The sun has got his hat on

[MJBee]

After a very wet, cold and windy start to November the sun finally shone today and all my colonies were out - Nice to hear the apiary buzzing again

Quite a selection of formats here - of the three from L to R Double brood National, Dadant, Commercial. Last pic is single brood National - trials continue.

 

[For want of a better word]

Nice to see the Jet Stream is bringing kind weather to you

My bees were humming earlier today... I think they must have forgotten the words !

 

[Silly Bee]

Just in from the alottment. Three hives and the girls are enjoying the sunshine.

 

[oliver90owner]

I, too, have been beekeeping today.

OH drove and did all the lifting and carrying, as has been usual for the last month.

The bees were busy from one hive and a nuc in the garden, and although not so busy at the apiary, all the colonies said 'hello' when the small adjustments were made. Mouse guards and entrance blocks sorted, and a piece of wider wood under the '6 mm ply' colony.

Responses were varied from the 'laid-back hello', as a few bees jumbled out, crawled around a bit and quietly returned to the warmth of the hive; to the full blooded veil-pinging, with following for several minutes, after walking away by about twenty metres.

Noted, for queen selection for breeding, or culling, next spring. Now home for the next round of tablets and a good rest (probabaly a sleep) to recover!

Regards, RAB

 

[Mike a]

Now home for the next round of tablets and a good rest (probabaly a sleep) to recover!

Regards, RAB

Good to hear your out and about Rab.

 

[simon kerr]

Both of mine were out and about, bringing in pollen from the field next door! Its was a good time to get my roofs insulated, now were ready!

 

[darren64]

hammered it down in bingley for most of the day.

 

[iball]

One of my hives we're flying today, didn't notice any pollen but certainly a lot of activity at the entrance.

 

[Vergilius]

Was playing rugby today so I didn't get to have a look at the apiary. Cloudy and wet down here so I doubt that there was too much activity.

Responses were varied from the 'laid-back hello', as a few bees jumbled out, crawled around a bit and quietly returned to the warmth of the hive; to the full blooded veil-pinging, with following for several minutes, after walking away by about twenty metres.

Yeah, my aggressive ones went very angry last weekend when I was installing a mouse-guard. I suppose that it is expected- they're just starting to cluster on a cold day when suddenly there is a BANG BANG BANG as someone is nailing a sheet of metal across their inpassable entrance. They all swarmed out to the entrance which makes a tricky job (for someone with poor dexterity like me) even harder. Needless to say I was mobbed and had to go on a long walk. To be honest I wondered afterwards whether it is worth disturbing their clustering process for a job like this at this time of the year...

Did a decent job in the end and, on reflection, a necessary one.


Ben P

 

[Poly Hive]

Ben?

No need to hammer at all.

Pre drill, use "proper drawing pins) usually from an art supply shop, and pin gently through said holes, 2mm drill does fine.

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

Ben,

I use the larger drawing pins. I have a file handle (wooden) with a metal collar and simply added a 12 mm neodymium disc magnet. Perhaps I should have glued it in place - I might do, when I have lost this one!

A steel drawing pin is manouvered onto magnet and just pushed home. Aluminium mouse guards are easy, galvanised/coated steel sometimes needs a bit of thought to recover the magnet! No real distrubance to the hive though.

Th*rne sell them for £1.80, but mine cost me about 20p.

The bees may all be at home but most are not really clustered yet.

I peeped into the entrances of my two polynucs these last couple of evenings (about 22:00h) and there were bees hanging from the frame bottoms and crawling (or bunched) on the floor as well, so some steady activity. There is certainly no chance of mice gaining entry to either of those at the moment!

Regards, RAB

 

[Vergilius]

Thanks PH and RAB

Will use pins next autumn rather than nails.



Ben P

 

[jimbeekeeper]

suddenly there is a BANG BANG BANG as someone is nailing a sheet of metal across their inpassable entrance.

Ben you are not fitting hurricane shutters!

2 drawing pins, 10 seconds to push them in. job done.

 

[Summerslease]

My garden hive bees were very busy today, some bringing pollen and nectar, presumably from ivy. The rest were all over the greenhouse, drinking water from the gutter and sucking it from moss on the roof. I'd never seen so many drinking at the same time. Fortunately they were good natured.

 

[Hombre]

Mid day today and the five hives in the garden were busy. Noticeably the one that gets the most sun was most active, running back into the shadows the activity became steadily less.

Two brave girls with knickers full of pollen were spark out on a roof top so along with a dozen others that had succumbed to the cold on other wet roofs I popped them into a cigarette packet and took them indoors for reviving and entertainment inside on a radiator.

With engines revving an hour later I let them go in the proximity of the hives in the hope that they wouldn't think me a soft bugger like you do having read this.

Remember: Bee kind to the workers.

 

[Silly Bee]

What a difference a day makes. It flipping cold and damp here today, and the girls are not venturing out, don't blame them either.Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Gardenbees]

Beautiful warm sun on half of my little apiary today: girls very busy on the "sunny" hive, but having a lie-in on the shadier side, where the low sun doesn't reach until lunchtime. Must reorganise it a bit for next year.

Ben, you can spare your bees a headache from hammering!! The thumbtack approach is quite acceptable! Or, if you have a relatively small apiary there's also the option of mouseguards which just slide into place. I use castellated ones - more expensive but still very cheap if you only need a few. They sit on simple brackets either side of the box. You can slide the guards in either way up depending on how many entrances you want the girls to have - very handy if you have a new or weak colony that needs a quick entrance reduction to protect from wasps or other baddies (the castellated holes are a little larger than the usual round mouseguard holes, and don't seem to knock off pollen quite so much, so the effect on foraging isn't too bad).

 

[iball]

Hive #1 at 12:40pm today.View attachment 2666

My other hive, 2 feet away, is in the shade with no activity.

Ian

 

[RoofTops]

Beautiful warm sun on half of my little apiary today: girls very busy on the "sunny" hive, but having a lie-in on the shadier side, where the low sun doesn't reach until lunchtime. Must reorganise it a bit for next year.

This really depends on what why you want them flying about at this time of year. Is there any forage for them?

For example, when there is snow on the ground and the sun is shining there is a danger the bees will come out flying and quickly chill to death. This is why it is recommended to put the entrances in shade with a sloping board so the bees still think it is dark outside and stay indoors.

To the best of my knowledge no one has shown that south facing entrances are any better than entrance facing in other directions - in the same apiary.

 

[psafloyd]

Ben?

No need to hammer at all.

Pre drill, use "proper drawing pins) usually from an art supply shop, and pin gently through said holes, 2mm drill does fine.

PH

I pinned using two of the holes and then around the sides and bottom with stainless steel thumb tacks. May drill mouseguards for next year as it seems to make perfect sense.