What did you do in the Apiary today?

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Being as my spare suit turned up today I was able at last to go and check the mating hives at the home apiary. Not what I was hoping for, only 50% mated properly, quite a few drone laying queens sadly due to the weather I guess. Cold and pretty windy we have also had night time lows down in the 7c's which can't help. Strange thing is I also had some cells from the same batch on another apiary 17 miles away and 6 out of 7 were good. I think the next batch will be mated up there!
 
Another beekeeping myth busted.....

Did the whole of the home apiary today before rushing off to do the castle bees - clearer boards going on where needed (not as many supers I had hoped by a long chalk)
Got a very hot colony at the home apiary number 8 queen produces loads of gentle and prolific bees, but now and again, just for balance she produces a real monster (tagged SWMBO last week which is not good as she does get a severe reaction) they really do pile the honey in though, three boxes off today and three more later I think which comes to the statement:
'Bees always travel up, not down so tuck your trousers into your boots' well, two of the buggers pushed past my beesuit and way down into my left boot and I got stuck on the bony bit of my ankle............
I've also found out the one part of my body which reacts fairly badly to a sting. it was on the inside of the ankle and it doesn't half bleedin hurt.
I won't tell you where the other bee got to to deliver her sting, but let's just say SWMBO firmly declined to suck the poison out, and unfortunately there was no sign of swelling.
 
Just inspected mine today,they were quite grumpy which I expected as they've been stuck in the hives for the last week.Honey-wise they have been treading water the last 2 weeks which isn't great seeing as all the main flow flowers are in full bloom,but considering the god awful weather i'm happy they haven't been eating into their stores.

No signs of swarming in them and they are all very strong and rearing to go just need some 1/2 decent weather pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!
 
Checked on the new queens, laying well and moved another nuc into a full hive. The other nucs hived up a week ago and given supers to play with are booming and the supers were black with bees. I got called away so will have to check the supers with a view to extracting some tomorrow, suddenly I'm running short.
 
Took forty+ super frames off on Monday at the farm. I left as many there, due to time and weather constraints. The last few days has involved processing. I have to confess that I've had problems, due to the sheer 'density' of the honey! There is a fair amount of pollen in the supers too. I have never experienced non-OSR honey being like this before, but it is a new area, North of Stratford. The heavy honey crop is surprising, as the farm is pretty cropless, due to bad weather and pests.
The Covid plague has prevented me from exploring the area around the apiary in more detail, in the Spring and now, as I wanted too. I was told that neighbours grew sunflowers last year though. Maybe they are this year. I have also noticed that the harvested pollen tastes very citrus-like. Maybe there are hidden lime trees I never noticed earlier? My Brummie bees love their Limes!
 
jenkinsbrynmair said:
Did the whole of the home apiary today before rushing off to do the castle bees - clearer boards going on where needed (not as many supers I had hoped by a long chalk)
Got a very hot colony at the home apiary number 8 queen produces loads of gentle and prolific bees, but now and again, just for balance she produces a real monster (tagged SWMBO last week which is not good as she does get a severe reaction) they really do pile the honey in though, three boxes off today and three more later I think which comes to the statement:
'Bees always travel up, not down so tuck your trousers into your boots' well, two of the buggers pushed past my beesuit and way down into my left boot and I got stuck on the bony bit of my ankle............
I've also found out the one part of my body which reacts fairly badly to a sting. it was on the inside of the ankle and it doesn't half bleedin hurt.
I won't tell you where the other bee got to to deliver her sting, but let's just say SWMBO firmly declined to suck the poison out, and unfortunately there was no sign of swelling.
Click to expand...

That is painful, had that last year, lots of pain and the swelling was unreal.

As for the other sting site, my father in law once came tearing in to the house naked from the waist down screaming at his wife to remove a sting from his testicle, think she was laughing too hard to be any help.
 
Today I just enjoyed the sunshine, and watching & listening to the bees working hard. 4 days of sunshine in the last week, this season may not be a complete wash out, we may have a slow start to the year compared to most places but the season goes on through August if we are lucky, have to hope for a good year on the fushia.
 
ericbeaumont said:
How many brood boxes do you use on these hives?
Click to expand...
Not enough.....I have underestimated these poly-hives. Unlike my wooden ones, the queens lay end to end over every frame. I realise that pollen is being stored in the supers due to lack of room in the brood boxes. Every hive is packed with bees. I will have to use bigger brood boxes and more of them!
 
DaveG23 said:
That is painful, had that last year, lots of pain and the swelling was unreal.

As for the other sting site, my father in law once came tearing in to the house naked from the waist down screaming at his wife to remove a sting from his testicle, think she was laughing too hard to be any help.
Click to expand...
I was stung on the ankle three times a few years back. My foot swelled up so much that I couldn't where a shoe for three days. I was stung twice on the same ankle a few weeks ago and it had barely any effect at all for some reason. I always wear a double gusset underwear system to protect my crotch area. No problems in that area yet........ :)
 
Went through 3 hives and 2 nuc’s. Found the queen for the 1st time in the 1st hive. She is this years queen, marked and clipped her. Found the queen in the 2nd hive, re marked her as she was fading a bit. Marked and clipped the queen in 1 nuc.
 
Spent an hour or two with my landlord, checking his bees. Bit of a success with two new queens seen and both laying a beautiful pattern.
Looking at the supers was a different story, they are the same as they were a couple of weeks back. The outlook is more of the same until the end of the month so I think it's a case of what you see is what you get.
Quite a few moody bees. Fat honey arcs on the brood frames, they are preparing for Winter.
 
Swn58 said:
I was stung on the ankle three times a few years back. My foot swelled up so much that I couldn't where a shoe for three days. I was stung twice on the same ankle a few weeks ago and it had barely any effect at all for some reason. I always wear a double gusset underwear system to protect my crotch area. No problems in that area yet........ :)
Click to expand...

I find bony parts swell up more than other areas but have had different reactions in the same spot, the time my ankle was really swollen I had a cold and think I had taken ibroprufen, not sure if that made the reaction worse.

Got stung twice on the nose this year, same day at different apiaries. Very hot day so that added snot to all the sweat in the plastic mesh of my veil. Somehow ended up with a swelling under my eye the next day
 
DaveG23 said:
I find bony parts swell up more than other areas but have had different reactions in the same spot, the time my ankle was really swollen I had a cold and think I had taken ibroprufen, not sure if that made the reaction worse.

Got stung twice on the nose this year, same day at different apiaries. Very hot day so that added snot to all the sweat in the plastic mesh of my veil. Somehow ended up with a swelling under my eye the next day
Click to expand...
Ooooohhhh noooo!

There should be a 'Stings I've had' post!

NO......Personally, I'm not going to set that one up!
 
I completed last week on a new piece of land to use as a smallholding and increase the number of hives we have.

There is an overgrown orchard with fruit hanging off the apple, pear and plum trees, red currants, black currants and a thicket of Raspberries.

As I was happily using the brush cutter to clear a path, I felt a sharp pain in my leg, then another, and another. I'd put the brush cutter over an underground wasp nest, and they were not happy. I've taken about 30 stings.
 
The pain rating table is interesting, of course my first sting had to be in the nostril.
 
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