sally_in_wales
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hmm, beesWe lost our hives over the winter, but being hopeful we left a prepared 'blank' hive out in case a swarm moved in. Just been over to Gareth's mum's place, where siad hive lives, and its full of bees. Yay, we thought, bit late, but not going to turn our noses up at even a small swarm.
Had a good look inside the hive, they seem to have been there for a few days at least and are busily storing honey in the brood chamber and glueing up bits of hive with propolis- but, no sign at all of a queen or any brood, and a few cells looked a bit mouldy and manky- though that could just be the result of the rotten recent weather.
All a bit odd, I'm not holding out much hope for this lot, active though they are. At best they'll do the garden some good i think before petering out.
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Jamanda
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Is it worth giving them a couple of frames of fresh comb?
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sally_in_wales
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| Jamanda wrote: | | Is it worth giving them a couple of frames of fresh comb? |
possibly, what they have is drawn but fairly old, which is probably why bits have gone a bit mouldy if bits have got damp- will have a look at them again next weekend and if there is any sign of brood I'll start swapping in nice fresh stuff, I always understood that you got brood fairly immediately a swarm settled though.
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Jamanda
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Sometimes you get swarms with virgin queens that still need to go out and do their stuff I believe.
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sally_in_wales
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Thats a thought, if its a late warm from a stray queen cell that might be it. Will see if they are still looking healthy in a week
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Chez
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| Jamanda wrote: | | Sometimes you get swarms with virgin queens that still need to go out and do their stuff I believe. |
I think that that's what 'casts' are? Good luck, Sally.
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TAVASCAROW
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Jamanda's right.
If it's a cast & not a prime swarm then you will need to wait a week to 10 days to see eggs & brood.
If you have foundation ready might be an idea to shake them down onto new foundation before the queen starts to lay or if you think its not to bad just take out the worst frames & put some new on the outsides.
Glad your back with some bees.
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sally_in_wales
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Ideally it all needs replacing, but its probably worth waiting to see evidence of brood before making up new frames in case it comes to nothing and the frames end up sitting warping quietly to themselves til next year.
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Faithmead
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Hmmmmm...being a less than novice Novice.....do bees just 'move in' to a hive if they happen to come across a vacant one?? Do you like, wait to see what happens and hope? Can you go and 'collect/buy/find' a swarm to install in the hive???
Sorry, probably a lot of raised eyebrows at my questions....but I've absolutely no idea how this all starts out?!  
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Chez
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No raised eyebrows at all. Yes, yes and yes .
But. If you cross your fingers and wait, you might get a tiny swarm that will have difficulties surviving (ie, a cast, as might be the case with Sally's - a secondary swarm with a virgin queen after the main one has gone from an existing hive); and you don't know where it's come from, so the bees might be diseased, or have unattractive traits like bad temper.
Or, you might get a lovely tempered, strong colony.
My Ma got one come to her empty hive last year that was really strong and busy. But they didn't survive over the winter - varroa, probably.
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Faithmead
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So does that mean, if you're lucky, you could get a swarm that' is 'good' tempered?  What makes them a 'bad tempered' swarm?
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Chez
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| Faithmead wrote: | | So does that mean, if you're lucky, you could get a swarm that' is 'good' tempered? What makes them a 'bad tempered' swarm? |
Yes. The colony normally take their temper from the queen. I think they can be bad tempered if they have an old queen, or if they are waiting for a new queen to hatch. Or if the queen is bloody minded. So you replace your queen with a different one and that should cure it.
They can also be bad tempered if they're hungry - for example, Mochyn hosts our bees and they have been very cross about her and The Old Chap picking raspberries, because they wanted to forage on the flowers. And atmospheric pressure can also affect them - they get grumpy if it's thundery.
They really are interesting; even when they are chasing you away from their hive .
