What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Monsieur Abeille]

Went out and had a look. Nothing much happening. Roll on Spring.

 

[drstitson]

dull misty day with on and off showers but plenty of activity - constant stream of foragers heading towards bathroom window then up over the roof to two Catalpa trees that are in full bloom.

topped up a couple of feeders (last time hopefully) in a couple of weaker nucs. all else looking fine and dandy.

 

[Swarm]

8 degrees at 8:30 this morning and bees pouring from the entrances.

 

[For want of a better word]

5th of November and NZs busy as usual.... Carnies slowing down..... Buckies.... out and about and still bringing in baskets of bright yellow pollen.

Out apiaries all indoors... was getting late and a bit misty...... nice to see the Lyner was not in such a flood.... slowed to 10 kph from 20 last week ( kids pace out 10 meters and count seconds for stick to traverse... good maths practice for 5 and 9 year olds)

no jokes about logs please!

 

[MuswellMetro]

woodpecker cages on and final feeding with inverted sugar on those still a bit light,

left at twilight with just a few bees around the entrance blocks of a few hives

 

[Russel]

8 degrees at 8:30 this morning and bees pouring from the entrances.

Mine not as hardy as yours they waited until it reached a balmy 10º , where on earth are they putting all this pollen?

Russ

 

[oliver90owner]

where on earth are they putting all this pollen?

Into brood, still?

 

[Beeline]

9 degrees C today.Hefted hives yesterday evening - one hive felt light which is not surprising as they have been too active for this time of year - bringing in pollen but burning up honey stores. So after deliberating overnight on whether to feed syrup or fondant I decided on the latter given the temp and the fact that I'm away each week so can't take advantage of brief warm spells.
This morning placed 2.5kg Th**nes fondant over CB hole, then 35mm eke and then 40mm insulation board. As the eke is 18mm thick I hope they don't lose too much heat.

Have bought 12.5kg Bako fondant as backup for both.

BL

 

[Vergilius]

Due to school/rugby/bad weather etc. out apiary bees have been somewhat neglected this autumn. So had to bite the bullet and get in there today, despite temps of only 11c; I still had not removed my thymol treatment!!! As I had suspected, the smaller colony has been a tad underfed, and its outer frames are not full - also looking a bit small in numbers heading into winter. The other colony is looking good - 8 frames of bees, and is almost too big for wintering in a nat.

Small colony will need constant fondant support I reckon, and insulation asap, but it should be alright - I have never had any winter losses with this strain (hardy local mongrels!!!)

There was nothing I could do about circumstances this autumn... The honey harvest had to be late, and that has pushed everything back. Sometimes the bees just have to take a back seat... As I said though, there is nothing desperately worrying yet.


Ben P

 

[victor meldrew]

Glorious day here.Bees working (I hope )
Spent the day de-waxing super frames that had succumbed to the attentions of wax moth .
Had a session burning frames that I considered not worth saving , also burned a few plywood supers plus some redundant national brood boxes !Could have converted these to 14"x12" but not worth the effort .
Came across a national hive I had stored that is converted into a double nuc hive . No further use to me as I run 14x12s and use appropriate sized nucs .
Haven't scrapped it yet may scorch and donate to the club
VM

 

[Firefly]

Well this could be interesting. Messing about in windfall apples yesterday and got stung by an sleepy wasp - throbbing enough in the night to keep me awake for a while. Just nipped down to the bees for 2 mins and, guess what, stung on the same finger! Now dangling in a glass of ice water!

 

[hallshoney]

Yesterday

realy warm 12 noon 16.5 c hefted hives found a few very light one they have turned all feed into brood so out with the wet bags of sugar as i have no fondant also removed last QEs

 

[victor meldrew]

realy warm 12 noon 16.5 c hefted hives found a few very light one they have turned all feed into brood so out with the wet bags of sugar as i have no fondant also removed last QEs

Not a bee to be seen , not even a dead one !
Did some temporary repairs to Honey house roof, should keep it water tight until a spell of good weather allows replacement .
VM

 

[Firefly]

Well this could be interesting. Messing about in windfall apples yesterday and got stung by an sleepy wasp - throbbing enough in the night to keep me awake for a while. Just nipped down to the bees for 2 mins and, guess what, stung on the same finger! Now dangling in a glass of ice water!

I thought you might all be worried about me

It swelled up very quickly (lots of histamines already there I guess) but the ice water did the trick and it went down almost as quickly

Lots of bees flying about fetching in pollen and generally playing games on the doorstep. Is it autumn yet?

 

[Luminos]

Sorry to hear about your stings, Firefly

 

[Firefly]

Sorry to hear about your stings, Firefly

Mea culpa. In a hurry, under-prepared and under-equipped, and the bees knew it

The wasp, on the other hand, got it in the neck!

 

[MJBee]

First Winter Casualty

I found that an Apidea mini nuc had blown off its stand (even though it had 2 house bricks holding it down) and by pure bad luck had landed on its front trapping the occupants inside

It was at my woodland apiary so could have happened up to 6 days ago.

 

[Luminos]

I found that an Apidea mini nuc had blown off its stand (even though it had 2 house bricks holding it down) and by pure bad luck had landed on its front trapping the occupants inside

It was at my woodland apiary so could have happened up to 6 days ago.

Knocked over, perhaps ? (Boar?)

 

[drstitson]

"Knocked over, perhaps ? (Boar?)"

We've had massive boar activity over past (damp) fortnight - the meadow looks like it's been ploughed in places.

come right up to within 10m of the house.

 

[Onge]

lol I'm currently preparing a boar & sauerkraut stew for tonight.