BEES! Bees in the garden! 2 happy hives!

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BEES! Bees in the garden! 2 happy hives!
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Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 09 8:34 pm Post subject:

I wandered down again tonight....just to listen to the hummmmm

...................

That was the sound

Just silence....................................

Now either my ears are playing tricks or our bees have buzzed off somewhere else.

Can't/won't open to check as "he who looks after the bees" is out with his motorbike!

Also had our JR Terrier (Honey) scanned today and it seems she's not in pup..... Vet says they'll check again next week but.....

Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 09 8:56 pm Post subject:
"He who looks after the bees" has come home and listened and declared my ears defunct....

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 09 10:43 am Post subject:
Next time 'he who looks after the bees' isn't around tap the side of the brood box with your nuckles (Standing at the side or behind the hive not in front) & then listen.

Mrs Baggins

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 837
Location: West Kent

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 09 12:23 pm Post subject:
Sally, I bet they saw you coming and were all plastered against the insides of the hive giggling and shushing each other. PS: SOrry to hear about Honey.. so disappointing. Hopefully she will be in whelp soon.

goosey

Joined: 29 Apr 2009
Posts: 380
Location: Merry England

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 09 4:34 pm Post subject:

Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 09 5:40 pm Post subject:

Mrs Baggins wrote:

Sally, I bet they saw you coming and were all plastered against the insides of the hive giggling and shushing each other.

Sure seemed like that......

Anyway OH opened the hive tonight to look in and see what's what with this swarm.

Unfortunately no eggs being laid and no brood. So it looks like we have no queen. They've started to draw some comb but have taken down very little of the sugar solution.....

Not sure what's next. I think our mentor is trying to raise another queen cell for us and may still split a hive........

Mrs Baggins

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 837
Location: West Kent

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 09 6:58 pm Post subject:
Oh no! I really hope your colony is not queenless. What a shame! Our old girl (the one we replaced stopped laying when the flow went over. I was really worried she was gone but when it came to re-queening, there she was and she was back in lay. The guy who did it for me said that happens. I really hope it is smth like that for you.

Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 09 11:51 pm Post subject:
Opened up again... and definitely no queen. Bees have been busy and there is some honey and stored pollen... just no eggs. However... our mentor has found out about a captured swarm which we can buy and he is going to help us install it tomorrow evening.

goosey

Joined: 29 Apr 2009
Posts: 380
Location: Merry England

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 09 5:50 am Post subject:
I've got my fingers crossed for you Sally. Hope your new queen and her colony settle in ok. Presumably your mentor will combine the two, or has he got another plan? I find it gripping, listening to the ups and downs of Downsizer beeks, and learn something too. Let us know what happens.

Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 09 8:42 pm Post subject:

So last night the nuc arrived. We were told to open it tonight and count the frames of bees to see what the cost should be.

First thing we lifted off the crown board and there was a huge bit of comb stuck to the roof with several capped queen cells!

So we closed up and rang our mentor.

Then he & his wife and OH and I all kitted up and examined the nuc. Lots going on.

We split the hive in two (set on top of each other) and left one box with an unsealed queen cell & the flying bees and the top one with 2 or 3 sealed cells and most of the capped brood.

THEN as we were walking back up looking at the bit of comb from the crown board we realise that a queen was hatching! No less than 3 queens hatched and we caught them into plastic cages ! (The were helped slightly, but were totally ready.) This was so exciting! Really fascinating etc.

So we put one of them into the brood box with the unsealed cell. And our mentor took the other 2 queens for hives that he has.

So HOPEFULLY we will have two hives out of this!

Mrs Baggins

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 837
Location: West Kent

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 09 6:32 pm Post subject:
Fantastic news Sally! You've had a few disappointments along the way but you stuck with it and now look at you! Good on you! Keep us posted!

Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 09 10:37 am Post subject:
Quick update. We opened both hives last night and although one (bottom one) is much stronger, both hives have loads of sealed brood. Yay! Two active queens. The top hive however is pestered a bit by wasps. It got the unsealed queen cell during the split (bottom hive got the virgin queen) so it is a bit behind on producing new bees. However it seems strong enough. So for the bees!

Mrs Baggins

Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 837
Location: West Kent

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 09 12:51 pm Post subject:
HOORAY! Great news! Aren't the wasps horrid?

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