The Hopkins manner (and extra)

Synopsis : 3 brief(ish) comparable subjects; the spring honey harvest, queen rearing with out grafting (the Hopkins manner) and a short lived point out of swarm regulate. And, if that wasn’t sufficient, an advantage dialogue on conserving virgin queens in an incubator.

Creation

I began scripting this submit at sundown at the longest day of the 12 months. In my a part of Scotland it’s mild sufficient to paintings outdoor from about 3:30 am till 11:30 pm which means that you’ll be able to get so much finished … when you’ve got the power and far-off, deaf or working out neighbours.

With the great climate we’ve had for the remaining 2-3 weeks the bees had been out effectively prior to I’m ingesting my morning espresso and don’t forestall till after my night glass of Barolo.

In my enjoy, probably the most earliest to start out are the scout bees that seem at bait hives prior to foragers are in reality busy. Some would possibly even keep in a single day, although in all probability those are scouts ‘misplaced’ from a swarm that had made up our minds to occupy a unique nest web site .

It’s fortunate the times are as long as that is the busiest time of the 12 months for beekeeping … a minimum of for my beekeeping.

I’m, because the announcing is going, ”working round like a headless hen”.

Slightly than write an extensive (effectively researched ) submit on an esoteric facet of the coxa and trochanter of Apis mellifera scutellata or virus replication in drones (although I’d strongly counsel readers take a look at our newest paper in this subject, printed nowadays) I believed I’d write a couple of notes on 3 sensible beekeeping subjects which have been entertaining me just lately.

I will be able to’t promise one thing for everybody, and even somebody, and inevitably the focal point will likely be at the trilogy of queen rearing, swarm regulate and the honey harvest.

Should you’re a beekeeper and haven’t been busy with those 3 issues over the previous couple of weeks then both one thing has long past awry together with your season … otherwise you are living in New Zealand.

Display me the honey

The chilly, past due begin to Spring had me involved I used to be going to pass over the oil seed rape nectar glide utterly. Now not as a result of I used to be wanting bees however as it used to be too chilly to forage.

The colonies have been for sure sturdy sufficient:

Right here’s one from mid-April within the bee shed. Those colonies have been booming and have been the primary to wish supers, the primary to have brood harvested for a cellular raiser (see underneath) and the primary to wish swarm regulate … and – whisper it – the first to swarm 🙁 .

Alternatively, despite the fact that the chilly get started behind schedule issues, the entirety just about stuck up within the just right climate from the second one week of Might.

The honey used to be harvested in two batches in successive weeks in early/mid June. I’ve fewer honey manufacturing hives this 12 months, however the general harvest used to be inside a couple of kilograms of the document crop remaining 12 months.

For the primary time I measured the honey produced in step with hive, reasonably than just pooling weights in step with apiary.

The common used to be simply over 28 kg in step with hive, with the most efficient managing a little bit over 45 kg . If my maths have been higher I may decide the median, the usual deviation and so forth, however suffice to mention maximum produced as regards to the common, with a couple of outliers yielding above 40 kg or underneath 10 kg.

I decided what every hive produced by way of labelling and weighing each and every tremendous prior to and after extraction. Beautiful constantly ~68% by way of weight of the entire tremendous used to be honey, yielding ~10.8 kg of honey in step with tremendous.

The opposite factor notable concerning the honey harvest this season used to be that just one body ‘exploded’ within the extractor … noisy, messy and very wobbly 🙁 .

Queen rearing

For concerning the remaining 15 years I’ve principally reared queens the usage of one among two strategies involving a queenright hive; the Ben Harden machine or a Cloake board.

Those strategies be offering a number of benefits to the small scale beekeeper short of ‘a couple of’ queens – say 2-20, although you’ll be able to produce extra if wanted (by way of repetition).

The Ben Harden machine begins and finishes the cells with the queen provide (underneath a queen excluder) at all times. The Cloake board (or the equivalent Morris board which I’ve extensively utilized effectively) renders the hive quickly ‘queenless’ for the 24 hours when the cells are being began. That is completed by way of merely sliding a forged board between the queenright decrease and higher brood field, with the grafted larvae being added to the latter.

