What did you do in the Apiary today?

[B+.]

And do your bees use the woodpecker "entrances"?

Actually, yes. They do. There are a LOT of bees in thse hives so they use any entrance they can.
The white boxes on the bottom are brand new, but, the Paradise honey & Sweinty boxes have seen quite a few years service

 

[Beefriendly]

Do they help? The extra entrances...
I've been playing around with them for a few years...so far no definite conclusions. But no negative ones either.

 

[B+.]

Do they help? The extra entrances...
I've been playing around with them for a few years...so far no definite conclusions. But no negative ones either.

It's hard to tell. Possibly a little less fresh nectar in the bottom boxes. The woodpecker holes aren't that big and they still use the bottom entrance as their main entrance.
Usually, they're in 6 boxes at this time of year so they're a bit behind this year.

 

[Bakerbee]

About to go to double brood. Made up 2 new cedar bb and put together 20 odd frames.

 

[Goran]

Two days ago it was around 33C, today is as I looked in the car thermometer 18C.
Yesterday was twice during the day dark of the storm clouds, like it was sundown. It poured the rain down like one big splash..
Seems it is the end of lime "flow".

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Popped over to one of the out apiaries to check on one colony and put another hive stand in place - when I got there I realised that There were supers ready for Monday's extraction there - I'd forgotten to call when passing Monday afternoon. So a quick few hours this evening extracting the last supers
so much for bees quickly finding their way back in through rhombus escapes - been on since Sunday, still not a bee in there - if I'd have used porters, they probably would still be queueing to get out!

 

[mickbees23]

Do they help? The extra entrances...
I've been playing around with them for a few years...so far no definite conclusions. But no negative ones either.

I made a top entrance in super on a double brood colony because it has filled 4 frames in the top brood box with capped honey. They were blocking the queen from laying even with the second brood and were starting to store honey in that as well. After 3 weeks they have totally ignored the top entrance. The bees walk around it all the time but never fly from it. I just can't get them to shift stores up above. Two supers are half full of capped honey and they won't move the rest up and prefer to store new nectar below.

I am seeing this in several colonies this year and have never experienced it in my 7 years bee keeping. It must be some sort of reaction to the spring we experienced. I did extract 2 brood frames of honey and they just filled them back up

I love bees me

Cheers, Mick

 

[colinc]

I made a top entrance in super on a double brood colony because it has filled 4 frames in the top brood box with capped honey. They were blocking the queen from laying even with the second brood and were starting to store honey in that as well. After 3 weeks they have totally ignored the top entrance. The bees walk around it all the time but never fly from it. I just can't get them to shift stores up above. Two supers are half full of capped honey and they won't move the rest up and prefer to store new nectar below.



I am seeing this in several colonies this year and have never experienced it in my 7 years bee keeping. It must be some sort of reaction to the spring we experienced. I did extract 2 brood frames of honey and they just filled them back up



I love bees me



Cheers, Mick

If they want more space after extracting put the brood frame back in between 2 if laid capped brood.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I made a top entrance in super on a double brood colony because it has filled 4 frames in the top brood box with capped honey. They were blocking the queen from laying even with the second brood and were starting to store honey in that as well. After 3 weeks they have totally ignored the top entrance. The bees walk around it all the time but never fly from it. I just can't get them to shift stores up above. Two supers are half full of capped honey and they won't move the rest up and prefer to store new nectar below.

I am seeing this in several colonies this year and have never experienced it in my 7 years bee keeping. It must be some sort of reaction to the spring we experienced. I did extract 2 brood frames of honey and they just filled them back up

I love bees me



Cheers, Mick

Looks like they don't want all the laying space you've given them

 

[Eyeman]

Popped over to one of the out apiaries to check on one colony and put another hive stand in place - when I got there I realised that There were supers ready for Monday's extraction there - I'd forgotten to call when passing Monday afternoon. So a quick few hours this evening extracting the last supers
so much for bees quickly finding their way back in through rhombus escapes - been on since Sunday, still not a bee in there - if I'd have used porters, they probably would still be queueing to get out!

I'd definitely agree with the rhomboids- I've left them on for days without bees returning. Not going back to porter's
What set up do you have in your out-apiary to allow you to extract? All stainless steel with wipe clean surfaces?

 

[Millet]

I made a top entrance in super on a double brood colony because it has filled 4 frames in the top brood box with capped honey. They were blocking the queen from laying even with the second brood and were starting to store honey in that as well. After 3 weeks they have totally ignored the top entrance. The bees walk around it all the time but never fly from it. I just can't get them to shift stores up above. Two supers are half full of capped honey and they won't move the rest up and prefer to store new nectar below.

I am seeing this in several colonies this year and have never experienced it in my 7 years bee keeping. It must be some sort of reaction to the spring we experienced. I did extract 2 brood frames of honey and they just filled them back up

I love bees me

Cheers, Mick

Snap.. mine are doing the same.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Same here with a couple. If the bees have room above I leave them to it. They obviously want the honey by the brood.

