pollen coming in and very strong. Hive three and the nuc seem to be doing well also, loads of flying bees around the front.
I did not open any of the hives as I was only inspecting the varroa trays, and still very little varroa found.
Friday or Saturday will be there next inspection but I will properly leave hive 3 and the nuc alone as they are both waiting for their new queen to pop out.
But will have a play with hive one and two.
I think if I do see anymore queen cells in hive one I will lift her out into another nuc as suggested by Craig and itchyhives
