What did you do in the Apiary today?

[BeeMania]

Blimey ... Cheshire must be nearer the equator than I thought - down here on the Costa del Fareham we are miles away from needing supers ... even on my 14 x 12 poly hives, which are normally quite early to start, I rarely see enough brood to warrant a super going on much before mid April.

Must be poor feeding or something
Last year I did first splits in mid April.
I suggest pollen paties in mid Feb. That helps a lot

 

[Ely]

Haven't had a warm enough day yet here in Norfolk to start my beekeeping season yet. Heart breaking to see all the plum blossom on the local footpath go to waste during the cold snap. No plum jam this year!

 

[Jengles]

Replaced blocks of fondant above the crownboard feeder holes with pollen patties in takeaway plastic boxes. They had fondant on all winter and they look very full from what I've seen.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Replaced blocks of fondant above the crownboard feeder holes with pollen patties in takeaway plastic boxes. They had fondant on all winter and they look very full from what I've seen.

so now they're probably stores bound - with you now feeding them pollen patties (which patties by the way? many are just fondant with food colouring) these bees may well get the prize for the first swarm of the year.

 

[Jengles]

so now they're probably stores bound - with you now feeding them pollen patties (which patties by the way? many are just fondant with food colouring) these bees may well get the prize for the first swarm of the year.

Vitafeed 300g patties which are meant to be pretty good. Both hives were dummied down to 9 frames over winter and recently got two frames of fresh foundation each, so hopefully they have room?

It was my first winter with bees so I wanted to make sure they stayed well fed!

 

[JamezF]

Lots of bright yellow pollen coming in today -- willow, I assume. At least until the weather turned unpleasant mid-afternoon.

James

 

[Bluebell1985]

so now they're probably stores bound - with you now feeding them pollen patties (which patties by the way? many are just fondant with food colouring) these bees may well get the prize for the first swarm of the year.

Two of mine are incredibly heavy. Going to be opening them on Saturday and taking out as much excess stores as I can. I am not winning (loosing) being the first to have their bees swarm.

 

[Goran]

Today was wearing T-shirt, 19-20C. Tomorrow they say will be 22C.. Bees are really busy, working all day.. In one period had to check if there is some odd swarm, but just traffic in front of the hives was in the matter..

 

[Swarm]

Vitafeed 300g patties which are meant to be pretty good. Both hives were dummied down to 9 frames over winter and recently got two frames of fresh foundation each, so hopefully they have room?

It was my first winter with bees so I wanted to make sure they stayed well fed!

First winter with bees, it's perfectly understandable that you wanted to do everything you could for them, well done for that. As your beekeeping progresses and you study your colonies, you will get an idea of your location and what it offers. You have fewer trees, do you see a lot of early pollen going in? If so, pollen subs are not required, they are what they are, substitute, the real thing offers much more.
When it is warm enough to pull frames, it's not a big deal to remove any excess stores frames.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Hive weights much the same as last week.

 

[Goran]

Today reprise, bees aren't slowing down.. in fact increasing.. Today finished finally pruning.. We felt relief to finish it.. even our cats have to rest..
Now onto new challenges.. Will have to start digging in the hives among all..
We noticed a lot of butterflies having as it seems " mating flights".. It is quite of choreografy..

 

[pevanstone]

Thought l had a dead out in feb ,but no they must have been low down,they now deserve a pad of ambrosia.l grew up beside the factory.1 old p a can,rejected.thick or thin,creamed rice that is.

 

[pevanstone]

Sorry to hear that MM. There's a lot of it going around, particularly in my industry (property development).

I hope that you secure something else swiftly.

May God be with you all.

 

[pevanstone]

Today reprise, bees aren't slowing down.. in fact increasing.. Today finished finally pruning.. We felt relief to finish it.. even our cats have to rest..
Now onto new challenges.. Will have to start digging in the hives among all..
We noticed a lot of butterflies having as it seems " mating flights".. It is quite of choreografy..

Is it possible to buy the whole outfit,l think that is a Queen spotting cat.l passed a moor on the first of feb about five times,every time a male. Brimstone was flying up and down in the sunshine.He did raise the spirits.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hefted all the hives and one must have been running on vapour. They got 2 litres of heavy syrup.

 

[Macbear]

Haven't had a warm enough day yet here in Norfolk to start my beekeeping season yet. Heart breaking to see all the plum blossom on the local footpath go to waste during the cold snap. No plum jam this year!

 

[Macbear]

I'm in Norfolk, too, and, on principle I wouldn't want to disturb bees at less than 16 degrees, today's been sunny and warm enough to see quite a bit of traffic to and from my two hives. A lovely forager came to see me digging - hopefully one of my residents. Gardening without a coat today, but dodging a couple of welcome showers.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

on principle I wouldn't want to disturb bees at less than 16 degrees

you must hardly ever inspect apart from the occasional week in July

 

[Macbear]

First winter with bees, it's perfectly understandable that you wanted to do everything you could for them, well done for that. As your beekeeping progresses and you study your colonies, you will get an idea of your location and what it offers. You have fewer trees, do you see a lot of early pollen going in? If so, pollen subs are not required, they are what they are, substitute, the real thing offers much more.
When it is warm enough to pull frames, it's not a big deal to remove any excess stores frames.

Please would you explain the idea of removing "excess stores frames". I left supers on both of my hives, and most frames are well filled and capped. I've not been into the brood, yet, but do wonder if it would be wise to remove some, perhaps after inspecting the brood. Is, with plenty of early pollen, bees storing that in the brood box to be hoped for?

 

[pargyle]

Please would you explain the idea of removing "excess stores frames". I left supers on both of my hives, and most frames are well filled and capped. I've not been into the brood, yet, but do wonder if it would be wise to remove some, perhaps after inspecting the brood. Is, with plenty of early pollen, bees storing that in the brood box to be hoped for?

If you have a super of capped stores left on the hive at this point then they probably did not need a super of stores on top to see them through the winter. I'm on 14 x 12 Paynes Poly hives and with a brood box well stocked with stores when they go into winter I usually find that there are a good few frames of stores that are excess to their requirements once the season starts in earnest. At that stage I will take out any 'excess' frames of stores and keep them - they are useful for either starting up Nucs or feeding swarms or splits. I've even kept them and used them for hives that are low on stores going into the next winter. Valuable commodity ...

You, obviously, won't know the situation in your brood boxes until you inspect them ... weighing hives through the winter (certainly until you get used to hefting) can give you some very useful information for future years about how the bees use their stored honey through winter.

Luggage scales like this are ideal:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073VCT41J?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details