What did you do in the Apiary today?

[gregior]

Inspected 6 of mine today all very well behaved for once. Not 1 oz of honey in any of the supers and not much in the brood boxes either.Most of the queens have been off lay but started again as there was plenty of sealed brood and eggs but few larvae. Although they are all very strong there are no signs of swarming. Most pleasing thing was not seeing 1 varroa mite in any of the colonies despite forking out plenty of drone brood.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I tried. They wouldn't co-operate. Queen bees move too quickly to get a decent photo.

Nice dark queen

 

[madasafish]

Added supers to 3 hives without them - last in rain.
Not there has been much forage but all hives are on 8 frames plus of bees and I don't want swarming.

Added a 5 frame National nuc box under the nuc I have transferred the frame of a Kieler mini nuc some weeks ago. They are very vigorous and I want them to expand. Still feeding fondant/pollen sub as they are drawing comb /raising brood and have minimal stores

Wanted to transfer another Kieler to Nat 5frame nuc, but weather not consistently good enough to risk it and have it rain (takes about 45mins with cable tying frames together) and it is windy as well.

 

[B+.]

Nice dark queen

That's why you don't rely on colour (although some would). They're Dutch carnica, mated on the Dutch island of Vlieland and the German island of Norderney. Ancestry & performance is here.

 

[Nannysbees]

Rain rain and more rain 🌧

 

[StephenT]

Well, it was yesterday. Out of the 2 hives that had swarmed and were re-queening, one had eggs and larvae and the other nothing yet. The Q's were due to emerge two weeks ago and so was surprised to see larvae a few days old already in one. Hoping the other hive is on the right track but just slower. Need to expand the nuc housing one of the swarms as it's rapidly running out of space. Ordered a 2nd nuc brood box today to do that. The other two hives are a parent and A/S from a split. Didn't check the A/S as letting them re-queen and they are looking pretty crap with CBPV. May be best to euthanise that hive soon. Checked the parent hive (queen less as well after a probable mishap last week) and they've got 3 nice looking QC's so hopefully they will sort themselves out. Certainly a steep learning curve this spring, so far.

 

[Swarm]

Went with the intention of transferring a cell and bees to make up a little mating nuc and found I'd been out smarted by the little darlings, who have beaten me to it. Oh well, I'll wait to see when she starts to lay.
Look at them, butter wouldn't melt.

 

[Nannysbees]

15 mins before I needed to leave for work,just having a wander around the garden and saw a swarm.Totally unprepared as we were waiting for a queen to hatch and I think she hatched and did a bunk.Got them into a nuc and off to work I shot.
Within an hour my husband sent me a photo of the hive that we thought had swarmed, hundreds of bees on the front walking upwards. He thought they were ready to swarm so brushed them into another nuc. Goodness knows if we have done the right thing. Inspected the queenless hive lunchtime, two capped queen cells and still a lot of bees. Found the whole process stressful as we weren't sure if we did right?

 

[einsteinagogo]

5 degress C, thunder and lightning all day, and very wet bees !

Very depressing May Spring, managed to find a break in the weather for a walk in the fields, and now pollen evident on the OSR, but very little insects, on the flowers, spotted 2 bumblebees, and 3 honey bees!

and this rate, I'm going to need a large umbrella or moveable gazebo to inspect them!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

5 degress C, thunder and lightning all day, and very wet bees !

Very depressing May Spring, managed to find a break in the weather for a walk in the fields, and now pollen evident on the OSR, but very little insects, on the flowers, spotted 2 bumblebees, and 3 honey bees!

and this rate, I'm going to need a large umbrella or moveable gazebo to inspect them!

View attachment 25962View attachment 25963

How's your hang gliding if the wind catches the gazebo?

 

[BigAshW]

Popped by one of my bait hive sites on the way to the shop this evening.

Looks promising anyway. I didn't have any kit with me to check so will have to look later.
View attachment VID-20210511-WA0040.mp4

 

[Newbeeneil]

I did the same to one of my bait hives at lunchtime today. A very similar picture, I'd be surprised if they didn't take up residence in the next few days. I would guess mine are from a tree nest about 40m from the bait hive.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Inspected one of my apiaries that is rather exposed and have not been able to get in there because of the dodgy weather.
One of the two hives was extremely full of bees so I decided to try a demaree. The other had obviously tried to swarm with a clipped queen and returned (whilst inspecting I was caught by the neighbour who said "I was trying to get your number as the bees were everywhere last week!")
As I carried on inspecting and found sealed queen cells I heard the the distinctive piping of a virgin so since it was on the frame in my hand I retreated from the buzzing of the hive and located the lady and placed her in a cage.
I carried on and heard the sound again so out with another cage for number two! I went through the box shaking off the bees and removing all the Q cells whilst releasing another 5 virgins which were subsequently incarcerated in more cages.
I put the whole box back together and popped one of the seven virgins back in. As I sit here I just hope I found them all but I have a sneaking suspicion that the neighbour might be using the number I gave him!

