What did you do in the Apiary today?

Checked all hives. One split done due to several charged cells.
Bees were not happy to see me, veil covered, was smelling bananas for an hour

Picked up a colony of Buckfasts last night from an association member who is having to take a break from beekeeping because of work commitments and other issues. Not sure what I've got as we could not open them up when I collected them last night and they feel very light .. possibility that they swarmed earlier this week. Too cold and windy to mess about with them today but it's going to be warmer tomorrow so I'll get into them then and see what's going on. Not a lot of flying from any colonies today ...

Same here, cold and very blustery. Racked some mead which is sort of apiary related.

Checked my apieda and the queen had emerged and was laying. Fast if I do say so myself!!! Checked the other hives, 1 had charged queen cups and 2 nuc’s had nothing so the charged queen cups were placed in them. See what happens.

Extracted two suppers from the long hive in my garden. 95% of comb was unsealed so I was a bit concerned that the MC may be on the high side. As I was extracting it was taking a while especially since it was a bit cooler today.
When I tried to get it out of the extractor it was like toffee..... MC below 15%.... in the end I stuffed a fan heater into the top of the extractor to get it to run out and through my settling tank sieve.
I have noticed that most of my super frames are not capped and all below 18%, is this common this year due to the hot weather we have been having?

Checked 40 hives yesterday, despite the cool, blustery weather most of my Buckfast were very quiet. Noticed one or two had started to use some stores due to the weather and June gap but also noticed blackberries are coming into flower, so need to have plenty of kit ready!
One of these beautiful Buckfasts had superseded perfectly with two queens marching around on the same frame. This is a clean, calm and very productive hive which I have now marked to look at raising a few queens from to see if progeny have same traits.
S

Stiffy said:

Checked 40 hives yesterday, despite the cool, blustery weather most of my Buckfast were very quiet. Noticed one or two had started to use some stores due to the weather and June gap but also noticed blackberries are coming into flower, so need to have plenty of kit ready!
One of these beautiful Buckfasts had superseded perfectly with two queens marching around on the same frame. This is a clean, calm and very productive hive which I have now marked to look at raising a few queens from to see if progeny have same traits.
S

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Will you use that first queen before the bees remove her?

Erichalfbee said:

Will you use that first queen before the bees remove her?

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Lots to consider as original queen wasn’t from my ‘usual’ source and although they have so far performed in line with my other Buckfast, I don’t have any long term knowledge.

I haven’t yet removed her and was really looking at her daughter to see how she and future grafts perform but may move her to a nuc to try a few.
The queen is only a year old, so I am also a bit wary about the hives decision to change her.
I only have open mating available so I also have to consider the impact from local ruffians and if the traits are retained!
As I started lots to consider, especially at a time when hives are coming into their busiest production period.
S

Finally managed to move the 20 colonies earmarked for our new West Cornwall site.
All happily settled in and supers already filling.
Will be interesting to see how much honey these Amm colonies will pull in... brambles all in full bloom down there.
Just for honey site as apparently the area is not known to have much by the way of keepers of Amm.

Chons da

Watched the rain and the wind gusting.

One nuc with slates on top blew sideways and landed on lawn, frames partially out.. After righting it, strapped it to frame stand - if it falls it will not spill contents onto lawn.

Just for a change , it is raining this morning....

pargyle said:

Picked up a colony of Buckfasts last night from an association member who is having to take a break from beekeeping because of work commitments and other issues. Not sure what I've got as we could not open them up when I collected them last night and they feel very light .. possibility that they swarmed earlier this week. Too cold and windy to mess about with them today but it's going to be warmer tomorrow so I'll get into them then and see what's going on. Not a lot of flying from any colonies today ...

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Well... I transferred them to one of my hives today. There was no eggs or brood in there - plenty of bees (and very nice bees) but at least eight capped queen cells. No sign of a marked queen in there and initially there was no sign of a virgin.. They must have swarmed at least a week ago. There was one lovely big queen cell that was bang in the middle of a frame and so I left that one and started taking down all the other ones .. and then.. as I uncapped one out popped a queen - went to grab her and missed and she disappeared .. I wasn't uncapping on top of the hive - because sometimes you find a queen in there and can grab her before she slips in. Been there and done that !

So, I looked everywhere but couldn't find her. Carried on getting rid of all the other QC's and putting it all back together. Was just tidyin up and on my arm... there she was. Almost automatically I picked her off and popped her on the landing board .. a group of bees immediately came to greet here and were offering her food .. fabulous to watch. Then off she went into the hive.

And then I thought - bugger it - I've left one queen cell in there so ..

