Brian HarperIt's always super to bring home a full super! Of honey that is. ๐ฏ Tomorrow we spin.
AI6YR BenBeekeeping in the rain
Happy bee did not care much
Just a happy hum
#beekeeping #haiku (human composed)
So the way to fix this is: create a drone creating (drone layer) hive, but keep it going as long as you can by occasionally dropping full frames of female (capped) brood in there. You have to make sure that capped brood is far enough along they don't create a queen, but keep using the drone layer. The other frames in the hive will be 100% drone brood, passing on the desirable genetics of the original bees you placed in the hive. As long as you keep adding frames with capped femal brood, the hive will persistent as a drone layer indefinitely. #beekeeping #science
"drone laying" hives are considered a failure by beekeepers... but you could artificially create these conditions and super populate an area with drones of desirable genetics. I believe this is how more Africanized bees are succeeding more in some areas -- you notice their hives are ABSOLUTELY full of drones, spreading their genetics. (it's a problem when the queen is aggressive). The ferals in SoCal are succeeding very well because they are more resistant to Varrhoa mites, which typically attack drone cells first. This is not the case in feral hives, where drones do well due to whatever resistance they have. #beekeeping
Ha, figured out a way to seed better population genetics for feral bees, if anyone really wanted to--involving deliberately creating queenless hives with desirable genetics, and a "drone layer" (nonfertile queen)--causing a MASSIVE population of drones with desirable characteristics during mating season. (similar to how they put out sterile mosquitos and fruit flies). #beekeeping #science
SAME bees which wanted to sting and were angry. Just a different queen. There are still a LOT of drones in there though from the old queen... maybe a hundred? We inserted queen separators on the top and bottom of the box in hopes of preventing the (mean genetics) drones from crossbreeding in the area. #beekeeping
Checked on what was an aggressive, mean hive, where we inserted a new (commercially bred) queen... and the hive is now calm. Amazing, just the queen's pheremones can do that. #beekeeping
The blue hive has a little beard tonight. ๐๐๐ The population is at a peak, probably 40,000 - 50,000 bees, maybe more. I'm adding another super tomorrow, the basswood and mimosa trees are in full bloom and the girls are hitting them hard.
The yellow is still struggling but we're hoping another new queen of the specific Carniolan stock they are might help. Time will tell.
Have a good night! ๐
IbrahimCollective Choices In The Honeybee Colony
"Perhaps what the swarm reveals most clearly is that good collective choices carry a cost, and the cost is time".
