[susan rudnicki]

OK—but I think watching will not be a good strategy. The tiny nature of the colony right now means they do not have the resources to take care of eggs and larva once a queen does come on line. There is attrition every day—it is a struggle for them to cover the queen cells even now, much less what is to come when there are fewer and no replacements for 3 weeks hence when the new workers emerge. If I were you, I would put up a request to BUY a frame or two of brood from someone willing in the SM Venice area—PP, also. Ask Ruth at BeeCapture, who has client hives in your area. You must offer to BUY, though

[susan rudnicki]

Well, they want to remove that honey from the bag and store it in their combs, so they will be working at that till they hopefully have a queen. Did you find Paul?

[susan rudnicki]

I would not use festooning as a sure sign of a queen. EGGS are the sure sign of a queen that is laying. A virgin can be there, but could also be lost before being properly mated.
Regarding this—“Those bees are making it very hard to tape screen over
the opening because they fly in and out, in and out, even after sunset.”
Are you trying to use a flashlight? Use a red head lamp (cheap at Home Depot—red light does not make the bees aggressive) and use the smoker very lightly to push the bees back inside the entrance. With a old, well used smoker, just the cold fumes pushed by the bellows will often be enough to make them retreat.

[susan rudnicki]

So, let’s clarify language—“Queen-right” is short-hand for a colony with a queen. Only ONE queen may occupy a colony of bees. (except for the fairly rare instance when a old queen is allowed by the workers to persist alongside her replacement daughter—I have had this several times)
Sometimes we pick up swarms that have already lost their queen or we fail to gather her in retrieving the swarm. These worker bees may be combined with a “Queen-right” colony with newspaper. Putting two queens and their colonies together will only result in one dead queen and a lot of dead workers.

[susan rudnicki]

This is a common misunderstanding—seeing bees bringing in pollen does not necessarily mean there is a queen, virgin or mated. Bees are just “doin’ their job” and this is reflected in non-specific pollen collection. If the colony has been in the box a couple days, there is no reason you can not open the lid and have a look at the frames. Your looking gently will not drive them off, nor will they take off in a cloud. If they are queenless there will be few bees on the frames. I am assuming you had no frames with drawn comb to offer them. They will have a lot of construction to do if they have a queen to provide a place for her to lay. With no queen, there will be no organized behavior showing when you look in—ie. festooning

[susan rudnicki]

Two swarms can not be merged if they both have queens, so this point must be made clear. Also, a queenless swarm will dissipate fairly quickly as they have no ability to form a viable colony—they will not occupy the box, in other words. Sometimes, secondary swarms are traveling with a virgin queen, and since she is not mated they have less fealty to her, though they do have some—just not as strong as a mated queen. A virgin will have to take more time to go on mating flights, so the appearance of eggs with her will be delayed in a new occupancy.

[susan rudnicki]

Two swarms can not be merged if they both have queens, so this point must be made clear. Also, a queenless swarm will dissipate fairly quickly as they have no ability to form a viable colony—they will not occupy the box, in other words. Sometimes, secondary swarms are traveling with a virgin queen, and since she is not mated they have less fealty to her, though they do have some—just not as strong as a mated queen. A virgin will have to take more time to go on mating flights, so the appearance of eggs with her will be delayed in a new occupancy.

[susan rudnicki]

I am glad you mentioned this, Karim. I was thinking the same thing, but I am also always posting “corrective” responses, so nice to know I was not the only one thinking these things.

[susan rudnicki]

Ah—I see someone must have directed you to post this on the Bulletin Board, where sales and offers are usually located.
A few things might be helpful to add, because of the nature and philosophy of this club—how are these bees sourced? Are they package bees? Are you re-queening with purchased queens as part of management? Are these bees kept on foundation? Do you feed supplements besides sugar? Do you use queen excluders or allow unlimited brood nest? Are your employees referred for swarm calls? Let us know! Thanks!! Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Missy—I remember you at various events! Do you have a mentor yet? Do you have a source for obtaining your bees?
These questions are something you would be well to experiment with to see what works in your setting. None of them are expensive. I use both types of cover systems. I have one client hive on a screened bottom board in Redondo Beach, and they do very well. Even in Winter, the heat is going to the top and the open bottom does not seem like a burden to them. Most of my bottom boards have 2 inch diameter holes drilled out with 1/8 inch screening wire cloth stapled over the hole on the interior. With trying a SBB, you can always put in the insert if you decide you want to close them up. Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Right, you can’t rely on it to indicate the queen.

[susan rudnicki]

Any colony of bees will Nasonov if disturbed. This is easily seen by pulling a frame and shaking the bees off back into the hive. They will start immediately

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Shane—well, regarding this— ” At this stage we have no need to treat our bees” there is NO treatment for it anyway, as you may be learning. CCD, which is actually falling out of parlance here, is more a multi-pronged problem related to things that can’t be “treated” Lack of diverse, clean forage, in-bred genetics, trucking for migratory pollination, feeding HFCS and sugar and fake pollen made from soy, and beekeeper applied treatments to the colonies (the latter the one issue the media NEVER articulates) The bee gut environment is disturbed and the pH is raised through the feeding of HFCS and sugar. This compromises immune response.
And, yes, I have read of examinations of residues in foundation of upward 144 chemicals. Bees don’t need foundation.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (a cynically named bureaucracy, for sure….) is conducting right now a review of the major neonic, Imidacloprid, and taking citizen remarks about its use. There is a Federal entomologist, Jon Lundgren, who has been with the USDA for 11 years as one of its top scientists, and is filing a Whistleblower complaint for having been smacked down for his implicating neonics in pollinator declines.
Read about that here—
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/is-the-usda-silencing-scientists/413803/

There is MUCH in our government that is thoroughly corrupt and malevolent. The attitude to honey bees is one of them.

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Shane—wonderful to have a Aussie connecting with us! As Rob points out, the genetic history of bees that have been raised with chemicals to suppress mites and vectored diseases are not going to do well without their meds. Often, the queen in the nuc is not related to the workers, and could be poorly mated as a result of rushing the mating flights required by a virgin queen (or she could be artificially inseminated—you would have to inquire about this) I really recommend you join the TreatmentFreeBeekeepers FaceBook group that has beeks from all over the world giving advice and exchanging information on using treatment free stock. https://www.facebook.com/groups/treatmentfreebeekeepers/
There are some Aussies in the group, too. That group of “wall bees” sound like the winners in the resilience stakes! Just see that you get some good help and expert assistance in doing the cutout and re-framing of the combs to accomplish the most stress free transfer.
Here’s one thing, though—I wonder what the beek you bought the nuc from is treating for, as I have been under the impression that varroa had not showed up in Australia yet. All sorts of detection schemes are set up at ports and airfields to catch any freeloaders coming in.
Be sure to check out Michael Bush’s book “The Practical Beekeeper—Beekeeping Naturally” No hard copy must be purchased as the whole thing (and index) is available on-line. Here—http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

Index—-http://www.bushfarms.com/IndexToThePracticalBeekeeper.pdf
This book is all about treatment free and foundationless beekeeping with survivor stock. He’s the best!

[susan rudnicki]

Great!! I always like to hear when students have extra equipment at the ready! See you Sunday S.

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