Despite the rain
and inspecting bees under brollies, 9 of us gathered today.
Hive 2 –
as it had a recently hatched virgin queen we didn’t disturb it.
Hive 3 –
lots of eggs and sealed brood, top super light, 1st super
1/3rd full. No sign of swarming.
Hive 4 –
added 2nd super as hive very full of bees. Saw queen
marked green, gentle bees, no sign of swarming.
Hive at Sheds
– forgot to check after the up’s and down’s of the nucs today.
Linda had given it syrup over the last two Mondays and recalls that
while it is a small colony, it was doing fine.
Nuc 1 –
took feeder off, queen marked blue, bees on 4 frames. Could sell.
Nuc 2 –
saw queen marked red, quite full of bees. Could sell.
Nuc 3 –
found 4 queen cells, one hatched and caged, the other hatched while
we were there and is in the nuc box. Full of bees, once mated would
be ready to sell.
David took the
new caged queen with attendants and is going to add some bees to an
apidea then add this queen and see if she can be mated.
Nuc 4 /
apidea – very few bees in nuc but still had queen marked green.
Placed into an apidea and added bees, spraying both with air
freshener. Closed the entrance to let bees bond and avoid new bees
flying home. David will return to spray them with water and will
release them in a couple of days.
Black Bee
Project – on double stand
Lyson Mini Hive
(belonging to Kate Atchley) coloured green, left undisturbed today.
David /Wilma /
Linda will return to transfer them into a nuc.
Apidea – bee
numbers had reduced. Caged the queen with attendants, added bees to
the apidea and David took it home to add the queen (in a cage). Once
they have united and settled down, David will return them to Barns to
go into a nuc.
