What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

had a call from someone a few hundred yards across the stream below the home apiary yesterday - they thought they had bees in their compost bin. I popped over, and yes they had, been there a while by the amount of comb they'd built but probably just nearing the end of the first brood cycle, the comb was hanging off the wooden lid, so off I went lunchtime today to sort them, really docile bees, the owners Alan and Elizabeth stood just a few yards away from me, with no bee suits and photographed/filmed the whole thing and there was no fuss, no stinging or even veil bouncing! It was a warm day so the comb was really floppy but I managed to save all the brood and it's all elastic banded in frames and they are settled in a nuc which I'll move in a few

Went to close up the compost bin bees and put them in the truck ready to take them up the range tomorrow, it looks like they've worked hard over the two days since I hived them sorting and fixing the 'mess' I made putting the comb into frames, going by the piles of freshly chewed up wax piled up under the OMF.
Looks like the bit of rain we had earlier this week has really freshened up the heather, there were pieces at the bottom of pen taircarn where I haven't seen purple for years - until today, and when I passed the home apiary whilst closing up the chickens the whole place stank of heather again.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Got to an apiary, looked at the situation and realised I’m not getting any younger.

 

[JamezF]

Went to close up the compost bin bees and put them in the truck ready to take them up the range tomorrow, it looks like they've worked hard over the two days since I hived them sorting and fixing the 'mess' I made putting the comb into frames, going by the piles of freshly chewed up wax piled up under the OMF.

That's lovely to hear. The only swarm I've ever attempted to collect from a compost bin absconded mid-collection, which was not at all pleasing.

James

 

[The Poot]

Got to an apiary, looked at the situation and realised I’m not getting any younger.

Oh my - that’s an awful lot of heavy lifting, but an excellent result. Good luck - I couldn’t handle it, that’s for sure!

 

[JamezF]

Got to an apiary, looked at the situation and realised I’m not getting any younger.

On the whole, I can't deny that I'm thinking "first world problem" at this point

Hopefully you have a very nice harvest there.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

Well well, that triangular escpae is apparently a thing. Also called a Double Quebec escape, so it is claimed on Dave Cushman's site:

Double Quebec Bee Escape

The one I was thinking of is this one:

Vortex Bee Escape Board

The Rhombus is just so much easier though.

James

I have rhombus and vortex escapes. Both work well and the only time I've had problems is when a hive is q-.

 

[StephenT]

Inspected 2 hives and all good with plenty of brood and stores. Put two Apivar strips in each hive but still not convinced that two is enough for double brood. Put clearer boards on to take off the supers they are drying for us. My wife painted a nuc and cleaned some wax cappings. Couple of bees made it into the kitchen only for one to be eaten for lunch by the resident False Widow spider.

 

[Erichalfbee]

And so it begins

 

[Antipodes]

Got to an apiary, looked at the situation and realised I’m not getting any younger.

Beautiful apiary site there.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Put two Apivar strips in each hive but still not convinced that two is enough for double brood.

I usually OAV but bought some Apivar for the bees on the roof. Having eight spare I put them on another four colonies. They are 14x12

 

[Swarm]

Had planned to treat the nucs and double broods today, lost a day on other stuff so spent the afternoon spinning honey. Looks like the weather is turning next weekend, would be nice to have all the supers off by then.
Cut comb is doing really well, the first batch have gone and I have orders for more, I have three supers set aside but I also want to keep some drawn combs for next year so maybe I'll forfeit one and spin the others.
Found out a friend has broken four ribs so will need helping out, sounds like extracting through the night is on the cards.
Had a message from another friend who has just extracted nearly fifty pounds in his first season, with another super to come.

 

[Nannysbees]

Second treatment of apiguard put on all four hives. Couldn't believe that one of our hives that had a new home grown queen and was laying well was nowhere to be found, no eggs a lot of queen cells with two that looked like they had been chewed open, just didn't know how that had happened!!!! so we put a test frame in just to check. What a blinking time of the year for it to happen. However we have a small nuc which we split that I was saving to requeen a feisty hive that we may use to requeen and sort out the other hive at a later date.
Hives quite light compared to last year so going to give them a feed

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not much, but spent the day talking bees, mostly with a retired RBI and a current one who were stewarding for me as I judged a local agricultural show honey show.

 

[Nannysbees]

Apparently Asian hornet spotted in Essex?

 

[JamezF]

Apparently Asian hornet spotted in Essex?

Still seems to be listed as a "credible" sighting rather than a confirmed one.

James

 

[Garry R]

Took advantage of the good weather and got some really nice wax in a block melted out from the cappings. Another tomorrow with a bit of luck. Love the silicone baking bits and bobs for collecting the melted and filtered wax. Cappings into a Lidl veg bag with drawstring, then into the leg of a pair if tights and popped into wax extractor which is an aluminium tray with a slot at one end then lined with pond liner with a slot corresponding to the one in the tray Pond liner I also use for my roofs as it is cheap and cheerful. J cloth filters stuffed in the slot and just under the pond liner. Once cooled it pops out with no waste scraping it out of tinfoil trays etc. Any honey is at the bottom and can be washed off with water. I'm able to use it straight away for foundation without further cleaning.

 

[Belgianbeekeeper]

Been kicking myself,then been busy preparing lurepots for tomorrows hunt on yet another AH nest.I had a lurepot for a week just a 100 m away from the confirmed sighting today,deng and double deng,they visit so irregulary it's hard to track them down;First two nests were so easy,got those in no time,these critters gonna drive me nuts.The pic was send to us by a neighbour that lives good 700 m from us.

 

[Nannysbees]

Been kicking myself,then been busy preparing lurepots for tomorrows hunt on yet another AH nest.I had a lurepot for a week just a 100 m away from the confirmed sighting today,deng and double deng,they visit so irregulary it's hard to track them down;First two nests were so easy,got those in no time,these critters gonna drive me nuts.The pic was send to us by a neighbour that lives good 700 m from us.

How do you track them back to the nest?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not much, but spent the day talking bees, mostly with a retired RBI and a current one who were stewarding for me as I judged a local agricultural show honey show.

You'll be up there with MB before you know it
Hope it went well.....

 

[Erichalfbee]

Took the last super off.
First vape scheduled but things got in the way and will do today