What to do next.

[pargyle]

If you continue as you are you will find nobody here will offer you any further input

I think it's just about reached that stage ...

The problem is that the basic beekeeping problems (which we all experience) are compounded by other influences and it gets increasingly difficult to offer any constructive advice apart from leave them alone and see what happens ... perhaps next year start with fewer colonies and do things, properly, when you should and keep records about what you have done.

 

[irishguy]

I haven't been posting around here for nearly 12 months and a quick scan and 3 or 4 threads in I find you appear looking for advice again in 2015 for what is a repeat car crash of 2014.

Would agree that 2014 was a car crash year with my beekeeping but sure isnt nearly all new beeks first year like this without a mentor! This year isnt as bad as the first IMO. Its easy for people like yourself to throw such comments about but im sure youve had a few fecked up moments yourself in your beekeeping life. To put things into perspective for you, this is only my 2nd season doing this!!

In your defence you represent a lot of beekeepers I know and that have left through frustration as their busy personal lives don't allow them time to read up on or manage bees and hives and their entire approach is open the hive and react spontaneously.

As for you mentioning others leaving through frustration, well it aint going to be me, im in this carryon for the long haul weither you people like it or not. TBH, the most frustrating part of this beekeeping is getting slated on here from people like yourself, everything else has been a great learning experience even thou it doesnt look quite fcuked up from your perspective!



All of your issues have been generated by you and not by the bees.

Easy to say now with hindsight but at the time, sure i was asking for advice on here and not getting any. I did notice thou that my threads got quite alot of viewing but very few answers on what to do next. Most sit back, wait untill i fcuk it up then throw in an aul comment about me being a thick cnut with bees. Not in them exact words but it sure does feel like it! One even suggested i leave the bees to their own devices, i took this advice and low and behold, they threw a swarm or caste and then im the one who ends up looking like an idiot!

You can take this what ever way you want, but you are not a beekeeper.

Anyone who thinks their a beekeeper after 1 season with bees is off their fecking head IMO and not once did i suggest i was!

Anyway enough criticism, if you truly want to be a beekeeper be honest with yourself and ask can you spare the time?

Spare time you say, i was under major pressure with work, people dieing and a few other things. These were unexpected which can happen to anyone. From now on, ill open the hive when needs be even if conditions arent great. Going by the book isnt always ideal as ive found out this season.

There is no point in advising well this came up or that came up and I couldn't get to my bees until it was too late, there will always be something else, if your life doesn't allow you the time or flexibility then move onto hand gliding until it does.

If you know you can then educate yourself on the the basics, find and commit yourself a local club and in Mayo there are 3 and find experienced local beekeepers to look into your hives with you and they will offer advice. Devise a plan as to what you are going to do, be more explicit in the detail for your own benefit and so that you can remember. Read your notes before inspection and don't have a meltdown once you have opened a lid.

If you continue as you are you will find nobody here will offer you any further input

One problem i have is my club is half hour from my house and all the beeks are local to there. I cant expect someone to do an hour round trip every time i have a problem. Ive been to all the meetings and have learnt from them but one thing i should mention, our club gets speakers from all over the country who are at this carryon for year and one thing ive noticed a few times, they've contradicted each other so what hope have i if this is happening!

This year and last has taught me well even if it doesnt look it in black and white on here. Its got to the stage thou that im thinking is there any point in posting on here because it just seems to me that people would rather throw in bullsh1t rather than some helpful advice on what to do next.

 

[burren]

Hi Irish guy
Stick with it.God loves a tryer. Tell us what things are up to presently and lets see what the next step is to be.

 

[irishguy]

Was in 2 minds to post this but feck it, here goes

In order as i opened them

Hive 2, opened up and noticed bees drawing well in the super. The extra frames i put in last week with foundation have been drawn out and eggs in 3 sides of 2 frames. what i did notice thou which aroused suspicion is one frame of brood is all drone brood yet on the other frames, its all worker brood, have never seen this before. Spotted queen happily walking about brood area. noticed a few queen cups and 2 with eggs in them so will be keeping an eye to see if it turns out to be actual queen cells. If it is, will do an AS.

Hive1 (nuc from kamikaze AS) Nuc building up great and i expect if it keeps up at this rate, ill be putting it into a brood box next week or 2.

Hive4. Seeing as the eggs i put in last week died, i took a frame from this hive, shook all bees off and put it into hive3 and removed a frame of eggs from hive3 and put in place of removed frame in this hive. Will check again during the week or next weekend and if no QCS built, theres a virgin queen so will either leave the frame or reverse what i did.

Hive5. This is the hive with just one frame with QC taken 2 weeks agao. Opened up without smoke, checked QC and noticed it still capped but no bees near it. Cracked open the cell and theres a dead virgin queen. Ive been thinking about what to do with these bees and IMO ive 3 options , one is to put back in the hive it was removed from but dont know how the bees will take to them seeing its been a few weeks since removed. 2 is to unite with the nuc and 3, just let them be to draw out new foundation before they die but ill let others decided that for me because if i choose one, im sure ill get slated for it either way.

