A Painfull Disaster....VERY!

[beeboybee]

so have been in the process of re queeening a few colonies... its all being going good until Today.
opened a hive and got absolutely attacked....
i hadn't opened the hive for 14 days due to weather and just wanted to let them get on with things after the requeen.

last time i wet in it was looking great frames beautifully filled with Eggs & Brood.
New Queen happily working away.

Not So today lots of Drone Cells, No Sign of queen but only had chance to lift 2 frames before retreating.
Still plenty of brood...


Massively disappointed....


My Plan Suit Up Again - Double layer everywhere.

Check each Frame for Queen or Queen Cells and take it from there.

what a rubbish Bee Day.

 

[B+.]

All the important lessons are painful. You never forget them.

 

[Angularity]

I dropped a hive early one morning, moving it from one location to another. The straps came off. I counted 19 stings on my right forearm alone. Now I always screw the hive parts together before I move them. Live and learn, eh?

 

[viridens]

Sounds painful. But I do wonder why you were re queening a few colonies now?

 

[B+.]

Sounds painful. But I do wonder why you were re queening a few colonies now?

I have 8 coming from The Netherlands (6 mated on Vlieland, 2 mated on Nordeney) on Monday. They still have time to establish before winter.

 

[pargyle]

I have 8 coming from The Netherlands (6 mated on Vlieland, 2 mated on Nordeney) on Monday. They still have time to establish before winter.

Are you going to make Nucs up with them ? If you are then will they overwinter as Nucs or do you anticipate them developing into full colonies by the time winter arrives ?

I've got a new queen arriving this coming week - I'm going to be making up a nuc from three strong colonies and the flow is still strong down here so I'm not worried about them building up .. just not sure how far they will get.

 

[B+.]

Are you going to make Nucs up with them ? If you are then will they overwinter as Nucs or do you anticipate them developing into full colonies by the time winter arrives ?

I've got a new queen arriving this coming week - I'm going to be making up a nuc from three strong colonies and the flow is still strong down here so I'm not worried about them building up .. just not sure how far they will get.

I received 2 from Germany about a month ago. They're in double Langstroth now and I anticipate having to relieve them of some stores so they don't become honey-bound.
I will start the new ones off in Paynes polynucs (Langstroth) - only because I usually have a problem with wasps/robbers here in July/August and the entrance disk allows them to defend themselves well while they get established. When the queens are laying and they grow to a reasonable size(they will grow to 6+ frames of brood quite quickly), I'll transfer them to 10-frame Langstroths. These later introductions usually overwinter in a single brood-box but the ones I introduced in June will overwinter in doubles.
In this area, ivy provides quite a lot of late forage so I don't think its a good idea to restrict their space too much in the autumn. They will pack away a lot of honey/pollen off ivy! I usually find that they're still full at first inspection the following Spring.

 

[pargyle]

I received 2 from Germany about a month ago. They're in double Langstroth now and I anticipate having to relieve them of some stores so they don't become honey-bound.
I will start the new ones off in Paynes polynucs (Langstroth) - only because I usually have a problem with wasps/robbers here in July/August and the entrance disk allows them to defend themselves well while they get established. When the queens are laying and they grow to a reasonable size(they will grow to 6+ frames of brood quite quickly), I'll transfer them to 10-frame Langstroths. These later introductions usually overwinter in a single brood-box but the ones I introduced in June will overwinter in doubles.
In this area, ivy provides quite a lot of late forage so I don't think its a good idea to restrict their space too much in the autumn. They will pack away a lot of honey/pollen off ivy! I usually find that they're still full at first inspection the following Spring.

Wow..really quick build up. My nucs are 8 frame Paynes modified without the feeder and I've overwintered colonies in them from July/August mated queens but it will be interesting to see if the queen I've bought builds up like yours. I've got spare kit if they outgrow the nuc.

I too get a lot of ivy honey down here and mine nearly always overwinters on their own stores with just a top up of syrup - again, often stores left in the colony in spring.

 

[Wingy]

I feel your pain, had exactly the same happen to me a couple of weeks ago. I had a hive last season on the allotment that built up very quickly and produced a lot of honey but the bees always made their presence know, pinging my veil and clustering on my hands (no gloves) and bouncing off the hive tool during inspections. However I only got a few stings.
I split the colony and tried to be the Q- side to draw a Q cell from another hive, this failed (my fault) and a Q was drawn from their own brood.
Fast forward to this season and both hives building up and becoming tetchy. Then without warning the original hive just attacked as I removed the top super. I took 50-70 stings through my suit before I could get it back together and that was without even lifting a frame.
I took 2 nucs from the daughters hive & introduced a frame of brood from a calm hive.
2 days later I returned and sealed up the entrance. The roar from inside confirmed what I had to do. So without even searching for the Q I despatched the hive. Taking no risks I also despatched the daughter hive.
Luckily I don’t react much to stings so no great issues there

 

[B+.]

Wow..really quick build up. My nucs are 8 frame Paynes modified without the feeder and I've overwintered colonies in them from July/August mated queens but it will be interesting to see if the queen I've bought builds up like yours. I've got spare kit if they outgrow the nuc.

I too get a lot of ivy honey down here and mine nearly always overwinters on their own stores with just a top up of syrup - again, often stores left in the colony in spring.

If anyone is interested, they were "Singer 64" line from Jan Krauter (http://www.imkerei-krauter.de/#!/page_IMKEREI2 ). I had some to test last year and bought 2 more this year. They were recommended to me by one of the guys in the Dutch BeeBreed group who is breeding for varroa tolerance. This puzzled me because their varroa breeding value is only a little above average. However, the drone line that Jan has used for the last couple of years comes from Bienenzuchtzentrum Bantin which are also well known for varroa tolerance.
In any case, their natural mite drop in the Spring amounted to a total of 4 mites over 3 weeks - untreated, as all mine are! I did have a problem with them - which turned out to be environmental. The OSR crop failed so they had very little natural forage but the queen wanted to expand and laid multiple eggs in each cell. When the situation changed and there was enough for them to forage on, the brood nest expanded rapidly - just as I would expect.