What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Charlieanne]

Today I did my first inspection and transfer of Nuc to hive after a nearly 4 year break from beekeeping. It’s good to be back!

 

[gregior]

Inspected 8 of mine before rain stopped play. All apart from 1 doing very well with between 8 and 16 frames of brood ( I run brood 1/2) The one weak colony only had 2 frames of brood but the laying pattern was good so I gave then a boost by adding a frame of emerging brood.
All had plenty of stores and pollen. The strongest even had a few pounds of honey in the super.No signs of swarming but lots of drones around and play cups appearing now too.
Demareed the 2 strongest colonies that are on 16 frames of brood and transferred a rammed overwintered 7 frame nuc to a hive and added a super. Weather forecast was looking really good a few days ago but has been downgraded somewhat with cool Easterlies on the way.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Getting ready to use a modified demaree on colony’s , early this year I feel .
also at present bulstering overwintered nucs with donated emerging brood also moved more supers and 6 breeder queens to there site where I will use cells direct to either nucs or minis at the same site saves a bit.
Dandelion and osr flows starting nicely .

 

[Nannysbees]

Inspected both hives today. Capped brood in brood box and the half, both looking healthy, Rosie as always the stronger hive, one super full of nectar already.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Getting ready to use a modified demaree

modified?

 

[Wilco]

Checked nucs on the outhouse and had a play with a new toy for lighting the smoker with...

 

[sarahcorlett2566]

I’ve been putting foundation in frames for two supers to put them on tomorrow. Horrible, horrible job. Can anyone give me any clues as to how to nail the damn bar thing through the loops in the wire in without hammering my fingers, going through the top bar, bending the nail, throwing the f****r out of the door and generally losing the plot and swearing or possibly all of the above? I have tried clamps and grips and some work sometimes but nothing seems to be a foolproof way of getting the bloody things in without making a right mess.

Update on the foundation inserting: bigger hammer and horizontal nailing = happy beek!

 

[ericbeaumont]

bigger hammer

Biggest hammer to use is a 4oz cross pein, though this lovely 3 & half oz will do nicely.

 

[ericbeaumont]

From Surrey down to Lewes yesterday, and to the glorious big blue skys of East Sussex to deliver four colonies to Namayasai Farm, a natural agricultural producer of veg & fruit.

Lovely drive down swooping A roads and lime-green lanes, and good to see dandelions on the way in every field, garden and verge.

 

[SWHives]

Update on the foundation inserting: bigger hammer and horizontal nailing = happy beek!

I use a manual stapler gun with nails. Works for me.

 

[jeff33]

3 apiaries checked in an afternoon rush and now at the airport for a quick week away before the start of the manic season. 1 hive had a charged QC and all others needed more room as the sweet smell of dandelion nectar was pouring in

 

[Moobee]

Checked on all three hives today - two building well (7 and 8 frames respectively, one a tad slow at only 5 - not many eggs but plenty of space. Had planned to requeen this one anyway, so will do this in May as only a handful of drone cells in each hive so far. Two supers starting to fill but still not much forage here at the moment and the two nearby OSR fields from last year have been turned over to a cereal crop (boo!), so that's my spring harvest gone.
Shook out the nuc with drone layers. Not many bees left and the drones are teeny tiny compared to the usual queen laid ones. Did get four nice frames of stores though that I can save for another time.
Set up a bait hive in the out apiary.

 

[ericbeaumont]

two nearby OSR fields from last year

Was told today that OSR grown for vehicle fuel is no good for bees: flowers too deep for their tongues.

 

[beeker]

Inspected the two colonies that have been feisty whenever I've added fondant etc. Bit better behaved today, but nowhere near as calm as the best.
Had considered requeening, but weather is still a bit unpredictable I think. So going to hold off, and wait. Was determined to find the queen's, and mark them while they were relatively good mannered, and make them easier to find as the colony grows, and their time cometh.
And managed it with both, one hopped up on to my hand while trying to steer it into marking thingy. So took the chance to try holding her to mark, surprisingly successful, and far easier than I imagined. Still going to requeen them from nicest hive though.

Much happier that I'm not ballsing it every time I do anything now. Though still the whole year to screw up big time

 

[drex]

Checked my hives that I recently moved from Essex to Devon. All queen right with BIAS. However they are slower to get going than when in Essex. 6,5, and 4 frames of brood. 2022 queens. Fresh pollen and a bit of nectar in the combs with plenty of honey too. There is space to lay. Is this the weather, poor forage locally or is it normal for Devon? Going to local apiary meeting at end of month

 

[rolande]

Checked my hives that I recently moved from Essex to Devon. All queen right with BIAS. However they are slower to get going than when in Essex. 6,5, and 4 frames of brood. 2022 queens. Fresh pollen and a bit of nectar in the combs with plenty of honey too. There is space to lay. Is this the weather, poor forage locally or is it normal for Devon? Going to local apiary meeting at end of month

Must be the famous local adaption that takes a thousand years

 

[Newbeeneil]

Inspected most of my 50+ hives over the last 3 days. All good and most on 7-9 frames of brood. Added another brood box on a couple, demareed one and plans for another. Supered about a dozen and added a second to a couple who had almost filled 3/4 of the first!

 

[jeff33]

Must be the famous local adaption that takes a thousand years

Wait for the magic Ivy flow!!

 

[jeff33]

Inspected most of my 50+ hives over the last 3 days. All good and most on 7-9 frames of brood. Added another brood box on a couple, demareed one and plans for another. Supered about a dozen and added a second to a couple who had almost filled 3/4 of the first!

Mine have gone nuts over the last few weeks, especially those which have been united.

 

[JamezF]

A mixed bag inspection-wise today.

The colony in the tree branch is showing no interest in moving up at the moment, but I'm in no hurry with that one. I think it may well be quite a small colony and they're going to take a while to build to the point where they need the space. We'll see what happens.

Another colony was exceptionally weak. Not even one side of a frame of brood, though the queen is clearly laying. Or has been within the last three days, because even though there weren't a whole load of bees I still couldn't find her. Really not sure what to do about that one at the moment. It may be unconnected, but this colony is close to two feral ones that I kept an eye on last year. There's no sign of one of those and the second had very few bees around the entrance even during the sunniest part of the day. Or as I have mentioned previously, it could be that someone has been mucking about with the hive.

Three colonies on double brood were absolutely rammed. No sign of queen cells, but I shall be back down there tomorrow with supers and perhaps contemplating doing a demaree at the same time.

One of these three I was actually intending to split to make them more manageable because they had a very poor temperament last year, but today they weren't that bad at all. I had a few ping off the veil and a follower or two for a couple of metres, but they weren't all over the front of my veil and following me persistently for a hundred metres or more like they did last year. I'm tempted to cut them some slack for the time being and see how things go.

James