What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Beefriendly]

Both good suppliers. You'll enjoy them.

 

[drex]

So hot here, I did not bother with wellies. The ankle biters got me. Six stings in one foot. Pretty painful at the time, but mercifully I get no further reaction now. Lesson learned.

 

[madasafish]

89lbs extracted last evening manually (4 supers). More honey to date than last year's total...
Straight from hives so warm and very liquid and filtered very quickly.

I think I may become tired of honey processing if this weather continues

 

[Millet]

Went through them all yesterday... marked and clipped another two mated laying Queens.. that gives me five mated Queen out of six up to now the sixth one has a lot of polished comb in the brood box so i think she will be laying soon.

Also extracted another super i have never seen so much honey.. ... i hope i can get rid of it..
In three seasons of keeping angry bees i got around 19lbs of honey... this year i have over 100lb of the stuff and one hive still has four full supers waiting to be fully capped and the thistle field has just come into full flower... i think i need to order more storage buckets..

 

[enrico]

Went through them all yesterday... marked and clipped another two mated laying Queens.. that gives me five mated Queen out of six up to now the sixth one has a lot of polished comb in the brood box so i think she will be laying soon.

Also extracted another super i have never seen so much honey.. ... i hope i can get rid of it..
In three seasons of keeping angry bees i got around 19lbs of honey... this year i have over 100lb of the stuff and one hive still has four full supers waiting to be fully capped and the thistle field has just come into full flower... i think i need to order more storage buckets..

Well done. Don't forget next year could be awful so keep enough honey for yourself for two years......that's 100lbs for me at a jar a week
E

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

Well done. Don't forget next year could be awful so keep enough honey for yourself for two years......that's 100lbs for me at a jar a week
E

Do you jar up and store your surplus or use buckets
Thanks

 

[enrico]

Do you jar up and store your surplus or use buckets
Thanks

Jar up,
E

 

[B+.]

A nice size group of experienced beekeepers joined me at the apiary this morning. Several of the breeding group came plus a few who were attending out of interest.
We collected sample pots of bees to kill in the freezer before doing the soapy water test.

 

[Zante]

Finally things back on track.

Hive 1: Third super I added last week with badly damaged comb is being repaired. They still have room in the other two supers, so it'll be a while before they need the third super. By then it should be repaired.
Even with the donation of three frames covered in bees to hive A the colony seems nice and strong. Next week I'll have a check in the nest and decide if there's enough BIAS to donate to hive A and give it a bit of a boost.
Hopefully next year I'll have enough wax to not use foundation at all in the supers, but doing quite decently also now, the damaged comb is still more than just foundation.

Hive A: Coming as a small split from hive 1 almost all the brood has emerged, a bit of capped left, and they have loads of stores. They have climbed past the dummy board and started drawing the foundation on the other side, so moved the dummy to the side of the nest. They now have 5 comb and 4 foundation. I saw the remains of a queen cell as I was checking the frames. Didn't bother looking for her yet, would be quite pointless and wanted to disturb them the least possible, but now I'm back on 2 colonies, even if one is pretty much starting now. Should be ok for winter though.

Overall I should be able to get at least 20Kg of honey this year, possibly more, which should serve me quite well.

Now... to find an extractor...

 

[Anduril]

Combined 3 hives, marked 2 queens and saw eggs and queen in a hive I had marked down as hopeless

 

[Millet]

Well done. Don't forget next year could be awful so keep enough honey for yourself for two years......that's 100lbs for me at a jar a week
E

True about the weather but i am not too keen on eating honey myself, i have a little taste when checking with a refractometer but that is about as much as i consume..

 

[Beefriendly]

Approach a local deli with your local honey. Most are only too keen to take it off your hand. Take along a few free samples to sweeten the deal....

 

[Helen]

Hand-caught a queen for the first time ever. Up til now, been using a one-handed queen catcher, but I think that stresses her. So, screwed up courage, practised on a couple of drones, and gently caught her. Not that easy whilst she is running around, but got her.

I know lots of you do it without even thinking about it, but was my first attempt.

 

[B+.]

Hand-caught a queen for the first time ever. Up til now, been using a one-handed queen catcher, but I think that stresses her. So, screwed up courage, practised on a couple of drones, and gently caught her. Not that easy whilst she is running around, but got her.

I know lots of you do it without even thinking about it, but was my first attempt.

It gets easier with practice

 

[Beefriendly]

I know lots of you do it without even thinking about it, but was my first attempt.

Well done indeed!
Wish I could claim to do it without thinking...but they are much more robust than you think they are. But one mistake......I still use Crown of Thorns for marking...but hold for clipping.

 

[Millet]

Hand-caught a queen for the first time ever. Up til now, been using a one-handed queen catcher, but I think that stresses her. So, screwed up courage, practised on a couple of drones, and gently caught her. Not that easy whilst she is running around, but got her.

I know lots of you do it without even thinking about it, but was my first attempt.

Well done you, i will never be able to do it through injuries to my fingers over the years, i have to resort to a mark and twist tube which is a struggle also with a trapped nerve in my shoulder, i can throw heavy thing's about all day long but as soon as the delicate stuff pop's up i am goosed.

 

[Millet]

It gets easier with practice

Borrow my fingers and see if it gets easier..

 

[Angry_Mob]

Checked yesterdays split, not much activity yet but mostly young bees I guess.

Prepped an apidea, i.e fondant in feeder and cut some wax foundation to put between the frames. Found foundation wasn't staying put so a quick blast with the heat gun ensured it wont move. Also got petroleum jelly as some of the sliding parts were stiff. Attempted to make my own queen cell wire "protector" in case I require it.

Made a H shape frame with off cuts and mounted it on top of a fence strainer post. Its at eye level so I can see the bait hive entrance perfectly now and a place to put a strap so it doesn't blow away easily. The tree it was in before was a nuisance and damaged the poly hives as it moved in the wind.

Made up some mint water as per Dave Cushmans instructions, a fox glaciers mint. Might need to use it in colony frame unite later this week.

Ordered myself a Thornes 8 Frame manual extractor as well as assorted things such as strainers, buckets, serrated knife, uncapping fork etc

About to go feed the nucs.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Worked all day in the rain, warm and wet, should be good for the heather.

 

[user 6228]

The honey refining night shift, who can be heard 6m away, needs some extra room so part of the day shift is camped outside entrance at 23:00 on both AT in the garden.