I am now a Beekeeper!!
Discussion
Jambo85 said:
What software is it and what sensors is it using? I’ve never used any but it certainly interests me!
I know what you mean about nothing being wrong with the queen to our eyes but I’ve blocked what I later determined to be supercedure a couple of times and the queen failed shortly after - they do seem to know! It can be something visible like a missing leg as they emit one of the pheromones which suppresses the workers urge to build cells through their front feet! In perfect supercedure the old queen wouldn’t get the dunt until the new one is laying but it’s a brave move to leave them to it.
I think I would have done the same thing in the circumstances apart from shuffling brood frames a bit to give them more laying room as previously described.
Great to have the season upon us again, finally saw willow with pollen on it here today
I'm using this stuff on two hives. Scales, Hive Heart and a Gateway.................I know what you mean about nothing being wrong with the queen to our eyes but I’ve blocked what I later determined to be supercedure a couple of times and the queen failed shortly after - they do seem to know! It can be something visible like a missing leg as they emit one of the pheromones which suppresses the workers urge to build cells through their front feet! In perfect supercedure the old queen wouldn’t get the dunt until the new one is laying but it’s a brave move to leave them to it.
I think I would have done the same thing in the circumstances apart from shuffling brood frames a bit to give them more laying room as previously described.
Great to have the season upon us again, finally saw willow with pollen on it here today
https://www.beehivemonitoring.com/en/?gclid=Cj0KCQ...
Works a treat but like all data it's open to interpretation. Monitoring weight, temperature and humidity is simple. Monitoring audio/frequency is a relatively new science for "backyard keepers" but it certainly picked up on my swarm cell and related activity well before a visual inspection would of. The jury is out at the moment as it may well be a pain if it throws out false alarms all season!
Well it's been almost two weeks since I squished the swarm cell and added an extra box to give them space and keep them busy. Here's a snapshot of it's current status according to the monitoring wizardry...........
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All green lights and a nice downward slope of the frequency bars. All good so far touch wood.
Tomorrow I'm going back in and all being well and depending on any physical signs of swarming I'm thinking of pushing my luck.
Hopefully they will have drawn out plenty of new comb on the empty frames I put in.
Remove that box.
Put on the queen excluder and the Flowframe super in the hope they carry on being busy.
This would give me some nice drawn out frames of wax to use in nuc boxes and or swarm traps. Also gives them time to prepare the Flowframe for the first honey flow which is imminent.
This is all wishful thinking and maybe a step too far let's see what tomorrow brings.
I'm going up to my associations new apiary later today - apparently they have "lost" a high number of their full hives over winter!!
[pic]
[/pic]All green lights and a nice downward slope of the frequency bars. All good so far touch wood.
Tomorrow I'm going back in and all being well and depending on any physical signs of swarming I'm thinking of pushing my luck.
Hopefully they will have drawn out plenty of new comb on the empty frames I put in.
Remove that box.
Put on the queen excluder and the Flowframe super in the hope they carry on being busy.
This would give me some nice drawn out frames of wax to use in nuc boxes and or swarm traps. Also gives them time to prepare the Flowframe for the first honey flow which is imminent.
This is all wishful thinking and maybe a step too far let's see what tomorrow brings.
I'm going up to my associations new apiary later today - apparently they have "lost" a high number of their full hives over winter!!
My observation is that bees can only really "think" of one thing at a time - if they're in swarm mode then they tend to be pretty docile. They have no nest to defend. They also tend to gorge on honey before swarming to take reserves to their new place, which means they can't really bend themselves sufficiently to sting.
ETA - he's also a numpty, most beekeepers I know wouldn't try that.
ETA - he's also a numpty, most beekeepers I know wouldn't try that.
Edited by Jambo85 on Monday 5th April 18:04
Bill said:
Looks like we might have joined the club! Very early swarm (AIUI) so not sure they'll move well. They've taken ages to enter the hive and were quite angry when collected so we'll see how it goes.
Nice one 
I'm trying to get my head around your/their process. Can you talk us through it as it seems like they emptied them outside your hive to make their way in? They seem to be clustering around the entrance which suggests the queen is inside which is good.
AIUI (bearing in mind I've not done the course etc) they put the swarm on a sheet by the entrance and would expect them to go in. It did happen slower than the bee guy would normally expect but they'd been out all night and were quite feisty when collected.
It took most of the day for 3/4 to move in so wife went and put as many as she could scoop up in the top at about 4. They're now pretty much all in so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Mark the bee guy seems optimistic if not actually confident it'll work.
It took most of the day for 3/4 to move in so wife went and put as many as she could scoop up in the top at about 4. They're now pretty much all in so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Mark the bee guy seems optimistic if not actually confident it'll work.
So after putting on that extra box to give them space and try to deter their swarming instincts I took a look to see how things were going. The software was showing all green lights. My plan was to remove that box and replace with the Flow Super with a queen excluder in-between. Question is would they accept it and wax it up or would they reject it and put me back to square one with a crowded swarmy hive? ....................
Bill said:
We've just had an inspect. Lots of activity on 5 frames, eggs etc and found the queen. She is apparently a Carnolian (?sp) with a hint of a white spot so 1-y-o we think. What a result!
A white spot would indicate a 2021 or a 2016 queen. Last years queen would be blue. Now that's assuming convention is followed but may keepers just mark them with whatever they got.
But yes great result ..... and take more photos/vids
LeadFarmer said:
I know nothing about bees, and this guy clearly knows his stuff as he's been called to move a swarm. How come he can put his hand right in, pick out the Queen, shake the swarm to the ground, and yet not get stung to hell?
At the end it seems he is being stung to hell.Edited by LeadFarmer on Monday 5th April 17:31
NMNeil said:
Bill said:
Hmmm, wife went to remove the feeder and it looks like the fickle buggers have left! Still sugar syrup left in the feeder and plenty of comb built, but next to no bees. 
It's the time of year for them to swarm.Are there queen cells on any of the frames?
We've had a proper look and it seems like there were eggs but they weren't developing. Local bee bloke has popped round and can't see anything obvious but I wonder if the cold and persistent easterlies we've had are a factor. It's well protected from the north and west but quite exposed to the east. (It was a swarm that had been gathered up with the queen and was looking good building comb, laying etc)
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