What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Curly green finger's]

Moved two nucs 4 metres and put twigs in front of the entrance as the Nuc i moved just before Christmas had about 20 or so dead bees at the old site even though there was an old hive in the same position.

Feed 3 colony's fondant they were not moving of the top bars with smoke so I used some thin shims on top of the frames .

Weighed the black bees very heavy still in comparison to the mongrel colonys

 

[Murox]

welcome break..........no rain little wind.

wandered up to check things yesterday afternoon - first decentish 10 degree day for a while - no rain and no big winds. Checked the inspection board, cappings suggest they are clustered around the middle frames at the moment, a little different to the last time I looked when they were more to one 'end'. Managed to see just 2 bees flying, the rest hunkered down (had a peek) munching away on their stores. All appears to be in good order.

 

[Millet]

possibly the weather milder than last time you checked? bees not so tightly clustered means they cover more frames

To be honest the bees have clustered very little this year up to now..around three times that i have seen..most of the other times the bees are all over the top bars and walking around on the inside of the clear crown boards on ekes..that is how i have noticed a slight increase in the amount of bees in the small colony..i suppose i will know better when i catch them clustered again but i can not see it happening anytime soon with the mild weather we are having..

 

[chipper]

Watched bees collecting pollen from the Salix Aegyptiaca
Also Gorse, Mahonia and winter flowering heather coming in...
Far too warm for my liking...

 

[simonforeman]

Close family members bought me a sublimox for Christmas so decided to try it out of my 8 hives..... all done in no time.

I dont think I would of bought one myself with do few hives but better than having aftershave and 30 pairs of socks and stuff you would never use.....

2 hives topped up with fondant but all doing really well.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As SWMBO is away at her friend's until tomorrow evening, took the opportunity to finally clean and wash all the feeders - all now laid out on the lawn drying before being stowed away tomorrow

 

[Curly green finger's]

Watched bees collecting pollen from the Salix Aegyptiaca
Also Gorse, Mahonia and winter flowering heather coming in...
Far too warm for my liking...

I agree I was just saying to the better half I've not seen the bees this active in December before .
Happy new year almost!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I agree I was just saying to the better half I've not seen the bees this active in December before .
Happy new year almost!

One afternoon on Christmas day SWMBO shouted at me to go out to the garden, the bees at the home apiary were so active she thought they were swarming

 

[betterbee]

beautiful church picture credit to you makes for lovely seasonal thoughts
peaceful wishes to all forum members

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

Is it one of these?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xdo2oj5Fn0
I suppose being in the island of Ireland you do not have all the UK rules and regulations that seem to be imposed on beekeepers.
What are the tablets the man is lighting with a candle made of? is it the same as the jelly stuff I was given to put in my hive... just wondered as it looks as if it would be easy to make a vaperisor with a battery and a small hand fan and a few bits of tin plate.

This is the one
https://m.ebay.ie/itm/New-type-VARROJET-3-0-Oxalic-Acid-Vaporizer-8x-cups-US-version-/273796699541

 

[Curly green finger's]

One afternoon on Christmas day SWMBO shouted at me to go out to the garden, the bees at the home apiary were so active she thought they were swarming

Yep yesterday 2 colony's were bearding she thought the same ... my poly nucs haven't been clustering much and they've been taking syrup down .
Still lots of stores in most hives .

I hope you had a nice Christmas emyr , the church , Chapel I saw photos of is it a Methodist church .
It reminds me of the church that I got married in at the elan Valley.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I hope you had a nice Christmas emyr , the church , Chapel I saw photos of is it a Methodist church .
It reminds me of the church that I got married in at the elan Valley.

Yes, had a good Christmas thanks.
The chapel predates Methodism as we know it today (1773 - there was a bit of a schism in the early 1800's which set out the way religion is now 'labelled' in Wales)and was built in the classic gothic/longwall entry style of most chapels in that era, usually the congregations stuck with the Methodist faith and the newer followings built new chapels as this was the start of the industrial revolution in areas like ours - these later chapels were invariably built with a gable entry facade thought more suitable for built up areas. But in the Aman valley, the congregation followed the independent churches of Wales (akin to the English congregationalists) those who stuck with methodism moved down to the valley floor and built the Tabernacle, another longwall chapel almost identical to the Old Bethel, opposite a holding called Penrhiw (hilltop) the Tabernacle is still an active chapel which has survived the later larger gable facade 'replacement' built across the river, Bethania built in 1906 but has since been sold off for development.
Penrhiw and the surrounding land was part of the Waunhwyad estate owned by cousins of my Great Great grandmother, it was rebuilt during the first world war and renamed...
Brynmair I bought it after the death of my Uncle Rhys's widow, Waunhwyad still survives as a much smaller holding, a lot of the land behind and beyond Brynmair being sold off in the 1940's for social housing and light industrial work.