 

[Antipodes]

15 mins before I needed to leave for work,just having a wander around the garden and saw a swarm.Totally unprepared as we were waiting for a queen to hatch and I think she hatched and did a bunk.Got them into a nuc and off to work I shot.
Within an hour my husband sent me a photo of the hive that we thought had swarmed, hundreds of bees on the front walking upwards. He thought they were ready to swarm so brushed them into another nuc. Goodness knows if we have done the right thing. Inspected the queenless hive lunchtime, two capped queen cells and still a lot of bees. Found the whole process stressful as we weren't sure if we did right?

We had a little chuckle here this morning about the audio near the end of the video .... Excellent!
The main thing is you both did something, and worked through it quickly. Beekeeping is mainly a collection of personal experiences...some quite exciting (I think). It will be interesting to see how it works out.

 

[Nannysbees]

We had a little chuckle here this morning about the audio near the end of the video .... Excellent!
The main thing is you both did something, and worked through it quickly. Beekeeping is mainly a collection of personal experiences...some quite exciting (I think). It will be interesting to see how it works out.

didn't realise that was on there, just listened to it that just about summed up the day

 

[Antipodes]

Inspected to see if a queen was laying. Mated very late April (yes, very late but she did it). Anyhow, laying well and photo of her attached.

I also checked the queen that I filmed a few days ago, the one just returned from a mating flight, and to my surprise, she looks very much like a virgin. I know she mated because I saw evidence of it and she actually looked bigger when she was scurrying back into the hive than she does now. Interesting. Got no photo of her.

In the home apiary today I checked the filmed "returned from mating flight" queen that looked unmated last time I looked, even though I knew she had definitely mated. Very pleased to find her considerably bigger today and laying well!

 

[Murox]

Pleasantly surprised yesterday by a hive I thought ( when I last looked) was possibly queenless - loads of bees and BIAS. Must have been having a coffee break and putting her feet up till the weather looked better.

 

[Swarm]

Some Amm queens. Amm queens are black like liquorice
The third is about as light as they get, aided largely by the sunlight on her abdomen hair.

 

[Swn58]

Finally managed to give my partners allotment bees a check over yesterday. It's been two weeks since I last looked, due to the weather. One of the colonies had been a bit small, but now has end to end brood. I added a super.

The bees on my allotment apiary are a bit confusing. The other week my 'false swarmed' hive had Q C's, but two looked like they were in the process of being broken down. I think it was due to the weather. There were still two remaining, so I thought I'd let them be. This time I found a third one as well though.
One other hive looked a bit weak, despite having fondant added a while ago. I could not find the queen, then realised that there was sealed brood, but no eggs or unsealed brood. Queen dead? I saw her a few weeks previously! The evidence pointed to her absence though.
I decided to go back to the other hive and lift the frame with the other queen-cell. I was going to use it to make up another nuc. I brushed the bees off and instead added it into the other hive. Here's hoping that I have just saved the queen-less colony. I've never done this before, so hope it works.
My 'Super-hive' was checked for Q C's the other week. They were far too busy expanding into the two chequer-boarded brood-boxes and the super. However, on Sunday there was a ball of bees on the super, below the roof. It looked like a swarm. I knocked them into a nuc with new frames, then turned it upside down on the hive roof. Basically, they were unimpressed and slowly went back to their original position! I left the nuc in position, just in case, but am not entirely sure it is a swarm. I had a good dig around, but saw no queen.
Of the two nucs I made up, the 'swarmed' queen one is doing fine and will be hived again soon. The other one still has its sealed Q C. It should have hatched by now! Again, I can only assume that it's this weather.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Could not delay because of weather, not ideal to inspect but needs must.

Excitement today, (definitely gets my heart pumping again!) inspected No.1 (previously No.13), wall to wall with BIAS, some stores, didn't really spend anytime looking at the super, although not many bees present, they've eaten almost 2.0kg of fondant!

Queen cells present, 3 charged, so found queen on frame of BIAS, and put her in a nuc with a few other frames, and foundation, closed up and fed.

Debated over which queen cell looked best (as it says in the books), in terms of location on frame, reduced to one and closed up. (note to Andy: It's on Frame 19!)

Colony No.1 was always ahead of No.2 in terms of frames of brood, when received on 25th April 2021.

Colony No.2, oddly super being filled on this hive, heavier than No.1, no queen cells present I could see, less BIAS, definitely a smaller colony, but seems always busier!

Temperature not ideal to inspect, and bees were well behaved despite a deep dive inspection!

Certainly a better temperament than colonies I've had before!