Not been on here for ages. It may take a while to catch up. I blame more work than 'wittering!'
For those who may be interested, things are not too bad here, though the honey crop here is not as good as last season, so far. I put it down to the limes, that looked so promising to start, suffering due to the very hot spell, that coincided with them flowering. The farm crop seem to have faired better than the other honey this year. It also seems to have a complex depth of flavour, that is usually found in the 'town' honey.
I still have the farm apiary quarantined, due to the EFB warnings. I check them regularly and have seen no signs, but will not move any stock in or out. This is a bit of a pain, as the expansion planned there has not really happened this season. There are twelve strong colonies there now though, despite going into the season with only seven.
My original allotment apiary has been very up and down this season. There were five strong colonies. They were split in late April, creating seven nucleuses with Q C's. Two of the hives had been turned into hive builders earlier, by adding an extra brood-box and 'checkerboarding' them. It was all looking good until the late May cold snap. I actually watched some bees taking down a Q C and lost most of my Q+ nucs! I managed to catch up a bit on that front in June though. Two colonies were even moved out in July, to help start a new apiary in Sandwell.
My second and third attempts using the Nico system failed yet again. I will have another go next season, but will look at grafting more next year.
The exciting thing has been the forming of the new apiary. It is intended to become my main base. It is closer and easier to access. There is also great all year round forage as well. There are currently seven strong colonies on the site, made up of a mixture of 'white-dot' queens of good stock. Two of them come from an 'up and coming' breeder from this site. I must say that they are the quietist bees ever. I feel over-dressed, with my bee-suit and gloves, when I go to check them out!
On the equipment front: The new Abelo hives are proving extremely good. I currently have seven of them in use. I don't know what it is about them, but the expansion of newly housed nucs has been incredibly fast! The first one used this season went from four frames of brood and supplies in June, to producing two massive supers of honey a few weeks ago. A third super is almost full as well. My Paradise hives are good, but definitely shaded by the Abelo's!
Honey production techniques have been massively improved on last year. I now use heat gun and roller, if required, to un-cap. There is virtually no mess. My new Lyson hand cranked twelve frame extractor is very efficient as well!