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes, had a good Christmas thanks.
The chapel predates Methodism as we know it today (1773 - there was a bit of a schism in the early 1800's which set out the way religion is now 'labelled' in Wales)and was built in the classic gothic/longwall entry style of most chapels in that era, usually the congregations stuck with the Methodist faith and the newer followings built new chapels as this was the start of the industrial revolution in areas like ours - these later chapels were invariably built with a gable entry facade thought more suitable for built up areas. But in the Aman valley, the congregation followed the independent churches of Wales (akin to the English congregationalists) those who stuck with methodism moved down to the valley floor and built the Tabernacle, another longwall chapel almost identical to the Old Bethel, opposite a holding called Penrhiw (hilltop) the Tabernacle is still an active chapel which has survived the later larger gable facade 'replacement', Bethania built in 1906 but has since been sold off for development.
Penrhiw and the surrounding land was part of the Waunhwyad estate owned by cousins of my Great Great grandmother, it was rebuilt during the first world war and renamed...
Brynmair I bought it after the death of my Uncle Rhys's widow, Waunhwyad still survives as a much smaller holding, a lot of the land behind and beyond Brynmair being sold off in the 1940's for social housing and light industrial work.

Facinating!
My forebears emigrated from the "vallies" in the late 1920s my Grandmother was a Primative Methodist Sunday School teacher ( I still have her illustrated Bible given to her in 1912) and although by 1932 the Methodists merged, she insisted that I was sent to a Primitive Methodist Sunday School. Many of the congregation were Welsh speakers.
The building still exists, but my word has the area changed in the last half century.
My Primary school was just around the corner.
You can never get away from your roots.
Not anything like as pretty as your Chapel, never mind the tin roof...if it rained one just had to sing a bit louder!
https://www.myprimitivemethodists.o...rey-2-2/hackbridge_primitive_methodist_chapel

Happy New Years

 

[Murox]

I agree I was just saying to the better half I've not seen the bees this active in December before .
Happy new year almost!

It worries me a bit, surely it's bad to have weather warm enough to have brood now; it opens the door to any varroa mites to lay eggs with the bee larvae, and these new mites will feed on the new adult bees during the rest of the winter, potentially weakening the colony ahead of spring?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It worries me a bit, surely it's bad to have weather warm enough to have brood now; it opens the door to any varroa mites to lay eggs with the bee larvae, and these new mites will feed on the new adult bees during the rest of the winter, potentially weakening the colony ahead of spring?

They'll be starting to increase brooding from now on regardless of weather.

 

[E&MBees]

No bees flying today because of the damp, so took the opportunity to winter prune the fruit trees and the blackberry in the apiary.

 

[Monbees]

Spent the whole day protecting ten trees in the apiary as best l can, from being barked by my six sheep. Never had sheep do this before. Also had to protect poly hive with hurdles as they had started on that too. Perhaps sheep and bees don't mix!

 

[Beefriendly]

Perhaps sheep and bees don't mix!

They don't ....had a poly hive badly chewed by some on the heather a few years back.

 

[Millet]

Spent the whole day protecting ten trees in the apiary as best l can, from being barked by my six sheep. Never had sheep do this before. Also had to protect poly hive with hurdles as they had started on that too. Perhaps sheep and bees don't mix!

How come you still have six sheep after the Christmas and New years dinners.. or did you have seven. ..horses/cattle and sheep definitely do not mix near hives..barbed wire is your friend on this occasion or better still electric wired to the mains..

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

No bees flying today because of the damp, so took the opportunity to winter prune the fruit trees and the blackberry in the apiary.

Same idea here - hedge cutting around the apiary.
Three hives only slightly active today - one with no activity.
Probably not very popular with the hangover brigade with the Stihl hedge cutter in full voice....