ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers
List archive
- From: "Brian and Lanette Fee" <fee436 AT att.net>
- To: <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!
- Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 18:37:05 -0400
Hi Everybody, Thanks for the help and the video. It was very informative. Tomorrow I will try to do the fake swarm. All of the queen cells in my strong hive were at or very near the bottom of the frame. I very much like this queen. I call her my hippie queen. She appears (to me) to do just what she wants to do. Instead of laying a whole frame of eggs, she lays a half a frame here and a half a frame there. She lays in the lower brood chamber and the upper one. But, boy, she does lay a lot of eggs! Hmm, maybe they are trying to get rid of her. That’s not very bee-like is it? Maybe instead of a hippie, she has ADHD. But, I have admired her free spirit all spring and summer. If I can keep her I’d like to, so we’ll try the fake swarm. If it doesn’t work, I’ll put the two halves together again. John, I’m sorry if I discouraged you. If it is any consolation, my biggest problem is that I’m too timid, generally. Randall’s advice is good. Jump in, learn and do what you can. Like raising kids, there are many solutions, you have to find that one that fits you and your bees. I have to remind myself on days like last Saturday when I saw the swarm, that I am a beekeeper, not a bee herder or bee raiser. They do what they want. I do my best to keep them happy so they stay and do well. I’m still learning. I am pretty certain the weaker hive has succumb to varroa. By the time I decided to treat, the weather got hotter. It was too hot to treat with formic acid, which was my intended plan. So, I waited. Bad decision. I did go ahead and treat them with Apiguard. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at them again and decide their fate. I don’t have much hope, but who knows. I think they would have made it if: A)I had treated for varroa earlier and B)if they hadn’t swarmed. L So sad. Thanks for the help, Lanette From: ocba [mailto:ocba-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lewis Cauble Oh my! This is a sticky wicket indeed and perhaps beyond the scope of a listserve. I will take a crack at some of the questions and perhaps others will fill in from there. I would recommend contacting your Bee Inspector and see if he can come out and help discern what is going on. For the strong colony...If you have capped queen cells AND eggs there is a strong possibility that the hive has simply decided to "change management". Sometimes the bees will dispatch the old queen before the new queen is laying, which can leave you with a period where you do not have eggs. Other times the bees will not dispatch the old queen until the new queen is up and running, so you will have mother and daughter working side by side for a period. In this scenario you will also observe newly emerged queen cells as well as healthy eggs (You have new queens running around that are not mated and will not be laying and you also have the old queen still working). The queen cells that you observed...Were they on the bottom of the frame or in the middle of the frame? Cells in the middle tend to be supersedure cells while cells on the bottom of the frame tend to be swarm cells. This seems an odd time of the year for swarming, but anything is possible. As far as holding a queen in a cage...I have kept a queen in a cage with attendants in my kitchen cupboard (cool dark place) for about a week. Place a drop of water on the cage once or twice a day. Your milage may vary. Sooner is better. Shook swarm how to. Perhaps of some use. The shook swarm method seems to be popular in the UK. In the States we seem to be more keen on doing splits. I think you need an inspector that can help diagnose the weak colony and help sort out what is happening in the strong colony. Lewis
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[ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
Brian and Lanette Fee, 09/04/2014
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Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
John Friedrick, 09/05/2014
- Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!, Randall Austin, 09/05/2014
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Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
Lewis Cauble, 09/05/2014
- Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!, Brian and Lanette Fee, 09/05/2014
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Re: [ocba] Dear Abbee, my whoas are many!,
John Friedrick, 09/05/2014
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