Poly nucs and iciness losses

Synopsis : Lower your expenses. Take your iciness losses now. Unite vulnerable colonies or the ones headed through dodgy queens … and a few ideas on poly nucs for overwintering.

Creation

With apologies to Winston Churchill:

“Now this isn’t the tip. It’s possibly the start of the tip.”

Or even a cursory glance via couple of colonies will verify this. They’re moving from their summer time labours to the past due summer time arrangements for iciness.

The indicators are simple to identify.

Colonies with abundant tremendous area are starting to backfill the broodnest with nectar. You’ll be able to see it glowing within the solar.

You additionally see this when the colonies have nowhere else to retailer contemporary nectar, however my supers are disappointingly stuffed with area this 12 months ) so that they’re opting to stay it shut. The brood development can glance slightly spotty, however the queen is ‘lacking’ the cells as a result of they’re already complete.

Maximum of my east coast colonies have stopped, or nearly stopped, rearing drones. There are nonetheless quite a lot of drones about however they’re now not generating to any extent further this season.

This is sensible. Drones are ‘pricey’ with regards to the assets (pollen, nectar, time, employees) had to rear them and the risk that they’re going to effectively entire a mating flight this past due within the season is restricted.

They’re now not chucking them out but although. On a heat afternoon the unique sound of one thousand drones going out ‘at the pull’ fills the air.

Ever the optimists 😉 .

Colonies are nonetheless robust and busy. They comprise numerous brood, however the laying charge of the queen is slowing and – possibly – they’ll very quickly get started rearing the long-lived iciness bees that may take the colony via to subsequent spring.

Take your iciness losses now

And, because the colonies segue from generating summer time bees to iciness bees, I’m additionally beginning to plan for the iciness. This comes to making ready the colonies I need and eliminating (i.e. uniting) the ones surplus to necessities or underperforming.

It’s higher to make those selections prior to feeding and treating for mites. If you happen to don’t there are two (or possibly 3) inevitable penalties:

1. You’ll have the pointless expense of feeding and treating colonies that you simply therefore come to a decision to unite. I reckon this prices me about £16-17 consistent with colony, assuming fondant costs haven’t long gone throughout the roof .
2. If you happen to therefore come to a decision to unite two colonies you’ve already fed and handled you’ll be doing it in mid/past due October, which is some distance from perfect … so that you’ll most probably now not hassle and purpose to care for the colony subsequent 12 months, wherein case …
3. One of the most colonies you must have united in mid/past due August will die overwinter – deficient queens, understrength and many others. – which means you now not handiest have the monetary lack of the meals and miticides, however you additionally haven’t any colony at the start of the following season.

So … take your iciness losses now 😉 .

Past due season inspections

It’s in reality someplace between mid-season and late-season, however erring against the latter.

My final complete colony inspection, through which I imply each and every body within the brood field (and infrequently each and every body shaken freed from bees to test the brood very sparsely) used to be a number of weeks in the past.

By means of early/mid August my inspections are a lot more selective:

• Colonies with this 12 months’s queens can have already had their final inspection. If now not I’ll have a peek after I take the honey off and feed/deal with. If the behaviour is excellent and the colony is powerful there’s no likelihood I’ll now not be overwintering them. Because the queen pheromone ranges will likely be prime there’s additionally little to no likelihood of swarming, so there’s no level in rummaging unnecessarily throughout the brood field. Go away them to get on with issues 🙂 .
• Understrength colonies or the ones with a questionable temperament get checked out extra sparsely. Are they understrength merely for the reason that queen took her time getting mated, or as a result of I harvested frames of brood to make up nucs? In those circumstances they’ll make up the shortfall and must be nice if the queen is laying nicely. On the other hand, in the event that they’re understrength for the reason that queen is failing (quite a lot of ignored cells, drone brood peppered about, unseasonably low laying charge) then they’ll be united (having got rid of the queen). In a similar fashion, a colony that again and again behaves badly will most probably have the similar destiny … why must I submit with surly bees?
• For a similar causes (i.e. attainable queen failure) colonies with getting older queens get checked out sparsely.
• Nucs destined for overwintering also are sparsely checked as they will have to be robust to effectively overwinter them.

Iciness losses

Annual colony losses are reported to alter between about 10% and 40% primarily based upon nationwide affiliation surveys. As I’ve up to now stated, I don’t actually accept as true with any of those figures as I don’t suppose they’re validated with any rigour.

I’m positive maximum survey respondents are predominantly fair, however I believe some beekeepers who enjoy in particular prime losses by no means reply (some abandon beekeeping). This may increasingly lead to total losses being underestimated.

The figures from one survey final 12 months have been in particular unusual. 84% of beekeepers reported no losses in any respect. Total losses have been reported to be 16% (just one% in Wales!) and, of the ones, handiest 12% have been because of Varroa or DWV. On the other hand, 33% of beekeepers additionally reported that they used no miticides.

