What did you do in the Apiary today?

[victor meldrew]

Just removed spent treatment and replaced with the last treatment (HM's thymol/oasis block).
At hive number three it started persisting down ."Ah! well"! I thought , "I've started so I'll finish". Bees stayed down, no smoke required .
I don't know about being defensive at this time of year but since varroa ,I've noticed that the bees seem layed back . The temp today is 17C , dull , bees flying but hardly going frantic. Balsam is still producing
VM

 

[Vergilius]

Continuing to feed the hives @ the out apiary...


Ben P

 

[buzz bee]

Autumn Spiced Caramelised Honey Chutney

Thanks for sharing this, looks tasty and I've some marrows left to use.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Thanks for sharing this, looks tasty and I've some marrows left to use.

It is jolly nice, made second batch yesterday due to ruinous distraction on Saturday and worked out very tasty. Honey biscuits and honey lemon curd (less keen!) to follow

 

[psafloyd]

Still really warm yesterday. Took home nine supers, most nicely clean up and found one put on late in September had been drawn and filled.

Put first Apiguard treatments and worried about overnight losses, particularly with the loss of space for my number one colony. Only time will tell.

Will treat and give them back some frames under the brood if I deem they have not enough stores. But if HM stops laying, these guys will fill it in nicely. They have been pretty prolific of late.

 

[user 6228]

From the increased activity, and the honey being capped there seems to be flow on. The bees are working the ivy and the gorse. We have an ivy hedge nearby that has quite a bit of pedestrian traffic and has a lot of flying insects tucking in. This was mostly bees now it seems to be largely wasps hopefully they will get the blame for any incidents

 

[WelshPaul]

Spending today resting after a busy eight hour day yesterday inspecting 4 apiarys with 13 hives, all hives bar one doing well, one hive apparently Q- so going to watch that. Fed all hives with syrup, then finally got onto Hive 5 as its called, hive went crazy even fully suited up, ended up with 5 stings and Russ with a few too, bees were just crazy and never seen bees as crazy as this, I think weather and time of day didnt help to the fact. A good day had by the three of us.

 

[For want of a better word]

Took off feeders on hives that are on single brood as have had their 20kg of sugar
Fed all the others!

 

[Poggle]

Took the roof of and removed the syrup feeders from both hives (one at a time), put the fondant in both hives, the bees were all over it like a rash in seconds Had a quick check with a torch down inside the brood frames. Had a quick chat with the one lass that was desperatly trying to get me through my mesh, she wasn't angry though, she just sat there and grated at the mesh for a few seconds. Put everything back together and came away from them. Am now sorting out which DWT reserves I want to put hives on next year!!

 

[Moggs]

....ended up with 5 stings and Russ with a few too, .... A good day had by the three of us.

Spoken like a true beekeeper!

 

[Headnavigator]

Took the perforated zinc lid off the Ashforth feeder to let them get at the remaining crystallised sugar before I remove it. They had propolised everything up, about half the holes in the zinc and the top of the barrier. Once in, I could hear the hive 'singing'.
I note that the wasp trap has been knocked over and appears to have been raided, probably by the badger that appears to stroll through the apiary every night. Only thing left in it is a butterfly! Was almost full!

 

[witchcraft]

I went up to my two hives today and put the supers under the BBs, inverted the entrance blocks, removed varroa inserts, added mouse guards and fitted lambswool insulation above crown boards. My feistier hive was less than keen with me taking their home apart, first time I have been stung in months. They properly came out in a cloud - a new experience!

 

[victor meldrew]

Warm and sunny today, checked varroa trays , treatment inserted last sunday . Warm over night temperatures seem to have resulted in an increase in varroa drop (all quite dead)
VM

 

[tonybloke]

removed the rapid feeder from my back garden hive. hive is very heavy now!!

 

[drstitson]

making up another 6 gallons of 2:1 syrup (and yes i am using litres and kilos for the ingredients despite the imperial outcome).

now to decide whether to top up feeders before bed or in the wee small hours before i do my flit to work.

 

[TBRNoTB]

making up another 6 gallons of 2:1 syrup (and yes i am using litres and kilos for the ingredients despite the imperial outcome).

now to decide whether to top up feeders before bed or in the wee small hours before i do my flit to work.

Checked out all hives today (non-intrusive) one 14x12 very heavy the other which seemed light at last check, fed with fondant. Both TBHs very busy the TBH 14x11.5! (I know it's a contradiction in terms) front was covered in bees, more than one would expect. decided to open up the entrance a little (mouse guard on) OMF cover is still in. All in all it's not looking too bad. Fingers to head!

 

[drstitson]

"now to decide whether to top up feeders before bed or in the wee small hours before i do my flit to work"

still not fully dissolved yet so looks like an early start! wondering if my imperial litres are a bit short today.

 

[drstitson]

STOP PRESS: Note to self - 1 litre of boiling water added to 27 litres heavy syrup will remain on surface prior to stirring. Don't dip fingers in it.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

order my new equipment for my honey house today and started making some of the hive parts i got from the sale the other day, going to check the bees tomorrow to see if they need topping up on the feed Chris

 

[YorkshireBees]

Yesterday I removed 3 MM jumbo feeders from my hives, 2 had some syrup left which I poured back into my jerry can using a funnel. 3rd was all but empty. Topped up 3 rapid feeders on hives that were still not full of stores.
Have to make a bit more syrup up for the last remaining hive with a feeder on.