 

[Millet]

Same here with a couple. If the bees have room above I leave them to it. They obviously want the honey by the brood.

I have left them too it up to now but i fear they are holding the Queens back from laying, i don't really want to extract the frames either as some have bits of brood in them, i will let them get on with it for a bit longer and see if they sort themselves out.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What set up do you have in your out-apiary to allow you to extract? All stainless steel with wipe clean surfaces?

Nothing at the out apiary - just that I meant to call in on the way back from the furthest out apiary after collecting supers there - but automatically chose the shortest road which doesn't go past there.
Stainless steel! I wish - maybe one day

 

[Bakerbee]

Millet and mick i was just about to post about this myself. I have 11 frames in my bb and a dummy board they have packed the outer frames 1,2,10, and 11. My new buckfast has layed brood in every other frame. I put a super on two weeks ago hoping they would move some of the honey up but they didnt even touch , last week i put a bb beneath and they are drawing that out on todays inspection still nothing in the super. Im not worried about the super and getting honey this year and perhaps there is still time, i thought it more important for them to have dpace for the queen to lay. But im interested as to what one csn do to get them started in the super or move some of it up. On a different note im 4 weeks into new queen in the hive and its wonderful to see light strippy bees all over the place after my dark mongrels. I can certainly see who are the nurse bees and the flyers at the moment.

Love this hobby. When with them i uneind snd dont think of anything other than the bees.

 

[Millet]

Millet and mick i was just about to post about this myself. I have 11 frames in my bb and a dummy board they have packed the outer frames 1,2,10, and 11. My new buckfast has layed brood in every other frame. I put a super on two weeks ago hoping they would move some of the honey up but they didnt even touch , last week i put a bb beneath and they are drawing that out on todays inspection still nothing in the super. Im not worried about the super and getting honey this year and perhaps there is still time, i thought it more important for them to have dpace for the queen to lay. But im interested as to what one csn do to get them started in the super or move some of it up. On a different note im 4 weeks into new queen in the hive and its wonderful to see light strippy bees all over the place after my dark mongrels. I can certainly see who are the nurse bees and the flyers at the moment.

Love this hobby. When with them i uneind snd dont think of anything other than the bees.

I have no idea why mine are doing it, they are still filling the supers and have extracted empty frames above them also.

 

[EdNewman]

Millet and mick i was just about to post about this myself. I have 11 frames in my bb and a dummy board they have packed the outer frames 1,2,10, and 11. My new buckfast has layed brood in every other frame. I put a super on two weeks ago hoping they would move some of the honey up but they didnt even touch , last week i put a bb beneath and they are drawing that out on todays inspection still nothing in the super. Im not worried about the super and getting honey this year and perhaps there is still time, i thought it more important for them to have dpace for the queen to lay. But im interested as to what one csn do to get them started in the super or move some of it up. On a different note im 4 weeks into new queen in the hive and its wonderful to see light strippy bees all over the place after my dark mongrels. I can certainly see who are the nurse bees and the flyers at the moment.

Love this hobby. When with them i uneind snd dont think of anything other than the bees.

If it helps, in all the 6 or so years I've kept bees in 14x12 I have never had a queen lay up the 2 outside frames (1,2,10 and 11), 1 and 11 have always been packed with honey and 2 and 10 a mixture of honey and pollen.
This is only from a sample of two hives and 4 this year so I'm sure someone with more experience will correct me!
The benefit of this is the June gap has not been a problem, I don't winter feed and have never lost a colony (touching wood).
Ed.

Ed.

 

[Eyeman]

If it helps, in all the 6 or so years I've kept bees in 14x12 I have never had a queen lay up the 2 outside frames (1,2,10 and 11), 1 and 11 have always been packed with honey and 2 and 10 a mixture of honey and pollen.
This is only from a sample of two hives and 4 this year so I'm sure someone with more experience will correct me!
The benefit of this is the June gap has not been a problem, I don't winter feed and have never lost a colony (touching wood).
Ed.

Ed.

I presume your 14x12's are wood. My Swienty 14x12's get brood on both sides of the outer frames.

 

[Finman]

.
IT is same with me. Bees do not make brood into outermost frames. They are normally full of pollen. Queens have in other frames space as much as they need.

 

[Beefriendly]

I have no idea why mine are doing it, they are still filling the supers and have extracted empty frames above them also.

A possible explanation is this long extended spell of good weather is giving them less "in hive time" to process all the nectar they are bringing in. A few days of rain does wonders for them moving honey about and ripening it.
I've just had the strange experience of extracting 6 supers of nearly fully capped OSR honey to find water content was 24%!!!!!
Yet earlier uncapped OSR honey was all around 17-18% water....weird.
I can only presume they are rushing things.