What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Nannysbees]

Lovely to see some sun and look who came out to play. Planting over 500 crocus has paid off

 

[The Poot]

Today, chainsaw work to cut up hunk of an old plum tree that snapped in the storm, fell across the river and onto my neighbours hedge.
Nice bit of firewood once cut up. A few bees flying, but not many as it was mid afternoon when I started.
The neighbours hedge is a little lower now.

 

[Amari]

Saw a white-bum bumblebee in my apiary yesterday. Sunny but T. 8C. Very few honeybees flying.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is the colony that had CBPV last year. I took the mesh out of the floor for two weeks in September/October. At least they are still alive
View attachment trim.E2E7B41E-A86D-432B-A5DB-B2525259C070.MOV

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Popped down to the Llety'r Deryn apiary as Mark had texted me to say that the nuc and neighbouring hive had shifted a bit during the storms. nice and sunny afternoon here and the bees there were out in force, resecured the hives and hefted them all - they won't be needing any fondant! neither will the nuc.
As I was on the road I popped down to Garn Cottage to check and heft them. They were all again out in force apart from one.... this one is the colony that survived the fall down the river bank last year, always a strong colony although the year before they had an absolute pile of dead bees under the hive and on the floor at Christmas time and early New year but were still the strongest spring colony. Today I thought they were a gonner, there was a thin carped of dead bees in the lobby but they were well decayed so had been there since Christmas and not a bee stirring, so I took off the roof and popped the cover over the feeder hole to be met by an avalanche of slightly curious but not peed off bees! the hive is jam packed still and hefted well. They obviously have no intention of stirring until spring is properly sprung - and that includes mundane stuff like housekeeping and clearing out the dead!!
On the way back I met a fellow beekeeper who has two hives on a piece of land he's bought on my route back. Apparently the panic buying of fuel is off again with queues at most fuel stations in Amanford

 

[JamezF]

Apparently the panic buying of fuel is off again with queues at most fuel stations in Amanford

Seems calm here. I dropped into the garage in Wiveliscombe this afternoon to get a couple of jerry cans of red diesel and there was no sign of panic.

James

 

[JamezF]

I should point out that despite filling two jerry cans I wasn't panicking myself, as such. The tractor was very low on diesel and the jerry cans were empty. When I checked the digger it was half empty as well, so it made sense to fill up a couple of cans in one trip.

Now, if I top off both the tractor and digger tomorrow morning and then go back to the garage to refill the empty jerry can, *that* will be panic

James

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Popped down to the Llety'r Deryn apiary as Mark had texted me to say that the nuc and neighbouring hive had shifted a bit during the storms. nice and sunny afternoon here and the bees there were out in force, resecured the hives and hefted them all - they won't be needing any fondant! neither will the nuc.
As I was on the road I popped down to Garn Cottage to check and heft them. They were all again out in force apart from one.... this one is the colony that survived the fall down the river bank last year, always a strong colony although the year before they had an absolute pile of dead bees under the hive and on the floor at Christmas time and early New year but were still the strongest spring colony. Today I thought they were a gonner, there was a thin carped of dead bees in the lobby but they were well decayed so had been there since Christmas and not a bee stirring, so I took off the roof and popped the cover over the feeder hole to be met by an avalanche of slightly curious but not peed off bees! the hive is jam packed still and hefted well. They obviously have no intention of stirring until spring is properly sprung - and that includes mundane stuff like housekeeping and clearing out the dead!!
On the way back I met a fellow beekeeper who has two hives on a piece of land he's bought on my route back. Apparently the panic buying of fuel is off again with queues at most fuel stations in Amanford

I had filled up with fuel immediately prior to the shenanigans but so far our local BP garage trade seems unaffected. They're not amongst the cheap outlets which might be a factor.

 

[Nannysbees]

Watched the girls flying and collecting water

 

[JamezF]

I intended to strim the old apiary today just to tidy up and make it easier for moving the two remaining hives to the new apiary. Got the strimmer down from where it hangs from the roof of the tool shed to find that something had chewed through the side of the fuel tank. I suspect a squirrel, but why?! It's an unbranded strimmer that my father-in-law bought, so I removed the tank and spent a happy half hour browsing the interwebs to find something that looks similar. A new one will be here "some time next month" from China assuming the world hasn't descended even further into chaos by then.

Fortunately my pole saw has a brush cutter attachment that I've never actually used, so I swapped that over and used it instead. Surprisingly the bees didn't seem to mind at all, but then who doesn't like the smell of a 2-stroke exhaust?

The weather is supposed to be very wet tomorrow, so my plan is to shut them in whilst they don't want to fly in the rain and move them to the new site.

