Swarm from an Artificial swarm? What!

Could not believe my eyes, when I passed my apiary last sunday morning. A swarm was issuing from one of the nucs that was an artificial swarm,  made some 16 days previously!

The swarm settled about 4 meters, away on a sloe bush ( blackthorn)

16 days is the key numbers here! Thats the time taken to build, feed and pupate a virgin queen.
I think the only explanation I can come up with is that I know the hive was packed full of bees at the point of artificial swarming . The mother hive or donor hive was the only hive that has started drawing up 2 honey supers, meaning it had a lot of foraging bees that came home to discover that their home had shrunk and the queen had gone without leaving queen cells.
 You may also say well, "perhaps the  swarm is because the existing queen from the donor hive, stayed on a frame that was transfered to the nuc?" so to avoid this problem of not being sure, I checked all the donor hives the week after and was pleased to find newly laid eggs in all the hives, so that that theory put to rest!

The bees had  immediately made emergency queen cells and 16 days later and  with the weather being excellent the first queen cell opened and a virgin queen climbed out of her guarded cell to find a very full hive packed with bees, pollen and honey.

At this point she must have chosen to swarm. I think therefore you could call this a "cast swarm" due to the fact that it was a swarm  with a virgin queen and not a prime swarm leaving with the existing queen.
The difference being that you should`nt expect to see any eggs from this queen for at least a week or 2, As she has to go off and mate, then return to the colony and start laying.

The weather since has been excellent but I am still not going to interfere with the hive. There`s just no need!


Click here to see the video


As soon as I had collected the swarm and hived it, in to a nuc and then placed in a space of its own, but next to the hive it came from, in case they decided to leave the hive if they were queenless. They would then probably all craw, back in to their previous hive.

I immediately then went in to the hive and looked at the state of the rest of the queen cells. None of the others had hatched out, and the one that had opened must of been the one that left the colony and it was unlikely that she would have stung through the sides of the other queens cells if she was going to swarm!
I quickly had a think and decided that I could use a few spare virgin queens, so I cut out a cluster of what semed to be 5 and left another 3 on the other side of the frame. That should at least leave enough to leave the nuc a good queen.
I didnt have a container, so I just put the queen cells on my seat. A few minutes later my son sitting in front of my truck, started yelling, saying "theres a bee on the seat." Turns out it was one of the queens that had just hatched out and was crawling around looking for a colony to join!

This then got me thinking about the other hive that was very slow to requeen. so I picked her up and put her on the entrance to the queen less colony and in she walked.
This is one method of re queening without using a queen  introduction cage. This virgin queen has very weak pheromone smell  and or of an existing colony and its the only time that a colony of bees may accept a queen ( virgin) in through the front door.
The other benefit of this spare virgin queen, is that if the hive had re queened then the virgin queen probably would not be  accepted of killed by the much stronger dominant egg laying queen. So nothing to loose.

The remaining queen cells, I put in to separate jars, as one more had hatched out on the way home and they need to be kept apart, before they try and kill each other!
I phoned my beekeeping teacher , who like me, had lost hives this year due to poor re queening after swarming, who was around to collect them within an hour, most grateful for this rare gift of spare queens in late august!
A great result. I got to see a swarm issuing from start to finish, caught the swarm, and also got  spare queens to requeen queenless hives! all luck that I was there to see the swarm come out of the hive as other wise I wouldnt have known where it had come from, thats if it stayed in the tree for long enough for me to spot it.
I am very happy!

Coming up: A cut out of a wild  honey bee nest at Callac, Video to come later, when editing is complete.

Late swarm, bearding bees and drone comb

Late swarm.

Caught a late swarm in this trap in the hot spell last week. It must have issued the first or second day of the really hot weather. The trap in about 1,2 meters off the ground, facing  North, but it does get the sun for most of the day.I checked the trap about 10 days before and there was a few bees checking it out but not in large numbers, so it was a very nice surprise.

 Not an enormous swarm but nice size,  that will get away well. The queen had already started laying and there was already a remarkable amount of pollen and honey stored in the centre frame which would indicate they have been there for at least a week. Normally one may expect a few swarms around the beginning of July but not really at the end of the month. This is a clear indication of  just how bad the weather has been over the spring and early summer with  the nectar flow still running well in to late July.

This swarm will stay in this nuc until next April, because it is unlikely to draw up enough comb and store more than five frames of provisions before the onset of autumn and  before the queens start to slow down her laying frequency .Also it is easier to heat and manage a smaller area if you have a smaller number of bees in the hive. Its all a matter of economics. They are capable of existing as a very small colony in a large hive for overwintering, however the odds of surviving the winter are less in a larger space.