Actually?

It might be excellent to look some validation of those numbers.

All of which is slightly of a digression. Particular person beekeepers must purpose to minimise their iciness losses through making sure the colonies that they take into the iciness have the most productive likelihood of surviving. In my view I feel accountable beekeepers must try to keep away from pointless colony deaths.

As well as, I actually dislike coping with messy, mouldy frames from a ‘useless out’ on a uncooked March morning.

Simply again to these reported losses for a 2nd … 38% have been considered because of ‘queen issues’ e.g. the dying of the queen, drone laying queens or growing old queens . While I’m stunned that those have been greater than 3 times extra common than the Varroa/DWV double-whammy, queen screw ups are a vital reason for iciness colony screw ups and so it is sensible to check out and keep away from them prior to they occur.

Rather than commencing the honey, my colony inspections and manipulations in August are all related to minimising my iciness losses.

Nucs

Overwintered nucs are actually helpful.

With a well-mated younger queen they’ll take off like a rocket within the spring, frequently increase rapid sufficient to get a crop of spring honey. Then again, should you do lose colonies overwinter, possibly since you failed to use some difficult love within the autumn, then an overwintered nuc can be utilized to repopulate the hive, so restoring colony numbers.

Or you’ll be able to promote them to the primary flush of keen new beekeepers who’ve finished their ‘Start beekeeping’ lessons in draughty church halls throughout the interminable darkish iciness evenings.

Overwintered nucs, with a confirmed queen, are rightly valued extra extremely than a nuc in mid-June.

And the good things about nucs is they’re reasonably simple to overwinter with the fitting preparation. I feel this comes to 3 issues:

• making sure they’re as robust and wholesome as imaginable going into the iciness, with a tender, well-mated queen.
• feeding them correctly after which generally topping them up with fondant as wanted throughout the iciness. You can’t have numerous bees and numerous shops in a 5 body nuc field.
• serving to them minimise the shops they want to use through housing them in a well-insulated nuc field.

I’ve overwintered nucs in cedar packing containers up to now, however the availability of top of the range, well-insulated, polystyrene nuc packing containers has made issues a complete lot more straightforward.

All poly nucs are equivalent, however some are extra equivalent than others

The standard of the insulation equipped through a poly nuc depends on two issues , the:

• thickness of the partitions and roof
• thermal insulation of the fabric (which is most probably accurately expressed because the Okay-, R- or U-value for thermal conductivity, resistance or transmittance)

I don’t have values for the latter and I’m now not conscious that they’re printed … so let’s suppose that each one poly nucs are created from the similar stuff (I’ll go back to this in brief later).

I’ve purchased a minimum of 5 varieties of poly nuc through the years. Like many I began with Paynes (which used to be some of the first to be had). I’ve were given a couple of Paradise packing containers , two sorts from Maisemore’s and the bulk are Thorne’s Everynucs. I’ve now not used the Paradise packing containers for years so I’ll forget about the ones.

I measured the partitions and roof of all however the Paynes packing containers (which can be in garage). Everynucs are thick walled and feature a horny really extensive roof. There are two Maisemore’s designs; one with an integral flooring and recessed handholds finally partitions, and every other with a separate flooring and plain-sided brood field.

In spite of the 2 Maisemore’s packing containers being the similar outer dimensions, and with some interchangeable portions, the poly thickness of the tip wall (as a result of the handholds) and the roof are much less within the model with the integral flooring.

If I used to be purchasing extra – and I did this 12 months – I’d get the model with out the integral flooring. Higher insulated and altogether extra versatile.

Okay-, R- or U-values?

‘Higher insulated’ assuming the 2 packing containers from Maisies are created from the similar poly with equivalent Okay-, R- or U-values.

Those aren’t printed and I haven’t any approach of measuring them correctly.

Do any readers know those having contacted the producers?

Do the producers even know them? They generally simply quote the density of the poly in the event that they quote anything else.

It may well be an enchanting iciness challenge to check out and evaluate the relative insulation of the packing containers. Most likely hanging a container keeping a litre of scorching water after which recording the speed of cooling may well be informative?

Then again it may well be imaginable to resolve the volume of power (suppose honey shops) had to stay the interior of the field at a continuing 30°C.

Or possibly now not … the ‘not-beekeeping’ season here’s goodbye I’ve were given to search out issues to entertain me 😉 .

In fact, the packing containers should be empty prior to any of those measurements will also be taken, so it’s handy that I freed up a few nuc packing containers at the start of the week through uniting them.

Uniting nucs

You’ll be able to unite nucs with different nucs or with colonies in complete hives. It relies what you need to succeed in, what apparatus you must hand and the place the nucs are positioned.

All through the final spherical of inspections I discovered two nucs (in separate apiaries) with out laying queens.

In reality, so far as I may just confirm, with out any queens 🙁 .

Puzzling as there have been queens there two weeks in the past.

