What did you do in the Apiary today?

[victor meldrew]

Ne! Then!
Administered thymolated oasis blocks to my 5 colonies .
The weather is so nice I thought I would assess necessity to feed them .
I physically examined each frame rather than hefting ( first hive damned heavy)
Each colony was stuffed with stores ,bar one which still had eggs+ a little open brood .
In remainder of hives, every available cell was filled with nectar/unsealed honey .
The bees are working like mad , the balsam is showing no signs of finishing , the Ivy is only just starting to be attractive .
The point I am making is ,if I had fed early ,I feel the bees would have nowhere to store this late bonanza !!
I had intended to feed a gallon each of thymolised syrup .
I think I'll give it a miss !
The swarm I installed end of August is the only colony with open brood and again ,every available cell has been used for storage save a few eggs around brood nest .
VM

 

[drstitson]

VM - perhaps they could've had supers on for a while longer to allow more room for brooding.

 

[victor meldrew]

If only we had our after thoughts before hand
I placed supers on 2 colonies below clearing boards, these were subsequently filled and capped in 3 weeks .(Should have been a clue in there somewhere?)
As you know I operate with 14x12s . One colony has drawn drone brood under its' standard frame and filled same with stores
VM

 

[Hivemaker.]

Isn't Formic Acid going to say 'stinging ants' to the bees and get them wound up at their inability to find and deal with the things?

To my knowlege formic acid does not say a thing,and i have never noticed my bees getting wound up by the little ants which run in and out of the hives. Ant nests are everywhere,how do the bees deal with the ants from your observations?

 

[tonybloke]

had a look in ELY+ 2 colonies today, both doing really well.
took 2 frames of sealed stores out of 1 of my colonies, and replaced with foundation, that should give them something to do!! (16x10 and rammed full)

 

[itma]

To my knowlege formic acid does not say a thing,and i have never noticed my bees getting wound up by the little ants which run in and out of the hives. Ant nests are everywhere,how do the bees deal with the ants from your observations?

I've not seen bees vs red ants! (but they {those ants} will take on wasps)

Formic acid is what red ants use to sting with.
It was initially obtained by distilling red ants ... and named from that ant's latin name (Formica - really!).
Some ants actually shoot a jet of the stuff to deter 'threats'.
More: http://www.anthillwood.co.uk/antspecies1.htm

I'd expect Formic Acid to be the sort of chemical that the bees would have no difficulty in recognising - given their skill and sensitivity in that regard.
And having recognised it, they would react as though the hive was being over-run by stinging ants - with the panicky response described.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yep loads of wood ants round this part,they squirt formic,but the bees seem to take no notice of them,or the black and red ants,perhaps they are beneficial in some way,many of the mini nucs on top of posts have had ants feeding in the fondant compartments,and the bees just ignore them. Perhaps it's a partnership thing to do with ants, aphids and honeydew,after all they have managed to exist together for thousands of years.

 

[Firefly]

Formic acid is what red ants use to sting with.

and it b****y hurts! Give me a bee sting any day!

 

[MuswellMetro]

Looked at a friends two hives for him, being both halves of a May AS that requeened during the year, hefted them and very light, so as the weather was 23c decided to look


i found Both two small and not enough stores to survive to survive the winter

the Q+ siide of the AS had only drawn 6 1/2 14x12 frames since May with 1lb of capped stores but reasonable brood, not taking down syrup ....took the QE off, think that was stopping them going up and dummied it to 8 frames

The other a Q- side of the AS had 5lbs of 14x12 frames as capped stores but very small amount of brood perhaps one perhaps half a frame, possible apiguard, again put above a QE and dropping still 100 per day after two application of apiguard ( 6 weeks)....5000+


tested for nosema....blank, no trace


talked about combine....he will think about it.....well, even though he has fed 7k of ambrosia syrup each they need combining and another jerry can of ambrosia at least

 

[WI-USA-BEEK]

Bee stings also have formic acid!

 

[madasafish]

Don't have wood ants here as the nearest wood is 800 metres away but the bees happily (?) live with small black ants in their hives....Peaceful co-existence?

 

[Quatermass]

26c around here so I put some apiguard on 5 of the hives.Congratulating myself on a job well done and no stings to boot.Then as I was putting the equipment away I managed to spear my fingers on an uncapping fork. Hurt like hell I can tell you...but did I cry or complain?Just a bit...

 

[Firefly]

Bee stings also have formic acid!

I'm no expert, but a bit of Googling suggests that if there is some formic in bee stings it is not the main component of the sting or the main thing responsible for the pain

On the other hand it's true I have never done a properly controlled test by putting my bare knee into a bee-hive

 

[Appinpiper]

26 degrees wow! Bees still working the heather, did a full inspection found the queen still laying but has calmed down a bit, The hive (Top Bar) has plenty of capped stores for winter in fact I could have taken a few for honey but as this is their first year I have left them all they could produce.. let us hope not too bad or long winter I know I will miss seeing them flying in the dark months to come.

 

[WelshPaul]

Did a quick lid lift today to see if they had had the syrup I gave them, must have upset them cos I got stung twice, and four chased me to the house.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Ran round 9 of my hives just before dusk and removed the final varroa treatment. Topped up any feeders that needed it. All bees very calm in the nice warm evening conditions.

Leaves me with 4 more to do sometime tomorrow.

 

[Elaine]

Fed number 2 hive - as I suspected they may have taken all the fondant given 5 days ago. Spent ages getting kitted up - lighting smoker, making sure I had anything I could possibly need - opened up - they were as good as gold! no need for smoke, no interest in what I was doing other than a bit of buzzing when I shook them out of the empty feeder frame, and all eager to jump onto the new fondant.

 

[drstitson]

bit early for fondant???? don't they just use that as needed rather than store?

how much did you put on?

would it not have been better to give them a good few gallons of thymolated 2:1 syrup???

 

[Elaine]

What are the 'rules' (rules - what rules? ) about fondant v syrup I know that in the summer - syrup is suggested, and the winter - fondant. What are the reasons for doing one over the other? When to change? (My bees have a nearby, always accessible water supply, and are still foraging, this is just a bit of help as they bring up their numbers, and prepare for winter)

 

[starflex]

Early start 0700, nice foggy morning in Hampshire. Visited apiary on my way to work. Topped up rapid feeder on the hive that is 2 weeks behind the rest, as it had 3 cycles of Apiguard. They had taken down the previous 4 pints and were soon working on the refill. Another week or so and they will have caught up.