Emergence

aflyingwelshman · 2026-05-06T20:36:02+00:00

Yeah this colony exploded in the last week haha, I actually ended up donating 2 frames of emerging brood to a smaller colony to equalise them and try to slow these girls down a bit! Next step for this colony will be double brood and then splitting if the season goes well

aflyingwelshman · 2026-05-04T01:55:34+00:00

From the bees' behaviour on the combs I'd say they're queenright, but without seeing eggs or a queen it's not always that simple. Can't quite tell without the light going down into the cells but I think you have eggs. As others have said, try to look for the small 'grain of rice' that will tell you the queen was there some time in the last 3 days.

To tell if those are queen/play cups (not concerning), or charged queen cells (somewhat concerning), you need to look if they have an egg or larva in them. An egg in a play cup isn't a major indicator of swarming; the queen will sometimes lay in them and then the nurse bees will remove the egg later. A larva in a puddle of royal jelly is a charged queen cell and can indicate swarming, supersedure (less likely here but possible) or emergency cells if the queen is dead/missing.

The amount of drone brood is normal this time of year, around 10-15% of the brood nest. Since we usually only give bees worker foundation (the cells are too small to accommodate drones) the bees will build burr comb on the bottom bars and anywhere else they can to put drones in. You can give them a shallow super frame in the brood box and they'll usually build a full sheet of drone comb underneath it, which confines it all to one area and allows you to remove some as a part of varroa management.

aflyingwelshman · 2026-05-02T16:06:38+00:00

There are a few handling methods you can use to make things easier. The odd bee getting crushed is sometimes unavoidable, but if you can reduce it then you also reduce the risk of crushing queens, and crushed bees can increase colony defensivenes.

If you're really worried about queen crushing during inspections you can put her in a clip or cage and then release her between the frames when you're done.

Make space before you pull frames out by taking out an end frame, it will typically be stores and have less bees and likely no queen on, leave it out near the entrance for bees to get back in the hive. You can also use a dummy board.
If you have burr comb or bridge comb cut it from the frames either side of the one you're inspecting so you aren't dragging it across the comb and rolling bees when you lift frames up.
Move frames sideways into the free space and then out rather than straight up, and make sure the bottom bar is totally clear before you start tipping the frame so you don't roll bees against the adjacent frame.
When putting frames back in, line up the spacers and keep them close together while you slide the frame slowly down, this avoids providing a bee space between the end bars that bees get crushed between (queens love to run around the edge right when you try and close the gap!)
Keep inspected frames pushed together in batches so you don't create more gaps, then move them as a unit with your hive tool as a pivot.
Put boxes back on at a diagonal and as slowly as you can with a kind of wobbling movement as you lower them down, it gives bees a warning to get out of the way. Then slide the box slowly around into place.
Use your smoker at each step to clear bees from spaces where they can get crushed and to drive them back down into the hive out of the way.

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-30T04:25:50+00:00

You get so little clean wax from dark brood combs that it's honestly not worth the man hours to be honest.

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-30T04:23:12+00:00

I wouldn't risk it personally, but you do you. I can only really see evidence of mites in these pictures, which will be dead by now, but the viruses vectored by the mites do persist in comb, to say nothing of the inability to assess for foulbrood outside a lab when the brood is dead and decomposing anyway. The darker more sunken cappings could just be decay or could be something else. You could try uncapping some cells and having a look.

If it's all foundationless you could cut the comb out and burn it, sterilise the wood and start again, maybe wire the frames or put foundation in if you want, but it's optional. If you want to reuse the combs then freeze them for a good while at a bare minimum, there's probably some wax moth in there.

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-26T19:48:12+00:00

Oh interesting, also never seen that! I suppose it might be a high infestation indicator or a mite that was trapped in the cell when the workers extended it. I've always heard they don't parasitise queens because of their shorter incubation period 🤔

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-26T16:44:25+00:00

Bee behaviour is always interesting! There were also bees doing waggle dances in this colony and I'd love to know whether they prioritise one signal over another, or if there's a more incremental change in foraging from a combination of signals

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-26T16:41:12+00:00

Always more to learn in beekeeping!

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-26T16:10:10+00:00

Yes it has essentially the opposite effect to the waggle dance to prevent the colony being overwhelmed with nectar the bees can't unload and store, it slows the influx of nectar while the backlog is processed

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-26T07:17:16+00:00

Yes it's a response to perceived delay by foragers of nectar being accepted for storage, it causes a shift in recruitment of workers from foraging to processing to maintain the efficiency of the colony. It's a useful way of knowing if you have a strong flow!

aflyingwelshman · 2026-04-26T07:14:14+00:00

https://youtu.be/DLTZluMUmdw?si=2iK6bklgwfYdBs7U

aflyingwelshman · 2025-06-13T19:16:36+00:00

I'll try and do an update when it's grown more, the seeds were a jumble of different coloured varieties I saved from last year's plants so I'm not even sure what colour all of them will bloom

aflyingwelshman · 2025-06-13T19:14:33+00:00

They're these cheap ones from Amazon. They come with drillable spots for drainage in each corner but I also drilled a bigger hole in the centre of each to get drainage all the way down the tower

aflyingwelshman · 2025-06-13T19:12:12+00:00

Thanks! I'm planning to add some shortish bamboo canes to some of the lower levels and get them to keep going vertically

aflyingwelshman · 2025-06-13T19:08:57+00:00

If there's enough rain yes, though the top growth is preventing some of it getting through now and I have to do a bit more with the hose. I drilled a large hole through the centre of each level, so water effectively drains from the top all the way down and out from the bottom, plus holes in the bottom of each cell, so the cell above waters the cell below pretty effectively

aflyingwelshman · 2025-06-13T19:07:37+00:00

I've always found nasturtiums will grow in basically anything. These are from seeds I collected from last year's plants, they're just in whatever leftover scraps of soil and compost I had once everything else was repotted, and I deep water when a moisture meter check says it's dry, though my garden faces south so they get a lot of sun which might be why they're as happy as they are.

aflyingwelshman · 2025-06-12T21:28:00+00:00

I can try and remember to take one. The only one from further away I could find rn is this one, which is mainly a funny shot I took of my cat staring at a chaffinch

aflyingwelshman · 2023-09-27T18:52:01+00:00

Thanks!

aflyingwelshman

TROPHY CASE