What did you do in the Apiary today?

[For want of a better word]

Have hives in a few horse paddocks, the owners will only allow post and rail fences, no barbed wire at all.

Have one valuable out apiary that has horses in the field.. but only in winter as too much grass gives them laminitus...
Electrik fences work well to keep horses away from the bees...... makes no differences to sheeps and alpackers tho.. too wooly!

 

[Anduril]

I erected my own fence in keeping with the farmers fence in one apiary which is used by sheep and for hay making with the occasional horses. On another farm the farmer has erected his own fencing with polytape but not electrified around the apiary. This one has showjumping events for kids. The bees were here before the showjumping.

 

[Goran]

Brood is on.. We are serious now..

 

[Etton]

Interested Goran in what your using to cover your slab? Is it just thick flexible polythene, does that work ok? I have fondant on my hives resting on the top bars too but with wooden cover boards on top, not having clear cover boards means I have to open the hive to see if need more fondant.

 

[Goran]

Interested Goran in what your using to cover your slab? Is it just thick flexible polythene, does that work ok? I have fondant on my hives resting on the top bars too but with wooden cover boards on top, not having clear cover boards means I have to open the hive to see if need more fondant.

I use it for a couple years. Seems OK. It is thin, flexible food grade plastic. Bees tend to propolise every hole from above and seems to me better is with that cover for them. It lays on top bars but bees still can go between seams. Also gather condensate water for themselves, less they need water from outside, especially when is weather bad.
How to say, without deep dive into research pro/con, for me seems better and won't change it.
Of course as You say, when remove coverboard and see they don't need new fondant, don't have to remove this sheet.
Maybe also someone think of cost and making - cheap and fast.

I apologize, my bad english I wrote thick - it should be thin, leaf type, little stronger than freezer bag.

 

[madasafish]

I use it for a couple years. Seems OK. It is thick, flexible food grade plastic. Bees tend to propolise every hole from above and seems to me better is with that cover for them. It lays on top bars but bees still can go between seams. Also gather condensate water for themselves, less they need water from outside, especially when is weather bad.
How to say, without deep dive into research pro/con, for me seems better and won't change it.
Of course as You say, when remove coverboard and see they don't need new fondant, don't have to remove this sheet.
Maybe also someone think of cost and making - cheap and fast.

I do the same with my nucs and mini nucs- clear flexible plastic cover.. MUCH more flexible in inspections and feeding..

Highly recommended.

 

[Etton]

Any one else like Goran use polythene as a cover board, if so their pros and cons? I’ve been trying to get some old shower screens to cut up into 460x460mm for see thro cover boards.

 

[Murox]

Finally, a spell of dry and not too cold weather. Checked bees, stores etc. All was well, just beginning to nibble at some fondant even though there was some honey available. Perhaps the fondant was closer to the cluster during last week?
Now to make a couple of nucleus boxes for later in the year.

 

[Goran]

Any one else like Goran use polythene as a cover board, if so their pros and cons? I’ve been trying to get some old shower screens to cut up into 460x460mm for see thro cover boards.

I buy bags for sauerkraut making, cut the edges and open. after that cut it to couple cm overlap over the edge of a box. One bag cost here about 50 eurocents and I make 4 " covers" of one bag for lang hives. Cheap to try on few hives.

 

[madasafish]

I buy bags for sauerkraut making, cut the edges and open. after that cut it to couple cm overlap over the edge of a box. One bag cost here about 50 eurocents and I make 4 " covers" of one bag for lang hives. Cheap to try on few hives.

Also freezer bags..(large)

 

[GuyNir]

Nice weather today, all the hives out flying (some more some less). No sign of any pollen coming in yet this year. Not sure but seems to remember last year seeing pollen coming in around Jan time

 

[oliver90owner]

Depends mostly on the weather. Scotland is further north than southern England - but you may have already noticed that.

Actual dates are unimportant.

 

[nantmoel]

Yesterday it was a staggering 13C, I checked sugar blocks on hive, also put a sugar block on my little Apidea, these are still alive and seem to be well. Then painted a few Maisemore and BS Honeybee Nucs.

 

[madasafish]

Yesterday it was a staggering 13C, I checked sugar blocks on hive, also put a sugar block on my little Apidea, these are still alive and seem to be well. Then painted a few Maisemore and BS Honeybee Nucs.

Yesterday was -4C at 8am rising to a balmy 4C by 1pm. And there was a biting wind. I did no beekeeping.

 

[BMH]

Painted some more brood boxes.

Got the spray paint from sprayster.com.

good paint and some real bargains. some only 99p a can but the better ones £2.69 a can for 400ml

slightly new camo colour scheme

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

 

[enrico]

Ah well camouflaged......don't lose them in the grass!

 

[Angularity]

Ah well camouflaged......don't lose them in the grass!

Keys to good camouflage:

Shape
Shine
Silhouette
Shadow
Spacing
Skyline
Sudden movement

At least the hives are unlikely to be prone to sudden movement.

 

[Angularity]

Two of three hives at home were flying yesterday ('No dear, I have no idea what those yellow streaks on your recently washed car could be'). One was even bringing in some black pollen.

The third has a different race of queen and is more shaded, so I didn't think much of it. On further reflection I thought that their narrow entrance could have been blocked by dead bees, so this morning I took out the entrance block and cleared out about forty dead bees. I don't know if they were blocking the entrance, but now at least they should be able to get out if they want.

 

[GuyNir]

Made sure all hives have few heavy stones on top. Expecting strong winds tonight & tomorrow.

 

[enrico]

I have two hives that fly at any opportunity and one that has only flown once. No blockages, just have different temperature triggers