One of the vital nucs used to be pictured a fortnight in the past. At that time it used to be a dummied down 5 body colony in an 8 body butchered Paynes poly nuc. You’ll be able to’t inform from that picture (except you recognize my colony and queen numbering machine) that it contained a virgin queen, however it did.

Now, so far as I will be able to inform, it doesn’t 🙁 .

Because it used to be in a Paynes field with an integral flooring I needed to switch the frames to an empty nuc brood field over a (reasonably understrength because it grew to become out) queenright nuc. I united them with newspaper and on my subsequent consult with will shuffle the frames out that lack brood, deal with them and feed them up for iciness.

The ‘recipient’ nuc, possibly due to its energy, used to be brief on shops. Earlier than uniting I squeezed a kilogram or two of fondant into the integral feeder to stay them going.

It’s now not extraordinary for colonies missing a powerful foraging pressure to battle for shops if nectar isn’t in abundance.

It isn’t 🙁 .

Large, booming colonies arrange to assemble an extra, however smaller colonies can starve in equivalent stipulations.

Hope for the most productive, get ready for the worst

The opposite nuc used to be in an out apiary and it used to be more straightforward to unite them with every other colony there, relatively than shifting them to apiary and uniting with every other nuc. I subsequently transferred them right into a spare brood field with some drawn comb prior to uniting them with an adjoining colony.

The drawn comb is a ‘simply in case’ measure.

Most often I’d simply dummy down 5 frames in a brood field on best of a complete colony.

On the other hand, that leaves an empty void within the higher brood field and there’s a faint likelihood the colony would fill this with brace comb within the fortnight prior to I subsequent consult with .

I’m lovely positive there’s going to be no past due season nectar float, I feel it’s “far and wide bar the shouting” in my Fife apiaries.

On the other hand ‘simply in case’ I’ve given them some drawn comb to make use of as a substitute.

They gained’t 🙁 .

Two queens nonetheless

Attentive readers will have in mind I discovered a freshly emerged virgin queen in a colony with a – to me a minimum of – completely excellent 2023 clipped, marked laying queen.

Now, a fortnight later, each queens are nonetheless in the similar field.

I discovered the marked queen at the central frames it appears laying nicely (a minimum of, I noticed her laying and suppose the eggs on adjoining frames have been most probably additionally laid through her). I discovered the unmarked queen on an outer body, scuttling round on cells stuffed with pollen

Even though she used to be plumper and slightly much less skittish I feel she’s nonetheless unmated or, if mated, but to start out laying.

The elements over the intervening fortnight has for sure been excellent sufficient for queen mating, with 6-7 days over 20°C which is frequently quoted because the decrease prohibit for queen mating .

There appeared no level in intervening so I left them to get on with issues and will likely be to look what has took place (if anything else) through my subsequent consult with.

Iciness studying

Brian Johnson’s guide Honey Bee Biology has simply been printed through Princeton College Press. This can be a clinical evaluation of the present (and historic in puts) figuring out of the biology of honey bees. My replica arrived this week and I’ve dipped into it to test a couple of subjects, however will learn it sparsely over the iciness.

One of the vital subjects I skimmed used to be supersedure and I used to be disenchanted and relieved in equivalent measure to search out that Johnson is aware of as a lot, or as little, as I do at the subject 😉 .

Johnson’s guide will not be really helpful for the ones uncomfortable when confronted through some some lovely heavyweight biology. He doesn’t cling again when it is vital to speak about Notch signalling or cGMP protein kinases.

You will have been warned … however should you’re nonetheless , NHBS have the guide on particular be offering nowadays .

In the similar parcel from NHBS I additionally gained two slender Bloomsbury Flora and fauna Pocket Guides through Richard Lewington; to the butterflies and the bumble bees of Nice Britain and Eire. Each are fantastically illustrated and comprise greater than sufficient data to spot stuff you see within the apiary. The bumble bees guide covers only one 10th of the bees detailed in Steven Falk’s magnum opus, the Box Information to the Bees of Nice Britain and Eire , however should you battle to tell apart a Bombus ruderarius from a Bombus ruderatus then you definately’ll get the solution sooner from the Lewington information.

One thing for the Christmas checklist possibly?

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Notes

All apparatus providers exchange the specification in their merchandise periodically. The Maisemore’s nucs I personal have been all bought within the final 3 or 4 years, the fairway ones pictured are more recent. I checked their web site and it now seems to be as although each packing containers would possibly now have a equivalent roof. The brood field with the integral flooring (and round front disk) is a handy design, however I’d nonetheless favour the separate flooring and thick-walled brood field.

Everynucs glance a lot the similar now as after I purchased them a decade or so in the past. I’ve written about a few of their failings up to now … most commonly trivial, and all surmountable. They’re nice nucs.

All my Paynes packing containers have the interior infernal feeder got rid of. They now have an front disk however I suppose the wall and roof thickness stay the similar (too skinny for me).