Supersedure

The other thing to remember is that with all swarms, it is likely that  the queen is in her second year and she may have swarmed due to her coming to the end of her life.

If this is the case, hopefully the current queen will have started laying eggs in her new home and the new colony can become established before  the old queen dies or becomes weak,  leaving a window of opportunity to supersede the current queen or make emergency queen cells in the event of her sudden death.

For both kinds of queen replacement bees need eggs that are less than 3 days old. If no eggs are available of that age, then the colony is lost. Its also one of the main reasons why so many swarms die after swarming.

The queen is lost or exhausted by the swarming process or she dies shorty after esatabishing a new colony but has not started laying yet.

Bearding bees

Due to the hot weather all three of the recently created artificial swarms  have struggled with the temperature. 

The reason for this is that during the process of creating an artificial swarm, you move your existing hive from its existing position, to another place and subsequently all the flying bees make their way back to the nuc in its place, and always struggle for space but it is necessary, as the more the bees confined to this small 5 framed nuc increases the chances of successfully raising a new queen for the colony.

On hot days you will often see bearding where, bees have to leave the hive in an attempt to help regulate the temperature within the colony. Very often they will beard in the day and return to the hive in the evening when things cool down. Its actually a good sign of  hive management.

Drone brood comb

I wanted to show this picture of some Drone brood comb that I took out of a recently failed hive, that had failed to re queen successfully. Typically to the outer frame, was this beautifully constructed gallery of  drone brood comb that had since hatched out, but a good example of just how different brood comb is from normal worker brood. Many people cut out drone brood from the hive, as it is really a waste of resources to produce drones in the hives we look after, but in the big picture your own drone brood may not be made to produce drones for mating with your queens, but bees are genetically built to produce drones to ensure that there is always a pool of drones to mate with.  Drones are usually around from about mid april to about october, peaking in numbers around mid August, before all the drones are booted out of the hive as the colony prepares for overwintering. They get rid of any possible drain on the colony and obviously useless males are the first to go.! This gets my wife`s vote!

Drone brood raised above the normal  cells of worker production.

Sunny , warm and light winds

Well, the good weather had finally arrived, it is hot today , about 27 degrees and wall to wall sunshine. Its a terrible shame it was not two weeks ago but thats nature for you.

I took some film last saturday of midday bees working very hard on mainly chestnut, bramble and thistle flowers and wanted you to see just how busy it gets at the entrance to a hive.

I artificially swarmed 3 of my hives just after I took this video. I wanted to make a couple more colonies for next year as I still have not got my own numbers of hives at my apiary up to 12 hives. I got rid of a few swarms in the spring and was relying on having some decent weather to precipitate  sucessful mating of virgin queens to re queen colonies that had swarmed, but that just did not happen this year. So I have learned that lesson well. Never rely on bees to requeen themselves if the weather is poor!

The colonies that I have hopefully created last saturday, will remain in the same nucs for the whole of the forthcoming winter and  if they are queen right in the next month they will have enough time to prepare themselves for the forthcoming winter. I will feed them generously over the next few days as very soon the main nectar flow stops, leaving only a few shrubs and plants in flower.
The honey that the bees have been gathering in haste is now being dried and capped, when it is judged by the bees to contain the right amount of sugar and water. Not too much water to allow it to ferment, but not too much sugar to let the sugar solidify and become more difficult to extract over the winter when the need arises.
I will be harvesting the honey crop on or very close to the end of August.

Skep Beekeeping.

I was doing some surfing on u tube last week and found this wonderful insight in to the virtually extinct method of beekeeping.

It is actually a very well filmed and informative series of films, explaining in quite detail, the work at the skep aipary. It incredible just how labour intensive it is! The hours are very long and the rewards don`t seem to justify the work put in, but  I think if you trained there, you would certainly know you bees well!

There are 7 films in total , this being the first one. you should be able to follow the link afterwards to the next 6, It is worth a look.
 I love the naration, so wonderfully like Pathe news from the 1940`s and 50`s. Enjoy!

A lesson in artificial swarming

Beekeepers from the region attend workshop in artificial swarming.

Last sunday 15th July, Myself and a group of beekeepers from the surrounding region attended a lesson in artificial swarming. 

The Lessons are held by my beekeeping teacher Mr Charles Basset, at his place in Quevert. The whole objective is to pass on the theory and practice the technique of artificial swarming on the Dadant hive here In Brittany.

