Laurence Edwards checks his 2022 F0 breeder queen, mated in 2020, and finds a six-frame cluster with strong weight and calm temperament. The colony has healthy stores but may need fondant by February or March. He now has three breeder queens ready to raise F1 Buckfast queens next season.
In this video, I'm going to give you an update on my F0 breeder queen. Hi, I'm Laurence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey. Welcome to another episode of No Nonsense Beekeeping. I said I would give you regular updates of my 2022 F0 breeder queen. That is the queen that I'm going to use for breeding in 2022. She was mated back in 2020. I'm going to get inside, take a look. I'm not going to wear a suit, just want to look at how big that cluster is, assess the temperament again, and I'm just checking them for stores to make sure they've got enough to get them through. So let's get over, see how the bees are getting on. So this is the colony here, the one in the middle. I've just given them a little heft and the weight's pretty good. Sometimes with nucs they fly through it, and it has been really, really warm, but I'm quite pleasantly surprised with this one. They're relatively Conservative with their winter stores to date. Obviously, I don't know what's going to happen for the next three months. Still got a long time left in winter before we get through into spring. But I'm being uber cautious with these because it's quite an expensive breed of queen. In terms of weight, though, they've definitely lost weight since I was last here. They're definitely going to need fondant. I would say come March, maybe February or March. I'm going to keep a close eye on them, though. But I'm here today just checking for weight, and I'm going to open them up, do a real quick. Look at the top of that cluster, see how they're getting on. So here we go. How good do these bees look? Like, it's 6 frames covered every single time I come and take a look at them. Lots and lots of weight in there, and again, really nice gentle bees. I know you probably get bored of this, you'd like to see me get stung in the face, and there's a couple of bees flying around checking me out again, but there's no stings. There really isn't much aggression in these bees. Just going to get my hand in here again, and I've had a few come out and ping me. So that was a little bit different from last time, but no stings, like just a few pings. That's what I want to see. You can't expect bees to just be 100% docile like little puppy dogs. They've got stings and they are going to use them if they feel threatened. But as you can see again, I'm getting nice and close with my hand. There really isn't too much aggression. So what is so interesting with this colony here is how they've evolved over the past 6 to 8 weeks. Last time I did this, people said it was set up, people said it was too cold. You can see the bees are flying, and I've had a few pop up and have a bit of a go at me to be like, back off, which is good. Like, I don't think that's a bad trait for the bees to have, but they're not stinging me. Again, really nice, calm temperament bees. I'm going to cut this video here because there's no need for me to have these colonies open anymore. I've checked them for weight, I've taken a look at that cluster. I think they're in a really good position. I'm gonna get that feeder back on. I can't wait to work with this colony later in the year. So a final little close-up of that cluster there. You can see now the bees have settled down. You can see a real cluster size forming there. Still over 6 frames though. It is a big, big strong colony, this, just about fitting in that nuc. You can see down every single seam there are bees there. Big mass of them over in that corner, and then even down there, the bees are filling that nuc up all the way. So I'm going to close them back up again now. Probably going to be here in about another 4 to 6 weeks, just checking for weight again. But for the time being, they're doing very, very well indeed. So there you go, just a quick update on the overwintered F0 breeder queen. Doing very, very well. I've got 3 breeder queens in this apiary. I've just been through all of them and they're looking fantastic. Bodes so well for next year. Trying to get an F0 breeder queen early in the year is impossible. You cannot do it. I've learned that from experience. So to have 3 going into next year puts me in such a good position in order to raise my own F1 Buckfast queens. Hope you enjoyed that video. As always, please hit the subscribe button, please hit the bell so you're notified of every video, and I'll see you next time.
