So, in the 2 weeks since i last posted:
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Adrian checked in, he's taken the two hives from his place ( the Utter hive and Kate's swarm) over to a mates place in Taggerty, where the yellow box is blossoming. Can't wait to taste that one.
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Also, I united the third swarm with the Other hive, using ;the newspaper method', where you put one hive on top of the other, with a couple of sheets of newspaper in between, By the time they chew through it, they have forgotten why they were so angry, enjoy the new pheromones, and hail the new queen. I did this at night, when they were mostly all at home.
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This Saturday I went through all the boxes at my place, just to see what was going on.
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I had a look at the frames I'd harvested, the frames were almost clean, I'd put the stickies back in for a while for the girls to clean up. Below, a patch of drone comb amongst the worker comb. I love the way their hexagonal architecture breaks into occasional randomness, here 8 rows of worker meld into 6 rows of drone. They stamp the foundation you buy into the drone comb pattern to encourage more workers...
This girl came down for a free feed, some honey still left on the frames. Bit of pollen sprinkled on her back.
A few signs of wax moth. They'll probably chew through the whole lot in this weather, not sure what to do, putting them in the freezer to kill them is the theory, but I'd have to get all the icy poles and leftovers out of there. Maybe I'll wrap them up in gladwrap or something, if i get around to it.
Jazmina helped me go through the boxes, and took most of these photos. Thanks!
Thats the queenless swarm in front, Metropolis and Other in the background, behind the chicken-proof fence.
First, a quick check in the queenless swarm, they're still kickin, even have some honey in there, but so many drones....
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Now the Other, the top box is the swarm from the tree that was united with the apparently queenless boxes below... lots of brood, on 5 of the frames in the top. Didn't see a queen, but she must be there... some grubs in there too.
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Below you can see what's left of the newspaper, there was none at all left in the box, 2 whole sheets chewed up and gone.
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A couple of supersedure cells, I don't think this is any worry at this stage, no grubs in there.
A couple of supersedure cells, I don't think this is any worry at this stage, no grubs in there.
I did not see the queen, but have to assume she was in the top box, so I moved it to the bottom, queen excluder on, two honey supers on top, and next time I need to check that she is still down there. And no more accidents involving queens.
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Finally, in Metropolis, all seems well, not much more honey than last time, but lots of brood, and slowly filling up.
Finally, in Metropolis, all seems well, not much more honey than last time, but lots of brood, and slowly filling up.
Close ups of some of the grubs in there. Again, didn't see the queen, but enough evidence, I reckon.
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Jazmina was stung 3 times on her leg (through her jeans), but I got away clean this time.
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++++++++++++++ ooooooooooooo ++++++++++++++
Jonas : 12 (10 this season)
Adrian : 1
Edis : 1
Jazmina : 3
Jazmina : 3
++++++++++++++ ooooooooooooo ++++++++++++++
HONEY TALLY:
2010/11: 34 litres
20011/12: 11 Litres so far.
HONEY TALLY:
2010/11: 34 litres
20011/12: 11 Litres so far.
Poor Jasmina!!! Light coloured pants are the way to go, reckon they hate dark colours!!!! What do you reckon happened with those supersedure cells?? They are empty, so do you reckon the queen came from there?? I have some the same in my hive which has the original marked queen doing her stuff??? Not sure why???
ReplyDeleteHi ibeka...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I want to do a bee-check in a hired bear suit one day, see how the girls react....should be worth a photo, I reckon.
According to theory, supersedure cells mean that the workers think that the queen is getting past her prime, and rather than swarm (if they were overcrowded), they calmly go about building these supesedure cells, where they will one day feed up a new queen, they'll live together for a while and eventually have a big fight, and the queens own daughter / princess takes over. Basically it's a sign that you need to re-queen. I dont really fully get the theory about supersedure, depite having read about it. I have seen these cells in my boxes most of the time, even after having re-queened. I think you really have a 'problem' if they become capped, the ones I have seen are just empty...
I'm beginning to think that sometimes the less you do the better... commercial beekepers only open up their boxes a few times (ie when they are harvesting), they dont muck around pulling the whole thing apart every couple of weeks to see what's going on. Less chance of doing something dumb like accidentally killing the queen. Even if there is supersedure, they make themselves a new queen. For free. You do nothing. There's not even the dramatic break where they swarm and brood production drops off until the new queen comes up to speed, as (I think) they are both in there for a while. Maybe she's not as 'pedigreed' as the old one, but you can re-queen any time.
To answer your question about your empty supersedure cells, I think it basically means you should re-queen soon, according to the theory. But there are many theories.
Good luck!
Jonas