 Charles has  been carrying out this method for over 20 years and now has a success rate of about 85 percent.

The method is as described in one of my previous blogs, as is the video posted on you tube.

We carried out AS on about 15 hives at two sites, giving everyone practice and the confidence to carry out the procedure on their own hives when the need arises, avoiding swarming and losing half your colony.

 
I had used this method myself many times before but it was great to go along and meet new beekeepers , who had`nt used or seen this done and I was able to help explain in more detail to a couple of english speaking  beekeepers, who were in their first year of beekeeping.

 I always say you never stop learning with beekeeping. This was a first for me. This photo shows clearly what hapends when your hive becomes congested and bees start to run out of space. They build comb else where, wherever they can. In this case the top feeding tray of a combined frame cover and feeder
Their wax working is quite a work of art, if a little disjointed..

A lovely picture of the 5 framed nuc in place of the donor hive. All the flying bees from the mother hive begin to return from their foraging  to find a new hive in its place but no queen. Look at all that lovely pollen they are carrying.!
The next "seance" will probably be on, or around the 15th Aprill 2013. Please feel to e mail me nearer the time, or contact Charles Basset via the link on this blog if you want some more information or just to make contact.

Going to these events is a really great way of getting to know a few faces in the french beekeeping world and I think a great place to comment about the really crappy weather!

Poor weather and more swarms

More swarms and the poor weather continues.

I had this swarm at the end of june and it wasnt that large so i put it straight back in to a nuc box. They have got away well, with the queen laying within 3 days. I fed them a bag of sugar as well. Even though there is lots of food around  the weather has not been in their favour, so at least if they were stuck in side then they have enough sugar to continue to build comb which is what swarms love to do.

I had another 2 swarms from my hives sunday afternoon. There was a gap in the weather and the sun shone and it was actually quite warm for the afternoon. I was really busy at home but thought it would be a good idea to pop past and see if anything was happening that I needed to sort out. Sure enough it had. 2  of my hives had swarmed. One large sized one and one smaller one.

The largest swarm pictured above) had settled nicely on the hedges in front of my hives. I had my swarm catching box but I didnt have another hive quite ready so I shook the swarm in to the box, put in the bottom door and turned it upside down, slowly. This bottom door has a small gap when nearly closed and gives the  bees total darkness once inside but still allows access in and out I will post some pictures of this later in the year. So after they initially rushed out to the front they soon realised their queen was safe and they were in an ideal place for the time being and then they started to fan on the front lip attracting all the other bees in. This bought be a bit of time until I could get another hive ready.

Bees Fanning producing the "come on in pheremone" Nasanov 

It was only when I turned around did I see the second swarm , high up above my hives in some lovely prickly sloe bushes. This was going to be a ladder job, back to the house again for a spare nuc and my biggest ladder.

I managed to cut away the majority of branches with secateurs and this gave me a free hand to hold the swarm as I was cutting. It was a relatively simple job. I then came down the ladder and put the swarm on top of the nuc and let them get on with it.

Swarm placed in to the top of the nuc.

So I had captured the second swarm . I then went back to the first swarm and shook the bees installed in the box , in to a 10 framed hive. There was 5 new frames to the outside and  when I had shook them in, I placed some other partially drawn up frames in to the middle of the colony that had come from one of my other smaller swarms from earlier in the season that had become queenless and basically died out natrually.
This will give them a good start and help the colony get away quicker.

Chestnut Trees  "Castania Sativa"

The chestnut trees are now in flower. They are the main source of the summer honey crop. This year the trees are only just coming in to full flower as the weather has been so rainy and cool. By this time last year all the trees had finished flowering and we were in the middle of a drought.

Pollen rich fronds on each flower spike

Chest nut trees are an amazing species of tree. Their wood has a very high calorific, value making it excellent fire wood and its easy to split and is so wet but you will need to dry it for 3 year before burning.
The tree copes very well with being pollarded. The stump below shows how much growth you can expect just after 2 years in a heavily leafed wood. Amazing I think!

Typical chestnut tree in full flower.

Another flower many insects love including bees is phacelia. Bees go mad for it. It is an annual . I like to sow as much as possible as late, in the year as I can so My bees have another source of pollen and nectar later in the year, just before the Ivy starts flowering.

I have just sown about 400 meters square yesterday and left it to germinate. Its being well watered in today. It should be in flower in about 6 weeks . I will post some more pictures as it comes up and comes in to flower. By the way this cost me about  15 euros for the seed. Very little for a large return for the bees.

