This is what happened to a very small hive we rescued from a ground pit. Hand full of bees and I added a frame of brood and bees. The new bees tried to kill the queen. We then put her in a queen cage and left her and the small hive accepted her after they released her. It was touch and go but its all learning.
Common wisdom advises against using entrance feeders on small colonies. I’ve found it possible, and useful, to do so by applying the feeder at dusk and by only feeding a quantity of syrup that will be consumed overnight. I start with a quarter of a jar; if the feeder is empty the next morning, the quantity is increased to a half jar. Gradually progress to a full jar. Using this approach, I’ve seen no evidence at all of robbing.
Been watching your videos and really enjoying I have 2 hive from swarms I have caught doing really well but I noticed a grey sort of powder outside the hive today haven't checked in there yet do you have any idea what it could be
I had this issue a few years ago, if you have the design that Lawrence put up a few years back with the open letterbox design, I cut a single piece of wood the same height as the entrance, but 3cm shorter than the width, I then cut that in half, put a screw in each half as a handle, and then when the bees were asleep at night, slotted the two pieces of wood into the hole which blocked the opening. This left a gap in the middle of the two pieces of wood of 3cm for the bees new entrance. Worked great against wasps too, as they were forced to move to the center of the opening where the guards were. Even on a weaker colony this save the colony from attack as its very confusing for intruders.
While I agree sticking a frame of eggs into a fist size colony is not going likely to work, especially in august but discouraging beekeeper from learning how to raise their own queens via using frames of eggs or other methods seems a bit disingenuous. Clearly you need to sell queens, I get that, but if they purchase queen from reputable company and are making f2 queens rather than purchasing new queens every year should be the aim of ever beekeeper.
@@00kennedyp I think you may have misinterpreted. Walk way splits and F2s are fine. But you need a good amount of nurse bees to produce a decent emergency cell. Ones produced when there is a handful of bees are gonna be rubbish
Adding frame of egg is not always the best idea if your colony is very weak, as there will be chill brood and other knock on effects (viruses and bacterias) which can wipe out a weak colony. So I get where Laurence is coming from. I have failed adding frames to a weak hive number of times before. But of course adding a frame of brood to a decent size queenless colony should always be considered. I had the same mindset as you, I never believed in buying mated queens until this year. Queen rearing was rubbish for me this year and mated queen was life saving literally, fixing problems and buying problem hives a lot of time with less uncertainties. The queens I got from BMH were even accepted to my laying worker colonies and saved them, laying like lunatics 😂 Mated queens are definitely a useful ‘tool’ to have in beekeeping ❤
I did this method with a "mature" frame of brood and about a week went from two frames of bees to almost five in a nuc. Sure you can then try and raise your own queen, but by the time its started laying it can be 5 weeks. I found a £50 ish investment on a mated queen a better option in some cases rather than losing maybe 5 weeks and the risk of a failed mating.
Thanks for your detailed experience
This is what happened to a very small hive we rescued from a ground pit. Hand full of bees and I added a frame of brood and bees. The new bees tried to kill the queen. We then put her in a queen cage and left her and the small hive accepted her after they released her. It was touch and go but its all learning.
Great informative video well on time for getting colonies built up strong enough for winter now 👏 🏴
Common wisdom advises against using entrance feeders on small colonies. I’ve found it possible, and useful, to do so by applying the feeder at dusk and by only feeding a quantity of syrup that will be consumed overnight. I start with a quarter of a jar; if the feeder is empty the next morning, the quantity is increased to a half jar. Gradually progress to a full jar. Using this approach, I’ve seen no evidence at all of robbing.
Great video as always. I’ve seen so very few wasps yet this year how about you? In a way great but in another worrying.
Been watching your videos and really enjoying I have 2 hive from swarms I have caught doing really well but I noticed a grey sort of powder outside the hive today haven't checked in there yet do you have any idea what it could be
How do you reduce the entrance with the underfloor entrance?
I had this issue a few years ago, if you have the design that Lawrence put up a few years back with the open letterbox design, I cut a single piece of wood the same height as the entrance, but 3cm shorter than the width, I then cut that in half, put a screw in each half as a handle, and then when the bees were asleep at night, slotted the two pieces of wood into the hole which blocked the opening. This left a gap in the middle of the two pieces of wood of 3cm for the bees new entrance. Worked great against wasps too, as they were forced to move to the center of the opening where the guards were. Even on a weaker colony this save the colony from attack as its very confusing for intruders.
@@stefanoconnor6982 Thanx for your answer!! I'm going to try this 🙂.
@@stefanoconnor6982 Thanx!!
Hi from Devon first year 2 supers full 1 empty
Do you semd queens to south africa?
Unfortunately just UK only
While I agree sticking a frame of eggs into a fist size colony is not going likely to work, especially in august but discouraging beekeeper from learning how to raise their own queens via using frames of eggs or other methods seems a bit disingenuous. Clearly you need to sell queens, I get that, but if they purchase queen from reputable company and are making f2 queens rather than purchasing new queens every year should be the aim of ever beekeeper.
@@00kennedyp I think you may have misinterpreted. Walk way splits and F2s are fine. But you need a good amount of nurse bees to produce a decent emergency cell. Ones produced when there is a handful of bees are gonna be rubbish
Adding frame of egg is not always the best idea if your colony is very weak, as there will be chill brood and other knock on effects (viruses and bacterias) which can wipe out a weak colony. So I get where Laurence is coming from. I have failed adding frames to a weak hive number of times before. But of course adding a frame of brood to a decent size queenless colony should always be considered.
I had the same mindset as you, I never believed in buying mated queens until this year. Queen rearing was rubbish for me this year and mated queen was life saving literally, fixing problems and buying problem hives a lot of time with less uncertainties. The queens I got from BMH were even accepted to my laying worker colonies and saved them, laying like lunatics 😂
Mated queens are definitely a useful ‘tool’ to have in beekeeping ❤
I did this method with a "mature" frame of brood and about a week went from two frames of bees to almost five in a nuc. Sure you can then try and raise your own queen, but by the time its started laying it can be 5 weeks. I found a £50 ish investment on a mated queen a better option in some cases rather than losing maybe 5 weeks and the risk of a failed mating.