What did you do in the Apiary today?

[victor meldrew]

Burned half a dozen frames heavily infested with wax moth. Treated the rest of them with undiluted acetic acid fumes. That's going to be a fun job to clear out....

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Big flow on here !
Fell asleep to the sound of busy busy bees!


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[B+.]

Received 7 queens control mated on the Dutch island of Vlieland (https://twitter.com/Bplus_Amc/status/1151501080917946368 ). These will be introduced this evening and join the group to be tested next year.

 

[Millet]

The Queens introduced in commercial cages on Saturday are out and look a tad more plump..the Queen minus colony United over newspaper is also a positive..the weak doner colony now has twice as many bees and ten frames of brood..instead of one super they now have three to cater for the bigger work force...all done just in time before it lashed down.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Continued preparing exhibits for the Royal Welsh Honey show, nearly there now -apart from almost slicing the top of one index finger making cut comb and chunk honey. Just a few bits of fine tuning tomorrow then load up Saturday evening ready for the trip up Sunday.

 

[simonforeman]

So checked all my 7 hives and nuc today at both apiaries..

Today is the first time all season that I think I have mated laying queens in ALL hives. Did not see all queens but fresh eggs laid correctly in cells. Still a good flow on and supers are now starting to be capped so will look to extract in the next week to free up some equipment.

I have 1 hive that has been going well all season and has been no bother at all, full of brood and filling supers but I have not seen the queen in nearly the 2 years I've been beekeeping!!!!!!
Anybody else got any elusive queens?

 

[Goran]

I am melting.. 33 Celsius.. and have to distribute qcells into colonies.. have some crucial work around hazels.. Madness at the pay job.. The more the merrier.. Who survive will talk..
Seems whole next week will be over 30C, bright blue sky and that yellow burning star scorching us below.

 

[colinc]

Officially my best year yet. Extracting and replacing supers on an evening after work earlier in the week, finally got round to weighing and recording the honey extracted and have passed last years mark already. Should have another crop before the end of the year too.

Couple of buckets have gone into jars this evening (64 all told), 5 or 6 buckets still in the heap.


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[The Poot in Somerset]

Enjoyed a therapy session of sitting by a hive, just watching the bees come and go. I never tire of it.

 

[Millet]

Checked the three nucs i set up last week with mated green Queens..two have Queens present and laying the third one had four small sealed Queen cells and no Queen..? ..knocked all the Queen cells down and i will check again in several days time..me thinks i might have to buy another mated Queen..

 

[Repwoc]

Found and marked a queen that arrived with a swarm last weekend and usurped one of my nucs. Nice looking queen; deep ruby red colour.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A close shave

Not really in the apiary, but spent most of the day in Llanelwedd (the actual site of the Royal Welsh show - not Builth) staging my exhibits.
Stopped for a while for a natter with a fellow bee farmer, then just as I was leaving, sidelined for a few minutes to speak with the chief steward - this meant It took an extra hour to get home as there was a major accident (involving motorbikes and a car) resulting in a road closure a few miles into the trip, returning to Llanelwedd to cross the Wye at Builth and starting the journey again after fighting through the gridlocked town.
The close shave? if I hadn't stopped for the second five minute conversation, my vehicle would possibly be a part of the accident as I, and the first police officer on site arrived at about the same time

 

[user 382]

Converted the last of 5 long-TBHs I acquired to a national bb. Well, the last one was actually just a big wooden box as deep as it was wide with the comb attached to both the sides and the floor. Two hours later, brood, stores and a marked queen all in a more manageable bb.


In the last pic, you can just about see were the mouse nest was.

 

[Hachi]

Started making my splits for next year

 

[Poly Hive]

Reduced entrances on some nuc boxes I am making up over the next two weeks. Too big for weak colonies to defend so down to a 30mm hole.

PH

 

[viridens]

Treated with oxalic at long last yesterday and took a call today about bees in a compost heap. Going to investigate on Wednesday but they swear blind there are still bees there!

Bees in compost heap are likely to be bumbles. Either reassure them that they are lucky to have them and that they will die out in winter anyway, or if the folks are solid scared (kids, allergic to bees etc) go at dusk and take a shovel and sack, dig them up and rehome them, maybe in your compost heap.

 

[viridens]

Not really in the apiary, but spent most of the day in Llanelwedd (the actual site of the Royal Welsh show - not Builth) staging my exhibits.
Stopped for a while for a natter with a fellow bee farmer, then just as I was leaving, sidelined for a few minutes to speak with the chief steward - this meant It took an extra hour to get home as there was a major accident (involving motorbikes and a car) resulting in a road closure a few miles into the trip, returning to Llanelwedd to cross the Wye at Builth and starting the journey again after fighting through the gridlocked town.
The close shave? if I hadn't stopped for the second five minute conversation, my vehicle would possibly be a part of the accident as I, and the first police officer on site arrived at about the same time

Ripples on your pond. I have had similar experiences which make you stop and reflect... If you are like me you either appreciate life, the sunset and the other half etc or sink a half bottle of spirits, or both. Either way, a reminder of mortality, and significant enough to record here.
A man hug to you mate.

 

[coatesg]

Yesterday made up a Nuc to accept a queen arriving on Weds, gave them a little feed at the end of the day to ensure they don't starve.

 

[thedozzer]

learned a lesson on transporting poly Nucs, don't leave the miller feeder on, even if you think that there is not a lot in it, you can still end up with a passenger seat full of sugar syrup, Ooops!!!

 

[Brian Bush]

I spent a pleasant hour yesterday morning with my bee keeping buddie and a novice setting up a number of brood boxes to bleed off bees for NUC creation to accept my breeder queens arriving this week.
I have four skyscraper hives now. 14x12 brood box, 3 to 4 supers, 14x12 brood box with brood to draw off worker bees.
Goodness knows what the neighbours think!!!!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yesterday made up a Nuc to accept a queen arriving on Weds, gave them a little feed at the end of the day to ensure they don't starve.

Personally, I'd have made up the nuc after she'd arrived