I exploit those strategies as a result of they paintings, they swimsuit my bees and beekeeping and since I’m very assured they’ll yield effects … however that doesn’t imply I’m averse to attempting one thing new.

Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda’s “easy manner”

This spring I used a technique described by way of Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda in a BIBBA publication remaining summer season ’A Easy Way of Concurrently Elevating Queens and Generating Nuclei’. You will have to learn the unique, however the fundamentals are easy:

• Get ready a double nuc containing 10-12 frames of rising brood harvested from a minimum of 5-6 colonies
• It’s important that there’s no queen on this field 😉
• One week later cross in the course of the field and take away each and every queen cellular the bees have comprised of larvae within the harvested frames
• Upload your grafted larvae in a cellular bar body
• Harvest capped queen cells 10 days later and break up the 10-12 body ‘cellular raiser’ nuc field as much as make particular person nucs, every of which receives a near-mature queen cellular

As I stated … very easy.

And it labored rather effectively, with the brood harvested from sturdy colonies (reminiscent of that proven above) serving to to carry again their enthusiasm to swarm.

Adjustments to the “easy manner”

A mix of reasonably low grafting good fortune and a want to take a look at every other queen rearing manner supposed I butchered the general level of Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda’s “easy manner”.

Because of time constraints I if truth be told checked the grafts simply 7 days after including them to the cellular raiser. Since I grafted day-old larvae (i.e. 4 days for the reason that egg used to be laid) they have been already capped (or rejected). Slightly extra have been rejected than I might have favored ( 🙁 ) however there have been part a dozen just right cells. I used a pair instantly and positioned the spares in my transportable queen cellular incubator … I’ll describe their destiny in a while.

So I once more had a queenless field overflowing with younger bees.

What a chance 🙂 .

Having got rid of the grafted queen cells I once more went via all the field searching for any different queen cells.

There have been two or 3 runty little cells that I believe have been began on very outdated larvae after my earlier run in the course of the field every week previous. It’s price noting right here that this field used to be filled with bees, so I once more had to shake the bees off each and every body to search out those stunted queen cells.

I destroyed those and crammed the gap up to now occupied by way of the cellular bar body with every other body of rising brood.

After which I used to be in a position to take a look at one thing new.

The Hopkins manner of queen rearing

Many beekeepers just like the concept of queen rearing however are eliminate by way of the emphasis put on grafting day-old larvae. They’re apprehensive concerning the fragility of very younger larvae, or concern about their eyesight or being insufficiently dextrous.

They shouldn’t be, however that doesn’t imply that they aren’t.

Grafting is more straightforward to do than to explain … however there are different tactics of presenting larvae for queen rearing.

Roger Patterson is an enthusiastic suggest of cellular punching. I’ve attempted this and struggled, however intend to take a look at once more. I believe the age of the brush must be ‘excellent’ for the cellular punching to paintings effectively.

Alternatively, cellular punching additionally comes to handbook number of larvae by way of the beekeeper. Common readers will – in the event that they’ve finished their homework – know that the colony is very selective within the number of larvae it rears queens from. They preferentially make a selection effectively nourished larvae and are biased against the rarest patrilines in colony.

The Hopkins manner of queen rearing comes to presenting a body containing suitably elderly larvae to a queenless colony. The bees then make a selection the larvae they wish to rear queens from.

Guide dexterity and eyesight – or anxiety about grafting – are just about inappropriate.

So how does the Hopkins manner vary from merely putting a body of eggs and younger larvae in a colony suspected of being queenless?

The important thing distinction is that within the Hopkins manner the larvae-containing body is gifted horizontally above the brood field, with area underneath it for the queen cells to be drawn out into.

And it in order that occurs that I’d been doing a little bit of iciness DIY in preparation for this 🙂 .

Horizontal presentation of a body of larvae

The most obvious method to provide a body horizontally above a brood field used to be to change an eke.

Probably the most Maisemore’s poly nucs – the fashion with the separate ground – can also be tailored to house 14 x 12 frames the usage of an eke which additionally they promote.

I purchased a few those nucs within the iciness, painted them a reasonably fetching inexperienced and used my Dremel to carve lug-sized areas in the suitable position within the eke.

