What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

It's 1C as I write before 8am and the pond has a layer of ice.
Another day without inspections then..
Forecast 15C tomorrow so might have a peek

 

[Moobee]

It's 1C as I write before 8am and the pond has a layer of ice.
Another day without inspections then..
Forecast 15C tomorrow so might have a peek

Likewise, frost this morning and supposed to be at least 13c today. As if.

 

[BBC]

Well, last week I checked both my hives for activity, stores (in the form of fondant) and Varroa numbers on the inspection boards.
The latter is post oxalic acid treatment earlier in February (thank you experts, largely carried out with your help).
I found plenty of VM and lots of new cappings.
I have Perspex crown boards and could see the general health of the colony with opening up.
This week I carried out the same exercise.
VM drop rate is now below two p/day Lots of new cappings. Fondant being used at a steady rate (will check again mid-week).
But above all, loads of activity outside and stacks of pollen coming in.
I think it’s safe to say I’ve made it through my first winter (rather my girls have).
All of the above carried out on a brand new (2wk old) hip

 

[Swn58]

Forecast 15C tomorrow so might have a peek

Yep.....that's what I'm waiting for!

 

[BBC]

Yep.....that's what I'm waiting for!

Something else I noticed with the Perspex crown board is that I can see down between the frames. Plenty of stores on the outer frames. Next time I look I’ll take a torch and see if I can make out any capped brood.
As ever, differences of opinion have left me firmly in the school of not opening up until well into April.

 

[Boston Bees]

Something else I noticed with the Perspex crown board is that I can see down between the frames. Plenty of stores on the outer frames. Next time I look I’ll take a torch and see if I can make out any capped brood.
As ever, differences of opinion have left me firmly in the school of not opening up until well into April.

PS: Adding your location to the profile on the left would help people help you.

 

[BBC]

PS: Adding your location to the profile on the left would help people help you.

Done, thanks for the heads up.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

differences of opinion have left me firmly in the school of not opening up until well into April.

it's called common sense

 

[BBC]

it's called common sense

Please don’t attribute me with having any sir

 

[Nannysbees]

Something else I noticed with the Perspex crown board is that I can see down between the frames. Plenty of stores on the outer frames. Next time I look I’ll take a torch and see if I can make out any capped brood.
As ever, differences of opinion have left me firmly in the school of not opening up until well into April.

We still haven't inspected, desperate but going to be patient

 

[Swarm]

April is a good 'guide', March can be a harsh month and of course, location will dictate anyway. We (my location) didn't get a Winter and last year was similar. This time last year, I found brood nests stuffed with incoming nectar and added supers March 25th to accommodate a nice flow. April arrived, colder than March but on 27th, I split a colony after finding swarm cells.
I'll find out this week but I'm expecting to find them bulging quite nicely. I might even take the boxes out ready to hive the over wintered nucs, they are on twelve frames and could probably use some space.

 

[Fusion_power]

Both splits checked today and queen positively located. Both are hauling in pollen and the queenright colony is drawing comb. One of the two queen cells was torn down and the other was capped late this evening. Both appear to be in good condition. I expect a queen to hatch in 6 or 7 days.

 

[elainemary]

Not sure bees will use stores to draw wax. Mine never have.
Happy to be corrected.

I’ve been wondering about this…Haven’t been in any of my colonies yet but I did v quickly put on a super each onto 3 colonies a couple of weeks ago. The supers had quite a few stores in but uncapped and were not fermenting so I thought they could use them. I went back a couple of days ago to see what had happened. They’d consolidated all the stores into 3 frames so chocca (clever girls!) and they’d build a load of brace comb between the super and brood box. I’ve weighed them and don’t think they are overly jammed with stores in the brood box but I was wondering is this a sign they need more space? The configuration is nadired super (was planning to take off April in good weather), brood, Q/e, super with stores. What would you do next and when? Know it’s nice weather now but forecast to drop to 7c - 10c all next week

 

[Boston Bees]

What would you do next and when? Know it’s nice weather now but forecast to drop to 7c - 10c all next week

Personally, take the supers back off again (or take the Q/E out).

 

[elainemary]

Personally, take the supers back off again (or take the Q/E out).

No don’t think that’s needed now re Q/E. There is just one super on top, it’s a nice large colony, the other is nadired. There were quite a few bees up in the super but I could see and feel from the weight the brood had plenty of stores and plenty of bees, so not a risk re leaving queen behind etc. It’s in a Wbc with top insulation & apiary down in the valley in a warm sheltered spot so think they can keep it all warm. I’m more concerned about the extra wax they’ve been building and is this a sign that they will soon need more space in the brood box?
But don’t want to fiddle…

 

[JamezF]

Not sure bees will use stores to draw wax. Mine never have.
Happy to be corrected.

I'm not sure I see why they wouldn't. Bees that want food will presumably happily take it from stores if they want to. Potentially (some of) that food then gets passed around the colony from bee to bee and at some point will end up in the stomach of a bee that's producing wax.

I guess if there's a strong flow then incoming nectar might be passed around the colony so fast that the bees don't take much food from stores.

Something else that has just struck me... If the bees are going to swarm then they will take what food they need from stores, and assuming they find a new home fairly quickly they'll use that to draw comb.

James

 

[Boston Bees]

I'm not sure I see why they wouldn't. Bees that want food will presumably happily take it from stores if they want to. Potentially (some of) that food then gets passed around the colony from bee to bee and at some point will end up in the stomach of a bee that's producing wax.

I guess if there's a strong flow then incoming nectar might be passed around the colony so fast that the bees don't take much food from stores.

Something else that has just struck me... If the bees are going to swarm then they will take what food they need from stores, and assuming they find a new home fairly quickly they'll use that to draw comb.

James

I thought the idea was that wax drawing happened when there was not space in the combs to store the nectar being brought in by the foragers. The young bees wander round looking for storage space and, when they can't find it, convert the nectar to wax instead. As such, this is by definition unlikely to happen when with honey that is removed from combs? But I could be wrong.

Swarms are different of course. They are primed to draw comb quickly because if they don't, they die.

 

[JamezF]

I thought the idea was that wax drawing happened when there was not space in the combs to store the nectar being brought in by the foragers. The young bees wander round looking for storage space and, when they can't find it, convert the nectar to wax instead. As such, this is by definition unlikely to happen when with honey that is removed from combs?

Yes, but my thinking is that there's no telling where all of the honey in a wax-making bee's stomach has come from. They pass food around so much between them that assuming it was all from incoming nectar could be unreliable.

James

 

[Boston Bees]

Yes, but my thinking is that there's no telling where all of the honey in a wax-making bee's stomach has come from. They pass food around so much between them that assuming it was all from incoming nectar could be unreliable.

James

Yes, but my point is that if they took it out of comb to start with, there must be space in the existing comb to put it back ....

 

[JamezF]

Yes, but my point is that if they took it out of comb to start with, there must be space in the existing comb to put it back ....

Unless some other bee has already put some back Or the bees may not wait until there is absolutely nowhere to store incoming nectar, but instead make a decision along the lines of "there's not much space left, let's make some more". I just don't know.

James