What did you do in the Apiary today?

[gregior]

Took 20 supers off today, Still a good balsam flow on here and some supers had a fair amount of fresh nectar so had to stay on.Bees look in good shape for the winter. Lots of wasps round here this year,they have been concentrating their efforts on one of the weaker colonies.

 

[Speybee]

Went up to the Heather to put in the Canadian clearer board on the hive with 2 honey boxes on it.
I put a porter escape crown board on the other.
Will wait for bees to clear down the way into brood nest.
Remove hives and take back to my home apiary is the next step.

 

[Tim.S]

Topped the feeders up - that's a quarters of a tonne gone already.

 

[Hachi]

clearer boards on, hives good and strong prep has begun to feed and vape

 

[Erichalfbee]

All supers off
Some honey spun off and fed back to the bees
First vape and Amitraz into the rooftop colony

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Took last two supers off, spun out about four pounds of honey for my efforts. Sweaty socks honey too.
Two back on for cleaning. Fed fondant to one.
Once supers are off after cleaning, hives are configured for Winter. OA vaping from next week, then feeding.
My wasp issue has gone away - destroying the two nests has sorted it.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Me and Alfie feeding a double brood colony yesterday with no stores.
I've got one double brood that are very light on stores.
I've secured the qx too the eke and put parchment paper over the fondant then 50mm insulation then a thick solid crown board.
I forgot to say ive gaffa taped over the joins from brood to eke and crown board, I like to do this, even more so with older kit.
Should keep them going for a bit.
My local Baker come good yesterday with 5 boxes of fondant 15lkgs for £15.
In the picture 12.5 kg block from SB.

 

[pargyle]

Round by the apiary yesterday evening I have a couple of spare hives stacked, a little way away from my colonies... Bees have found a hole where the crown board rim has come unstuck and there were loads of bees going and coming and going through the hole into a hive with stored frames ... there was one brood frame of honey from last season in there.

So ... who would like to guess ? ... Is it a late swarm that has found a new home or are they robbing the frame of honey ? The bees coming and going are not going back to my other colonies they are flying up and away. So, if it is being robbed they are not my bees robbing. It was too late last night to have a look ...today I'll have a look and will tell all !

My fault the gap was there - everything was sealed up but the rim had come unstuck and when I moved the stack I must have dislodged the rim enough to leave the gap - schoolboy error.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I will guess it’s robbing, but a small swarm was captured in West Moors high street last week. Reported by my sister in law.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Round by the apiary yesterday evening I have a couple of spare hives stacked, a little way away from my colonies... Bees have found a hole where the crown board rim has come unstuck and there were loads of bees going and coming and going through the hole into a hive with stored frames ... there was one brood frame of honey from last season in there.

So ... who would like to guess ? ... Is it a late swarm that has found a new home or are they robbing the frame of honey ? The bees coming and going are not going back to my other colonies they are flying up and away. So, if it is being robbed they are not my bees robbing. It was too late last night to have a look ...today I'll have a look and will tell all !

My fault the gap was there - everything was sealed up but the rim had come unstuck and when I moved the stack I must have dislodged the rim enough to leave the gap - schoolboy error.

I very surprised its not your bees,
Im going to say robbing.

 

[pargyle]

I very surprised its not your bees,
Im going to say robbing.

The stack is round the side of my workshop about 15 feet from the nearest of my colonies. I was surprised it was not my bees but I could see that they were clearly flying up in the air and then North (this is the direction my bees usually fly in) and in order to go in that direction they have to get to a height well above my apiary and I could see the 'robbers' if that's what they are heading off and not returning to my hives.

Should know in an hour or so as I've watched Andrew Marr and making a start ... 'Er indoors will not be amused if it is a swarm ....