Hive 3, didnt open!

 

[irishguy]

Hi Irish guy
Stick with it.God loves a tryer. Tell us what things are up to presently and lets see what the next step is to be.

 

[burren]

Hi Irish guy
Hive 1 - sorted- keep checking every 7/8 days to be safe

Hive 2 - Please check at next available time slot if 7/8 days was last inspection day.

Hive 3 - So 1 1/2 frames of eggs/ 1 of frames only drone brood/ few open q cells and 2 with eggs. A bit worrying, but no royal jelly with the eggs. I would check any in 5 days. What is the story with this queen? Did the "drone" brood frame come from another hive or not?

Hive 4 - You seem to have an action plan for this one - stick to it!

Hive 5 - How many frames are the bees on in this hive? And how long has it been q less? Why not join it with the nuc?
Burren

 

[irishguy]

Hi Irish guy
Hive 1 - sorted- keep checking every 7/8 days to be safe



Hive 3 - Please check at next available time slot if 7/8 days was last inspection day.

This hive has possibly 2 or 1 virgin queen. had 2 open QCs from last inspection so was thinking of leaving it for another week to check for eggs/larvae.


Hive 2 - So 1 1/2 frames of eggs/ 1 of frames only drone brood/ few open q cells and 2 with eggs. A bit worrying, but no royal jelly with the eggs. I would check any in 5 days. What is the story with this queen? Did the "drone" brood frame come from another hive or not?

Theres 8 frames of brood,eggs and larvae and 1 frame is full of drone brood on both sides.



Hive 4 - You seem to have an action plan for this one - stick to it!

Hive 5 - How many frames are the bees on in this hive? And how long has it been q less? Why not join it with the nuc?
Burren

Bees where on 2 frames but only one with stores and brood. this frame was taken from a hive for back up incase hive 3 and 4 virgin queens didnt make it back. I was thinking of joing it with the nuc but was maybe going to wait untill next week when the nuc is ready to go into the brood box. Reason being, this frame is in a brood box dummied down with 4 inch insulation and cant see how id be able to unite with 2 different size boxes.

 

[burren]

irish guy

Hive 3 - yep leave for a week. give the virgin queen 2 weeks after emergence then check for eggs. She may even need another week.

Hive 2- Do you have a super on this, they will need the space with 8 frames of brood urgently.

Hive 5 - yep join it to the nuc ( so small) if they seem ok and warm enough, wait the week if you need so box sizes work easier, dont leave any longer than that.

 

[irishguy]

irish guy

Hive 3 - yep leave for a week. give the virgin queen 2 weeks after emergence then check for eggs. She may even need another week.

Hive 2- Do you have a super on this, they will need the space with 8 frames of brood urgently.

Hive 5 - yep join it to the nuc ( so small) if they seem ok and warm enough, wait the week if you need so box sizes work easier, dont leave any longer than that.

Hive2, yeah ive a super on this from last week(10 days if i remember correctly). I removed a frame of capped brood last week thou and inserted it into my nuc. Placed a frame of foundation which is drawn and has eggs as seen today. Another frame went into hive4. Im wondering will i cull most the drone brood on that frame or leave them at it? Reason for thinking of culling is that its came out of nowhere this frame of drone. The other frames had drone brood here and there but nothing on this scale!

Will unite hive5 with nuc next sat morning while inserting nuc frames into new brood box.

 

[burren]

Hive 2- how are they filling that super?
You said that they had drawn it, but is it now being filled? Do they need another? I suppose culling that frame would be best ( check for mite levels while culling that frame), as you are sure the other worker brood frames are ok.

I think you have a plan for all 5 hives. Dont be late on the inspections and keep on with the detailed inspection notes, always. Good luck, tell us how hive 2,3, and 4 get on in the coming weeks.
Burren

 

[pargyle]

Was in 2 minds to post this but feck it, here goes

In order as i opened them

Hive 2, opened up and noticed bees drawing well in the super. The extra frames i put in last week with foundation have been drawn out and eggs in 3 sides of 2 frames. what i did notice thou which aroused suspicion is one frame of brood is all drone brood yet on the other frames, its all worker brood, have never seen this before. Spotted queen happily walking about brood area. noticed a few queen cups and 2 with eggs in them so will be keeping an eye to see if it turns out to be actual queen cells. If it is, will do an AS.

Hive1 (nuc from kamikaze AS) Nuc building up great and i expect if it keeps up at this rate, ill be putting it into a brood box next week or 2.