To offer lateral beef up for the horizontal body I additionally added a few screws at the inside the eke. There’s without a doubt a extra chic manner to try this, however ‘DIY’ and ‘chic’ by no means seem in the similar sentence the place I’m involved .

I sparsely decided on the proper place for the screw in order that it could beef up both shallow or deep frames horizontally. That used to be a mistake. A screw shut sufficient to the carved ‘body lug hollow’ to beef up a great body doesn’t in reality supply sufficient beef up for a brood body. As a substitute I like to recommend including two beef up screws about an inch clear of the place the ground bars of the body can be (when horizontal).

With a body in place there’s a hole of 40-50 mm between the highest bars of the frames and the face of the horizontal comb … greater than sufficient for the biggest of queen cells.

However is it too some distance away for the bees to grasp that there are larvae appropriate for queen rearing ‘simply above their heads’?

Right here’s one I didn’t get ready previous

The one body I had from my decided on larval ‘donor’ hive had a big patch of just lately sealed brood within the centre, with eggs and younger larvae on the outer edge. This wasn’t superb and mirrored deficient preparation on my section.

I will have to have added a body of drawn comb to my larval donor colony to generate a uniform inhabitants of in a similar fashion elderly larvae, and used 4 days after the queen had began laying in it.

Alternatively, I didn’t have this, so used what I’d were given … who prefer an iffy body from a just right donor colony reasonably than an excellent body from an unwanted donor colony.

I checked the field every week later. I prised up the eke to discover a 3 cm deep carpet of bees putting onto the bottom of the added body … obviously that they had no downside discovering the larvae.

A steady investigation by way of blowing (exhaling, now not smoke!) onto the packed bees confirmed just right numbers of queen cells sticking out from the brush.

Slightly too many to be truthful 🙁 … see underneath for methods of keeping off this case.

I decided on 4 of the queen cells based totally upon their dimension and separation from different cells, lower them from the body the usage of a scalpel and made up 3 body nucs into which I inserted the excised cells.

The cells have been secured in position by way of merely creating a thumb-sized indent within the face of opposing combs after which pushing the frames gently in combination, trapping the cells in position by way of the beneficiant collar of comb I’d excised them with.

Subsequent time I do that I’ll use cocktail sticks driven in the course of the empty comb above the sticking out queen cellular to protected issues.

An excessive amount of of a just right factor

Via letting the bees make a choice the larvae to start out queens from they began too many. Many queen cells have been very shut in combination making excision nigh on not possible.

There are two tactics I’ve observed of keeping off this:

• destroying 2/3 of cells and their contents by way of drawing the pointy level of a hive device in the course of the comb (see the development underneath left).
• plugging the required cells with a Q-tip (cotton bud) and shaking icing sugar over the remainder of the body (underneath proper). The sugar-exposed cellular contents are killed, the cotton buds are got rid of and the body is inverted over the cellular builder.

I tried the previous however did a much less thorough activity than I will have to have. The speculation is to depart particular person well-spaced larvae of the proper age for queen rearing.

After all, each those strategies scale back the selection the bees have when settling on larvae … that’s all the level. Alternatively, they may additionally consequence within the exclusion of larvae that the bees would have preferentially decided on because the ‘highest’ from which to rear new queens.

Swings and roundabouts … 😉 .

Inevitably probably the most queen cells produced have been instantly adjoining to others. Despite the fact that I in large part have shyed away from those when making up nucs, I’m now not too involved {that a} 2-3 body nuc would swarm if supplied with two queen cells … a lot more most probably is that one queen emerges first and slaughters the opposite in situ, leaving only one within the field.

Benefits and drawbacks

I believe there are two very important benefits of the usage of the Hopkins manner for rearing queens mixed with Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda’s “easy manner” of getting ready the cellular elevating colony.

