Dying hive, what to do?

Another really helpful video Jeff. Loved the ducks, tell Wilma thank you for stopping to get the ducklings too. Oh & that last loaf looked especially scrumptious…

Hi Kirsten, thank you:) I’ll let her know. The last loaf probably looked a bit better because it wasn’t sharing the oven… Perhaps the previous loaves needed an extra minute or two.

1 Like

Hi Jeff and Wilma,

Great video, thank you for taking the time to make it. I loved the ducklings, adorably fluffy! :blush:

Now I have a couple of questions. I presume that you chose frames with just honey and bees (no brood), otherwise the bees wouldn’t go down into the weaker hive? What did you do with the frames you had in the nucleus box? Did they have many bees left on them? I couldn’t tell from your video.

Your bread looked wonderful - I am sad that I can’t eat bread any more, especially when I see loaves like that! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Hi Dawn, thank you. The bees above the QX will go down to the brood once they become united with the colony. Then they will do whatever job in the hive needs doing for the benefit of the colony.

I removed the 4 frames & shook the bees off into the colony & returned them the next day.

It would be nicer to get more nurse bees to unite so you have bees with a longer life span, however even by adding older bees to a weak colony, it gives that colony a good boost right at a time when the colony needs it to get some brood up & running. Also lots of defenders to help prevent shb from laying eggs.

Once a hive has a decent number of workers/defenders, then it’s a good time to add a frame of sealed, hatching brood to give the colony a further boost of nurse bees. I find it’s amazing the difference just one full frame of sealed brood makes to a weaker colony. It’s no good adding a full frame of sealed brood to a really weak colony if there isn’t enough bees in the colony to prevent the beetles from laying eggs in that brood, or to keep it warm for that matter.

2 Likes

Thank you for the details, @JeffH. Just trying to learn as much as I can. Never know when you might need to try this stuff, and your videos are very helpful, especially with your willingness to explain the details! Thanks again to both of you. :heart_eyes:

Hi Dawn, you’re most welcome. I’m sorry to hear of your gluten intolerance. take care, bye

Not gluten, fructans which are a soluble carbohydrate in wheat, barley, rye, legumes, onions, garlic and many other things. Never mind, I still have a good life! :blush:

Chilies, what about chilies? I was growing the worlds hottest chilies for a while. The Bhut Jolokias. They are no longer the hottest, I think the Trinidad Scorpion is now the hottest, I could be wrong.

I just checked, it’s the Caroline Reaper.

My poor bees, On my last inspection last week I found my hive is queenless. No eggs, no brood ( well probably a couple of hundred) or larvae, she was lost about 3 weeks before I think. I had done inspection during the time she had died and this inspection and noticed less brood, but there was larvae, but in hindsight there was only large ones. I have a nucleus on order, but it will be about 25 days from today. The bees have become very aggressive. They are storing heaps of pollen, (no babies to feed). I hope to combine what’s left of my bees with the nuc using news paper method, is this the best way, or put nuc on hive stand and shake off my bees in front of hive and let them barter there way back in has been another suggestion put to me. What do I do with all the pollen frames, (about 3- 4 frames). Can it be stored and given back to them later? The hive also has a full super of honey, I thought I would leave that on for the nuc. Any feedback would be appreciated,
Cheers
Tim

Sorry, another thing was the bees had made no attempt to raise a queen themselves, there was no queen cups or cells. I have wondered why?