What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Swarm]

If there are excessive combs of capped syrup/honey in the brood box, they can be replaced with frames of drawn comb or foundation. Obviously you don't change them all.

 

[Goran]

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.

Sorry, my English isn't so good... I don't understand what You have asked..
Pics of some flowers.. Also opened vineyard peaches and wild cherries, but had no more time and was a bit tired to take more shots.. Bees are not much on meadow now, I presume plums and wild cherries are on repertoire..

 

[pargyle]

Sorry, my English isn't so good... I don't understand what You have asked..
Pics of some flowers.. Also opened vineyard peaches and wild cherries, but had no more time and was a bit tired to take more shots.. Bees are not much on meadow now, I presume plums and wild cherries are on repertoire..

You shouldn't worry about your English Goran, it's better than some I know who have English as their first language ! For what it's worth ... I didn't understand the post either ... it may have lost something in translation from ... whatever to English !

 

[Lazy K]

We have had constant 40-45 mph winds lately. Haven't been able to do a hive inspection or set up swarm traps. But bees are coming and going in all 4 hive.

And I'm about to embark on a new adventure. My hives are poly Langstroth hives and someone just gave me a Top Bar hive (and wants to give me 2 more). I'm totally clueless about this type of hive so I have a lot of studying to do.

 

[Lazy K]

Goran, LOVE the picture of your field of Henbit/Dead Nettle. I have some henbit seedlings started and can only hope they do well here.

 

[Goran]

Goran, LOVE the picture of your field of Henbit/Dead Nettle. I have some henbit seedlings started and can only hope they do well here.

They grow as weed here, but easy to manage.. In fact, when real warm weather start they somehow " disappear" and again reappear in autumn.. They dislike warmth I presume..
We also have white and yellow dead nettle as weed, but they are slower in blooming.. They like warmth..

 

[Newbeeneil]

Had to put 2 poly nucs into two new full brood boxes today. They had brood on all the frames including a few drone cells. I did have to put some fondant on them as they only had a few stores.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Spent this afternoon exposing these lot and removing them. Not sure if I got the queen but by the time I got the tiles back in place they all seemed to be inside a poly nuc with framed up brood.

 

[boywonder]

Fun day out yesterday at the Lincoln auction. A goodly number of lots (incl. >40 colonies of bees) and bidders. Must have made a lot of money for the Association.

There was the usual mix of high quality lots and bonfire fodder. Even amongst some of the good stuff, it really surprised me that the sellers hadn't been bothered to clean it up properly. Dirty buggers, many beekeepers.

What I certainly noticed was that there were high value items (e.g. extractors, honey creamers, wax melters) selling for a pittance. Good bargains to be had on jars, good quality suits etc.. but some consumables selling for more than it would cost to get in the car and drive to Rand and pay full price at Thorne ??!! (most of the foundation).

Made a sale; got outbid on a couple of lots (exercised restraint for once).

A good day, anyway. Thanks to the organisers.

I recommend these. NBKA (Newark) is coming up here in the next week or two.

 

[Brodie]

I went to the bee auction had a good day Wasn’t expecting to see nucs for sale, thought it was too early to be playing with the bees

 

[John Twidle]

Fun day out yesterday at the Lincoln auction. A goodly number of lots (incl. >40 colonies of bees) and bidders. Must have made a lot of money for the Association.

There was the usual mix of high quality lots and bonfire fodder. Even amongst some of the good stuff, it really surprised me that the sellers hadn't been bothered to clean it up properly. Dirty buggers, many beekeepers.

What I certainly noticed was that there were high value items (e.g. extractors, honey creamers, wax melters) selling for a pittance. Good bargains to be had on jars, good quality suits etc.. but some consumables selling for more than it would cost to get in the car and drive to Rand and pay full price at Thorne ??!! (most of the foundation).

Made a sale; got outbid on a couple of lots (exercised restraint for once).

A good day, anyway. Thanks to the organisers.

I recommend these. NBKA (Newark) is coming up here in the next week or two.

