What did you do in the Apiary today?

[victor meldrew]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
11˚ drizzling all day
Not a single bee
The snowdrops are nearly over and no sign yet of the pussy willow

70 miles makes the difference then
Funnily enough I'm only 6 miles off the West Pennine moors and 20 miles off the Irish sea but seem to miss most of the cold weather (but not the rain )
VM

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
11˚ drizzling all day
Not a single bee
The snowdrops are nearly over and no sign yet of the pussy willow

Gloomy and drizzly with me but they were still out - the hive which has been most active all winter was fairly quiet and the hive which has hardly stirred was out in force, one or two popped their heads out of the nuc. Couldn't see what they were collecting though. Also saw a dead drone on the landing board

 

[peterbees]

Gorgeous day here in north Wales, the bees were working hard at 8.10am.
Now at 7pm, the temperature outside is still 13 deg. C.

 

[oliver90owner]

I checked all my hives today. All had flying bees, except the one I suspected was a dead-out. That was the only one I opened up. Sealed it up and will deal with it later.

Hefting is enough to check stores levels, although I will be encouraging brooding in selected colonies, so they will be opened shortly. The rest can benefit from a bit longer peace without intervention/interference.

 

[abi-e]

Thought I would top up the fondant, but neither hive had touched the stuff I put in last week. Bees busy in both colonies and working hard on snowdrops, crocuses and aconites. I guess they have enough stores in the hive to not need my offer of fondant. I just wasn't very confident about hefting the hives to measure the level of stores left.

 

[victor meldrew]

Just come in from a meeting 21:55
10C , can't be bad.
VM

 

[Skyhook]

It was lovely and mild (15C), so I carried out my threat and inspected, and I'm reassured by what I've seen. All 3 have some brood in all stages, plenty of stores (about 4 frames in the strong hive) and some space. I was surprised at how little pollen I saw- they went into winter with loads of it, and have been bringing in small amounts regularly. On that basis I'm seriously contemplating looking at protein feeding which I hadn't intended to, as I thought they had frames of the stuff.

Took the fondant off and gave each a small amount of weak (1:4) syrup for encouragement.

I was pleased to meet the girls out and about getting pollen- some on Camellia, and an alder tree at the edge of the apiary positively humming with them!

 

[drstitson]

just checked on the hives - would appear that two at least got a bit caught out by the unseasonably mild weather in south lincs yesterday - small piles/clusters of comatose bees scattered around the hives, some on stand legs and a few under OMFs. a good few hundred per hive. other hives just have normal distribution of corpses below the entrance.

Scooped up what i could and returned to hives with apparent quick resuscitation once inside under the clear crownboards.

 

[user 6228]

time: 7.30 am outside: +6 yesterday:sun
Alwaysfoam: floor 19C top 27C
WasWood: top of brood bottom of super: 22c

 

[iand]

At long last, I spotted one of the snowdrops on the lawn (in full sun) has now opened up. Probably the warm nights that has done it, in spite of their windy position . The earliest daff's have also made a bit of a move, maybe they will be starting to flower in the next week or two. All we need are the bees to start moving. I called at one site this afternoon all bees flying freely but no pollen going in. I spoke to a local Beek his have been gathering pollen though. Before leaving I found a cold bee on a snowdrop in need of rescuing. Its still early yet, but spring is on the way.
Checked a few boards for mite drop, only 2-4 in the last month, probably the tail end of the oxalic, so looking good I think.

 

[mark s]

hi all
I found myself a new out apairy today, its a magical place ill post pics next weekend when im there next

 

[Goodwood]

12 degrees sunny
Huge cloud of busy ones are out today around the hive
Lots of fast movers piling in with yellow pollen
Lots of the snowdrop clusters being given a good work over with a few early daffs too.
Saw one hopping from daisy to daisy aswell
A few celandines out too
Lovely job

 

[jezd]

12 degrees sunny
/QUOTE]

7'c here, bl**dy freezing

 

[susbees]

its a magical place ill post pics next weekend when im there next

Best hope the fairies don't spirit them away....

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[Gardenbees]

16 degrees in my sunny apiary today, and both hives very busy. They've almost finished their single pack of fondant each - quite a good stage to be at, so I won't add any more unless conditions change and they get really desperate.

They're all over the crocuses, also the Mahonia, bringing in lots of pollen. They're also taking an interest in my neighbour's lovely willow hedge, which is just coming into flower. The queen bumblebees have started to emerge too, and are progressively trashing the crocuses, so the honeybees had better get their fill ASAP!

The garden is really delightful at this time of year once the bees get going. A great time for hive-entrance-watching.

 

[grahambee]

13/14c portsmouth
queue at entrance bees coming and going plenty of orange and off white pollen all looking good

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

All 3 happily chomping through fondant and flying. Don't seem to be bringing much (any?) pollen so I may dust off the neopol tomorrow or next week

 

[Suzi Q]

Watched bees collecting water from my pond, the frogspawn was a convenient place to land to drink!

 

[nikca]

Cranes are flying over every day and even heard a flock at 3am: this is what the French look to for the start of warmer weather.

Sun was out and warmest day of the year - 15 degrees. LOADS of bees returning with huge lumps of yellow pollen - amazed some weren't over max take-off weight. Half-way through the fondant. Take it lots of little bees are on the way.

Now - lets hope this carries on in the right direction and I don't miss an early swarm...

 

[Chris Luck]

Now - lets hope this carries on in the right direction and I don't miss an early swarm...

I think you can relax for some time yet, we're at least three weeks behind last year already.

Chris