A week, maybe two, after taking ownership of my first real hive it was due for an inspection.
Even after smoking the hive with my veil and gloves on, and the cuffs off my jeans taped up, I was nervous. Even though I'd been stung during my last outing and having realised a bee sting wasn't as painful as a green ant bite, I was nervous.
Off with the lid, a little more smoke, the bees were ok, I wasn't. I freed the frame furthest away and had a look. There was probably honey and pollen to be seen, but I was searching for the queen. I repeated this two or three times more, at frame four there should have been eggs, larvae and brood, pollen and capped honey, but I never saw because i was nervously hunting for the queen.
This continued right across the hive, me being nervous and the queens being invisible.
After poking around, probably for too long, I close the hive up and a few days later, told Warren that I hadn't seen the queen. I was assured this was normal; they're hard to find in a hive of thousands of bees, they're elusive ... He wanted to inspect with me, especially after I mentioned being nervous.
The next week Warren came to inspect my hive and with his regular cubes at my expense set me at ease. One of the early things he did was to remove the first frame and hang it on a special bracket. He explained that this made more space to inspect the hive without crushing the queen of wiping her off onto the grass.
A little while later, he confirmed that the hive was queenless; there was no queen to be seen (not unusual), nought also no eggs less than a week old and there were queen cells dotted about.
Warren confirmed this status, after locking the hive up. He suggested leaving the colony to "do what it needs to do" and for me not to open the hive for four weeks. This would give time for the Q to hatch, go on her maiden flight, and finally to begin laying before being disturbed. He said I wasn't the first beek to squash or lose a Q.
Otherwise , he said, the hive was looking fairly healthy and pointed out honey and pollen stores as well as brood.
The lesson I took from this was the need to make space during inspections, to relax and observe more fully.
Even after smoking the hive with my veil and gloves on, and the cuffs off my jeans taped up, I was nervous. Even though I'd been stung during my last outing and having realised a bee sting wasn't as painful as a green ant bite, I was nervous.
Off with the lid, a little more smoke, the bees were ok, I wasn't. I freed the frame furthest away and had a look. There was probably honey and pollen to be seen, but I was searching for the queen. I repeated this two or three times more, at frame four there should have been eggs, larvae and brood, pollen and capped honey, but I never saw because i was nervously hunting for the queen.
This continued right across the hive, me being nervous and the queens being invisible.
After poking around, probably for too long, I close the hive up and a few days later, told Warren that I hadn't seen the queen. I was assured this was normal; they're hard to find in a hive of thousands of bees, they're elusive ... He wanted to inspect with me, especially after I mentioned being nervous.
The next week Warren came to inspect my hive and with his regular cubes at my expense set me at ease. One of the early things he did was to remove the first frame and hang it on a special bracket. He explained that this made more space to inspect the hive without crushing the queen of wiping her off onto the grass.
A little while later, he confirmed that the hive was queenless; there was no queen to be seen (not unusual), nought also no eggs less than a week old and there were queen cells dotted about.
Warren confirmed this status, after locking the hive up. He suggested leaving the colony to "do what it needs to do" and for me not to open the hive for four weeks. This would give time for the Q to hatch, go on her maiden flight, and finally to begin laying before being disturbed. He said I wasn't the first beek to squash or lose a Q.
Otherwise , he said, the hive was looking fairly healthy and pointed out honey and pollen stores as well as brood.
The lesson I took from this was the need to make space during inspections, to relax and observe more fully.
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