Hive4. Seeing as the eggs i put in last week died, i took a frame from this hive, shook all bees off and put it into hive3 and removed a frame of eggs from hive3 and put in place of removed frame in this hive. Will check again during the week or next weekend and if no QCS built, theres a virgin queen so will either leave the frame or reverse what i did.

Hive5. This is the hive with just one frame with QC taken 2 weeks agao. Opened up without smoke, checked QC and noticed it still capped but no bees near it. Cracked open the cell and theres a dead virgin queen. Ive been thinking about what to do with these bees and IMO ive 3 options , one is to put back in the hive it was removed from but dont know how the bees will take to them seeing its been a few weeks since removed. 2 is to unite with the nuc and 3, just let them be to draw out new foundation before they die but ill let others decided that for me because if i choose one, im sure ill get slated for it either way.

Hive 3, didnt open!

Well .. at least you are thinking about what's going on and your posts are clearer ..

For what it's worth you are on the right track as far as I can see ..

Hive 5 .. I would do a newspaper combine with the Nuc .. pointless letting them die out - better to use them to bolster another colony - your objective at this moment in time is to create at least a couple of strong colonies that can go into winter with some chance of survival.

Stick with it ... I'm not sure we'll ever make a beekeeper of you but at least you'll go down trying and it's a lot safer than hang gliding - at least for you if not for the bees !

 

[irishguy]

Hive 2- how are they filling that super?
You said that they had drawn it, but is it now being filled? Do they need another? I suppose culling that frame would be best ( check for mite levels while culling that frame), as you are sure the other worker brood frames are ok.

I think you have a plan for all 5 hives. Dont be late on the inspections and keep on with the detailed inspection notes, always. Good luck, tell us how hive 2,3, and 4 get on in the coming weeks.
Burren

Ill cull them at my next inspection on sat, i could go out after work one of the days but dont want to be opening hive again untill next weekend. Some drone might emerge but there should still be plenty left to cull by next sat.

They are drawing out the super but as for filling, i didnt lift out any frames to check exactly how much. Theres usually a june gap here in the west(or even ireland as a whole) so cant see them filling out to much for teh end of this month.

Thanks for your input burren, its been a great help

 

[irishguy]

Well .. at least you are thinking about what's going on and your posts are clearer ..

For what it's worth you are on the right track as far as I can see ..

Hive 5 .. I would do a newspaper combine with the Nuc .. pointless letting them die out - better to use them to bolster another colony - your objective at this moment in time is to create at least a couple of strong colonies that can go into winter with some chance of survival.

Stick with it ... I'm not sure we'll ever make a beekeeper of you but at least you'll go down trying and it's a lot safer than hang gliding - at least for you if not for the bees !

I was thinking the same about uniting, will do this next weekend like mentioned before when the nuc is ready for the brood box. If the virgins in hive 3 and 4 get mated i should have 4 strong colonies going into winter and id even say id have some honey if im lucky.

As for the hand gliding, funnily enough ive been meaning to get my small plane license these last few years and if its as adventurous as my bee keeping, god help the poor fookers below me when i do

 

[alldigging]

Hive 2, opened up and noticed bees drawing well in the super. The extra frames i put in last week with foundation have been drawn out and eggs in 3 sides of 2 frames. what i did notice thou which aroused suspicion is one frame of brood is all drone brood yet on the other frames, its all worker brood, have never seen this before. Spotted queen happily walking about brood area. noticed a few queen cups and 2 with eggs in them so will be keeping an eye to see if it turns out to be actual queen cells. If it is, will do an AS.

So what did you do with the queen cells with eggs in?



http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf

 

[pargyle]

So what did you do with the queen cells with eggs in?



http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf

IG did actually say queen cups .. not queen cells .. he's had some previous 'queen cup' activity in his hives in the past and it may be that these are not actually going to develop into queen cells - so, he's probably right to just keep an eye on them for a day or two and if they do develop into proper queen cells than he will have to AS. He's got a few days of grace before they will swarm if that's what they are intending.

It's been a complicated season for IG so far, made worse by his own admission that he hasn't always done things properly. However, Wally Shaw's pamphlet should be on every new(ish) beekeepers reading list .. absolutely invaluable.

 

[irishguy]

So what did you do with the queen cells with eggs in?



http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf

Will check tomorrow.

Thanks for the link, I've read it before and TBF, its not set in stone if the bees make QCs in certain places then its a different type of QC.

 

[irishguy]

1pm today
Hive no2. BIAS and no charged or capped QCs

Hive no4, This has a nearly capped QC with larvae in it(not 100% sure because it was so deep but if i was a betting man, id bet there was). Another few queen cups and one charged QC. Broke all the queen cups down and the charged one. Bees werent as agressive even with the unsettled weather.


5.45pm
Hive no1, inserted the frames from nuc into brood box, spotted queen and laying well, BIAS. Was in the process of uniting this with hive 5(with bees on 2 frames) but there was still lots of bees flying in and out of this hive so thought id leave it for another hour or 2 so all flying bees were home. Put queen excluder on top of hive1(now brood box) along with newspaper for when i do the unite.


