What did you do in the Apiary today?

[itma]

...
Only worries... the fact that 3/4 of my brood box frames have got capped honey in them. Will this stop the queen laying enough for the spring due to lack of room?

I was surprised by the amount of honey in the supers as well so added one that i took off in the autumn (it was empty and put feed in instead.

Next job is to get my head around artificial swarming!

...The rest of the brood box has frames that are full of capped honey. Above that I have a super (through a queen excluder) which i would describe as over half full of capped honey.

At the end of last year i head left two supers on but although both were developed, the top one had negligible stores in it. With this in mid i took in off, replaced it with an empty super with a contact feeder in it. The idea was to move the feeder closer to the bees. Due to the amount of honey stores in the remaining super, i have put the removed super back on.

Billy, your posts raise several issues - probably best dealt with in a thread of your own. Would you care to start one?

 

[MJBee]

+19C full sun and no wind so had a quick look into the 7 I have at home - real parsons egg

All had plenty (bordering on too much) stores. one had no brood at all and no sign of a queen suspect Q-. One had 1 frame with a small patch of brood on both sides and a total of 3 very small queen cells suspect Q- also. Both colonies had a reasonable number of bees and no drones.
The remaining 5 have between 3 and 4 frames (both sides) of brood, queen was seen in 3 of the 5.

Loads of pollen and quite a lot of new honey. Will leave for a week and thoroughly inspect the 2 suspect ones for Q+ or - and unite with queenright colonies as necessary.

 

[drstitson]

billycaspar - are your full supers full of honey from last year or syrup fed in autumn? The bees need to deal with syrup stores BEFORE supers are added or you'll end up with sugar (possibily thymolated) in your supers for harvest.

look to PH for advice re supering time.

edit: itma - just read your post. i agree, new thread needed pronto.

 

[Cazza]

Finished painting a polyhive in Suffolk Pink, now I just need to thatch the roof and it will blend in with the local houses....

Cazza

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Laid another third of the hedge round my plot and cut up some of the big tree that was flattening the fence, moved the nuc onto a temporary stand (they got a bit miffed with that). Whilst the original was moved to a new apiary site four miles away where the nuc will be rehived next month - nice location, small orchard with a stream running through it - apples and plenty of plums rosebay willowherb aplenty not far away andless than half a mile on two sides from a large village sprawl so plenty of other forage.Going to see another site another two miles or so away in a few weeks (My regional beekeeper took me to one side and told me if nothing else it would be good for a bait hive location as lots of bees in the area and he implied with not very good anti swarming measures!)

 

[Erichalfbee]

nice location, small orchard with a stream running through it - apples and plenty of plums rosebay willowherb aplenty not far away andless than half a mile on two sides from a large village sprawl

I could live there!
Is there a decent pub within walking distance?

 

[user 6228]

The colony named "alwaysfoam" (because the colony has never been in a wooden hive including the queen) has today the following temperatures:

18C at floor level at the back of the hive
28C at the top of a non-central brood frame.

This colony has a PIR Tunnel entrance, deep insulated PIR floor, PIR brood. PIR feeding eke with polycarbonate top and bottom underneath a PIR roof with a small amount of fondant to monitor store requirements with minimal disturbance

The colony named "Waswood" (because the colony was bought in and kept until Autumn in a Th**nes Cedar wooden hive ) has today the following temperature
22C at the junction between the brood box and super at a non central location

This colony now has a bought in poly OMF floor, bought in poly brood, one PIR super and a PIR feeding eke with polycarbonate top and bottom under neath a PIR roof with a small amount of fondant to monitor store requirements with minimal disturbance


The ambient temperature at the time of measurement (7.15am) was 0 C.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I could live there!
Is there a decent pub within walking distance?

It's a lovely little cottage in the middle of the fields and woodland - the nearest pubs (three) are about ten to fifteen minutes walk but couldn't judge on whether decent or not as i haven't drunk there for years (it's my friends parents and i spent a lot of time there as a youngster - they're very excited about having bees on their land)

 

[dickndoris]

28 new 14x12 frames that will go into the new poly brood boxes that will then get put on

Seems a peculiar multiple? Any chance of some further breakdown of what is actually going where?

Maths is not my strong point, nor anything else come to that;-) I have actually made up 50 frames 14x12 now and have 4 broods to fill and a 6 frame nuc.

All bees going crazy yesterday. Just waiting for a warn day to inspect.

 

[drstitson]

well done if that's from a 50 off batch of 2nds sale frames - no dodgy bits at all?

 

[oliver90owner]

well done if that's from a 50 off batch of 2nds sale frames - no dodgy bits at all?

I would be giving each and every one a sharp tap, with a small hammer, to check that each lug does not fail. If it does, it has saved me from wasting a sheet of foundation (which costs more than the frame - and far more than a replacement top bar) at this point in time, and a likely an awkward fix when actually in use.

RAB

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Checked and topped up fondant on all hives - one is hoovering it down but then again they've been very active the last fortnight
Bees out in great numbers today - can hear their hum halfway down the garden, Still not going to open up though for at least another three weeks
One bee hitched a lift back into the house but managed to catch her and put her back outside

 

[username]

spring checks done on 3 apiarys on last two days

4 queens seen brood 3 frames average

 

[dickndoris]

well done if that's from a 50 off batch of 2nds sale frames - no dodgy bits at all?

Only 1 side bar with a knot! Very lucky with the main batch as the super frames had some nasty bits in. I am lucky in that I can sit at work and knock them up as and when I like within reason. The worst bits were actually the crap gimp pins I got from Thornes. I had no idea they were seconds!! Half of them have gone in the bin!

 

[drstitson]

only 4 queens in 180 hives - that's some winter loss!!!

 

[username]

sarcasm the lowest form of wit

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lovely warm sunny afternoon.
Having spent the whole day gardening for ma-in-law have missed what my bees were up to but her neighbour has bees and they were busy on the crocuses. Lovely sight

 

[Silly Bee]

Open a small Nuke, no live bees, just dead dismembered ones on the floor. No bees on the comb, or in the cells.

One empty queen cup, probably from late last year.

On a previous post I mentioned finding dismembered bees under a slab, I think I know where they came from.

There was a cluster of bees on Jan 1st when I OA them.

Looks like I fell at the final hurdle. Damn.

4 other hives doing ok.

 

[oliver90owner]

I had no idea they were seconds!! Half of them have gone in the bin!

I know. The points were on the wrong end? Shouldn't have binned them, they were for the other side, silly!!

 

[borderer]

Just stood watching bees flying and out of the two hives at work. I seem to remember there is a technical term for that but have for gotten what it is.

Loads of pollen going in

I am particularly pleased about one hive, as I had written it off last year as a drone layer. I left it to dwindle only to find that it seemed to have replaced the queen and had built up considerably, so I felt it deserved a sporting chance which it has made the most of

Just need it to be warm when I am not at work so I can have a proper look roll on spring