What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Wingy]

Had a look under the OMF and could see the bees nicely clustered to one side of the nuc a faint humming noise from them. Fingers crossed all is well

 

[Stiffy]

Today spent boiling and cleaning frames to reuse, is it really worth the effort when Thxxnes 2nds are so cheap? I doubt it but can’t stand waste
S

 

[For want of a better word]

Today spent boiling and cleaning frames to reuse, is it really worth the effort when Thxxnes 2nds are so cheap? I doubt it but can’t stand waste
S

I wonder how many times the DN4 brood frame with 1972 Maddaver branded onto it has been recycled?

Yeghes da

 

[Curly green fingers]

Hefted hive this morning which I've been doing every 2/3 weeks since end of october . very heavy still . had a listen .they have moved from the front of the hive and seem to be towards the back. I've weighed once when I moved the hive in December and I'm going to weigh when my luggage scales come 3.99 of ebay well worth it for a bit more peace of mind.

Mark

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Life's too short to clean frames

 

[Swarm]

Have you still been getting a mite drop, i think the last time i vaped them was 3wk's ago and 1wk before, i am getting very few dropping now about 3 to 4 over seven days on the 3/4 pushed in inspection trays.

My Autumn treatments were finished by the end of October, all except one hive that got knocked over by sheep. I didn't want to vape them as well after putting them back together, so they were done a week later. I don't usually bother counting but I was curious this year after people posted very high counts. The drops I had in Autumn were minimal, the highest were in the one that got knocked over. Perhaps it shook the varroa up?

My counts were nearly as low as yours a week after their first vape in October, one colony of Amm only dropped two mites throughout the treatment. Two colonies had drops in double figures.
I didn't leave the boards in yesterday, I will leave them with one vape. When they begin to build up in Spring, I'll add some OA/Glycerine strips.

 

[Erichalfbee]

. When they begin to build up in Spring, I'll add some OA/Glycerine strips.

Yes, I had thoughts about that too
Hasn’t Ceri had some excellent results with them?

 

[drex]

Hefted all hives. All OK. I used to use scales, but hefting is so much easier, having acquired the knack. Watched bees collecting water off the manure spread on my veg beds. Ignoring the supply of clean water they use in the summer. Guess the manure was warmed by the beautiful sunshine.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Do you think then drex if the hive feels heavy when you heft there's no need to weigh with scales ? I plan to do both untill I get use to hefting for a few years. And how do you heft double brood ? That must kill your back.
Mark

 

[drex]

Curly, as per your intentions, I weighed and hefted for a few years, until I found I could reliably estimate stores just by hefting. No problem on the back at all. To heft I do not lift the hives completely, just lift one side a couple of inches, then lift the other

 

[Curly green fingers]

Well there you go u don't know unless you ask . I'm very interested in double brood I like the idea. I've only one hive I want to split it in the spring but this will be at the expense of losing the early flows I've also got the opportunity of taking two hive up to the heather when the time comes so I'm trying to work out what would be the best way forward .
Thanks mark

 

[colinc]

Well there you go u don't know unless you ask . I'm very interested in double brood I like the idea. I've only one hive I want to split it in the spring but this will be at the expense of losing the early flows I've also got the opportunity of taking two hive up to the heather when the time comes so I'm trying to work out what would be the best way forward .
Thanks mark

If you leave them to it and they expand well may try to swarm May/June time. If you split them before that to “prevent swarming” they may try to both swarm Aug/Sept if they do well. Then you could have 4 colonies.
Of course if you wait and split they may still try before Autumn

I would wait and see rather than force a split but it depends on your local forage. Rape is good for a big June crop but if spring forage is scarce swarm attempts in Autumn may affect any summer honey crop you can expect.

In my first year I went from an overwintered nuc in April to 3 full colonies that all survived through winter. I reduced to 2 in spring through a merger and was back up to 3 the following winter.
12 lbs of honey year 1 and 160lbs year 2.

In the long term I intend to stick to 2/3 colonies. They are all in double Nationals now.

Regarding heather I have no idea as nearest to me is in Shropshire borders.


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[Hivemaker.]

if spring forage is scarce swarm attempts in Autumn may affect any summer honey crop you can expect.

Why would this be so.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Hi Colin I'm not that far from you really then. The spring forage up here would be mainly wild flowers Dandelion's and the like .in may there's an abundance of blackberry's that come into flower. And all the grassland flowers scabious ect .and then it would be the heather in early August there's a little bit of ivy up here and some Himalayan balsam. Invasive stuff really.so Im not near any osr. So my spring build up would probably be slow I have two freinds who run brood and a half I don't like that idea they have problems. Cheers mark

 

[Goran]

17C warm, sunny.... Last year cold, lot of snow, freezing at same time.. No good, smells on disaster in spring ( late snow and frosts, droughts, sharp changes in weather extreme minuses followed with extreme plus temps, etc..).

 

[colinc]

Why would this be so.

Sorry. Re read. Just if you split a hive to stop a swarm at that point and the bees are loaded ready to restart a new colony.

I messed up my first year and went from 5 frames of bees to 3 hives 2 on double brood one on single but only got 12lbs surplus.

I realise my post was a bit confusing.


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[colinc]

Hi Colin I'm not that far from you really then. The spring forage up here would be mainly wild flowers Dandelion's and the like .in may there's an abundance of blackberry's that come into flower. And all the grassland flowers scabious ect .and then it would be the heather in early August there's a little bit of ivy up here and some Himalayan balsam. Invasive stuff really.so Im not near any osr. So my spring build up would probably be slow I have two freinds who run brood and a half I don't like that idea they have problems. Cheers mark

I was advised to go brood and a half and hated it. decided for myself to waste some honey (from our perspective) and go double brood so they could overwinter with no nadired supers. If you have queens that are capable double brood is nicer. I haven’t tried national deeps, commercials or 14x12s.


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[Beefriendly]

If you have queens that are capable double brood is nicer.

Spot on there. The volume of your hives brood boxes should be determined by the queens fecundity, not by the beekeepers preference.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Spot on there. The volume of your hives brood boxes should be determined by the queens fecundity, not by the beekeepers preference.

I'll let her lead the way then . this will be my first spring so its all a learning curve for me.

 

[colinc]

Spot on there. The volume of your hives brood boxes should be determined by the queens fecundity, not by the beekeepers preference.

Thank you for confirming I learnt something. I came to the forum late. I learnt a lot doing, lost no swarms but it was close. Just passing on my experience as New bee keeper is a lot more recent for me than a lot of the regular posters. My Buckfast exploded from the off and the speed they built up exceeded all the advice I received away from this forum. FB advice proved useless so I ditched the sites I found.

Despite the animosity that builds in winter I like it here!


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