Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: Beagle on June 14, 2020, 12:38:51 pm
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Hi, first post, 5 year beekeeper.
I took a split from one of my colonies back in April, and it's been something of an ongoing disaster, whereby I would add more bees to support a weak split and then a new queen and then more bees etc.
I won't go over all the horrible little mishaps that got me to this point but as of this morning I have a mated queen present a in a NUC, there are two frames of emerging brood , two frames overloaded with stores.
In total there are maybe 80 nurse bees and 50 or so mature bees foraging and guarding. But this weak colony is being very heavily robbed by bees from my other hives and in a last desperate attempt to save them I've closed the entrance trapping about 50+ raiders inside. My thinking here is that a few days of confinement should give the emerging brood some time to come through (although I have concerns about the lack of nurse bees), and hopefully the queen can work some magic on the raiders and switch their loyalty.
There are plenty of stores present, honey, nectar and pollen.
What do you think ? Is this a sensible plan? Shuld I be trying something else to save them?
Thanks
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Your idea is good, but I would add a robber screen,
https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,1420.msg19070.html#msg19070
and if possible, move them 8 KM or more. That would guarantee the raiders would stay with and join the hive. You can bring them home anytime after one week.
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It's a NUC with a small 3cm diameter entrance so I'm happy the entrance is defensible, the key problem at the moment is the lack of bees to defend even that small space
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Can you shake in some more bees from one of the neighboring hives? Do the shaking from a couple of frames with brood, so you'll get more nurse bees.
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Thanks, yes that's a good idea.I'm walking a really fine line with the number of bees available, I'll probably merge your idea with mine, leave them boxed up for a few days and then shake in some nurse bees after that. If I have enough nurse bees in there at the moment to get all of the emerging brood out and moving then I may get away with adding no new bees, but I think that's unlikely
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Nothing much to add, other than Welcome! if you are feeling sociable, head on over to the Welcome Forum (https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php?board=5.0) and tell us a little about yourself.
Happy to have you on board, and good luck!
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I am unsure about shaking in bees, with that few they might have a royal brawl.. Instead, i might switch places with a stronger hives, so the forager bees will return to the weak hive, bribe their way in and strengthen it? I would also have a robbing screen on as Iddee said. Robbing bees usually have to ZIP into the entrance past the guard bees... I understand that there are few bees in the hive, but there should still be a few bees trying to guard. the robbing screen forces them to CRAWL to the entrance and there is no way to sneak past the few guards there are... Hopefully someone else will chime in here as well.
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Beagle you said you were worried about defending a 3cm entrance so you really should consider Iddee's sugestion of a robber screen.
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If you are interested, here is iddee’s tutorial on robbing screens (http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,1420.msg19070.html#msg19070)
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I would add that in a robbing emergency, instead of closing the entrance off, you can throw a wet sheet over the entire hive. That will halt any robbing for a short time while you figure out what to do.
I know England has a lot milder climate than many parts of the U.S. If I closed off the entrance to my colony, this time of year, it would turn in to an oven in no time. Dead bees, for sure.
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Closing it off with a screen will allow cooling. I always keep a couple pieces of screen in my truck for just that purpose.