!. Should I go back in and remove the frame with the QC and put it with a couple of frames into a Nuc as insurance (I've marked the frame so I know where it is) ?

or://

2. Leave them to it and let them sort out who they want ?

It was a very thorough inspection so I know I've got all the QC's bar the one I left - shook the bees off all the frames and checked all the usual edge and bottom nooks and crannies. I have some concerns about raising what may be an F3 Buckfast (although the local mongrels are fairly docile) but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, if I come to it. Having ripped the apart today to get them into a new box so I can return the timber hive to the the owner I am equally conscious that I should not now be fiddling with them - moreso as I have a virgin running around in there !

Any thoughts ?

Did my first split using a nuc. The colony that swarmed over Easter is up to no good. Found multiple queen cells with eggs and some cups primed with royal jelly. Removed all but two unsealed QC. There will be more produced as there are eggs and young larvae in the brood box.

Transferred the ginger queen to the nuc along with some capped brood and bees. Given her some drawn foundation and limited stores - not much to borrow so have added a feeder with syrup.

Quickly checked on my new bees, received as a swarm on Tuesday last week, very calm and gentle, so different from the other ones. The queen is laying, so closed up and left them to it.

Had a quick peep in the hive in which I housed a swarm over the bank holiday... Turns out, contrary to my initial thoughts, it was a cast, as the queen has only been laying for about five days by my reckoning, a few frames of pearly white larvae about to be sealed...

Was fun doing my first inspection in five years!

BP

Bugger me little darlings, ive just gone through some Mating nucs and 60% of the Queens are orange I've had to hive up all of them. As there bursting how 10 days can make a difference.
All the as splits 3 full colonys got split into 6 they have had supers added.
I've gone through my 4 breeder colonys and I'm going to need to take nucs from 2.
I've split three single brood colonys but no sign of Mating yet this was last weekend.
All colonys have good stores in the brood and there's 3 maybe 4 supers to be extracted but I'm going to leave them.
Im off to catherton to check my 6 singles! bloody red tailed girls will have new queens.

Funny how my first mated queen's were all black..

I can recommend using dried lavender in your smoker.. I'm not sure who's more chilled out me or the bee's.
See ya!

Our megga split of a colony too difficult to move.... made up 10 three frame double BS nucs and left original queen in a Paynes nuc dummied down to three frames... on site... Our splits open mated in the hidden Cornish valley has worked, now on inspection today we have 20 more colonies of Cornish Amm... only difficulty is inspecting these double colonies without bees crossing over, found a strip of ply cut to size to block the top of the frames did the job.

The original apiary site was on an unused "footpath" that now seems to have been deemed a right of way under some new review of abandoned paths, despite the fact that it has been unused and impassable since WW2. We suspected that we could possibly need to move the bees at some point, no easy vehicular access as over 2 inaccessible cropped fields now also surrounded with stock fence and barbed wire the thought of lifting even a single brood colony was impractical.
Colony went to double brood over winter and another brood box went on in March... and these are Amm!
Each split had stores with pollen and at least one frame covered with bees.
Now all I have to do is lock in the mother nuc and carry that away... in the dark!

Chons da

ben.pullan said:

Had a quick peep in the hive in which I housed a swarm over the bank holiday... Turns out, contrary to my initial thoughts, it was a cast, as the queen has only been laying for about five days by my reckoning, a few frames of pearly white larvae about to be sealed...

Was fun doing my first inspection in five years!

BP

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I hope you enjoy many more Ben.

Added a fifth super to my biggest colony - another extraction will have to be made as I can't lift a full super any higher! The other two are doing fine, one's a bit grumpy.

Inspected my baited swarm in it's nuc. Building up steadily. Each frame is 1/3 brood, mostly hatched out in the last week, 1/3 half drawn with capped brood and a few larvae, and 1/3 just starting to draw out with a few eggs.

No nectar that I could see so filled up the feeder again (3L of 1:1) to help them draw out the rest of the combs and feed themselves if needed.

Main hive ready for them wen they need it. I think one more generation of brood. Maybe 3-4 weeks.

They have been lovely and calm, less so this time as it was cooler and windy, but still fine, just one or two bumping off the veil.

No sign of her Majesty this week (freshly named Boudicca by my friend's daughter), but with fresh eggs not worried.

Curly green finger's said:

I hope you enjoy many more Ben.

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Thanks Cgf, somehow back to three colonies in the space of a couple of weeks so will be many more to do aha!

Made up 10 nucs today also took a queen in nuc away from hive with charged Qcs , one apiary the bees were just pure mean what ever the hell was up with them .