![]() I can count about a dozen in the closeup above. The other colony contained my first attempt at grafting this year, which seems to have gone reasonably well 8. One was making early swarm preparations I used the nucleus method of swarm control and then split the colony into nucs a fortnight ago 7. I am inspecting colonies every 7 days and have only seen two with charged queen cells. I’m pretty confident that colonies will not swarm at 13-14☌. lots of space by giving them more supers than they needīeginners take note … one of these is likely to help (space), one is frankly pretty risky (chilly) and the last is not a proven method despite being widely used by many beekeepers □.Several of mine have a box packed full of brood and I’m relying on a combination of … There might be drones present in the colony, but I don’t know whether they were reared there or drifted there from another hive.Īnd, for those of us attempting to rear queens, drones are an essential indicator that queen mating will be timely and successful. One feature of these smaller colonies is that, unless they have entire frames of drone comb 6, there is little if any drone brood in the hive. I don’t know what the cutoff is in terms of adult bees, but most of my colonies with <7 frames of brood have needed feeding this spring. It’s a Catch-22 situation … to rear sufficient brood to collect an excess of nectar (or pollen) the colony needs more adult workers. In a nutshell, below a certain threshold of bees, colonies are unable to keep the brood warm enough and have sufficient foragers to collect nectar and pollen.Īs a consequence, smaller colonies are low on stores and at risk of starvation. This is an interesting topic in its own right and deserves a post of its own 5. Small colonies 4 are struggling to rear brood and to collect sufficient nectar and pollen. Inevitably new beekeepers are bursting with enthusiasm 3 and the cold northerlies, unseasonal snow (!) and low temperatures have prevented inspections and delayed colony development (and hence the availability and sale of nucs). ![]() New beekeepers have had to develop the patience of Job to either acquire bees in the first place or start their inspections. The long cold spring has been pretty tough for new beekeepers, it’s been a struggle for smaller colonies and it’s been really hard for drones. With the relaxation in Covid restrictions we may all be able to attend in person this Christmas 2, so I don’t want to spoil it by giving all the answers away in advance. ![]() Drones are usually haploid (one set of chromosomes), whereas queens and workers are diploid 1.Īnyway, enough quiz questions. Drones are produced from unfertilised eggs laid by the queen, so formally they have no father. ![]()
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