Much as I come to hate the wasps every year once we reach late Summer, I can't help admiring them throughout the rest of the year.
I can't remember a spring when there have been so many queen wasps lurking around the hives. Earlier today I was lucky enough to catch this photo of two queens in the apiary.
Much as I come to hate the wasps every year once we reach late Summer, I can't help admiring them throughout the rest of the year.
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Took an opportunity today to have a look at a couple of colonies, nice to see a generally good build-up; some are always ahead of others or at least, that's how they look at a glance but we do get a 'feel' for the one's that are 'right' even if at present they appear to be behind others in the apiary; so long as there's no underlying problem we know that they'll be OK. No equalizing here, let them build up at their own pace and watch, observe the outcome. Like so many other beekeepers we have a herd of very diverse genetic heritage so instead of trying to force them into a predetermined schedule why not attempt to harness their own innate qualities? We like to put out a few bait hives each spring not so much to get new bees as to reduce the likelihood of getting a call from a nearby household requesting that we remove these strays from their chimney or cavity wall etc. When people know that we 'do' bees it becomes pretty much expected that we'll sort out any problems, after all, to an outsider it's probably natural to assume that we caused the issue in the first place!! good public relations are always important when dealing with bees. Another benefit of catching swarms is that we can learn a lot about the way that colonies establish themselves in nature by observing their build up -especially so if they're allowed to build natural comb. Spent a few hours putting together a few bait hives today. In the past we've never used any specific design; empty broods and double nuc boxes probably being our favourite -because they've been available. This year we are making a few top bar nucs based around the warre idea but not strictly following the 'proper' design. In future years, as empty broods and nuc boxes become fewer in number this may well become a standard, cheap design for us. The photo is actually of an old modified dadant brood body which just happened to be waiting for some repair work... Do you overwinter 'spare' queens? Each year we try to leave a queen in each of our larger mating nucs as an insurance policy against winter losses; a spare queen at this time of year can save an otherwise good stock that has a drone-laying queen. Of course, we usually have plenty left over which we can then use to head increase nucs in May. Another advantage is that this method keeps the mating nuc frames stocked so when the time comes to place the first batch of queen cells we don't have the hassle of restocking empty mating boxes. Considering the winter which these small wooden nucs have been subjected to (relentless easterly winds for over two months) they seem to be doing really well for themselves. The frames are approximately the same size as a half length dadant shallow (langstroth medium) frame. The box in this photo holds eight frames during the winter months but is large enough to receive a central division board later in the season so that we have two four frame mating nucs in each box. |
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