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  1. R

    Bbka magazine

    I'm a member/lurker on a number of different forums relating to various interests. In nearly every case the forum has either split off from another organisation or forum or has lost a number of members to a splinter forum. Nearly all of the old guard who make up the vast majority of the post...
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    Reorientation

    I moved a hive from one end of my garden where it overwintered to the other end near to the others a few days back. Not having the facility to move it to another location more than three miles away fir a few days and then bringing ut back I simply waited until dusk, closed the entrance and...
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    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    A nice dry and sunny morning here in Norfolk. Wandered up the garden to see what the girls are up to and found all of the hives very active with a lot of bees flying, some old and grizzled, some new and fluffy which is pleasing. Less pleasing however was watching a small queen orientating in...
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    Lots of pollen

    Although most of my colonies are pretty much clustered the two larger ones which presumably can spare some bees from the cluster have been actively foraging over the Xmas period on any day where the weather has been dry and above just 8 degC here in Norfolk. They are bringing in small...
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    Maqs - bad news

    I have just used MAQS on six of my 14x12 colonies, the second time I've used it. The first time, a couple of years ago, the stuff stank to high heaven and made my eyes water when putting it in the hives, lots of bees came out onto the landing board even through the nights and although I had no...
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    Swarm witnessed

    Just going back to the discussion about an eke with an entrance I simply drill a hole through the side wall of my Maisemore poly brood boxes towards the bottom and seal it with a wine bottle Cork when not needed. It works well as an upper entrance or alternative entrance for manipulations and...
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    Swarm crazy

    Here in Norfolk we have just had a week of bitterly cold (8-9 deg C) grey weather and the bees have hardly put their heads out of the hive. The weeks before were lovely and sunny and there was a strong flow coming in, with all hives now having 2 or 3 supers on. Today the sun is back and I was...
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    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    There's clearly a wide variation of conditions across the country. Here in Norfolk the first quick look in all four of my 14x12 colonies shows they are queen right with a good quantity of BIAS, even the weakest has 4 frames with good amounts of brood on. Some drones seen in 2 of the 4 hives...
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    Could be time to break out the shorts...

    Amazingly the weight gain must be all Nectar and pollen as the fondant weight was included in the previous figures..... Don't really want the brood to go into the nadirs if possible, so probably best if I get them off when I finally do the first inspection. It's just knowing when to finally go...
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    Could be time to break out the shorts...

    Beautiful day here in Norfolk, 14 degC and bright sun. Bees hauling in pollen with great enthusiam. Quick peek through the poly crownboards shows they are heavily into bracecomb inside the eke now they've finished off the fondant. Hives very heavy and gained a kilo in a week. Itching to get...
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    Is this a drone?

    Lovely, thanks for the replies and the really informative link, at least I don't feel so bad about being unsure what he was. Honey's my assistant beekeeper, she always comes up to the hives in the garden with me to see what's going on. She quite likes the telly too....:cool:
  12. R

    Is this a drone?

    Yesterday I was doing some fibreglass repairs on an old Lotus in my workshop and put the heaters on to get the temperature up to help the 'glass cure. Quite often when I do this at this time of year it wakes up one or two butterflies or wasps who fly around thinking the spring has arrived only...
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    Should I move them into a hive?

    Just as an update if anyone is interested I moved the overcrowded nucleus colony into a 14x12 poly hive with two extra frames of drawn foundation and a dummy board blanking off the remaining two undrawn frames. Just checked up on progress and they are back up to 4 frames with BIAS on 50% of each...
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    Should I move them into a hive?

    Thanks guys, think I'll go for the move into a full hive. I should have said earlier that i have Apivar in right now so don't want to put a super on if I can help it. I thought it would be fine to over-winter them in the nuc but it now feels like I will be restricting the queens lay if I don't...
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    Should I move them into a hive?

    Hi all, A swarm I collected in June and placed in a 14x12 Poly nuc has settled in really well and has what seems to be a highly productive queen laying healthy, productive and calm workers. They are currently piling pollen and nectar into the hive, I think the source must be both Ivy and...
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