kaihoka

2016/2017 was an exceptionaly cold summer for us but the following ones have been good . I am hoping global warming does not let me down and this summer will be better than they predict. I have to split my hives in 3 for mating in spring. One for the old queen . One for a cell left on the hive One for a cell to take away and mate . The tricky one is the cell left in the hive . Trying to find and dispatch a virgin queen is always hard .

Is this for the whole NZ or the east coast

I prefer the morning sun because there is often no wind in the morning but a breeze comes up in the afternoon . Bees hate wind .

Not as wet as here . We have only had 16mls but totals in hills are 80/ 100 mls Do you ever get rain totals like that in 12 hr periods .

If you had the winning ticket you probably wouldnt have many emergencies any more .

A couple of hives were really chewing a month ago when they were smaller . The strips were fresher then . Could it be that they are keener to get rid of them when it it obvious to the bees there is sometime unpleasent in the hives and just gib tape is not such an issue to them . I think they may not chew so much when they went in , and were fresh , at beginning of winter if it was colder and the bees were more lethargic as well as its a numbers game . I think I should put fresh strips in now and see if they attack them more .

I noticed that the bees are not chewing up the strips so much . Could it be that they are preoccupied with collecting nectar and growing hive numbers . The metal mesh I screwed onto the hive Doc bases to stop leakage has changed colour where the remnants of chewed strips has piled up .

@Maru Hoani my attention is being drawn to the blue sky and dry ground with no puddles. Has the weather been good for the manuka flowering .?

So if it was the winning ticket is it stuffed.

oh well its off to the Doc for serious drugs then . its only my knee where i broke it, when i broke it i thought , i wonder how this will play out in the long term . badly , very badly. i looked at my hives today . the last spring queens are making QC. the weak hive i nursed through winter with the queen i was going to replace is full of brood and will need another box soon. my autumn queen has not made cells , i finally saw her. next time i will mark her , i will try not to damage her as i do it. my track record is not good.

but i do not want a normal bloody spring . LOL

If I freeze frames for wax moth I clean them up with the hose then put in a warm spot to dry completely before storage . Sometimes during freezing pollen will shrink and can be hosed out . Wax is very brittle when frozen , make sure it is thawed Before applying the hose .

When the east coast is having a beautiful spring build up we are having rubbish weather . Just like now .

I have made the same mistake . At least you got the swarm . The first swarm site is often accessible but the swarms move quickly into the top of the ratas here. Sometimes swarms will start as before the new queen hatches. Not all the capped cells are any good so it is tempting to leave two . You can sometimes tell by watching the bee behaviour around the cells . In the two or three days before hatching the bees will be paying a full cell a lot of attention and ignoring the empty one .

So what exactly is it ?