What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Headnavigator]

Mild day, had a quick peer under roof insulation to see if they had taken all the fondant I put there for them some weeks (months?) ago. All quiet, haven't seen a bee for weeks, but they poured out to see what I was up to and though there was still fondant in the tub I could see activity in there. Good, they're still alert but not starving. First year so I'm still not too confident with hefting, perceived weight has more to do with my state of mind than their stores!

 

[TOBY-3652]

went to have a look at hives. all 11 flying and bringing out the dead pleased today

 

[drstitson]

just spent 1/2 hr tearing my office apart looking for my OA that i need to weigh out ready for potential use over xmas period.

serves me right for using an 8x10 office as a satellite hybrid branch of Th*rne's and MB!!!!!

 

[drstitson]

No bees out today.

managed to get a 23lb free-range Bronze Turkey from our flock delivered up to friends and back home just before snow hit. currently 4" and still falling.

16 cats indoors and counting.....

 

[drstitson]

peaked at 25/29 before bedtime!

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Just been out to the Apiary for a bit of an early spring clean.

All hives doing great, stores still very good. All my hives are on double brood, and basically one brood is full of bees and the other is stores. One hive was full on both brood so I have added another empty brood as insurance (predicting an early start)

Had a check of my empty hives/frame stores and found 3 mice in one hive in a nest..they quickly sprinted off.

Treated with oxalic acid, but fondant saved for later (if needed)

Basicly very pleased with progress, but still a bit to go.

 

[Firefly]

I also did Oxalic

Bees hilarious - like sleepy children, cross at being woken early. A few fly out because they know they should be acting all protective, but prefer to just land on you and crawl about; hence one up my sleeve and one inside the veil of SWMBO, but no harm done

One hive has only 6 seams of bees. Keeping everything crossed. At least they have recently started on the fondant I gave them 3 weeks ago

Sunrise: 8:13 AM
Sunset: 3:59 PM

Days getting longer

 

[dickndoris]

Went through all four colonies yesterday as it was a barmy 14+'c at the apiary! I cant believe that the brood and half has the super full of sealed stores. Every frame full! The main brood box again, every frame full of sealed stores apart from one on the N side and still they eat the fondant like there is no tomorrow. No room for brood! Eeek...Maybe pop my new poly brood on in anticipation? This colony also has a few very healthy looking drones still. Don't half make a row when they launch Absolutely no chance of drizzling OA as they are no way clumped. Vaporizer it is. Just hope the electric heating element arrives in the next week otherwise it's the copper pipe n blowtorch.
The no2 colony is also crammed with sealed stores again brood and half. No drones. No brood and very quiet but all over the frames. Lovely bees these but lazy;-)
No3 colony super healthy but a few mites on bees present. No brood but all but one frame full with sealed stores.
No4 colony (smallest) dark bees always out flying even at 5'c wind and rain! This colony is in a standard brood box and has a small amount of brood in the centre frame. It suffers from deformed wing syndrome but I have a feeling that all the suffering bees are no longer as there was no sign of them. They were out collecting an awful lot of pollen the past week or so. They are survivors and again the brood is crammed with sealed stores!
Overall pretty happy and confident they are all pretty well

 

[alexander]

Went and had a look at my hives, few bees in and out, clearing out some dead ones too.

As this is my first winter, not 100% if I should open the hive, to check on them. Wondering if I should open it to put some fondant in for them. Any ideas?

 

[oldsalthouse]

Had a good look round the hives today (didn’t open them up), all hives very busy as it’s been warm today, some pollen in on some of the bees, all look happy to me and not sort of stores.

 

[Mike a]

Went and had a look at my hives, few bees in and out, clearing out some dead ones too.

As this is my first winter, not 100% if I should open the hive, to check on them. Wondering if I should open it to put some fondant in for them. Any ideas?

I would suggest you heft the hive first before even thinking about opening them up, and ask an experienced bee keeper to come with you. By all means take a lump of fondant which you can slip in if the hive feels very light but the amount of fondant and where it can be placed all depends on the type you have. Other than feeding fondant and clearing the entrance of dead bees there is very little you can do at this time of year if there is a problem as a new bee keeper.

bw

 

[alexander]

I would suggest you heft the hive first before even thinking about opening them up, and ask an experienced bee keeper to come with you. By all means take a lump of fondant which you can slip in if the hive feels very light but the amount of fondant and where it can be placed all depends on the type you have. Other than feeding fondant and clearing the entrance of dead bees there is very little you can do at this time of year if there is a problem as a new bee keeper.

bw

Thanks for the advise. I will give that a go.

 

[Skyhook]

Went through all four colonies yesterday as it was a barmy 14+'c at the apiary! I cant believe that the brood and half has the super full of sealed stores. Every frame full! The main brood box again, every frame full of sealed stores apart from one on the N side and still they eat the fondant like there is no tomorrow. No room for brood! Eeek...Maybe pop my new poly brood on in anticipation?

If they're full of stores, why have you got fondant on? Stop feeding them, then see how much they get through in Jan and Feb. Certainly dont put an extra box on- that's a big cold space for them to deal with. If they're short of empty cells, you can start swapping frames around come spring- and stop anticipating, give them a chance to catch up with you!

 

[Vergilius]

If they're full of stores, why have you got fondant on? Stop feeding them, then see how much they get through in Jan and Feb. Certainly dont put an extra box on- that's a big cold space for them to deal with. If they're short of empty cells, you can start swapping frames around come spring- and stop anticipating, give them a chance to catch up with you!

 

[psafloyd]

13C yesterday and the bees were very busy. Even saw a small amount of yellows/orange pollen coming in.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If they're full of stores Stop feeding them,

If there are substantial stores in the spring there will not be room for the queen to lay just when fast expansion is needed and on the first fine day they'll be off.
Been there done that and not even a queen cell to warn me until they'd gone.

 

[antoniahk]

I wasn't planning to do anything, given that my bees absconded a month ago. Instead we found an abandoned (by people and bees) apiary, on the hillside below my garden. Three hives, each with a wooden shelter to keep it cool and dry. None of the neighbours seem to know who the hives belong to. Chinese style hives, naturally, so hopefully when we re-bee in the spring they will move in happily. I was quite delighted, as it shows that I wasn't completely deranged in bringing bees onto our small island.

 

[Skyhook]

I wasn't planning to do anything, given that my bees absconded a month ago. Instead we found an abandoned (by people and bees) apiary, on the hillside below my garden. Three hives, each with a wooden shelter to keep it cool and dry. None of the neighbours seem to know who the hives belong to. Chinese style hives, naturally, so hopefully when we re-bee in the spring they will move in happily. I was quite delighted, as it shows that I wasn't completely deranged in bringing bees onto our small island.

Result! 2 notes of caution however. Firstly, it may be that the area isn't suitable for bees, as yours cleared off and so apparently did the ones from the hives. Given that, I might be inclined just to install 1 colony and see what happens, rather than spend out on 3. Secondly, given that you don't know what happened to the bees, I would use new frames and foundation and thoroughly clean and scorch all woodwork, in case of disease.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Made up a couple of dozen frames.

What a pleasurable job - with the added bonus of removing a bored and therefore grouchy old man from an otherwise contented family

 

[Skyhook]

Actually got to do something today! Applied oxalic, checked fondant, removed it from one hive that's got plenty of stores and left it on 2 that are a bit light. Lovely to get a chance to see them.