What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Moobee]

Said goodbye to our beautiful spaniel yesterday. Completely heartbroken

 

[MillMeadow]

Said goodbye to our beautiful spaniel yesterday. Completely heartbroken

That's awful Moobee, my heart goes out to you.

I know it doesnt make it any easier but they were clearly very well looked after and loved going by their photo - a lovely and happy little dog.

 

[madasafish]

Checked allotment hives first time this year. All treated, with lots of stores. Three out of four dead with isolation starvation in the middle of combs full of honey.
Never had this problem there before. (Cold spell pre Christmas to blame I assume)

Fortunately I have spare Qs available.

 

[The Poot]

Said goodbye to our beautiful spaniel yesterday. Completely heartbroken

So sorry, Moobee. I suffered a similar loss last year and still have some very odd moments….
(Our other dog grieved horribly so we got him a companion).

 

[BeeBird]

Said goodbye to our beautiful spaniel yesterday. Completely heartbroken

So very sad . Meant to use this emoji above, not the like one, but couldn’t select it. Sorry

 

[Cuckmere couple]

found myself buying 12 queen cages for £1 from STBK for some reason

 

[Ely]

Sorry for your loss. It really is like losing a member of family.

 

[Floyd]

Had an early start onsite today, 8AM and 2 degrees, so decided to check the hives for fondant, without bothering to put on my suit, as I have done throughout the winter months.

Hive 2 as expected, nice and calm slowly eating their way through the fondant.
Hive 1. BANG! full on assault, bees in my hair in my coat, and a half sting to my hand. Was not expecting that!!

Is this a sign of possible brood rearing, or something else.

 

[pargyle]

Had an early start onsite today, 8AM and 2 degrees, so decided to check the hives for fondant, without bothering to put on my suit, as I have done throughout the winter months.

Hive 2 as expected, nice and calm slowly eating their way through the fondant.
Hive 1. BANG! full on assault, bees in my hair in my coat, and a half sting to my hand. Was not expecting that!!

Is this a sign of possible brood rearing, or something else.

More likely pee'd off at being disturbed mid winter and at 2 degrees !! It's still only February .. it only takes one guard bee to get then hump and the rest will follow suit fairly quickly if they are inclined.

 

[pargyle]

Said goodbye to our beautiful spaniel yesterday. Completely heartbroken

That's not good Moobee .... takes a long time to get over losing a loved dog ... we were nearly two years without a dog after our last 15 year labrador gave up on his two year battle with a brain tumour ... we still miss him but after a long wait we got Spark ... now nearly 18 months old and has already found a place in our hearts. One never replaces another - they just provide a new set of joys ... Here's our new bundle of joy ...

 

[The Poot]

Had an early start onsite today, 8AM and 2 degrees, so decided to check the hives for fondant, without bothering to put on my suit, as I have done throughout the winter months.

Hive 2 as expected, nice and calm slowly eating their way through the fondant.
Hive 1. BANG! full on assault, bees in my hair in my coat, and a half sting to my hand. Was not expecting that!!

Is this a sign of possible brood rearing, or something else.

Did they fly at you from the entrance or from the feed hole in the crownboard?

 

[rolande]

Just reassembled the remains of a warre which the Badger had over during the night. As normal with these attacks, it carried comb right away from the attacked hive to eat in comfort.

 

[pargyle]

Just reassembled the remains of a warre which the Badger had over during the night. As normal with these attacks, it carried comb right away from the attacked hive to eat in comfort.

Oh dear ... poor bees. Badgers are fearless creatures and once they get a taste for honeycomb there is not much that will stop them coming back for more - what have you got in place to stop it happening again ? Did the colony survive the attack ?

 

[rolande]

Oh dear ... poor bees. Badgers are fearless creatures and once they get a taste for honeycomb there is not much that will stop them coming back for more - what have you got in place to stop it happening again ? Did the colony survive the attack ?

The colony seems fine, they usually are, we have a couple of attacks each winter (and exceptionally, one summer a few years back). In general apart from heavy rocks/concrete blocks (clearly not heavy enough in relation to height of the hive in this case) I don't make any special effort to stop it as all 4 Portland apiaries are equally subject to attack as were my pea seeds the other night.

We have another apiary off the island sat right next to a sett bit have never had any issue at all there.

I used to get annoyed, now I see it as they're only trying to make a living like the rest of us.

 

[pargyle]

I know ... I tolerate the mice in my garden and the blasted squirrels ... I take a similar view that we should try and tolerate living alongside nature as far as possible - they, like you say, are only trying to survive - annoying though it is. With badgers it appears to be learned behaviour passed on - there is a sett right alongside the hives situated at a local allotment site and there has never been a problem. They are curious creatures and perhaps it starts with curiosity and they discover a cheap meal in the process ...

 

[Ian123]

Big badger set at the bottom of my garden, never had any issues. A friend had them making mincemeat of poly mating nucs for a time! In another area.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Badgers, same as their African counterparts the ratel (honey badger) and honey guide birds and also Honey buzzards are actually interested in the wax and larvae in the nest rather than the honey, so it's doubly important to practice good apiary hygiene if there are badgers around and not leave any discarded comb/drone larvae (obsessive drone killers take note) lying around the apiary as old Brock may take a hint and sniff around for the source. I have an old, established sett not too far away from one apiary (they often track down the gully next to the hives whilst out hunting) and a late beekeeper who ran the nurseries a few doors from where my grandparents and stepfather lived never had badger issues and there is an ancient set just behind the nurseries and my grandparent's house

 

[Kaz]

Popped open the roof on "Baby Swarm" (collected on 11th October and they were *tiny*). Hand fed them a few pieces of fondant (they are sooooo gentle ), then loaded them up with a kilo of the stuff. Good to see they have survived so far, there were barely enough bees to cover 2 frames when i rescued them

 

[Horseradish]

Certainly taken a dusting.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

That's not good Moobee .... takes a long time to get over losing a loved dog ... we were nearly two years without a dog after our last 15 year labrador gave up on his two year battle with a brain tumour ... we still miss him but after a long wait we got Spark ... now nearly 18 months old and has already found a place in our hearts. One never replaces another - they just provide a new set of joys ... Here's our new bundle of joy ...

We lost Pip ourJRT a couple of years ago. At the time we didn't feel like replacing her but a couple of weeks ago we heard of a JRT dog looking for a home as he had snapped at a toddler in the house. Needless to say we were delighted to offer him a home with us. He's taken over our household now.