Only 3 this time: Mandy, Julia and Shirley. Anne had hoped to come, but a puncture en route meant she didn’t make it. Still, a very useful session, lost for the beginners to see, they both handled the bees and had plenty of questions to ask. And many thanks to Shirley for the lovely cake!
Hive 1: no brood, a large number of drones and many queen cells – most open, a couple torn down, and one resealed. Bees were quiet but seemed happy, so assumed they had a queen that was not yet laying: the super beneath the brood box was removed, all the bees brushed gently into the brood box, to which (just in case) a frame of eggs was added from the large well-established swarm. Two old frames were replaced with fresh foundation, then the supers were replaced – one was full, one had drawn comb, and another super was optimistically added on top. (Well, the lime should be starting mid-July – they have enough stores to last till then.)
Next time: no further disturbance for 3 weeks please! Daily mite drop: 0.5
Hive 2: The brood box was not disturbed, as waiting for a new queen to start laying. It had a brood box above the excluder in the hope that this would be drawn out as a supply of drawn comb, but the bees (after 4 weeks) had declined to do this, so it was removed. The super above it was almost full, so another super was added. DMD: 0.8
Next time: check for brood/eggs. Mark queen if seen.
Hive 3: a frame of irregular comb was moved to the edge of the brood box – this should be removed and replaced as soon as the brood has hatched. A queen excluder was added.
DMD: 3.2
Next time: replace malformed brood frame if possible.
Hive 5 and 6 are away from home at the moment – last inspected 17th June, so looking for volunteers to go out and check them up.
Swarms and nucs:
Swarm 1 on 9 frames (one removed to go into Hive 1): this swarm will go to a new home shortly, prepare for moving.
Swarm 2: needs to go in a brood box next time. Check syrup, add queen excluder and feed.
Sterilise a new brood box and fill with frames, ready for use.
Nucs 2 and 3 – both doing well, but still only on 2 or 3 frames.
Check syrup, replace feeders on both to keep mould-free.