This cold weather...

[BeeJuice]

Today it is 8 degrees and right now it is hailing outside. Most of the week it has struggled to get over 10 degrees. When the sun is out the bees come out but since that's a rare event they seem to spend their time inside.

When I looked inside the hives a week ago on a sunny 17 degree afternoon they were doing great - loads of brood in all stages and I added second brood boxes on three hives and plan to do an AS on one which was making queen cells.

So what effect will this weather have? I presume the brood will be emerging and the eggs and larvae will continue at their own pace... will the Queen have changed her behaviour? Will it make swarming less likely? Or does a week of cold weather make no difference?

cheers..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I added second brood boxes on three hives and plan to do an AS on one which was making queen cells.

cheers..

At what stage of development were the QC's ? - one thing you cannot do if you find queen cells is walk away and do nothing 'until next time' - sticking an extra box on doesn't count as doing anything in itself. Good chance they will have gone when you next open up.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Ive been watching my friends automatic scales that record each evening. last week they went up each day, some days by over a Kilo. This week their falling back down again, not as much, yet.
I so hope the weather warms up soon. we've got three weeks left before the six week ish pause in nectar flow starts, so if were going to get any spring honey, we need warmth!! so much in flower around at the moment.
I dont think this cold will them done too much harm, but we've certainly lost foraging time. If it does get warmer next week i reckon swarming will still be the same, just a couple of weeks later. It might work out just fine if the heat arrives. 17 forecast here in 7 days, were waiting, like everybody!! Soo frustrating.

 

[BeeJuice]

At what stage of development were the QC's ? - one thing you cannot do if you find queen cells is walk away and do nothing 'until next time' - sticking an extra box on doesn't count as doing anything in itself. Good chance they will have gone when you next open up.

Sorry, I wasn't that clear.. In three hives where the colonies were growing but there were no queen cells I added an extra BB.

In the fourth, there was a queen cell but no egg. I didn't add a second BB as I intend to revisit it this week (less than a week since the last inspection)

I will do an AS once I can see that the bees are moving ahead with the QC with an egg at least..

 

[BeeJuice]

Ive been watching my friends automatic scales that record each evening. last week they went up each day, some days by over a Kilo.

Yes, very frustrating.. for us and the bees

I was searching the internet yesterday for hive scales. There seem to be some clever satellite systems which measure everything - but very expensive.

I'd like to rig something up with bathroom scales.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sorry, I wasn't that clear.. In three hives where the colonies were growing but there were no queen cells I added an extra BB.

In the fourth, there was a queen cell but no egg. I didn't add a second BB as I intend to revisit it this week (less than a week since the last inspection)

I will do an AS once I can see that the bees are moving ahead with the QC with an egg at least..

That's better - was it just a cup or a more advanced construction? In my view a queen cell isn't a queen cell until there is a larvae and royal jelly in. What you saw sounds more like a play cup - bees make them constantly. My feeling is that the cold weather will have quashed even the slightest urge to make swarm preparations. Worth keeping an eye on that colony though.

 

[BeeJuice]

That's better - was it just a cup or a more advanced construction? In my view a queen cell isn't a queen cell until there is a larvae and royal jelly in. What you saw sounds more like a play cup - bees make them constantly. My feeling is that the cold weather will have quashed even the slightest urge to make swarm preparations. Worth keeping an eye on that colony though.

Yes, let's call it a play cup. I'm waiting to see what they do with it.

Looking out of the window right now it is like a wet November afternoon - it looks like it is getting dark at 4:30. As you say, if you were a bee looking out of the door the urge to swarm must be on hold at least.

 

[Poly Hive]

There will very likely be a brood stop. The bees slow the queen down by adjusting her feeding and the egg machine takes a break. In turn no eggs means no brood. Not at all unusual and an interesting event for the newer people to take note of.

You can spend all Winter reading and generating plans, but the weather rules.

Please give a thought to food levels too as this weather is to continue until next week, and at that they are only suggesting 10 to 12C. Snowed here half an hour ago so.... be watchful.

PH

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'd like to rig something up with bathroom scales.

I've seen that done somewhere - the scales were in a box which the hive sat upon - there was a mirror above the scales dial so you could read the weight (albeit back to front) from outside.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Please give a thought to food levels too as this weather is to continue until next week, and at that they are only suggesting 10 to 12C. Snowed here half an hour ago so.... be watchful.

PH

Yes my itchy fingers have just got some ultrabee out of the freezer

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've just put the kettle on and put a Lidl chocolate and custard pastry twist thingy on a plate

 

[Erichalfbee]

I bet that tastes nicer than pretend pollen

 

[Robbo8916]

Think we have had all four seasons today! It was actually SNOWING earlier!

Very odd. As the days get closer to my bees arriving I watch the weather a lot more than I ever did!

 

[alldigging]

Think we have had all four seasons today! It was actually SNOWING earlier!

Very odd. As the days get closer to my bees arriving I watch the weather a lot more than I ever did!

We've had at least two blasts of icey stuff from the sky. Brr.
Was gloriously sunny for a short while but windy with low flying bees.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Yes, very frustrating.. for us and the bees

I was searching the internet yesterday for hive scales. There seem to be some clever satellite systems which measure everything - but very expensive.

I'd like to rig something up with bathroom scales.

Load cells are quite inexpensive but putting together the load cell with a data recorder was beyond my technical ability so I did no further work on the project. My son-in-law thought he could use a Rasberry Pi computer to do all the work but we were unable to get a "signal" up the garden using the data cable that I had bought "on spec" at a car boot sale (last of the big spenders, me).

Somebody with a bit of electronic expertise and computer skills could rig a system to measure inside and outside temperature, RH inside and outside, weight and maybe even a small camera to show what's happening at the entrance - all data fed onto a real time website that could be interrogated remotely.

CVB

 

[Hivemaker.]

My son-in-law thought he could use a Rasberry Pi computer to do all the work but we were unable to get a "signal"

Perhaps he should try a Blackberry........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIaXSBSQ0W0

 

[MartinL]

Was warm & sunny when I got home from work.

Went and got changed, (ready for the greenhouse) glass of chilled pineapple juice to take with me.

As I'm closing the fridge door the wind is picking up outside.

All dark and would you believe, SNOW!






Put kettle on & got the laptop out.

 

[Plenty of honey]

There will very likely be a brood stop. The bees slow the queen down by adjusting her feeding and the egg machine takes a break. In turn no eggs means no brood. Not at all unusual and an interesting event for the newer people to take note of.

You can spend all Winter reading and generating plans, but the weather rules.

Please give a thought to food levels too as this weather is to continue until next week, and at that they are only suggesting 10 to 12C. Snowed here half an hour ago so.... be watchful.

PH

Yes i reckon your right re brood break, but if bees have plenty of pollen stored i reckon they will carry on for a while. I had a good look at frames from a few hives last week, when i stocked my cell builder. There was so much stored pollen i would like to think they will keep brood rearing for a while, until they perhaps run low? This would be probably be the perfect time to feed pollen sub, but not organised enough to do that.

But thats one thing for sure "the weather rules"

 

[chrisb]

this is like a song from "crowded house" four seasons in one day

 

[chrisb]

"O" no its snowing, I am sat watching it snow and we are nearly in May.
time to dig out the fondant. lol