• Accomplished on the suitable time, the harvesting of a few brood frames from sturdy colonies is helping grasp those again and delays swarm preparation. A few of my most powerful colonies have been used to donate two frames for this and feature therefore yielded every other two frames for nuc preparation. Those colonies produced 28-35 kg of honey and now have now not proven indicators of swarming .
• There’s no grafting or manually-demanding manipulations wanted. No +4.00 diopter studying glasses are wanted or propranolol to secure your ‘grafting arm’ 😉 . The exclusion of larvae the usage of some of the two strategies proven above will have to be manageable by way of somebody in a position to discriminate staff from drones.

It’s essential to upload to this the benefit {that a} sturdy 10-12 body nuc will have to be enough to rear 24-48 queens (a minimum of) from a suitably ready donor body.

Alternatively, that could be too many and you should imagine it overkill for a ‘small scale’ apiarist.

However you don’t wish to use all of them and there are at all times other folks short of queens 😉 .

The opposite disadvantages I see are that:

• You want an inexpensive selection of hives to reap brood from to make up the cellular raiser.
• The ensuing queen cells are tougher to excise, maintain and protected within the nucs you get ready.

Those queen cells almost certainly must be used once they’re in a position. Against this, cells generated from larvae grafted into the Nicot cup machine are a doddle to maintain and you’ll be able to even stay a couple of spare virgins ‘on faucet’ if wanted … as described subsequent.

Right here’s one I did get ready previous

In any case I’ll go back to the ‘spare’ queen cells that I got rid of from the cellular raiser seven days after grafting.

Those cells have been fairly just lately capped and I didn’t be expecting them to emerge for a couple of days. I positioned them into my transportable queen cellular incubator on Monday night and prompt again for the west coast with them.

They stayed within the incubator at a gentle 34.5°C for the remainder of the week and emerged someday past due on Friday, a couple of hours previous than I’d anticipated (the larvae have been possibly a couple of hours older than I’d idea).

Against this to what many beekeepers suppose, virgin queens are in a position to feed themselves. I believe they have got to try this quickly after emergence prior to hormone ranges are enough to draw an attentive retinue of staff.

Subsequent time you get the danger apply the other quantities of consideration a mated and a virgin queen obtain … it’s very putting.

All of which means that that when you supply a little bit of diluted honey to a caged virgin queen and stay her in a damp environment at ~34°C she is going to feed herself and be OK.

TLC

I simply upload a small drop of diluted honey (~50/50 with water) to the interior facet fringe of the cap of the Nicot cage. Don’t overdo it … you don’t need her to get right into a sticky mess throughout delivery. As well as, make certain the surroundings is satisfactorily humid by way of conserving a small piece of damp kitchen towel within the incubator. Don’t let the queens develop into desiccated.

I took the emerged queens again to Fife, transferred them to JzBz advent cages and put them into nucs at the Monday. I am hoping they’re mated once I go back early subsequent week 🙂 .

Those queens spent ~72 hours (after emergence) within the incubator. I additionally did this remaining 12 months with a few queens that spent 4-5 days within the incubator. Alternatively, I’m conscious that some document issues getting those ‘behind schedule virgins’ accredited and mated. I wish to examine this additional.

My transportable queen cellular incubator has very correct temperature law and top humidity. It supplies little different coverage. Particularly, it’s now not cushioned towards the jolting and jarring encountered throughout the adventure from Fife to the west coast, involving dozens of miles of probably the most worst maintained roads Highland Council are ‘accountable’ for . It used to be due to this fact encouraging that the fairly ‘immature’ sealed cells I transported (almost certainly 2-3 days post-capping) yielded it sounds as if healthy-looking queens.

Take note all that recommendation you get to ‘by no means shake a body with queen cells on it’ ?

😉

---

Notes

I’ll write a extra in depth account of the Hopkins manner of rearing queens in the end. Beesource has a brief article at the historical past of the process, which dates again to 1911, right here.

I’ve thought to be construction a changed cellular bar body to take grafted larvae located above the highest bars in the similar eke I butchered for the Hopkins manner described above. It’s transparent the bees haven’t any issues discovering the larvae and it could maximise the selection of brood frames inside the field for next splitting up into nuclei. Alternatively, the pinnacle area is inadequate so as to add Nicot cages to the sealed cells, so negating some of the main benefits of grafting into cups. In a robust nectar glide I’d guess the bees would have a wild time construction brace comb round them.