Waiting for the nectar flow

Well all is ready. I have made spare honey supers, put on honey supers to my hived colonies, all we need now is some better weather.

I checked over my Nuc colonies yesterday. I still have 4 nucs that are taking their time to re queen.
In the ones that had produced queen cells 3 weeks ago have now torn down the cells and the hive,comb is now back in to a more organized pattern, with the random pollen and nectar storage in the middle of the frames being re directed to the upper and side areas , thus preparing  areas for the queen to start laying in to.
I can only assume that the queens in question are either finishing their mating flights ( due to terrible weather last week) or growing and developing in to queens before starting to  lay.
The two swarms I had at my apiary have also started laying which I am very pleased about. They were two reasonably sized colonies that I pictured in my previous blogs. One was definitely queen less so I gave it some eggs, 2 days after it swarmed as they had prepared queen cells on fresh drawn up wax sheets. They became very protective last week which is always a good sign that they are guarding something. Sure enough a queen that I didnt see has been laying in a nice uniform pattern so I have left them well alone to get on with being bees. Incidentially they have become very well behaved.
The second of my two hives that swarmed, I gave them eggs last week as there was still no eggs being produced but to my relief when I had a little look yesterday  a queen has also started laying and no attempt to make a queen had ben made. It proves that queen was there but just not ready to start to lay at the time.
She must have also taken her time to mate in the poor weather we have had since mid April.

Big swarm update

I also had a look at the swarm I featured in my last post "Big Swarm", amazingly they have just drawn up the last 2 frames and now the queen has laid in to about 5 frames on both sides.  Its incredible just what a really big swarm with a very strong queen can do in just under 2 weeks. I have cheekily put on a honey super, perhaps I should have waited another week but there is a queen barrier between the super and the hive body as I am sure she would have been there laying in to the honey super. Just have to see  how things progress . over the next 4 weeks.

Another queenless hive

Well beekeeping would`nt be normal if you did`nt have a queenless colonie just before the peak nectar flow starts. It was one of my best hives. There was a hollow noise on smoking this suspiciously under active hive and immediately you could tell it had been queen less for at least 2 weeks. However on the plus side they had made at least 1 queen cell which I found hiding in the corner of what was the main brood frames so hopefully all is not lost.
I expect that hive to be re queened in about 2 weeks looking at its current state. That what beekeeping is about! especially with non selected queens from feral clonies.

Thats one reason for keeping at least 2 hives going . You always have a source of eggs and bees if one colony goes belly up.


Queen hunting
Another thing I must really advocate is that of not trying to find the queen unless you are sure there is a problem in the hive. Once you have honey supers on in the main nectar flow don`t bother to tear all the frames apart  in that ritualistic hunt for the queen and her eggs.
If you see a hive that is not very active compared to the others have a look over different times of the day.
I have experienced for instance that some colonies gather pollen and nectar at different times of the day and in vastly different quantities.
If you have a hive that is queen less then you will see a noticeable difference in its behaviour. Compare it to the other colonies and then have a look inside but start from the outside and slowly work. If you find eggs then fine, just check there`s one egg to each cell then you haven`t got a laying worker or too. |Leave them alone and all should recover. If you find a queen cell then back pedal and leave well alone for at least 2 weeks.
If you find no eggs and empty frames of brood and scattered pollen and honey then you have been queenless for a couple of weeks. Immediately add a frame of eggs, less than 3 days old from another colony. That should do the trick, but be sure that the colony has a good number of bees left in the colony as otherwise there may be no point in continuing. Just treat it as a loss and keep the frames to put in your traps next year.
If after that you still have no queen then you can either let the bees die naturally, or reunite them with a queen right colony. This does work well and I will do a post and hopefully a video in it as well. Its used up all sorts of problem hives you may have at the end of the season and providing you have one good queen out of the 2 or 3 colonies you very quickly have a good colony, capable of recovering before overwintering.

Lets hope that when the chestnut trees finally come in to flower we have some hot weather. They are about 2 weeks later this year.

Good Nectar Flow!

Big Swarm

Caught this really big swarm  last night. Well I did`nt exactly catch it, I showed them the Nuc box and they filtered in after about an hour. Its probably the biggest I have ever caught, about 15,000 bees or more.

I have just returned from transfering them in to a Normal 10 framed hive this morning and could not believe that over night they had partially drawn up 4 frames of plain wax sheet.
When I coaxed them in yesterday evening I didnt have any dawn up comb so I simply sprayed all the wax  sheets with sugar syrop. It seems to have done the trick.  I have also put on a feeder  to give them a really good star!