What did you do in the Apiary today?

[gregior]

Just watched the entrances today,very heavy flow on here and an absolute rainbow of pollen types coming in, the bees are in superb shape this year!

 

[Courty]

Removed queen cells from top box of Demaree apart from two on a frame which I used to create my first nuc.
Inspected a colony I bought recently, pleasant bees, seem to be settling in nicely. Odd mix of brood and food frames though, brood in frames at back and middle with nectar in between. Wonder if they are filling recently vacated brood frames because there is a flow on. They haven’t done anything with the super foundation.
Enjoyed being at the apiary. Spent time in the garden making a double entrance floor for a split brood box out of what I could find, it’s amazing how creative you can be when you can’t go to the local DIY place or timber merchant.

Courty

 

[manek]

Just watched the entrances today,very heavy flow on here and an absolute rainbow of pollen types coming in, the bees are in superb shape this year!

Yes, I'm seeing red (horse chestnut?), white, and a range of yellows.

Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

 

[Tim.S]

Making the most of my time at home as back to work next week, we have only slowed down rather than stopped but the time has been good to catch up with stuff. Prepped the queen raising kit ready for the off. Once I start you can bet the weather will go downhill rapidly!

 

[Goran]

Building and filling freshhh..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

popped over to the castle to check the hives there - bees going like the clappers, some hives begging for a second super, almost unheard of in April around here.
really pleasant interlude during the lockdown, no grockles cluttering up the lanes, in fact, no traffic. No sign of the hawthorn opening up there but the hedges were a cloud of hawthorn flies about their business - was almost tempted to go down to the end of the lane and sit next to the river Cennen for a while and watch the trout take their fill.
People blathering on about getting back to normal - myself, I think we have just arrived there.

 

[GuyNir]

People blathering on about getting back to normal - myself, I think we have just arrived there.

Aye, same here

 

[Goran]

Steadily we are preparing for extraction. I feel like I am in perfumery, mana ash and something more from the forest cover area.. I saw today one bee with growing fungi from its head, bee still alive and moving around.. I should remove it, but I was surprised. Next time I see it I will remove it.

 

[simonforeman]

popped over to the castle to check the hives there - bees going like the clappers, some hives begging for a second super, almost unheard of in April around here.
really pleasant interlude during the lockdown, no grockles cluttering up the lanes, in fact, no traffic. No sign of the hawthorn opening up there but the hedges were a cloud of hawthorn flies about their business - was almost tempted to go down to the end of the lane and sit next to the river Cennen for a while and watch the trout take their fill.
People blathering on about getting back to normal - myself, I think we have just arrived there.

Agree, I would love to stay as we are without the virus.... my youngest has learned how to ride her bike and also got interested in the bees and now has a bee suit on order that will fit her.

 

[deemann1]

Moved four hives to new apiary transferred another nuc to full hive .
I seen blue pollen going into the hive ,took me by surprise as iv never seen blue before

 

[Heather]

Went up to remove a super of ?OSR capped honey and found the little charmers had decided to swarm. Fortunately a clipped queen so they had obligingly settled beneath the OMF in a lovely big prime cluster. So my lovely queen, leaving behind 7 frames, wall to wall, brood.. and 3 queen cells, is safely hived to crack on with her new colony... 2 queen cells now in my incubator.

 

[XYZ]

Yesterday was a busy one.

Gave nuc a second brood box with two frames foundation and the rest stores.

Clipped two queens, trapped in crown of thorns. Will try a different way next time.

Added second super to local colony as they are streets ahead of the rest.

Made an insert to go under the OMF of the Maisies nuc as they were dripping stuff out and I didn't want them robbed.

Learned a lot of things I would do differently in future!

 

[drex]

On Thursday I United two of my hives, which were slow to get going.
I put the queen from one into a nuc, with two frames of brood, one of stores and two foundation. Shook in 3 frames of nurse bees. Put the nucs back on stand to get the flyers. Am giving this nucs to someone just starting. The left overs were united with the weak hive next door, the space in which I reduced down.

Had warned my beginner it would be likely to be a week or so before he got his bees, but looking in today, they have drawn most of the foundation and these cells have eggs in, so he is getting them tomorrow. The United colony has also picked up with queen upping her rate of lay. Obviously both queens were low on support staff.

 

[Walrus]

I removed a frame of brood from a nuc containing my breeder queen and replaced it with foundation. Gave the brood to another hive. Both colonies completely ignored me despite the dark skies and bursts of rain.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Before the site breakdown I added a forth super to one of my clients hives. Her bees have gone bonkers with OSR within about 200yds.
The galling thing is I sold her the bees last year and my hive on the same site is just starting its first super!

 

[Monbees]

Borage?

 

[Goran]

Steadily we are preparing for extraction. I feel like I am in perfumery, mana ash and something more from the forest cover area.. I saw today one bee with growing fungi from its head, bee still alive and moving around.. I should remove it, but I was surprised. Next time I see it I will remove it.

I think it might be Cordyceps..
Black locust seems isn't all scorched by the frost. Now bees are prepared for the best, will see.. If forage fails, with such huge army.. there will be swarms which I don't want..

 

[Ian123]

I’ve just delivered 14 mating nucs to 1 site and placed a frame of young larvae into my cell raiser/starter. Tomorrow it’s remove the old cells and into nucs and after removing the frame of larvae graft another batch with hopefully a little more success for the second lot.

 

[Levitt53]

Retrieved my hive tool which I had left under the QE on my biggest hive. They also lost their roof because I hadn't strapped them down. There was insulation over the holes in the crown board but I think they were a little bit damp. My largest colony though they were ok but another couple of lessons learnt.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Cut down an overgrown vibernum and did a lot of weeding and tidying up. Moved a hive three feet. Observed all goings on at the entrances.
Wore a bee suit but was not approached by a single bee. It would have been a different story had I not worn it....
Sorted through the dead outside one hive and found several drones barely alive - appeared to be in good condition but just able to wiggle their legs.
This is the second lot of dead from this hive in a week - didn't find any k wing though, so a bit of a mystery. Seems more than spring cleaning.