Hello Karl, lovely to hear from you. I'm delighted to hear your bee
news, wow aren't they a good bee ! I'm just delighted that they seem to
continue in strength generation after generation ! Maybe the queens are
faster than most so only the most athletic drones can catch her ha ha ha !
I've attached a few pictures for you. One is a picture from Peter
Rettenberger of the original cast clustered in his garden before he
brought them over to me back in 2015. It was a late cast from one of
Peter's top bar hives (he'd already given away several) but despite that
it just went from strength to strength right from the start. Peter
doesn't feed or treat as I understand and neither have I, they have
never needed it and they have always been very strong and prolific. The
following year 2016 they swarmed three times and I witnessed all three
leave the hive and caught them all. I kept the prime swarm which was
absolutely massive (see picture of efforts to hive it !). I gave the
second swarm to Paul, (his number 7 top bar hive), the third to Gemma
and the final queen remained in the original hive. I've attached a
picture of the three queen cells that the swarm queens emerged from.
Sadly I lost the colony from the prime swarm last September because they
absconded due to relentless wasp and hornet attack but I got some
interesting information from the post mortem. I'm still in Oakley at the
moment and probably for a few months at least yet, hence I keep my bees
in an out apiary at a fruit nursery where the wasps can be a horrible
problem. There are lots and lots of soft fruit trees just over the hedge
to my hives and it really brings in the wasps. I was so sad to see
them go so late in the year but thankfully the sister colony in the
original hive seemed to cope and I still have them to continue the
line. It's that hive that I split a couple of weeks ago and now
thankfully I have two again :-)
I have no experience of Langstroths, I'd be interested to know what you
think of them.
Warmest Regards to you too
Ann
On 24/04/2019 17:36, Karl Pattison (Redacted sender kar2l for DMARC) wrote:
Hello Ann,
Yes them their bees of yours are doing extremely well.
I have three colonies in Langstroth hives now from that original swarm you gave Paul, and from that original swarm there has been a further five swarms in two seasons.
Two unfortunately escaped as i wasn’t at home a neighbour informed me.
Funny thing is I did offer the prime swarm yesterday back to Paul..I think he regrets not taking it! since he viewed the photo’s.I talked to Brian & Faith this morning and they are introducing yesterdays swarm into their new home this evening. I hope they don’t abscond as they are a feisty lively lot.
I suggested two nights in the garage before hiving them because they have so much energy. I did that with the two swarms from hive one making up my three hives from your / Paul’s original swarm.
I’m waiting to see if hives 2 & 3 swarm this season, I’m unsure as I’ve only got one brood box in these hives. The original I gave an extra supper to help increase brood..which I think has encouraged more bees so to help the environment.
Paul tells me you are no longer in Oakley. I hope you are as happy in your new location as my bees are!
Warmest Regards,
Karl (Bicester)
Sent from my iPhone
On 24 Apr 2019, at 14:47, Ann Welch (Redacted sender "ann_welch" for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Ha ha, seems I sent it to the group after all. lol.
Ann
On 24/04/2019 14:44, Ann Welch wrote:
Hi Paul,
I'd send this to the group but I'm not sure if I'm still connected ! It's been very hit and miss so I'm going to resurect an old googlemail account and try that. maybe freelist doesn't like Btinternet mail ! I'm beginning to agree myself lol. Any old how.....
I went over to have a gander at what remains of my now disected "Frankenhive" yesterday and I'm so pleased to say that both halves of the split appear to be queenright. There were fewer bees evident in the top bar nuc part than the Warre bottom part, (probably because all the flying bees had relocated back to their original position next door after the split), but there definitely was evidence of pollen coming in to both halves....see pics of both hives and incoming pollen laden traffic :)
As it was still only 15 day's since I split the hive it seems a pretty safe bet to assume that I did in fact split the brood chamber in the process and that I just struck lucky that the queenless half already had a queen cell or two just waiting to go ! She wouldn't have had time to hatch, mature and mate in such a short time otherwise...Always assuming that pollen gathering is a true and sure sign of a laying queen of course.
Not quite sure about my next move (I have a few options to consider first) but I definitely will not be reuniting them again ! In fact I will never use a nuc box ever again !!!... the hastle of trying to transfer them to a "proper hive" once they've crossed their comb is just not worth the effort.
BTW I've been tickled to hear about Karl's bees. I went back over some old e-mails from him this morning and wonder if he has only ever had bees from the colony that you gave to him that came from me lol. He seems to be doing well with them if that's the case. AND if that IS the case then Brian and Faith has continued the line lol.
BW Ann
Attachment:
Going Up colony as a swarm 2016.jpg
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Attachment:
Queen cells from my Hippy Hive 2016 2.jpg
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Attachment:
Hippy Hive Cluster from Peter Rettenburger 2015.JPG
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