What did you do in the Apiary today?

[BugsInABox]

Done that before....the regrettable thing that is

That is a beautiful comb!!

 

[GuyNir]

Lovely 11c sunny day. All colonies flying. Super added to 4 of my strongest hives. Willows in full force, dandelions starting, sycamores will Be fully open in 1-2 weeks. Bees are back with full pollen baskets, most of it from the willows it looks, some bees are back completely covered with pale yellow pollen.

And so it starts...

 

[Nik Edser]

Inspected my hive today as the weather is so lovely. First time we have managed to get the bees through a winter so excited to see them so busy in the sunshine, slightly concerned that there is not any capped brood in there.. a few drone cells and that’s all I can see. Found the queen and she is unmarked, the queen that was in there was a marked one from 2020 so she has been replaced Which I did not know until now.
should I worry yet or just keep checking now the better weather is here. Has the cold weather slowed the queen down and should I be seeing capped brood by now. There is about 5 frames of bees so still lots of bees in there.
lots of pollen coming in and they are all very busy.
any advice welcome

 

[thedozzer]

Second inspection, one hive is doing really well and started to fill a super, the other is dwindling away to nothing, saw queen, but no eggs, took frame of sealed brood from strong colony and swapped hive down to 4 framed nuc.

Hive had water damage over winter and some frames had mold and fermented, but they looked like they would recover as plenty of stores,
But now 50/50 if they pull through, not sure there are enough bees to make hive warm/viable any more

 

[Curly green finger's]

Set up eight new apiary sites and I'm collecting and moving 25 colonys next week what a lovely day to be driving around the Shropshire hills

 

[madasafish]

Requeened a DLQ nuc and added frame of brood and emerging brood to keep them stable.

 

[BigAshW]

Took the opportunity to get into mine.

No swarm preps yet. Three hives with a lot of brood. I decided to demaree one of them and then spent the drive home wondering if I've jumped the gun a bit.

Left the queen on a drawn empty frame with a frame of stores and the rest starter strips. Old brood box with all the brood in the top box. I guess time will tell if I got it wrong.

 

[BugsInABox]

slightly concerned that there is not any capped brood in there

No capped brood implies she only started laying 10 days ago - which does seem late? What other brood do to you see? Where was the drone brood - edges of brood nest or dotted around.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Inspected my hive today as the weather is so lovely. First time we have managed to get the bees through a winter so excited to see them so busy in the sunshine, slightly concerned that there is not any capped brood in there.. a few drone cells and that’s all I can see. Found the queen and she is unmarked, the queen that was in there was a marked one from 2020 so she has been replaced Which I did not know until now.
should I worry yet or just keep checking now the better weather is here. Has the cold weather slowed the queen down and should I be seeing capped brood by now. There is about 5 frames of bees so still lots of bees in there.
lots of pollen coming in and they are all very busy.
any advice welcome

Did you see any larvae or eggs. Just a few drone cells doesn’t sound good.

 

[BigAshW]

Found four out of my five queen's so no late supercedures for me last year.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Did you see any larvae or eggs. Just a few drone cells doesn’t sound good.

At all - just shook one like that out this afternoon

 

[Nik Edser]

No capped brood implies she only started laying 10 days ago - which does seem late? What other brood do to you see? Where was the drone brood - edges of brood nest or dotted around.

there are a few dotted drone cells around the edge. Going to check again in a few days and see if there is any change. Lots of pollen in there and honey and a very healthy looking unmarked queen..

 

[Nik Edser]

Did you see any larvae or eggs. Just a few drone cells doesn’t sound good.

Yes no eggs that I can see or Larvae so unsure what’s happened.. I’ll check again in a few days and see if it’s changed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes no eggs that I can see or Larvae so unsure what’s happened.. I’ll check again in a few days and see if it’s changed.

Yes that’s best. Take a pencil torch too

 

[Ian123]

Checked some today lots of drones and found 2 rather congested with queen cells. Judging by the drones about and those just emerging I’ll maybe try a batch of cells in a week or two.

 

[GuyNir]

Checked some today lots of drones and found 2 rather congested with queen cells. Judging by the drones about and those just emerging I’ll maybe try a batch of cells in a week or two.

Decent pattern this

 

[BugsInABox]

Yes no eggs that I can see or Larvae so unsure what’s happened.. I’ll check again in a few days and see if it’s changed.

 

[Bear]

Inspected 9 hives I’ve been looking after. 1 hive wasn’t taking down food well and I suspected it queenless. I was right. No queen and no layers so united with another colony. Saw all queens. Marked what needed marking and clipped all queens. Sorted out the brood, all mixed up.

 

[Ian123]

Decent pattern this

Bloody foreign bees or at least their daughters

 

[gregior]

Got a call from a friend who's garden I keep a hive in,knew what it was about before I answered. They had swarmed into next doors garden. I inspected them 2 weeks ago and they had 12 frames of BIAS and was going to inspect them tomorrow but was too late.Boxed them in a poly nuc and left a sealed cell in the parent colony.Will hive them tomorrow.