What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Swarm]

Supers back on and more brought home to extract. Counting deep boxes today to see what's left that I can give them.

 

[JimBee463]

Think it's illegal to plant himalayan balsam !!!

Yes

I must say I find it odd that people feel HB is OK - it's a non-native invasive plant that is damaging our own native wildlife. As someone who fly fishes I've seen, first hand, the way it spreads and blankets all of our native plants. it's horrendous stuff and damaging our own eco-systems as well as increasing flood risk due to it killing off native plants that stabilise river banks.

I'm sure if someone suggested releasing Asian Hornets, en masse, into our eco-system the reaction would be very different here.

All non-native invasive species need to be kept to bare minimum, if not completely eradicated (which is almost an impossibility) even if 'it produces nice honey' (that's just greed, IMHO - and I'm sure i'll be shot down for that, on this forum).

I do know that the EA and the scientific community are working hard to produce a rust that will kill off HB, and the sooner that happens the better, as far as i'm concerned. I'd rather my bees gave me slightly less honey, from native or non invasive naturalised forage, than from HB to be honest

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Trouble is with hobby beekeepers, they get to the mindset that it's all about the bees and everything else can go to hell in a handcart, in fact, anything to the (even slightest) detriment to the bees must be wiped off the face of the earth.

 

[Murox]

BUT
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein.

 

[madasafish]

.

All non-native invasive species need to be kept to bare minimum, if not completely eradicated (which is almost an impossibility) even if 'it produces nice honey' (that's just greed, IMHO - and I'm sure i'll be shot down for that, on this forum).

So that's
Apple. Tart, tangy and crisp. ...
Beech, copper. ...
Cedar. ...
Plum, cherry. ...
Cherry, sour. ...
Elm, field. ...
Horse chestnut. ...
Chestnut, sweet.

For a start

 

[JimBee463]

So that's
Apple. Tart, tangy and crisp. ...
Beech, copper. ...
Cedar. ...
Plum, cherry. ...
Cherry, sour. ...
Elm, field. ...
Horse chestnut. ...
Chestnut, sweet.

For a start

But, are they invasive, or just non-native? I think evidence would suggest they aren't particularly invasive, don't you? I don't see the Horse Chestnut trees taking over swathes of spare land at a rapid rate and posing a threat to native species, or plum trees (in fact, mine are really static)

And, from the Natural History Museum (What are invasive species?.) :

What are native, non-native and introduced species?​

Native species are species that have become part of an ecosystem through natural processes.

Non-native species or introduced species are species found outside their normal range because of human activity. Not all of these are invasive. Many of these can thrive in new areas and pose no threat others.

Invasive species are species outside their normal ranges that have a negative impact on other organisms or environments. They tend to have escaped controlling species (which might be predators, herbivores or parasites) in their normal ranges, which would have otherwise limited their survival, and they are often well suited to their new environment.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I'm looking forward to completing my move from National 12x14 to Standard Nationals. I like the idea of freedom to extend the brood nest upwards (as recently described by Dan Basterfield in BeeCraft). I also thought I'd move to single size box hives. After taking this deep super off this morning, and me not being particularly strong, I've decided not to sell my supers yet. (The photo shows a box of 11 frames and the weight is 70.4 pounds.)

 

[SWEET]

I'm looking forward to completing my move from National 12x14 to Standard Nationals. I like the idea of freedom to extend the brood nest upwards (as recently described by Dan Basterfield in BeeCraft). I also thought I'd move to single size box hives. After taking this deep super off this morning, and me not being particularly strong, I've decided not to sell my supers yet. (The photo shows a box of 11 frames and the weight is 70.4 pounds.)

Use less frames when you switch to Nat, helps with the weight and the full boxes are only 50lb (poly) - single size box here and find it perfect (for me).

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

...and the full boxes are only 50lb (poly)

maybe the National deep super (in the photo) at 70.4 pounds is a little fuller than usual... all the frames are capped to the edges

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

single size box here and find it perfect (for me).

do you use a queen excluder?

 

[SWEET]

do you use a queen excluder?

Yes for a few reasons; I know where the queen is for speed (and blower use when required), drones and visual ref for single/DB stocks. On the production hives I'll try and keep them on a max of 3 supers and low stands, or risk breaking spine.

 

[pargyle]

This was an hour ago .....Looks like another one of mine is getting ready for an outdoor party tonight ! Another super on this one tomorrow ...

 

[Newbeeneil]

Most of my hives are over the swarming so I assumed that was the case generally but it seems not. I watched a swarm disappear under roof tiles on a big posh house in the village last evening, collected a swarm this evening and have scouts interested in one of my bait hives plus old boxes in my main apiary.
If I get involved with removal from the roof it could be another 4 colonies for the isolation apiary.
Bloody bees lol.

