What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Luminos]

That's a terrible waste of scotch

 

[grahambee]

inspected two of my hives today, was a little bit worried about one due to the fact that there was a hugh amount of fondant on the floor. when i opened the hive, what they had done is chucked all the fondant out, built brace comb in the eke and filled it with honey. hive is chocker block with bees, put super on, eke with brace comb on top (may get the idea of filling the super up). beautiful day in portsmouth

 

[alanf]

when i opened the hive, what they had done is chucked all the fondant out, built brace comb in the eke and filled it with honey. hive is chocker block with bees,

I thought the hive hefted a little light a month ago. So I added an ice cream tub of fondant over the hole in the crown board (larger version of the takeaway container). When I got back to it last week the tub was full of wild comb.

They have previous, last year they filled the gap left for apiguard.

 

[grahambee]

They have previous, last year they filled the gap left for apiguard.

Was a apiguard eke a was useing for fondant feeding

 

[drstitson]

tuesday eve my strongest had filled eaten the fondant and filled the eke with comb and brood. Now got a 2nd box on.

 

[Summerslease]

National hive tried to swarm yesterday, but couldn't as the queen is in her third year and her wings are too ragged to fly. Found her in the grass with some attendants and returned her to the hive. Then they tried to go again but the queen stayed in the hive. I found her and artificially swarmed using the nuc. method. Keeping her safe on three frames of brood/stores as insurance.

Then I inspected the hive and found the QC, (capped), I'd missed on the first inspection five days previously. Will now wait for HM to hatch, mate, and start laying. Simples but exciting.

Put a second super on my 14x12 and checked for QCs. Fortunately I didn't find any.

This is better than last year (my second as a beek) when I couldn't find the queens to do artificial swarms. Bees everywhere in the end.

 

[Chris Luck]

Did a cut out from a house roof, not in the apiary.

Chris

 

[Dilligaf]

Just spent the evening with a teenage beekeeper to be (Getting his first colony on Saturday) showing him how to machine a lumps of ply into a national hive.
He will be back at the weekend to make the base.
This time, they are for me, if his colony does well, the next one may be for him.
He was a pleasure to be with. Did as he was told round the power tools, asked a lot of good questions & showed a good knowledge of bees already.
Things are looking promising.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yesterday
Was still dithering about supering my strongest hive.
The 3 frames of brood 6 days ago had turned into 7!
I know it's getting colder so I put on a poly super with all drawn frames, half wet.

 

[psafloyd]

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

Why? What purpose would that serve? Or is that just to keep the sun off their heads?

 

[Alabamaeee]

Had a great day today.

First inspection of the year and my second year in beekeeping has started well.

Two normal sized colonies that went into winter are on 9 frames.

My little A/S that didn't do too well going into winter have made it through, and are on 5 frames, with many new hatched bees.

One field of rape is 100 yds away, so three supers on, as it has just come into bloom.

All hives happy which is nice as two were very tetchy last year. All had new queens last year too.

 

[borderer]

Went through 7 of my own hives putting the half on top all of them are ready for a super being very short of space. Transferred an overwintered nuc into a hive, it had run out of space and was ready to be moved. Then spent the next hour marvelling at the wonders of nature and pondering the future of the drone layer colony. I shook it out a few days ago and it threw up a lot of queen cells. When I looked yesterday most of them have been pulled down again.

My question is should I try to save it by putting in a frame of brood and eggs, unite it, buy in a queen or let go?

 

[Vergilius]

Finally re-hived a colony at my out-apiary from a grimy old nat into the ****** poly hive I got for Christmas. On opening up, found that the box was bursting with bees, and there were eight frames of brood, so they will be getting a super tomorrow. Now need to check other colonies to see whether they are in a similar state. Doubt it.

Ben P

 

[keithgrimes]

Took two hives down to a friends farm. Rape just coming in to flower

 

[YorkshireBees]

Spent 2 days doing my 1st inspection on all hives and found 12/13 doing well (the 2 polyhives forging ahead!). Had to Super all 12 as they were building brace comb filled with honey between the top bars and crown board plus the OSR is starting to flower in the fields around my apiaries!
The 13th was a smaller colony going into winter due to late re-queening / mating and I was surprised to see it survive, have transferred it into a polynuc to give it a better chance to expand faster.

All in all quite pleased with the rest of the hives just waiting to see what the drop in temp this next week does for the OSR / flow.

 

[drstitson]

dealt with a drone layer colony - requeened with HM from my late (oct) swarm. transferred a couple of colonies from double nuc boxes to proper brood boxes ready for supering. clipped and marked a couple of queens.

 

[Bob Bee]

First proper inspection yesterday. All hives have 4 frames of brood, plenty of stores. Will work the box next week if the weather permits. I frame has a queen cell that I didn't spot last year......... nothing in it , marked the frame. Check next week.

 

[psafloyd]

Went thought my three colonies and... Wait for it... No really, it is special... I saw ALL of my queens! First time I have ever seen all of them on the same day.
Saw my main colony's mahogany beauty again, and she is filling the box nicely. The super I put on at the weekend musk have half as much stores in it already.
Third colony getting stuffed but haven't moved into the last couple of frames yet, which I put back in after I removed the insulation. HM in here is a lovely ebony tinted lady and there are a lot of stores.
Second colony with the on/off queen I have not seen before is nice looking, but rather small. No brood to speak of at the moment, but there has been and she is trying to lay. Maybe she's now firing blanks and needs to be rubbed into my bait hive?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Spent most of the morning desperately trying to get a new apiary up and running before the OSR blooms ,helped the land owners finish their new fencing, move up and level the stands, plant willows to make a living boundary , take up supers and roofs etc, couple of swarm nuc for the feral colony in the local chimney ( going strong)....anyone want to do a three storey up cut out , i don't,

they're in the main chimney brest via air brick vent ( two colonies side by side) and issue three swarms a year once the OSR kicks in

ok all i need to do now need is to close up the bees i am moving , hopefully move tomorrow morning early or sunday

 

[Rosti]

Moved 4x drawn supers to apiary, currently not in use, colony strength not there yet, storing above crown boards.
Winter quilts removed today as well.
Despatched Queens from two colonies ready for combination with recipient colonies tomorrow. I will then be at my target 4 strong colonies for the season.
Quick check on the rape at the end of the lane, probably at 15% partial bloom. Not sure what the cold spell is going to do to plans, but I am close to needing supers what ever the temperature is likely to be.