Couldn't inspect on Sunday - Weather appalling and honeybees get a bit cross if it's thundery/wet/windy.
Worried about Blue - big colony, might swarm any day! Anyway, nothing to worry about - no sign of swarm preps.(yet!)
 |
| Sorry it's blurred. White queen with attendant workers. |
There was a lot of comb on the excluder. It's worth scraping it off to give bees easy access to the honeycomb above. Never throw it away - this could cause robbing/spread disease/encourage predators (eg.badgers). Anyway it's worth saving to make candles or polish. I drop spare wax into my solar extractor.
 |
| Solar wax extractor sited in full sun |
 |
| Odd bits of wax will melt through mesh into tin on left |
Hello from Red & Sam, newbie beekeepers at Evistones.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely blog, I'll keep checking when I have a minute.
After a very settled and encouraging start to the year, we've had somewhat of a panic over the last couple of weeks having 'lost' our queen - she probably swarmed, but we're not sure as no huge reduction in number of bees. We're now in a bit better fettle as Dorien came over last week and inspected with Sam - only to find a queen present! Probably still virgin as no eggs yet. The perplexing thing is she's ginger!! Totally different colouring to our original queen, perhaps albino black or a buckfast 'intruder'. No idea where she'll have come from. We'll probably have to re-queen soon if her offspring continue with that colouring, but at least the hive will should keep going in the meantime... a total relief, but also very intriguing... Keep you posted, see you at the next bee meet.
Red
Hi Red & Sam - Good news you have a new queen.
ReplyDeleteBad news she isn't a native black. And then she lays
drone. Needs replacing!