Sunday 13 July 2014

Going on Holiday? Some tips + large number of large drones - Why?

Well you can't take them with you.  Imagine how the Passport Office would cope with 60,000 (or more)
little photos!  So you'll have to go without them.
First, have a good look through the brood box.  Deal IMMEDIATELY with any suspect signs of Queen-rearing.  Why not mark the Queen (Green) if she's this year's. Or any other signs of leaving home eg. 10,000 tiny packed suitcases lined up by the entrance!
Make some notes about the state of the brood and stores.

Second, ask a Bee Buddy if s/he'll agree to be contacted if the neighbours (who will be keeping an eye on things for you) get alarmed by any unusual Bee-haviour.
Don't forget to mention that the bright lime-green  in their bulging pollen-sacs is probably Meadowsweet - and NOT a serious, notifiable disease.

Thirdly, make sure they have enough space in the supers to store nectar.  From now on the bees will be preparing for winter. (Sorry to mention it).  The weather forecast is good (hot, sunny) so there will be plenty of stores coming in.

Something I have just learned when inspecting to see if a new queen had hatched. If you see a very large number of normal size drones in the hive, but no drone -comb this can be a positive sign that there is a virgin queen. The drones, I am told,  will sometimes come into the hive looking for her.

QB will be looking for varroa mites next - with some harmless treatment to reduce the number.
More reports on nucs. and combined colony on the next nice day.  It's very thundery and a bit too chilly today.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing off now.

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