Recent content by dlawr42103

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. D

    Ivy Flowering

    Patches of ivy in full flower in Oxfordshire, earlier than last few years. Mixed blessings.. good for the bees... not so good for those hoping to take more honey. Covered in hundreds of wasps, bees and hoverflies, even quite a few hornet-hoverflies (hoverfly mimic) pic attached.
  2. D

    Bees feeding on blackberries

    Found this quite interesting, thought I would share... Noticed honeybees on blackberries quite often, I always thought they were collecting water/ dew from between fruits ... watching them closely today they are collecting juice from the largest juiciest fruits that I guess have been chewed by...
  3. D

    Ivy Watch

    Photos attached... before and after hornet grabbed her
  4. D

    Ivy Watch

    Ivy Flowering in Oxfordshire First of the ivy flowers opening in Oxfordshire... A little earlier than last year. Took a photo of a honeybee on the flowers... As I was about to take 2nd photo a hornet swooped in grabbed her, bit her head off and flew off with the rest of her! I have a photo ill...
  5. D

    Ivy Watch

    First flowering ivy of the year seen this evening in oxfordshire. 6:45pm lots of bumbles, wasps and a couple of hornets hunting amongst it. Only patches, less than 5% actually in flower.... Time to get the last of the honey off quick for me!..... Last year was 5th Sept for me when first seen...
  6. D

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Thanks Brian I wasn't aware of this... I'll take extra precautions.
  7. D

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Swarmy Year!!! No swarms in 4 years to 4 swarms in one week! Captured 3, lost 1 cast. Apiary getting congested with A/S's and captured swarms. Equipment almost depleted. These bees are masters at hiding QC's! Pretty sure I should finally get a breather for a while, but I have thought that before!
  8. D

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    All of my hives are busy, looks more like spring than winter... They are bringing in a lot of yellow pollen which I think might be mustard as I saw a field of it a couple of miles away.
  9. D

    Hornet!

    Managed to film this hornet this morning after it grabbed a wasp from the ivy....https://youtu.be/8qNIL-E6yBc
  10. D

    bees running out of room advice

    I run on commercials. 4 of my hives have been really strong this year, a few weeks ago I extracted all that was available and stripped these hives down to 1 super only and gave them a bit of a feed. I left the 1 super on these as they really need the room. The bb are full and all frames in the...
  11. D

    Hornet!

    Quite a few around my way, big orange intimidating looking things that sound like giant drones when they fly. At the moment I quite often see them around the ivy flowers mostly appear to like picking off wasps.... Have also seen them take out large dragonflies, they pin them down and bite off...
  12. D

    Lesser strength maqs?

    Just a quick update as earlier in this thread I posted a concern following maq treatment. All hives calmed down on day 4, and today I have eggs in all so all looks well.
  13. D

    Lesser strength maqs?

    Can assure you I 100% follow the instructions. Can't understand why sometimes I get a strong reaction and other times virtually none. The one observation I did make is the worst affected colony did beard strongly which could have reduced ventilation, thus resulting in more deaths.
  14. D

    Lesser strength maqs?

    I can report the opposite, treated 3 colonies last weekend, all 3 were strong and in very similar condition. 2 of these had a very strong reactions with piles of dead bees, the 3rd didn't seem to lose many. Today all 3 are roaring and sound suspiciously queenless... Very keen to check but will...
  15. D

    IvyWatch UK and Ireland

    1st fully blossomed ivy I have seen today in Oxfordshire. Looks like there is going to be a massive crop of it this year. Reckon another week or two before the bees start bringing it in in volume.
Back
Top