 

[drex]

Been away for a couple of weeks, and have to assess two candidates for the bbka basic this week so I went through all my colonies while they are still in the shade. All doing well with no signs of swarming. ( I lost one and did a few pre emptive splis earlier in season - i run double BB . ) Unusually I did not get a spring crop, but the summer crop is going to be a bumper and a few weeks early. I am out of shallows and deeps of honey are now too heavy for me to lift. The swings and roundabouts of beekeeping

 

[Swarm]

Yes, tall stacks of heavy boxes, time to be careful or enlist some help, I was up on a stand, handing supers down to my landlord this morning.

 

[Goran]

After a week of rest, back in the business.. Jenter, queen rearing.. Temps not so hot, 28-30C. Maybe cause I am rested I don't feel the heat - yet. Cosy work and joy.. I will probably do it double distribution of ripe QCs per colony ( 1 QCabove and 1 QC below QE), less chance of failure and potentially extra Q. For my needs 1-2 batches enough ( I usually replace over 90% Qs, only elite I try to keep). Mother is blue Q, never showed swarm intentions, calm on comb, full supers of honey, not aggressive, not bearding, CB tested ( in fact Q was placed in colony which had CB and it turn it from a " case" into honey yield elite)..
Beside that a lot of fruits is ripening ( apricots, pears, summer apples, plums) and can't eat all what is coming.. we are sharing with family and friends and still remain " unused" plenty.. Drought is still heavy and there is no end in sight.. I fear for our hazelnuts, what will be, cause they say temps will go up again up to 40C..

 

[The Poot]

After a week of rest, back in the business.. Jenter, queen rearing.. Temps not so hot, 28-30C. Maybe cause I am rested I don't feel the heat - yet. Cosy work and joy.. I will probably do it double distribution of ripe QCs per colony ( 1 QCabove and 1 QC below QE), less chance of failure and potentially extra Q. For my needs 1-2 batches enough ( I usually replace over 90% Qs, only elite I try to keep). Mother is blue Q, never showed swarm intentions, calm on comb, full supers of honey, not aggressive, not bearding, CB tested ( in fact Q was placed in colony which had CB and it turn it from a " case" into honey yield elite)..
Beside that a lot of fruits is ripening ( apricots, pears, summer apples, plums) and can't eat all what is coming.. we are sharing with family and friends and still remain " unused" plenty.. Drought is still heavy and there is no end in sight.. I fear for our hazelnuts, what will be, cause they say temps will go up again up to 40C..

I fear for my nuts too, in this heat.

 

[Wilco]

After a week of rest, back in the business.. Jenter, queen rearing.. Temps not so hot, 28-30C. Maybe cause I am rested I don't feel the heat - yet. Cosy work and joy.. I will probably do it double distribution of ripe QCs per colony ( 1 QCabove and 1 QC below QE), less chance of failure and potentially extra Q. For my needs 1-2 batches enough ( I usually replace over 90% Qs, only elite I try to keep). Mother is blue Q, never showed swarm intentions, calm on comb, full supers of honey, not aggressive, not bearding, CB tested ( in fact Q was placed in colony which had CB and it turn it from a " case" into honey yield elite)..
Beside that a lot of fruits is ripening ( apricots, pears, summer apples, plums) and can't eat all what is coming.. we are sharing with family and friends and still remain " unused" plenty.. Drought is still heavy and there is no end in sight.. I fear for our hazelnuts, what will be, cause they say temps will go up again up to 40C..

Can you dry them and make fruit cheeses to preserve some of the excess fruit?

 

[JamezF]

Fruit leather is a fun way to preserve excess fruit. We make quite a lot of it with any apples that I don't press for juice. We also dehydrate some -- apples and pears, mostly. Even cooking apples can taste pretty good (without sweetening) once they've been dehydrated.

James

 

[Dutchman]

Had a lovely weight lifting session checking my 12 production hives.We have hardly had any sun here since early June, all the best weather has passed us by. So 2 weeks ago some of them were so low on stores that I wondered about feeding them. There were plenty of bees so they had used up all they had collected earlier in the year. Last week there was a bit of nectar around but they were still using most of what they brought in to feed their brood. One warm week later and every hive needed an extra super (they each had 4-5 on already) and two colonies were so honeybound that they were backfilling the broodnest and would have swarmed had I not given them more space. For the first time in years I have run out of supers. Hope they manage to store what they gather in the next 3 warm days, after that the weather is going downhill again so they might process what they have gathered and make space.