 

[Speybee]

Me and Alfie feeding a double brood colony yesterday with no stores.
I've got one double brood that are very light on stores. View attachment 21996View attachment 21997
I've secured the qx too the eke and put parchment paper over the fondant then 50mm insulation then a thick solid crown board.
I forgot to say ive gaffa taped over the joins from brood to eke and crown board, I like to do this, even more so with older kit.
Should keep them going for a bit.
My local Baker come good yesterday with 5 boxes of fondant 15lkgs for £15.
In the picture 12.5 kg block from SB.

I roll the fondant out over my clean kitchen counter liberally dusted with icing sugar and pretend it’s a bit of pastry being rolled out

 

[Newbeeneil]

Round by the apiary yesterday evening I have a couple of spare hives stacked, a little way away from my colonies... Bees have found a hole where the crown board rim has come unstuck and there were loads of bees going and coming and going through the hole into a hive with stored frames ... there was one brood frame of honey from last season in there.

So ... who would like to guess ? ... Is it a late swarm that has found a new home or are they robbing the frame of honey ? The bees coming and going are not going back to my other colonies they are flying up and away. So, if it is being robbed they are not my bees robbing. It was too late last night to have a look ...today I'll have a look and will tell all !

My fault the gap was there - everything was sealed up but the rim had come unstuck and when I moved the stack I must have dislodged the rim enough to leave the gap - schoolboy error.

I had a similar situation at my main apiary (12 hives). I had a stack of wet supers next to my shed which I though were secure but I noticed there was a stream of bees finding their way in at one corner that was not as tight as possible. I watched the bees and none were going into the field where the hives are but were spiralling up and over a 12 hedge and off in the direction of my mates hives about 800 yrds away!

 

[Swarm]

Well he hasn't come back and reported the gap is now closed, so I'm guessing he may be a bit busy.

 

[Murox]

Gave mine syrup today. Have to say it was like a summers day, busy around the entrances.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Wrapped my supers (wet and dry) in bin bags and stacked in the garage with wooden sheets under and over. Three more, currently being cleaned, to do on Tuesday. Washed and dried the extractor, covered it and stored in its Winter position. Stuck Abelo crown board discs over the vents and unstuck the central one to enable feeding of unrepentant honey back to the bees.

Didn’t really need an extractor this year.....
Still, I have four strong and amiable colonies preparing for Winter.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Stuck Abelo crown board discs over the vents and unstuck the central one to enable feeding of unrepentant honey back to the bees.

Love that

 

[pargyle]

Well he hasn't come back and reported the gap is now closed, so I'm guessing he may be a bit busy.

Have been a bit busy ,... it was not a swarm - it was robbers ! There were so many in the box that I couldn't get rid of them ... they have stripped the comb that was full of last years capped honey and they are cleaning up any scraps around the edges. I've left them to their treat this afternoon and once they have all gone home tonight I'll go down and seal it up ... they were quite docile but, as you can imayine, trying to get them clear of the box was a non- starter.

Had a quick look through the crownboards on the other hives ... had to delay the White queen's nuc to full box as the hive I wanted to use is the one being robbed !! Best laid plans and all that.

I saw a lot of very bright orange pollen going in to all the colonies and also some grey pollen - the orange could be some early ivy - the stuff in my garden is still a couple of weeks away still ~ it's odd how different strains of ivy come into flower at different times. The grey could be autumn raspberry. Nice to see they are still collecting pollen - good sign that they are brood rearing.

We have a badger regularly visiting out garden (new toy a few weeks ago - trail cam) and I caught it on the camera behind my workshop which is right next to the apiary .... some signs of it digging for worms in front of the hives - just hope it doesn't decide that honey is on the menu.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I roll the fondant out over my clean kitchen counter liberally dusted with icing sugar and pretend it’s a bit of pastry being rolled out

I usually do it in the back kitchen, but we were out in the field.
I'll use icing sugar next time thanks for the tip.

 

[DaveG23]

United a queenless nuc with another nuc. Now debating whether to leave as a double brood or not.

Apiguard treatment for 2 other nucs.