There certainly were lots of items for sale, just under 500 if I remember correctly, but many of the items were close to or above the brand new price so I had to exercise a lot of restraint. It was a long old day for an old codger like me to be on my feet but lots of interesting chats with other bidders and a plentiful supply of bacon rolls.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

What did the colonies go for at Lincoln auction yesterday? Given at previous sales I've seen they included stand, floor, boxes, CB and roof, the prices looked cheap.

I was thinking of selling 4 of mine but they've gone to friends. Also didn't want to go into them this early.

 

[boywonder]

What did the colonies go for at Lincoln auction yesterday? Given at previous sales I've seen they included stand, floor, boxes, CB and roof, the prices looked cheap.

I was thinking of selling 4 of mine but they've gone to friends. Also didn't want to go into them this early.

I went into Lincoln for a wander around the Cathedral with SWMBO once the auction for live bees was underway (they'd paused the overrunning auction of kit to crack on with that). When I left, full, strong colonies of bees in tidy national hives (well, floor, BB and roof - not cedar, but good, treated wood) were going for £170. I'd call that a good auction price (both for the buyer and seller), though well under what is achieved in the commercial market for similar.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I went into Lincoln for a wander around the Cathedral with SWMBO once the auction for live bees was underway (they'd paused the overrunning auction of kit to crack on with that). When I left, full, strong colonies of bees in tidy national hives (well, floor, BB and roof - not cedar, but good, treated wood) were going for £170. I'd call that a good auction price (both for the buyer and seller), though well under what is achieved in the commercial market for similar.

That is cheap for a full colony. Every time I’ve been to the West Sussex one the nucs go for £200-300 depending on demand. There are only 5-10 available when ever I’ve been.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

That is cheap for a full colony. Every time I’ve been to the West Sussex one the nucs go for £200-300 depending on demand. There are only 5-10 available when ever I’ve been.

OK Every year is different but I've seen them a couple of years ago go for £120-130 which once you take off the cost of the hardware is £50 for the bees. Which doesn't seem enough. And they've been looked through by a bee inspector.
. . . . Ben

 

[sarahcorlett2566]

Today, I finally got round to putting together the second of my Thornes sale seconds hives and Danish oiled that and the one I put together a few months ago. I made the stand too out of some old wood lying around (not today!). I know it’s high, it was more of an experiment than anything. If it is too high in practice or unstable, I will reduce the height of the legs. I am a novice beek and very novice carpenter! Just need two lovely new colonies to put in them

 

[pargyle]

Today, I finally got round to putting together the second of my Thornes sale seconds hives and Danish oiled that and the one I put together a few months ago. I made the stand too out of some old wood lying around (not today!). I know it’s high, it was more of an experiment than anything. If it is too high in practice or unstable, I will reduce the height of the legs. I am a novice beek and very novice carpenter! Just need two lovely new colonies to put in them

Very nice ... stand height is personal choice - whatever is convenient for you when you are inspecting the colonies ... you will soon know if it works for you once you have bees in them. The ability to lift frames out comfortably is important if you are going to avoid beekeepers back ...

 

[sarahcorlett2566]

Very nice ... stand height is personal choice - whatever is convenient for you when you are inspecting the colonies ... you will soon know if it works for you once you have bees in them. The ability to lift frames out comfortably is important if you are going to avoid beekeepers back ...

Thank you!

 

[Goran]

All the fruit trees going into bloom..Frosts are announced on Tuesday and Wednesday, even some post pics of black locust/ false acacia tree are also start to show little buds. If the announcement of frosts coming turn to be true it all can turn in huge disaster even before all started.. How happy I am..

 

[John Twidle]

That is cheap for a full colony. Every time I’ve been to the West Sussex one the nucs go for £200-300 depending on demand. There are only 5-10 available when ever I’ve been.

If I remember correctly, the full-sized colonies went for between £150 and £170 but only saw one 3-frame nuc bring sold (in a corrugated plastic box) and it went for £200