Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
their cells, and sealed brood should be covered in neat and clean, slightly convex wax
coverings with no holes and no sunken parts.
In a small colony it is easy to see all this, and this is one reason why buying a nuc or
package to start with is a good idea. It shows you what to look for early on in your
beekeeping career. If you find there are no eggs or young brood and you are unable to
find the queen then, after a thorough check to ensure there is no disease, the colony
must be united with another colony or a nucleus (see Chapter 8).
Inspecting the stores
Having seen the state of the brood and determined that a queen is present, now look at
the stores. The bees must have stores of honey and pollen for survival, or at least a full
feeder of sugar syrup. Stores are placed in an arc around the brood area, and checking
for the presence of honey and pollen is easy. If they have neither, you must do something
about it - i.e. feed them (see Chapter 9).
In European and many other countries bees have evolved with the local plants and,
generally, there will be pollen and nectar sources at the right time for them (unless you
have placed them in a huge monocrop area). In other countries, especially where honey-
bees have been introduced recently, this may not always be the case, especially with early
pollen sources essential for brood rearing. In such cases there may be a need for pollen
patties (substitute pollen) for the bees to feed on and to give them an early boost.
Lack of pollen can be one of the biggest causes of a colony's failure to build up and
thrive. You should be aware of this and, if there is a scarcity of early pollen, ask for
advice from local beekeepers. You must then feed the colony (see Chapter 9).
Checking the amount of room
Now look at the amount of room the bees have. There should be enough empty cells
for the queen to lay eggs (and remember, she can lay 1,000-2,000 a day) and for the
workers to store food. If the nuc is only a week old, there should still be plenty of room
or potential room (i.e. frames of foundation for the bees to pull out). This is likely to
be the state of affairs in a nuc but, as time goes on, the colony will expand, and you may
have to give them more room with the addition of another brood box. If you don't, the
