Well things certainly change sometimes lol....no we did not find the queen (we did look again though) but i contacted the queen suppliers who were very apologetic and again said they will provide us with a new queen, the problem was that because their queen came from Greece?? (i never new that lol) and because of the problems with strikes etc. we may not get a new queen until possibly the 11th july....i had no choice obviously and mentioned that because we were new to beekeeping do we just keep an eye on the hive as it has no eggs or brood present....the gentleman went quiet then said if i could hold on he would speak to their main beekeeper. Minutes later i was informed that a queen would be sent special overnight delivery to arrive tomorrow (they pinched a queen that was to be given to someone else lol) to say kim and myself were happy is definetly an under statement :)
I am hoping this will work as Kim and myself opened the queenless hive and have seen that all capped brood has gone now (bee's have emerged) and no new eggs/larvae can be seen. Our new queen will certainly have a busy time ahead of her.
We checked the other hive as well
the metal plate you see here is what is called a queen excluder, it stops the queen from getting to the level above which is called a super, only the worker bee's are small enough to get through the holes which means only honey can be made in the wax combs above not eggs or larvae.
On top of the excluder we place the syrup feeder, syrup is poured into the larger area whist the bee's enter from below at the front, they climb a sort of V shaped ramp to get to the solution which helpfeed them until stores are produced. With the worry of the queenless hive not having foragers in time i do have another syrup feeder which cover the entire top of the excluder and holds a lot more so should help this colony till they forage again.
So until tomorrow when the new queen arrives i will leave you with one last photo
Here we have Steve sporting the very latest seasions fashion outfit, you will notice the khaki top with its wide collar and matching hood, brilliant for those less than sunny afternoons, the veil comes as standard with a variety of sizes for the disconcerning gentleman. Gloves come in a soft and supple goatskin leather with the added bonus of elasticated cuff. Trousers though not matching can be worn with any top and has the added benifit of being able to be tucked into wellies (green being this years black) whether on a street corner, a field or your back garden you can be sure you will always look.....'a plonker' :) l8rs
No comments:
Post a Comment