Beekeeping > General Beekeeping

hive headaches

(1/6) > >>

Zweefer:
went into the hives quick before another round of storms come through... Had one hive come up queenless....
I stole a frame of eggs, larva and brood complete with nurse bees from my nuc and put it in the hive.

Then thought better of it.  $30 later, I have a new queen in the box and will check on her Friday to make sure she is out.

On a positive note, the dandelions have started to come up here. saw my first one yesterday!

*edit* I have a friend who is 10 min drive from me with queens banked, thus the ability to replace her so quickly.

Jen:
I don't know why, but for years I have had plenty of dandelions in my large yard and I'll be darned I have ever seen a bee on one of them  ???

When I first started on this forum years ago there was only one other beekeeper in the area that I knew of. I had to order queens from Mann Lake and Dadant about 150 miles south, over night shipping, came to about $70 queen. But now we have a bee club in our county and this club keeps a hybrid queen bank. Plus we have another commercial beekeeper about half hour away that keeps Italians.

Zweefer, what breed of queen do you like best?

Zweefer:
I’ve had the best luck with Russians.

The15thMember:

--- Quote from: Zweefer on May 12, 2022, 06:44:44 am ---I’ve had the best luck with Russians.

--- End quote ---
So have the Washington Capitals.   8)   :D

Seriously though, local bees are the best.  I was fortunately able to get local bees when I got my first packages, and they have done so well for me.  It's great to see clubs working on breeding local stocks. 

Jen:
I would have to agree with 15th on local queens. Although the hybrid queen bank we have here comes from central Calif, those queens genes include russian stock because they are evidently huge honey makers.

I prefer the italian queens because they are laying machines. But would like to try carnolian queens as well. Then there is the Saskatraz bees who are bred in Canada and do real well in cold weather.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page