London temperatures

[JonnyPicklechin]

It looks like a good period of mild weather dahn-sahf now. Bees very active yesterday. Will a prolonged period of February temperatures during the mid 5 or 6 hours of the day mean the Queen will start to lay? Night time looks like frost though.

Anything to watch especially?

Feeding?





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[enrico]

Hopefully started laying small amounts already. Early drones are a sign that queen is infertile, otherwise , provided they have some stores, leave them to it.
E

 

[user 6228]

Even in Scotland in the 1960s they had observed brood laying starting in early january. The honey bee new year appears to start on or shortly after December 24th. How they can detect the winter solstice is quite an interesting thing in its own right. My bet is they detect changes in the suns altitude near midday. We know the use the suns azimuth for navigation. Honey bees an insect that does astronomy

 

[mike99]

My girls are going absolutely mental this morning.

 

[citrus]

i am sarf london so personally a bit worried that they start getting busy and then it gets cold again ?

at least if it stays warm I can lift the lid and have a quick look at the stores level .. and perhaps start feeding them some syrup ?


have a poly eke and feeder ready

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

i am sarf london so personally a bit worried that they start getting busy and then it gets cold again ?

Happened last year when the Beast from the East appeared. Wiped out one of my colonies. Two big cold snaps if you remember...

Im gonna poke some fondant in over the weekend and see if they take any down.

Cheers all...

 

[JonnyPicklechin]

Even in Scotland in the 1960s they had observed brood laying starting in early january. The honey bee new year appears to start on or shortly after December 24th. How they can detect the winter solstice is quite an interesting thing in its own right. My bet is they detect changes in the suns altitude near midday. We know the use the suns azimuth for navigation. Honey bees an insect that does astronomy

Do you know if HRH only lays where the cluster is? Or will she break free and scamper when its warm and then return to the cluster when its colder, as in at night time?

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[Beefriendly]

Do you know if HRH only lays where the cluster is? Or will she break free and scamper when its warm and then return to the cluster when its colder, as in at night time?

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Tends to lay where bees (and warmth) are...which if warm means more spread and less clustered and more towards the top of the frames. If we get a cold spell after a warm spell the "cluster" tightens back up and anything previously laid outside of it dies.
But she don't go laying willy-nilly....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

she probably started laying ages ago, it's one of the few things that bees do follow a calendar on - regardless of weather/temperature.

 

[Swarm]

Do you know if HRH only lays where the cluster is? Or will she break free and scamper when its warm and then return to the cluster when its colder, as in at night time?

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She lays in an area within the winter cluster. Even in milder temps, she will not go walkabout as she needs nurse bees to tend the brood. With each emerging cycle, bee numbers increase rapidly, allowing the brood area to expand.

As to your initial question, a prolonged cold snap after these warmer days may find the cluster isolated from their stores so I would check their levels and just keep an eye on them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sure I saw ITTLD tweet that some of his colonies had brood some time ago, and it's as cold as a witch's tit up where they are

 

[wightbees]

Whilst warm I took the opportunity to feed those that needed it and I put feed directly on top of the cluster. Bets are it's a short warm spell, so I make the most of it.. I'm far down and short skip across the puddle South

 

[Teebeeaitch]

Fantastic weather here in Essex today and all hives very active. Decided to ignore the crocus but they are all over the winter heather. (Erica carnea). External observations only for me, I don’t open my hives at all for five months and just let them get on with it.

 

[Millet]

Sure I saw ITTLD tweet that some of his colonies had brood some time ago, and it's as cold as a witch's tit up where they are

Not far away are my little boxes and some of them had brood cappings in small numbers around mid January..

 

[MuswellMetro]

Not far away are my little boxes and some of them had brood cappings in small numbers around mid January..

i did a quick look today and on an 14x12 with insulated roof, on a 3rd floor roof in north london university i had 5 frames of brood 30% 50% 70% 50% 20% of 14x12 frames temp 13c

 

[iann41]

i did a quick look today and on an 14x12 with insulated roof, on a 3rd floor roof in north london university i had 5 frames of brood 30% 50% 70% 50% 20% of 14x12 frames temp 13c

You might have to go double 14x12 on that hive!

 

[SDM]

Decent temps forecast for the next week or so which should see the season underway.

 

[beeno]

Yep, agree season on the way with a bang judging by the pollen going in yesterday. Checking fondant levels today!

 

[mike99]

I have just checked the fondant on my hive and it's still full. They took about 14k of syrup down in the autumn and the BB is still heavy so I guess they don't feel the need of it at the moment.