What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

Follow up to past #28236 above re Horrible Q

After lunch plus 1 can Kronenbourg lager plus 1/2 bottle red wine , I summoned up courage to try again to find Queen.
To avoid heatstroke/malaria etc I wore T shirt and shorts - under a full Panoply mechanics uniform ,bee jacket , wellies and welly socks...

Bees are runny and form big pool of bees at bottom of frame - just what you don't need when inspecting. Split hive into 3 constituents - National brood top - all honey -- no Q, then 2 x 5 frame Lang jumbo supers - no Q!

Had a five minute rest and revisited Langs-- on main b box found white Q and despatched (she must have been hiding under a pool of bees). New Q in introduction cage..

Stings? About 10 but as mechanics overall none penetrated far enough to do anything but hurt a little.

Bees V upset.. Thick cloud round head.. Water spray and smoker dispersed them..

Nice strong colony - pity about the temperament..

The joys of beekeeping..

Time for a coffee and then G&T x several

 

[Tim.S]

More feed for the nucs and then a session mixing yet more feed for the out apiary. And of course the inevitable hunt around for feeders which I must learn to put in one place!

 

[captain666]

Hi madasafish.

How about moving the nasty hive some distance? The field bees (those that all have stings and are currently out) will return to the old site.

Give it a bit of time so more foragers fly out and this should greatly reduce the number of bees you have to deal with. House bees will not have a developed sting until about their third week when they take up guard duty and the others shouldn't fly up at you.

I find it helpful when looking for the queen not to smoke as this will scatter everything.

Then quickly inspect the first two frames and remove these for she's very unlikely to be there. Do the same the other side and you have now trapped her on the remaining frames as she has little option to run other than to the floor or sides. Don't forget to first check the crown board but you will know this.

Then, bring two frames forward and still together at a time leaving a gap between these two and the rest. Give it a minute and If she's on the outside of either of these two, she will head for the dark in the middle. Repeat.

I very seldom smoke but I always have a water spray to hand as you do. How about mixing in a bit of sugar?

Replace the hive to its normal site.

Hope this helps.

Fred.

 

[madasafish]

Hi madasafish.

How about moving the nasty hive some distance? The field bees (those that all have stings and are currently out) will return to the old site.

Give it a bit of time so more foragers fly out and this should greatly reduce the number of bees you have to deal with. House bees will not have a developed sting until about their third week when they take up guard duty and they shouldn't fly up at you.

I find it helpful when looking for the queen not to smoke as this will scatter everything.

Then quickly inspect the first two frames and remove these for she's very unlikely to be there. Do the same the other side and you have now trapped her on the remaining frames as she has little option to run other than to the floor or sides. Don't forget to first check the crown board but you will know this.

Then, bring two frames forward and still together at a time leaving a gap between these two and the rest. Give it a minute and If she's on the outside of either of these two, she will head for the dark in the middle. Repeat.

I very seldom smoke but I always have a water spray to hand as you do. How about mixing in a bit of sugar?

Replace the hive to its normal site.

Hope this helps.

Fred.

Thanks Fred
All advice gratefully received.

 

[steve1958]

An early morning inspection before the heat descends on us.
Now enjoying cold beer and sunshine.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Bee inspection after half a bottle of red?
I would be so clumsy it would all end in tears....
I once had a couple of Old Speckled Hens before an inspection and it taught me never to mix bees with beer. Only one letter difference but never again!

 

[Swn58]

No playing with bees today. That was my Saturday job. Went to check my allotment bees and to check the newly introduced queen in one hive. For a moment I thought something had happened, as I couldn't see her on the first run through. Found her eventually, but I could see no signs of her laying though. I've decided to not disturb her for a few weeks now. They have plenty of stores, so will be okay. The other hives are very busy and I will be harvesting honey this week. One of my neighbours grows fantastic Dahlias, Cosmos, Rebechia etc.. They love it!
The bees on my partners allotments are extremely busy too. There is a lot of Himalayan Balsam and Rose Bay Willow Herb, amongst other things in the area. We may have a second harvest there later.
I will be down at the farm apiary later this week and delivering honey to a local shop in the area.

 

[Swn58]

Follow up to past #28236 above re Horrible Q

After lunch plus 1 can Kronenbourg lager plus 1/2 bottle red wine , I summoned up courage to try again to find Queen.
To avoid heatstroke/malaria etc I wore T shirt and shorts - under a full Panoply mechanics uniform ,bee jacket , wellies and welly socks...

Bees are runny and form big pool of bees at bottom of frame - just what you don't need when inspecting. Split hive into 3 constituents - National brood top - all honey -- no Q, then 2 x 5 frame Lang jumbo supers - no Q!

Had a five minute rest and revisited Langs-- on main b box found white Q and despatched (she must have been hiding under a pool of bees). New Q in introduction cage..

Stings? About 10 but as mechanics overall none penetrated far enough to do anything but hurt a little.

Bees V upset.. Thick cloud round head.. Water spray and smoker dispersed them..

Nice strong colony - pity about the temperament..

The joys of beekeeping..

Time for a coffee and then G&T x several

A naughty hive is such a pain.....literally, as often as not!
I have one, in an apiary of eleven colonies. We harvested honey from most of the others a month ago, but this lot were having none of it. They literally 'explode' out of every exit possible, as soon as I try anything! I really don't know why, as the others are so calm that I have often not worn gloves. I am hoping that after so long they will be better behaved, though I'm not holding my breath on that one.