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Mary-Jane
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| Chez wrote: | | The colony normally take their temper from the queen. I think they can be bad tempered if they have an old queen, or if they are waiting for a new queen to hatch. Or if the queen is bloody minded. |
No wonder Gervase calls me his 'Queen Bee' 
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Chez
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| Mary-Jane wrote: | | No wonder Gervase calls me his 'Queen Bee' |
Just try to remember he know *nothing* about bees .
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Quail By Mail
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Sort of off thread...But who are the 'bee people' on Downsizer?
I'm starting a bee course with my local Devon Beekeepers Association, Torbay branch next weekend.
I'm a complete and utter novice but my grandparents had a commercial pitstone fruit orchard in British Columbia and about 50 beehives scattered around the orchard. So I had 'access' to bee hives from a very early age so I have an 'instinct' for it. I've planted bee friendly shrubs and perennials and pruned an old buddleia to be more productive flower-wise and one of the neighbours has a huge flower garden so I'm itching for a hive.
Who's into bees? And what is the good and downside to beekeeping?
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alison
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I am a Devon Beekeeper, and I am a member of the North Devon Apairy, at Horstone.
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jocorless
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I'm a beekeeper in Lancashire and have just taken my BBKA Basic Beekeeping exam this weekend - I've had bee's for just over 12 months and can safely say I know the theory better than the reality!
I'm the Webmaster for the Lancaster Beekeepers
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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beekeeper here with my husband. We've only being playing this game for a year but have recently teamed up with an experienced bee-keeper in the village and have set up a village apiary at the alloments with at the moment 3 hives in it
Members of Oxford BKA but are probably going to transfer to Newbury and vale when membership lapses to fit in with the other beekeepers in the village - t'will be more sociable that way
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Quail By Mail
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I assume trouble shooting with beekeeping (like Sally's query) is very similar to gardening questions except nobody tries to guess at beekeeping questions!!!!! In other words, can fellow beekeepers be the best source of help or can answers always be found in those bee books that only have a handful of photos?
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| Quail By Mail wrote: | | In other words, can fellow beekeepers be the best source of help or can answers always be found in those bee books that only have a handful of photos? |
both. It is said if you ask 3 bee-keepers a question you'll get 4 different answers as to what to do. And a fair few of us would scuttle off to the books first before answering you
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alison
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Definately agree Julie.
I did my basic last year, and was going to do the next modual this year, but when I did my knee in the pain killers they gave me scrambled my brain too much when I was revising, so I didn't do it, but I will next year.
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Jamanda
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I did a course this year at the same apiary as Alison in North Devon & hope to be getting my bees soon.
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woodsprite
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In our house hubby is head beekeeper and I'm very much his assistant. We have had our bees for 12 months and are members of the Ludlow branch of BBKA. We currently have 2 hives, one nice queen and one nasty queen.
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Chez
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We have four hives which we keep at Mochyn's. It looks like one is bad tempered .
We've been keeping them for a couple of years - and like you, I grew up around them, with my Ma keeping them.
We belong to the Montgomeryshire association. I'd look in the book before I answered you, too .
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Lionheart
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Wannabee beekeeper here....sat with an empty hive at the top of the garden and hoping that even at this late date it might get a visit from a passing swarm.
I've been waiting for a nuc in the area for ages, but there's nothing about. At this rate it'll be next year before I have any!
:-/
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Citrine
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Hubby and I are new beekeepers - we're members of Kent BBKA, have done a couple of courses AND have an experienced mentor to hand - he's from a different association.
I kept a diary of our experiences, so as to look back on how we progress.
Good luck with it, it sounds like you have a good background!
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TAVASCAROW
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Been keeping bees on & off for 20+ years, don't know of any downsides apart from the occasional stinging.
Bees are unlike any other livestock in that they are completely wild so you have to learn to work with them not over them which makes it more interesting.
Currently working with 3 colonies here in South Cornwall.
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Sarah D
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Bee keeper here.
No downsides.
Don't belong to anything.
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