What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Spent a couple of hours at the association apiary - meant to be a tidy up and put some fence panels to divide the private hives from the teaching apiary and all the bees from the apiary entrance/store area so (hopefully we can stand around there with no suits on and not be pestered too much.
Some of us decided it was a bit dark down the bottom so laid about ten yards of hedge down which opened up the area nicely - too late to do much more this year so the rest of the hedge will have to wait for next winter.
Now going to finish my hedge

 

[VEG]

Did my first inspection of the season today, all hives doing well. One hive I dont think is going to make it not enough bees in there no brood but did spot about a dozen eggs, so will leave them to it to see how they are doing in a fortnight.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Checked my varroa boards , none of the little bleeders to be seem. I noticed one hive had a particularly large amount of pollen dropped, are they just clumsier than the others?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Oh, and removed the top insulation. We may get the odd frost still but I'm guessing prolonged freeze unlikely, and if it does happen then I'll pop it back on

 

[victor meldrew]

I leave insulation on all year round , it works both ways , prevents too much heat from entering through roof on hot days ?
VM

 

[Chris Luck]

First sting of the season this morning form one of my little darlings, awwww bless.

Chris

 

[madasafish]

Inspected all hives: 4-7 frames of brood in each plus lots of pollen...

Some drone cells in largest...

 

[MuswellMetro]

started at 9:30 and went to checked my hives temps 17c

all the previously Bailey changes are going well and i had one large 14x12 hive left to do a bailey on

Disaster, no 14x12 brood boxes left, so made a 14x12 brood box out of two empty super and api eke......then found i did not need them as the colony had lots of bees, stores, polished cells but no eggs larva or pupa,

this was one that tested higher for nosema so expect the queen had become nosemtic and the tried to supercede

a couple of play cups in the centre of a hollowed out frame but no queen or queen cells

Rushed back to an out apairy to fetch a super frame of eggs from an over winter Nuc that i was luckly getting them to lay eggs in a half super

so test super frame of eggss in the Q- and then took a sample for Nosema

have yet to decide whether to petrol it or combine with another hive.....got home a 4:00 temp still 21c...and had a cup of Ceylon Tea

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Finished laying the hedge in my future apiary site behind the garden, had a long and pleasant chat with another beek then decided to set light to the 15 foot high pile of timber which I've cleared from the whole site - one mahooosive fire! someone down the road must have thought the industrial units nearby had caught fire because next thing I get a visit from the water fairies - blue lights, sirens the lot!!!! after a pleasant chat they apologised for bothering me! and went on their way.
I had to cut one of the trees I felled at about 12 feet from the ground to ensure it wouldn't total my greenhouse I think now after a bit of trimming it will be an ideal site for a bait hive.
Closed up the nuc in preparation for moving to my out apiary tomorrow morning.
What a pleasant day!

 

[scuttlefish]

Swapped a battered old brood frame for fresh foundation & built a double hive stand. Now I just need to get a couple of extra colonies to put on it...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Got up early and took the nuc down to its new home friends mother was woken by the dogs barking and came down and made me a cup of tea - nice lady mrs T. Just hope now the colony will build up nicely it feels a lot heavier so they should be allright on stores, but a little light on brood last time i looked.
Put the super that was on hive number 1 down with QX on (after ensuring queen was in brood) so hopefully they'll shift up all the stores so I can re-super. Queen laying well - 41/2 super frames jam packed with brood and at least three frames of the BB with BIAS.

 

[madasafish]

Opened up my largest hive , added three top bars with empty comb to one side of brood nest (was a follower board) after moving follower board to make more room. Looks like this is growing very rapidly - 7 frames of brood is now 8 and the presence of capped drone brood makes me want to ensure it does not swarm...

Stopped feeding as they are storing sugar solution: they'll use it all soon when the weather worsens next week...

 

[Phayze]

just been watching the guard bees check each bee as they enter real fun to watch them run over quick check (you're on the list maam in you go)

 

[simonf]

Started putting together some nucs I have been cutting, watched some scout bees checking some of my spares out.

 

[victor meldrew]

Just been grass bashing around the hives , no fuss from the occupants, the late shift were still working and ignoring me
VM

 

[keithgrimes]

Took one 'busting' hive to brrod and a half. Watched a queen red tailed bumble trying to get in for about 10 minutes before she gave up and buzzed off

 

[richardbees]

Bought a selection of straw hats from the local 99p shop for visitors to wear when visiting the 'apiary'.

 

[Luminos]

just been watching the guard bees check each bee as they enter real fun to watch them run over quick check (you're on the list maam in you go)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Watched a guard bee on one hive yesterday - she checked this bee for about five minutes, walked away - then came back for another check - bee was still waiting for the all clear when I went for my tea!
Lot of water carriers flying in yesterday

 

[John_W]

Rehomed..

Had a look at a weak colony yesterday. Two small palm sized patches of brood. Not enough bees to justify a full hive. So have relocated into a nuc for the moment to give her a chance. They got blown over in the winter and got rained upon. So quite suprised they have made it this far. Plenty of stores. Closed the entrance right down to a double bee gap.

Quick lid lift on two others shows they are bulging. So will be inspect later today as I think one needs a super for space. A secondly may need one depending.

So off to scotch out some supers.