What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

Checked test frame I had placed in possibly Q- hive. QCs. Destroyed them all and added caged laying Queen.
One week nuc robbed out by wasps in 2 days.
Requeened a nuc - prior Q not mated.

Found a dead virgin Q in a wasp trap!

 

[GuyNir]

Checked test frame I had placed in possibly Q- hive. QCs. Destroyed them all and added caged laying Queen.
One week nuc robbed out by wasps in 2 days.
Requeened a nuc - prior Q not mated.

Found a dead virgin Q in a wasp trap!

Quite a day… there’s always a better tomorrow

 

[Angry_Mob]

Three poly nucs left in storage with some frames of stores so couldn't bear to see them not being used so made up three splits from the orchard and introduced some caged queens and brought them home.

Checked on a few hives/nucs that I was concerned with and had given brood/test frames in the past few weeks. Before I opened hive six I saw them evicting drones which I took for a good sign. Managed to find eggs and subsequently queens so all four were crowned white.

Checked some of the remaining supers, everything left now seems to be about half-capped and no more but will leave another week before clearing then starting treatments.

 

[Amari]

Checked test frame I had placed in possibly Q- hive. QCs. Destroyed them all and added caged laying Queen.
One week nuc robbed out by wasps in 2 days.
Requeened a nuc - prior Q not mated.
Found a dead virgin Q in a wasp trap!

Yes, wasps are starting to appear - until now I marvelled at their absence. Let's hope not a repetition of last year's Taliban onslaught......

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

spent the afternoon up at the range, getting ready for next weekend's extraction run and doing a bit of strimming. I thought the next run would just be clearing up the dribs and drabs left over from the last extraction as the flow had more or less ended then, but in actual fact I'll be bringing down as many if not one or two more supers than last time and they are absolutely stuffed with honey, a lot of it heather - so it won't be a lazy week off for me! I actually had to put a super on a nuc that I only hived four weeks ago - they were absolutely jam pack stuffed with bees and honey!!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Started feeding a few colonys today.
Photo 14x12 colony with a super still on which I'm going to leave on for the ivy,
Ivy flow last year started on the 9th of September.
Excuse the odd aray of frames and plastic thingys!
Drones still around I should of continued queen rearing.

 

[pargyle]

I

Started feeding a few colonys today.
Photo 14x12 colony with a super still on which I'm going to leave on for the ivy,
Ivy flow last year started on the 9th of September. View attachment 28178
Excuse the odd aray of frames and plastic thingys!
Drones still around I should of continued queen rearing.

I'm sure you know but, for the benefit of new beeks who may be considering using them (personally I think they are an aberration) the plastic spacers are intended to space the frames so they need to be butting up together or if you are mixing them with Hoffmans (not the best idea) they should be alongside the Hoffman side bars to be of any use.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I

I'm sure you know but, for the benefit of new beeks who may be considering using them (personally I think they are an aberration) the plastic spacers are intended to space the frames so they need to be butting up together or if you are mixing them with Hoffmans (not the best idea) they should be alongside the Hoffman side bars to be of any use.

I agree they should be pushed up against the side bars and as soon as this super comes of the plastic spacers once prized of will be going in the bin..

They have been propolised on the frames very well and sometimes are hard to remove.

Not ideal as you said mixing plastic spacers and self spacing frames and I to wouldn't recommend using both or even just the plastic spacers...
I usually space by eye or draw a centre line for frames if I want to reduce 12 frames to 11 or 10.

 

[North End Bees]

I usually space by eye or draw a centre line for frames if I want to reduce 12 frames to 11 or 10.

Do you use 12 frames for foundation in supers? I've always found 10 is enough, reducing to 9 once they're drawn. Spacing by eye is good enough for a super.

 

[user 819]

Never ever used add on spacers, when I first joined the LBKA every one (well all the old timer BBKA indoctrined beeks) used them and were extolling their virtues. During my first look in a hive at the LBKA apiary I questioned their usefulness and wasn't impressed with them at all, even worse are the finger cutting metal ones that were still in use.
If one doesn't like Hoffmans then DN1 with upholstery studs may suffice as a spacer.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Spacing by eye is good enough for a super.

I tried that but they move when I lift them on the hive so all my supers poly and wood have castellations

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do you use 12 frames for foundation in supers?

who on earth in their right minds would use 12 frames in any box (unless it's one of these new Abelo things)

even worse are the finger cutting metal ones that were still in use.

easy solution for that - buy decent ones not the cheat and flimsy ones that many suppliers sell. to be honest, I've never once cut a finger on my castellations and I have got quite a few.

 

[North End Bees]

I tried that but they move when I lift them on the hive so all my supers poly and wood have castellations

Yes I have castellations in most of my supers. But in the ones that don't I just space by eye. It's ok as long as the frames aren't brand new/squeaky clean.
Once they're in use they're usually propolised fairly quickly (and empty supers are usually at the bottom of the stack where it's easy enough to see that they're straight).

 

[North End Bees]

who on earth in their right minds would use 12 frames in any box (unless it's one of these new Abelo things)

Well I don't but obviously some folks do

 

[North End Bees]

If one doesn't like Hoffmans then DN1 with upholstery studs may suffice as a spacer.

I was given a box of those some years ago with the spacing set at 38mm. I quite liked them and did intend to make up some more but never got round to it.

 

[Moobee]

Bored witless and out of action for another week after a minor op. Luckily bees all happy, one hive was requeening (so hopefully laying by now), the other two expanding nicely from a cast swarm and a nuc. Hobbling out on crutches to check entrances - all ok at the moment and still no sign of any wasps....
Final extraction on one and treatment & feeding to follow once i'm up and about again.

 

[Nannysbees]

Quick question can I still do a weekly inspection with apiguard on the hive?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Quick question can I still do a weekly inspection with apiguard on the hive?

why would you need to inspect weekly at this time of year

 

[Nannysbees]

It was an apiguard day today, made sure each has a super with plenty of resources,queen excluders removed, took off excess capped frames.Saw all four queens, look like strong colonies going into winter.

 

[Swarm]

Bit of a frustrating day with bees not clearing, I've resorted to clearer boards between supers. Did a quick check of the brood boxes and they are all heaving with bees, including a three tier nuc I was hoping to clear down to two ready for treatment. Not a chance, they look like they could do with another box, way too many bees at the moment.
Bees still coming in from Balsam but mainly pollen, it was only fifteen degrees today and some Ivy is just a couple of weeks away.
I hope they vacate the supers tonight.