I started my two hives six weeks ago with two five frame nucs and was told they were free of varroa however I'm thinking its time to do a mite check. The problem is I can't find the queen. The last thing I want is to shake the queen into the container so I have not done what I had planned on doing wich was a monthly sugar roll. I realize sugar rolls are not as accurate as an alcohol wash and was planning to do a wash if the numbers were questionable. I sure could use some advice on how to proceed. Do I treat? try again to spot her?
You can use a sticky board. No impact to the bees and arguably more accurate than a shake. With only two hives this would be my choice.
Hi BobBee, a sticky board is a white flat thin object placed usually under a screened bottom board. These sticky boards are thin plastic sheets with adhesive that causes objects like varroa to stick.
Now you probably know this so excuse my description. Mr. Robo is so experience the fella thinks beeks know the terminology. Mr. Robo is a seasoned veteran beek, administrator he is. Mr. BobBee, you may well understand, you certainly know the mites washes so again, excuse my explanation as I do not know your experience base.
Cheers
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You eyes should immediately spot the queen in the pic. If not, look away, then look again until your eyes easily spot the queen. Hope this helps,
Van
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Spot the queen. This one is tough.
Cheers
Thanks van, I forget that there is a lot of terminology for beeks to learn. Good description on the sticky board and it is what is used by those doing the scientific studies. Mite washes are prone to more error as you are just samplings a small part of the population and if you miss a mite or two on the small population you might get a false sense that things are OK.
Here is what I'm talking about.
https://www.mannlakeltd.com/replacement-sticky-board
Looking at pictures like Van posted is a great way to get practice finding the queen. You might try following #queenspotting on Instagram or other social media. I did that even before I got my bees, and I think it really helped me train my eye to see her.
R/queenspotting on reddit as well
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More spotting practice.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200715/b087a37d79dca30312a23f1d0afd1c01.jpg)
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Quote from: .30WCF on July 14, 2020, 11:59:48 PM
More spotting practice.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200715/b087a37d79dca30312a23f1d0afd1c01.jpg)
Ok ... that's cheating!! :grin: :cheesy: :cheesy:
... I've got a Kimber that looks just like that.
Mr Van looking at your tough one, following the frame on the right side, where it meets the side of the picture, go left 3 or 4 bees and we will see her abdomen. There is a freshly hatched nurse bee on top of her thorax.
I know this may sound dumb but I use the theory of look for what is not a bee. It allows you to quick scan a frame and may be get lucky before having a serious look.
In an 8 frame box take out frame 2 and inspect, then take out frame 7 and inspect. Now hopefully you have the queen trapped between two shafts of light on the center 4 frames.
As you take out a frame look at the face of the frame that is next before inspecting the frame you took out, and you may find the queen high tailing down the frame to get out of the light.
Quote from: Ben Framed on July 15, 2020, 01:58:45 AM
Mr Van looking at your tough one, following the frame on the right side, where it meets the side of the picture, go left 3 or 4 bees and we will see her abdomen. There is a freshly hatched nurse bee on top of her thorax.
Exactly,,,, Phil, the queen is hard to spot in my last photo as only the abdomen is shown.
.30wcf, the clarity of you pic is impressive!! What camera did you use?
Quote from: van from Arkansas on July 15, 2020, 10:39:22 AM
Quote from: Ben Framed on July 15, 2020, 01:58:45 AM
Mr Van looking at your tough one, following the frame on the right side, where it meets the side of the picture, go left 3 or 4 bees and we will see her abdomen. There is a freshly hatched nurse bee on top of her thorax.
Exactly,,,, Phil, the queen is hard to spot in my last photo as only the abdomen is shown.
.30wcf, the clarity of you pic is impressive!! What camera did you use?
Thank you Mr Van. I enjoyed this. As Oldbeavo explained, is the same as I do though I have not thought of it in his words. I look, do a quick scan for (something different). I have learned, occasionally a queen may be the exact same color as the workers, I think JP and Schawee call them tiger stripe queens. Those can be a little more difficult for me to quickly find. If I do not find the queen quickly, I began to focus more indepthly for a tiger queen. lol. Works pretty good for me.
.
Let me add, when I find one of those "tigers", I make sure to mark her immediately. Sure makes it easier to find her the next time in case I may want too for a specific reason.
Agree with Ben. Even for the experienced eye, a young and quick Tiger queen is a tough find. Mark those ones soon as you see her. So as to reduce time and confusions in future inspections.
Usually by the time finished with the sesame street song on a frame face, she is found. If not, next frame and sing again. ;)
PS: I often mention the song, not to be silly, but as a coaching of time management and a tool to keep things moving through the frames and the box. Staring at a frame any longer than so has no benefit to you, the bees, or the open hive. Finish the song and promptly move on. 15-20 seconds per frame face and per box wall.
https://youtu.be/rsRjQDrDnY8
Find the queen practice / challenge. The directory is set as OPEN. Anyone can comment, you may even upload your own pictures there for all to practice on.
ENJOY!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Oor9fxh_oZ-bToYGMheP2RyJdSgoHANa?usp=sharing
iPhone XS camera
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👍
I really love the pictures. Good stuff! Thank you for sharing.
Quote from: TheHoneyPump on July 15, 2020, 03:37:03 PM
Find the queen practice / challenge. The directory is set as OPEN. Anyone can comment, you may even upload your own pictures there for all to practice on.
ENJOY!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Oor9fxh_oZ-bToYGMheP2RyJdSgoHANa?usp=sharing
I went to look for queens, but ended up finding the larger version of your profile picture, HP. I had thought those moose were horses at first! What an amazing picture!
Yup, I threw in a few other random pictures, in keeping with the overall theme of "one of these things ... "
Would be great if some BM folks would add uploads to the collection there, of some of their queen finding challenge pictures to add to the practice set.
Enjoy!
:cheesy:
Why did you mark the drones? Practice?
Quote from: Nock on July 16, 2020, 01:31:57 PM
Why did you mark the drones? Practice?
Mini research, a local experiment of interest. Just to see how far locally they would drift - into nearby other beekeepers hives. Was fun to get txtmsgs from folks a couple miles away, weeks later.
Quote from: TheHoneyPump on July 16, 2020, 04:04:21 PM
Quote from: Nock on July 16, 2020, 01:31:57 PM
Why did you mark the drones? Practice?
Mini research, a local experiment of interest. Just to see how far locally they would drift - into nearby other beekeepers hives. Was fun to get txtmsgs from folks a couple miles away, weeks later.
I like it. But according to the >books< the drones do not fly that far away. I believe you Mr HP. Thank you for sharing!! Good stuff.
Interesting. I figured you were doing something like that.
Ty all for your responses. I will be going back to the hives this weekend and putting your tips into practice. Another thing I need to do is get new glasses or perhaps throw a pair of readers over the ones I wear.
Quote from: TheHoneyPump on July 16, 2020, 10:47:34 AM
Yup, I threw in a few other random pictures, in keeping with the overall theme of "one of these things ... "
Would be great if some BM folks would add uploads to the collection there, of some of their queen finding challenge pictures to add to the practice set.
Enjoy!
:cheesy:
How many pics would you like? Do the pic has size limits?
http://bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm