Hi Gareth,
Thank you for this, most informative. I will check to see if pollen is
still coming in in a couple of days. And no, the bees are still in their
original apiary for the moment. We split the top bar off with the
intention of moving them the next day but they really got upset and made
live very difficult for us so we abandoned the move for a while. We just
about managed to get the mesh over the bottom of the TB box and placed
it next to the Warre half on the stand. I had added varroa mesh to a
Warre quilt box (to make an improvised eke) and placed it upside down on
the top Warre box in order to give them a space above the top frames for
ventilation during travel but that's as far as we took it. The bees
were not happy that I'd split their brood chamber so we decided to wait
until they'd either migrated into one half or the other.... or
alternatively requeened the queenless half. I'm hopeful that the latter
might be in progress :)
We still intend to move the bees in the next couple of weeks. I did
contemplate giving them to someone more local given the length of the
journey but my son still want's the bees at his place over in
Monmouthshire and I don't really want to let go of the particular bee I
seem lucky enough to have. They are pretty bombproof so I think we're
going to take another shot at it now they've settled down.
BTW, I've been having problems receiving "some" posts from Oxnats Gareth
and yours in particular. For some reason both yours and oddly some of
mine seem to have been diverted into BT's SPAM folder ! Goodness only
know's why. I've only just found this post and some others from you
there but I only realised that some posts were going astray because I
now have another g-mail account running in parallel. Isn't technology
great ....Hmmmm!!!!
BW
Ann
On 24/04/2019 16:35, Gareth John (Redacted sender grjohn for DMARC) wrote:
Hi Ann
Sounds good. Is this in the hive’s new home or is it still waiting to go?
Always assuming that pollen gathering is a true and sure sign of a laying queen of course.The amount of pollen stored by a hive is relatively low, perhaps an indication that pollen is generally available when brood rearing is taking place. The fact that pollen is not stored in great amounts is often taken as a sign that pollen coming into a hive indicates that brood rearing is taking place (ie feeding of larvae). The reality is a bit more complicated. Strictly it simply means that the bees have not yet maxed out in terms of pollen storage. However, since that max is fairly low and can be reached in a few days of good foraging, pollen being brought in continuously over, say, a week, suggests that larvae are being fed (as nurse bees are the main consumers of pollen). Since larvae are only fed for roughly a week, pollen coming in for more than a week suggests that new larvae are coming on stream. Which in turn suggests a laying queen. All of which comes down to: continuous pollen coming in for much more than a week suggests a laying queen is present.
Hope this helps
Gareth
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
