What did you do in the Apiary today?

[wightbees]

I thought last week had saved the season
However
From 30degs to 16degs overnight, now with rain.
Forecast now showing 15-16 degs until end of
June. Hope they dont eat it all.

Still in the 20s here with the week outlook staying the same.

 

[Millet]

United a Q- split to the original colony the split come from over news paper, the bees where slowly dwindling away and the Swallows must have nabbed the Queen on her mating flight, i also spotted a bean field just coming into flower 250 yards away across the other side of a field gone wild and untouched which is full of thistles every year, i wonder if the bees will chose the beans over the thistles.

 

[user 6228]

no water added

Just checking round the colonies they are all unperturbed by the heatwave. We had several colonies in artificial trees and tree level insulation hives and they didnt need additional water. In fact their water consumption went down dramatically during the heatwave

 

[Beefriendly]

Interesting. How are you monitoring or calculating water consumption?

 

[user 6228]

Interesting. How are you monitoring or calculating water consumption?

frequency of bees at the watering hole

 

[Beefriendly]

How do you know they all use the same watering hole? Perhaps they have found a different one that is easier to communicate to other bees to find?

 

[Millet]

frequency of bees at the watering hole

Surely that can not be accurate enough for your scientific study, you would be better of with entrance feeders with sealed marked bottles with the appropriate measuring scales marked on the water feeders, and then do away with any water source they are using if possible, but then again if they go on the grass in the morning and collect dew drops the records will be wrong again..

 

[Beefriendly]

frequency of bees at the watering hole

Kinda ignores the incoming nectar with a high water content coming in to the hives at present...which might mean they don't need to use other water sources.
Difficult question to answer, really as water comes from more than one source. Earlier visits may have been due to needing water to dilute stores whilst nectar was in short supply (June gap).
What is your positive control that is using more water?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I thought last week had saved the season
However
From 30degs to 16degs overnight, now with rain.
Forecast now showing 15-16 degs until end of
June. Hope they dont eat it all.

16 degrees is good enough for mine to forage in

Today went to look over a beginner's hives - one dwindling colony with a failed queen unfortunately and a failed QC in a nuc - two swift shakeputs then checked one of her other hives which, although only on six frames had gone bonkers on the bramble and balsam, got stores bound and were making swarm preparations so (pending queen emerging and mating) she's back up to three hives.
Decided to pop up the Gelli to check the hives there, all bar one needed supers and are making the most of the extra sunshine now the first cut of silage has opened up the apiary a bit.
just outside the gate in the ruins of the old forge balsam and bramble competing to gain the bees' attention.
Back home to prepare another couple of dozen supers as the bees are working overtime

 

[Beefriendly]

Pathetic really...get some decent bees

 

[wightbees]

Is that Finny

 

[bjosephd]

A newly mated queen finally laying and found... of course only after a test frame went in a few days ago... someone else on here was sayin - why does the queen always wait for the test frame before she starts laying!

This queen is of unknown origin due to a messed up AS and queen rearing fiasco... so is she daughter a lovely queen or daughter of the ghastly queen... and either way, who did she mate with? Anyway, so far she is small ish and very dark.

 

[Millet]

Is that Finny

No me next year once i know how much water they use..

 

[Millet]

A newly mated queen finally laying and found... of course only after a test frame went in a few days ago... someone else on here was sayin - why does the queen always wait for the test frame before she starts laying!

This queen is of unknown origin due to a messed up AS and queen rearing fiasco... so is she daughter a lovely queen or daughter of the ghastly queen... and either way, who did she mate with? Anyway, so far she is small ish and very dark.

At least you have a positive Queen mating, for the past two years i have tried to raise Queen cells in splits and artificial swarms and every time they rather fail to emerge or disappear once they have emerged (Swallows?), either way give yourself a pat on the back, a mated Queen is a mated queen from where ever and just what you need at this time of the year.

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

11th swarm captured today
Down to the last few ivy store frames I've been using to feed the new arrivals with
Demareed 2 colonies

 

[bjosephd]

At least you have a positive Queen mating, for the past two years i have tried to raise Queen cells in splits and artificial swarms and every time they rather fail to emerge or disappear once they have emerged (Swallows?), either way give yourself a pat on the back, a mated Queen is a mated queen from where ever and just what you need at this time of the year.

Welll we'll wait and see... all closed up now and I guess I'll just leave them for a good while now... boosted with the buckfast frame of eggs I put in there as a test frame.

Let's hope she's mated well enough and healthy enough for then not to try and supersede her before autumn!

 

[colinc]

Nothing today.
Pondering the weekend. Have a double brood Q- from A/S to do something with, 2 Q+ singles from A/S and a big colony with a virgin heading it if she is laying yet. Considering brood going back to Qs over next week or two to get back to 3 hives.

Oh the joys of prolific Bees.


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[B+.]

Just delivered 5 queens to a local beekeeper. Strangely enough, it was Gunter who introduced me to I.B. Celle queens many years ago. Now he buys his queens from me.

I received an email yesterday to say that IB Celle are sending my island mated (Neuwerk) queens on the 3rd so I'll have to make up nucs this weekend. All at a time when I have my own queens emerging and needing homes. I was a bit disappointed with the 2016 Celle queens I tested this year. Not in their honey productivity (3-4 deep boxes) but their behavior wasn't up to previous standards. If their 2017 queens don't improve, I'll think long and hard about continuing buying queens from there in future. The 2016 Dutch stock has been much better and the 2017 queens are being mated on the German island of Wangerooge, so, things will go on much the same.

 

[Millet]

Today i put another brood box on top of the new Bees from a six framed nuc and they have only been in the brood box below for ten days which was on seven frames of brood and eggs the rest was full of stores with not much more space to lay,she sure is a egg laying machine compared to my angry old Queen and they are like pussy cats, i also put a frame of eggs and brood from other really calm bees into one of my other Q- hive which has yet another failed virgin Queen (Bloody Swallows).
All this progress has only been made possible because of the good gentleman
Beefriendly .

 

[colinc]

Q+ part from 2 splits going great, half the Q- part of one split merged back to Q+ part today and knocked down all but one QC in the Q- part of another.


And then there were 4.....

Now have a 2015, a 2016, a laying 2017 and and another imminent virgin headed 2017.
Gonna have to get a bigger garden.....

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