 

[DaveG23]

Another great day, 2 in a row. Summer truly is here.

Combined 2 weak nucs with a cast swarm.

Went in to a hive that turned pissy in the last 3 weeks, since they swarmed.

Welding gloves, syrup spray and it was still an ordeal.

On double brood, top brood box is mostly nectar, some capped honey, 2 commercial supers mostly capped.

Bottom brood box, lots of nectar, some frames of pollen. Eggs on 1 frame, but some double eggs in bottom of cells, 1 double eggs on side of a cell. Egg in a queen cup.

Given how they have changed behaviour wonder if the queen was poorly mated.

Put them back together, removed queen excluder, gave 1 more super.

Expect that they need to requeen or be requeened.

They were annoyed for a long time after inspection. Some calf's came running down to the fence to say hello, were soon running the other way, poor things

 

[madasafish]

Bee inspection after half a bottle of red?
I would be so clumsy it would all end in tears....
I once had a couple of Old Speckled Hens before an inspection and it taught me never to mix bees with beer. Only one letter difference but never again!

Bees tend not to like my breath after 4 x quadruple G&Ts

 

[Goodwood]

yesterday in estuary apiary I found lots of big colonies no real brood declines, still plenty of drones and scant honey in supers.
Preselis at 1000ft elevation same but decent honey and plenty capped off but no real smell of significant heather coming in ... yet.
maybe as they are 2-3 weeks behind on flora the rosebay and HB on the old railway track is saving them.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Bee inspection after half a bottle of red?
I would be so clumsy it would all end in tears....
I once had a couple of Old Speckled Hens before an inspection and it taught me never to mix bees with beer. Only one letter difference but never again!

I believe that the bees don't like the alcohol on your breath or maybe when it comes out of your pours.

Talking about inspections on the weekend me my 6 year old and a friend and his two daughters inspected 3 a/s splits I was the head beek opening up the colonys and showing the others in turn queen's brood /eggs, stores etc.

WE finished and sat down for a cuppa about 30 metres from the colonys.
I left my suit on and tied it around my waste.. A few mins later I had a bee come for a nose only at me, she wasn't trying to sting me but was only interested in me.. I think they know who there owner is.

 

[Antipodes]

Pleased to find bees storing nectar in a recently supered hive. A hive that I considered only months ago to be my worst with a hopeless queen, is now apparently my best! We had our coldest ever temperature on record a few days ago in the high country (-14c ...don't laugh), and we are still getting -2 frosts overnight here in suburbia, but there you go. Lots flowering at the moment. Heavenly scent of drying honey and propolis wafting from the hives on the sunny winter days!

 

[pargyle]

Had a look through all the colonies when it had cooled off a bit this evening. Even with the Old Castle ventilated jacket still a bit hot and sweaty. Bees perfectly behaved - all big colonies - all queens laying - supers mostly capped now but I don't think theres enough time left for them to draw more frames and I'm out of drawn super frames now. I don't really want to extract yet but might have to as there still appears to be nectar coming in and with the warm humid weather here and some rain forecast I suspect it will continue.

Checked the white queen from Ceri Morgan - all well - four frames of wall to wall capped brood and eggs and larvae. Took out the dummy and gave her another drawn frame so there are eight in the modified nuc now and that's the limit - the last one is a bit tight and I might take it out and replace it with a slim dummy board. Next decision .. should I transfer her to a full 14 x 12 - or let her overwinter in the 8 frame. The back of my neck is telling me to put them in a full size box at the weekend when the capped brood will be emerging and give them a couple of empty frames to draw out and a few litres of invert to give them a bit of a hand. Really pleased after that slightly less than conventional start to her colony.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Had a look through all the colonies when it had cooled off a bit this evening. Even with the Old Castle ventilated jacket still a bit hot and sweaty. Bees perfectly behaved - all big colonies - all queens laying - supers mostly capped now but I don't think theres enough time left for them to draw more frames and I'm out of drawn super frames now. I don't really want to extract yet but might have to as there still appears to be nectar coming in and with the warm humid weather here and some rain forecast I suspect it will continue.

Checked the white queen from Ceri Morgan - all well - four frames of wall to wall capped brood and eggs and larvae. Took out the dummy and gave her another drawn frame so there are eight in the modified nuc now and that's the limit - the last one is a bit tight and I might take it out and replace it with a slim dummy board. Next decision .. should I transfer her to a full 14 x 12 - or let her overwinter in the 8 frame. The back of my neck is telling me to put them in a full size box at the weekend when the capped brood will be emerging and give them a couple of empty frames to draw out and a few litres of invert to give them a bit of a hand. Really pleased after that slightly less than conventional start to her colony.

I know how you feel I've got one in a 6 frame nuc going into a national hive on the weekend she was introduced on the 20th of June.
When I made the nuc they had two brood frames of stores so I didn't feed them.
When I put them in the national hive I'm going to add two more brood frames of honey and pollen
I'll put the brood stores either side of the 6 and maybe one drawn next to the cluster then dummy the rest.
There looking good nice to see the new brood emerging on my last inspection.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Killed wasps.

 

[Tim.S]

Feeding the little ones early before it gets too hot.

 

[Antipodes]

Wow...it looks dry over there!

 

[enrico]

Some of us are dry as a bone. Others are not so dry!

 

[madasafish]

Wow...it looks dry over there!

Overnight heavy rain and lots of thunder and lightning.
My lawn is beautifully green... and I never (have to) water it.