7.30pm bees all still flying in and out of each hives.

Hive5. Opened hive without smoke to unite with hive1. Shouldnt have opened it because all i really needed to do was lift box and put above hive1. Thought id have a quick look through hive because noticed bees werent to agressive last inspection and this time aswell. Went through the 2 frames and spoted BIAS which was a surprise because when i put the frame in, there was only capped brood! spoted lots of eggs and was wondering was this the worker bees laying. Was scratching my head going WTF is going on here! so went looking for a queen, didnt spot her on any frames, put both frames back and was in 2 minds to do the unite untill i got ore info incase this was the workers laying. Thought about it for a min and knew it couldnt be because of the larvae. Had another look and low and behold, theres a queen walking about on one frame! Now, closed hive up to think about what to do now seeing as i cant unite it with hive1 anymore.

Hive3, didnt open but might at the wknd to see how this is getting on because its been a few weeks since last checked. If no eggs, might swap another frames with hive 2(like i did with hive4) to see if theyll build QCs.

Also thinking of swapping some frames from hive 3 and 4 with hive 5 to give this new queen some drawn comb to lay in rather than wait on the bees building it out. reason being is that ive a mated queen which could do with some laying cells rather than waiting about for a few weeks on the bees building new comb.

 

[pargyle]

So Hive 3 ...

11th June:

"Hive 3. (One left with 2 capped QCs). Quick look at frame with the QCs., both hatched!! Still lots of bees but where more agitated than the hive2."

So that's at least 16 days since you had two virgins emerge ? It's still possible that you still have a queen in there and she's just a bit slow to start laying. I would risk a look in the hive to see what's going on as you haven't been into this hive for sometime. Hopefully you will find some eggs and all will be fine ...

However, if there are no eggs then your plan to swap a frame with some eggs in it to see if they build QC's is a good plan and can't do any harm at this stage. Mark the frame so you know which it is and inspect again in 4/5 days to see if they have raised QC's .. if they have, then leave them be.

 

[irishguy]

So Hive 3 ...

11th June:

"Hive 3. (One left with 2 capped QCs). Quick look at frame with the QCs., both hatched!! Still lots of bees but where more agitated than the hive2."

So that's at least 16 days since you had two virgins emerge ? It's still possible that you still have a queen in there and she's just a bit slow to start laying. I would risk a look in the hive to see what's going on as you haven't been into this hive for sometime. Hopefully you will find some eggs and all will be fine ...

However, if there are no eggs then your plan to swap a frame with some eggs in it to see if they build QC's is a good plan and can't do any harm at this stage. Mark the frame so you know which it is and inspect again in 4/5 days to see if they have raised QC's .. if they have, then leave them be.

Had a peek into hive3 and noticed some eggs scattered about on a few frames. This aroused some suspicion seeing as they weren't all in one spot and if I remembered correctly, worker bees lay eggs like this rather than keep them all together on same place on each frame. Thou One thing that made me think it was a queen was that there's only 1 egg per cell, in the centre and most of them are standing up. I searched whole hive for the queen but couldn't find her! I decided to go ahead with the plan of inserting a test frame from hive2.

Removed a frame from hive2 and replaced with foundation and iserted this into hive3. Removed and shook bees off 2 drawn frames(with no eggs) and put these 2 drawn frames into hive5 to speed things up in that hive. Going to leave them at it for few weeks without entering any hive apart from a quick look into hive3.

 

[irishguy]

Yet again more surprises for me or should I say set backs.

Hive3. When last in the hive, there was eggs here and there on a few frames and none where in large amounts together so I decided to put a test frame in last week. Checked today and there was lots of capped and uncapped QCs on the test frame which to me suggested it was Queen less until I noticed on other frames young larvae in large amounts on other frames and more QCs and lots of charged QCs. This tells me there was a queen laying after my inspection. Some will say I've missed eggs but i defo didn't miss them last time I was in because I went through the hive twice checking each frame for eggs and queen and defiantly didn't see the amount of eggs that turned into young larvae. I'd say the youngest would be 4-5 days old going by the pics in my books. This to me suggests there's been a queen and she's either swarmed, in swarm mode or f**k knows what else has happened to her Still has good amont of bees thou which has me baffled.
Very disappointed at this because I had a good feeling everything was coming good I knocked down all capped QCs apart from the darkest brown capped one. Has this every happened to anyone before with queen swarming so soon(if that's what it is). I also noticed some drones in my super through my polycard CB.


Hive4,

1 capped QC hatched from the side so knocked all the rest down and closed up the hive. The virgin has just hatched today going by my dates so hopefully she comes back mated soon. If not, I'll unite this hive with hive5.