12 augusti- Viseceller i augusti vill man inte se

English summary: Suddenly we saw many queen cells which pointed towards a swarm despite the late season. However, we search for a long time but couldnt find her so we beleive she must have have died during the move the week before. So, we removed some of the queen cells and hopefully we made theContinue reading “12 augusti- Viseceller i augusti vill man inte se”

31 Juli – resistenta bin del 2

English summary: Yet another mite infested cell that the bees have opened.Vi fotar en ram dagligen för att se ifall bina öppnar upp celler med kvalster. Här är ännu en cell som bina öppnat och minsann satt det inte ett kvalster alldeles under locket.Vi kollade ett annat samhälle där vi också har noterat DBVSH ochContinue reading “31 Juli – resistenta bin del 2”

28 Juli – Indikation att DBVSH är länkat till VSH

English summary: In our resistent colonies we have seen about 60% cleaning rate in the drone combs (DBVSH=Drone Brood Varroa Sensitive Hygiene) and now we want to check if the bees also clean out worjer brood. We have taken photos everyday of one comb and yesterday we saw one cell that was opened. We tookContinue reading “28 Juli – Indikation att DBVSH är länkat till VSH”

27 Juli – frisläpp av svarta drottningar

English summary: We released our newly purchased black queens that have been caged for one week to ensure they will be accepted by the colonies.Eftersom svarta nordiska bin luktar annorlunda än de gula buckfasthybriderna är det svårare att få en ny drottning accepterad. Vi har insett att man måste börja med en liten avläggare ochContinue reading “27 Juli – frisläpp av svarta drottningar”

22 Juli – tillägg till hopslagning av samhällen.

English summary: A reader pointed out the risk of overheating on a warm day since ventialtion could be an issue due to the paper blocking airflow. We have not experienced this but if one uses a ventilated top plate with insect net, see below, this potential risk is overcome. We use this solution when weContinue reading “22 Juli – tillägg till hopslagning av samhällen.”

21 Juli-Drottningtillsättning till stort och litet samhälle

English summary: We have purchased two black queens which we put in two small hives and we will keep them caged for a week to optimize the chances for acceptance. We also exchanged a queen that made aggressive bees and we use a technique with paper between the boxes in two places where the newContinue reading “21 Juli-Drottningtillsättning till stort och litet samhälle”

19 Juli – svält samt orange pollen

English summary: No nectar flow in our forest apiary so we have to give back honey combs that we collected earlier. There seem to be plenty of pollen and now we saw orange pollen of unknown origin. Mite infestation is low on all hives so hopefully some lnes are resistent – we will see inContinue reading “19 Juli – svält samt orange pollen”

17 Juli – ännu ett missat drag samt grönt pollen

English summary: This year have been notoriusly poor with honey and even the Linden flow missed. When the high temperature arrived the Linden had already passed. We took a swarm whwere they had built combs which we secured with rubber bands but the bees did not approve and throw out the rubber band after áContinue reading “17 Juli – ännu ett missat drag samt grönt pollen”