What did you do in the Apiary today?

[The Poot]

Pretty much the same here ... the Fareham clay is more like Fareham concrete now ... we had a little rain a day or so ago but barely enough to wet the ground let alone get to the roots. Dandelions loving it ...

I’m on clay too and it’s cracking like mid Summer. Decent amount of rain yesterday though. The dandelions are over here as the farmers have taken their first cut for silage. BOO!
Hawthorns are going over in some places but still opening in others - very variable. Sycamores are over and done, the wind and rain has left the catkins all over the roads!

 

[Moobee]

Checked the split hive that I added the balled queen into and looks like she didn't make it
No sign of her (despite her new white paint) and no eggs either. There must still be some lingering pheromone though as the bees have made a few play cups but nothing charged.
On the other hand, the other half of the split has nearly filled a super and thrown up multiple EQCs so will hopefully be able to cut a few of these out and make up some nucs. Lovely and calm bees despite no queen present.

 

[Swarm]

Went to check the last few despite dark skies and cold wind. All queens raised last year and doing really well, found brood on the outer comb face in each one and thankfully just a few cups, added a third super to one that has a lot of new bees emerging. Gave up before getting the last one done as it was raining quite heavily and the bees were not amused.
Drove home, offloaded and threw the suit in the washer. The sun came out.

 

[Wilco]

Got through all hives and nucs. Marked and clipped a few queens including this beauty, a descendant from a Northumberland Honey Buckfast. Got to be the blondest I've had.



A few of the AMM type virgins have successfully mated too so will need more space soon although others have failed. Testing the correx mini mating nucs I made with some more VQs. Time will tell but I'm not entirely convinced how successful they’ll be. Feels like the worst of the mad swarming urge may be past but not letting my guard down just yet.



Rounded off by moving three to an out apiary this evening. It's amazing what you can fit in a Jazz. Almost went according to plan but they're there now although I should have gone in daylight to site the stand first and am now second guessing myself.

 

[madasafish]

Rounded off by moving three to an out apiary this evening. It's amazing what you can fit in a Jazz. A

I managed 4 hives with bees in my Jazz..

-
Inspected allotment's 4 communal hives
All doing well.
One - a swarm which arrived into an empty hive last year- had marked queen and 8 capped queen cells at bottom of b box. Swarming or supercedure? Dunno.
Thinned them down to one: took cells home and shoved in incubator - one of five may emerge.

 

[Wilco]

I managed 4 hives with bees in my Jazz..

-
Inspected allotment's 4 communal hives
All doing well.
One - a swarm which arrived into an empty hive last year- had marked queen and 8 capped queen cells at bottom of b box. Swarming or supercedure? Dunno.
Thinned them down to one: took cells home and shoved in incubator - one of five may emerge.

Great little cars aren't they! I reckon if the seats are flat it's theoretically possible to get five in. Good luck with the incubator.

 

[Moobee]

Collected my first ever swarm this morning. They’d been on a post by a horse field overnight so had a call at 8.30am to ask me to collect.
Scooped them gently off the post into a nuc and smoked the post.
Bees all madly fanning by the nuc entrance so got the queen first go.
Left the nuc in place until early evening, collected them around 8pm and drove a short distance to my new out apiary and popped them in a hive with foundation.
They were already busy drawing out frames in the nuc.
Feeling pretty chuffed TBH

 

[gregior]

Watched the entrances for mating flights,waiting on 8 to get mated and conditions are perfect today.

 

[andrew_r]

Turned up to inspect my hives today, half way through one, another decided to swarm into next door’s tree. Will go back to check on them in a few days and move them into a full sized hive.

Andrew.

 

[Boston Bees]

Turned up to inspect my hives today, half way through one, another decided to swarm into next door’s tree. Will go back to check on them in a few days and move them into a full sized hive.

Andrew.

Ahhhh .... look at that swarm location .... if Carlsberg made swarms ....

 

[andrew_r]

For my first swarm capture, it was perfect! I’m sure it won’t be so convenient next time!

andrew

 

[Erichalfbee]

For my first swarm capture, it was perfect! I’m sure it won’t be so convenient next time!

andrew

Look after that tree. Swarms often congregate in the same spot.

 

[madasafish]

Supercedures!
Lots of them
Old Q present: capped Qcs - in middle of comb , at bottom of comb. At home and Association Apiary. No Q to be found (marked) , but obviously a Q present (test frame, temper)
Usual time - weeks for new Q to lay: Can I find her in a very busy hive with three supers? Nope.
Oh hurrah: eggs.

Not just at home but also Association apiary. ( lousy late summer/ear;y autumn weather so Qs not properly mated)
Not one but several hives..

That's the bad news.
The good is I have two hives with four supers: unheard of this time of year.

Who says beekeeping is boring and repetitive?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes I’ve had 3 supersedure out of 9 hives. One totally expected, one possibly and one definitely not. Weird year

 

[Moobee]

Doing a spot of gardening and suddenly heard the bees from the other side of the garden. Went over to the hives and they were swirling like mad above the apiary. At first I thought it was a swarm but after about 10 minutes they settled back down to their usual afternoon activity.
I have a VQ in one hive who had hatched by mid week so orientation or mating flight maybe?

 

[Moobee]

Look after that tree. Swarms often congregate in the same spot.

That’s what I’m hoping with the lovely people I collected from yesterday and their gate post in their paddock!
Is it because a bit of queen pheromone lingers?

 

[JamezF]

That’s what I’m hoping with the lovely people I collected from yesterday and their gate post in their paddock!
Is it because a bit of queen pheromone lingers?

Certainly I think the residual pheromones make a potential resting site more appealing. I've heard of people washing down "awkward" sites with disinfectant in an attempt to get rid of any lingering "smells" to try to encourage swarms to settle elsewhere.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

That’s what I’m hoping with the lovely people I collected from yesterday and their gate post in their paddock!
Is it because a bit of queen pheromone lingers?

It's why people squash dead queens on gateposts after all.

 

[StephenT]

Hive 1 checked the queen we introduced about 2.5 weeks ago. Looking good with about 6 frames of brood. Stuck a super on. Marked the queen in hive 2 that had evaded marking since last summer. Probably flattened her a bit much with the crown of thorns but she seemed ok after release. Hive 3 is where we are trying the Pete Little method of reintroducing the queen two weeks after nuc-ing her due to swarm cells. This was one week in so tore down all the new QC’s (about 40 of them) and put in a frame with some eggs from the nuc. Next week need to tear down any new QC’s, merge the nuc back and keep everything crossed for success. @Erichalfbee how are you doing with this method?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hive 1 checked the queen we introduced about 2.5 weeks ago. Looking good with about 6 frames of brood. Stuck a super on. Marked the queen in hive 2 that had evaded marking since last summer. Probably flattened her a bit much with the crown of thorns but she seemed ok after release. Hive 3 is where we are trying the Pete Little method of reintroducing the queen two weeks after nuc-ing her due to swarm cells. This was one week in so tore down all the new QC’s (about 40 of them) and put in a frame with some eggs from the nuc. Next week need to tear down any new QC’s, merge the nuc back and keep everything crossed for success. @Erichalfbee how are you doing with this method?

I’m around the same where you are yesterday put a frame of eggs and young brood into two hives. I just swapped a frame of emerging brood. Re uniting next Saturday.