James

 

[Antipodes]

I intended to strim the old apiary today just to tidy up and make it easier for moving the two remaining hives to the new apiary. Got the strimmer down from where it hangs from the roof of the tool shed to find that something had chewed through the side of the fuel tank. I suspect a squirrel, but why?! It's an unbranded strimmer that my father-in-law bought, so I removed the tank and spent a happy half hour browsing the interwebs to find something that looks similar. A new one will be here "some time next month" from China assuming the world hasn't descended even further into chaos by then.

Fortunately my pole saw has a brush cutter attachment that I've never actually used, so I swapped that over and used it instead. Surprisingly the bees didn't seem to mind at all, but then who doesn't like the smell of a 2-stroke exhaust?

The weather is supposed to be very wet tomorrow, so my plan is to shut them in whilst they don't want to fly in the rain and move them to the new site.

James

Would it have been a rat?

 

[JamezF]

Would it have been a rat?

A rat could have done it, but I suspect it would have been quite a challenging climb. The strimmer was supported by two hooks on strings that didn't go anywhere near the motor. It's a climb a rat could possibly make, but it would really have to want to do it. On the other hand a squirrel could have done it easily.

For some reason both animals have been more of a pest than usual over the last six months or so, though I've reduced the squirrel problem a little by giving them a high speed lead injection. Drinking two-stroke mix probably doesn't do them a lot of good either.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Anyone taken their mouse guards off yet or is it too early?

 

[Erichalfbee]

When I had mouse guards they came off when the bees were flying regularly

 

[ericbeaumont]

Anyone taken their mouse guards off yet or is it too early?

Too early.

Mousey may be keen on a spring frolic this week, but a winter spell in March or April can lead them to seek a source of warmth & food. Happened to me last year in one apiary.

If instinct tells you that spring is really here and the colonies are strong, you've got a low-risk combination.

 

[Nannysbees]

Too early.

Mousey may be keen on a spring frolic this week, but a winter spell in March or April can lead them to seek a source of warmth & food. Happened to me last year in one apiary.

If instinct tells you that spring is really here and the colonies are strong, you've got a low-risk combination.

I won't take the risk and will take your advice thank you

 

[gregior]

Changed the floors on all 15 of mine today. All still alive and ranging from 4 to 8 seams and all ok for stores so looking good. Bits of pollen coming in but nothing substantial. Hope it's just the time of year but the bees were very defensive,hope they haven't gone feral over the Winter!

 

[Swn58]

I've started my 'bee-friendly' garden on my new allotments in North Birmingham
As the area is huge, I was going to create a sort of meadow. However, the soil is so rich that I'm now creating a series of borders and will plant a lot of herbs and flowers. Room will also be made for potato's and there will be many a fancy pumpkin! It's looking ever more important to grow yer own food nowadays. I thought I'd increase our crop production this year!
I must say that after a couple of days of heavy digging, I am obviously well 'out of condition'
The photos: Apart from my 'hole-diggery,' this is what is flowering at the moment. Some were taken on a 'Billy the Dog' walk on Sunday. Billy is telling us that this is where the spring is!

 

[JamezF]

Been out in the persisting rain setting up stands in the new apiary, then went to the old one as it was starting to get dark (which was oddly before sunset) and closed up the entrances on the hives there. The plan is to move them tomorrow morning whilst the weather is still miserable as long as the ground isn't so wet that it can't be done safely.

James

 

[JamezF]

I must say that after a couple of days of heavy digging, I am obviously well 'out of condition'

Could be worth having a search on youtube for Charles Dowding. He runs a small market garden business selling (mainly) salad leaves down here in Somerset and does no digging at all. As far as I'm aware he's been in Somerset less than ten years, but I believe he's been doing the "no dig" market garden thing for almost forty. You do need to take some of what he says with a pinch of salt though. I'm pretty sure he's on exceptionally thin ice when he starts to go on about biodynamics and stuff like the effect of the full Moon on plant growth. Oh, as of last year he's a beekeeper, too.

It's way too early to say if it really works for me as I only switched to not digging as an experiment last winter, but his reasoning appears plausible and I did have a very good year in the veg plot last year so I'm continuing with it this year. If it doesn't work out it's just a case of going back to digging and turning the compost into the rest of the soil.

Not having to dig means it's much easier to manage a larger plot, but you do need a fair bit of compost, especially the first year (though you can try it a bed at a time, so that can help) and the reduction in the number of weeds doesn't mean you don't still have to spend time weeding, though it's quite relaxing because they're almost always easy to pull out by hand and don't tend to reach the point of taking over, especially if you can get your compost heap hot enough to make any seeds it contains unviable. I suspect one of the reasons Charles Dowding has very few weeds in his plot is that they weed as they harvest, which may mean they cover quite a large area twice a week.

James