What did you do in the Apiary today?

[gregior]

Inspected 15 of mine today. We have had some pretty nice days so was hoping some of the 5 virgins i'm waiting on would be mated but nope nothing laying yet. I think one of the virgins must be lost because although they have room there was nectar and pollen in all the brood box frames and no polished cells so added a test frame.
Of the 10 queenright colonies 4 were putting up cells including 2 demerees done just 3 weeks ago so that didn't really stop the swarming urge atall (maybe delayed it by a week or 2) Supers are filling quite nicely so may be able to extract some next week. Every box I own is now in use so i'm having to be very creative in ways to create extra space.

 

[Newbeeneil]

After nucing a queen last week I went into the hive today to knock down all but 1 cell. As I started to remove them ( I would guess 30-40 cells in total) the bees went berserk! I took about a dozen stings to my wrists through my nitriles and decided to retreat and put on some marigolds. I returned to complete the job but by now my who veil and suit was black with bees and took more stings though the marigolds. I will be going back with one of my new queens when they are mated in the next week, I'm not going to let them requeen!,,,,

 

[Antipodes]

After nucing a queen last week I went into the hive today to knock down all but 1 cell. As I started to remove them ( I would guess 30-40 cells in total) the bees went berserk! I took about a dozen stings to my wrists through my nitriles and decided to retreat and put on some marigolds. I returned to complete the job but by now my who veil and suit was black with bees and took more stings though the marigolds. I will be going back with one of my new queens when they are mated in the next week, I'm not going to let them requeen!,,,,

They seem to go for wrists.

 

[Nannysbees]

Managed to get some mini nucs sorted today , also split a starter into 3 nucs with cells and left the View attachment 36116single brood on the original site with a good 5/6 day old open cell oh here’s one of my demarre boards which I’ll use as a normal cbView attachment 36114View attachment 36115

Wow that's impressive, what a lovely site and sight

 

[madasafish]

At
11.30am had just finished cutting grass.
Lady rings door bell: swarm in cemetery down road.
Drive 0.25 mile to cemetery, collect swarm - in heavy rain.
12.30am: swarm in nuc in garden (still raining)

 

[Parsonage Bees]

All this talk of queen cells! Nope. Checked the 3 at home and just a few cups.
Extra scan for supercedure cells in hive where queen will be 4 this year.

Ok, they're swarming. Early open queen cells but I can't find the queen.
The swarm that arrived last year at the out apiary is planning to leave already. It's in the genes I guess.
Raining so I'll try again tomorrow.
. . . . Ben

 

[Wilco]

Tidying up at the apiary and looked like a hive was swarming so groaned inwardly. Put it down as a lost cause until an hour later when I spotted them arise from a nearby tree, circle around slowly then land in another about 5-6m up. Only a small swarm though. Retrieved them. Went through the hive and found a number of other cells I'd missed last week. All about to emerge. Have now got several mating nucs made up plus one queen run into a nuc which seems to have failed to raise/mate one.


Oh, and got my first (half) sting of the year. After I'd finished and taken my hood down there was a crawler which wound up on the back of my neck. I was doing so well.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Tidying up at the apiary and looked like a hive was swarming so groaned inwardly. Put it down as a lost cause until an hour later when I spotted them arise from a nearby tree, circle around slowly then land in another about 5-6m up. Only a small swarm though. Retrieved them. Went through the hive and found a number of other cells I'd missed last week. All about to emerge. Have now got several mating nucs made up plus one queen run into a nuc which seems to have failed to raise/mate one.

View attachment 36120

Nice suite there some big looking

 

[Swarm]

Waited for the rain to end and grabbed the chance of an hour or two in the afternoon sunshine. I knew I had a queen cell in with one blue queen that would probably be capped by now and it was. She was still there and her brood pattern is good so I popped her in a nuc and left the hive with the sealed cell.
Moving on, the next couple of hives are looking sound, with some large brood nests and lots of bees, there is weight in the supers but nothing special. The last hive inspected had two sealed cells in the top brood box and another beauty in the bottom box that was nicely mid comb, open and well charged. The queen is still laying and was in the top box. The double brood is now dismantled into a single, the queen is in a nuc and the two sealed cells are in a three framer, lots of brood to go around.
The bee behaviour gave me the impression they were in no rush to leave.

 

[StephenT]

Just enjoying the pungent smell of nectar in the garden just now. It’s relatively warm and humid here and they are piling it in. Lots of Horse Chestnut with red pollen coming in. Some Hawthorn around and lots of other bits and bobs. Need to check to see if they need a third super very soon.

 

[user 20297]

Tidying up at the apiary and looked like a hive was swarming so groaned inwardly. Put it down as a lost cause until an hour later when I spotted them arise from a nearby tree, circle around slowly then land in another about 5-6m up. Only a small swarm though. Retrieved them. Went through the hive and found a number of other cells I'd missed last week. All about to emerge. Have now got several mating nucs made up plus one queen run into a nuc which seems to have failed to raise/mate one.


View attachment 36120 Oh, and got my first (half) sting of the year. After I'd finished and taken my hood down there was a crawler which wound up on the back of my neck. I was doing so well.

That's a great photo.

 

[Moobee]

Back with a bang…. I carried out an inspection last week before I went to Spain to find hive 3 with charged queen cells so the girls were definitely preparing to swarm. They had built up quickly in the last few weeks & were running out of space. I wanted to breed from this queen so ‘banked’ her in a nuc & left them to carry on.
Inspection today, 8 days later, and multiple big fat sealed queen cells across 7 frames…..
So have left this nice one in the hive (the bees were all over it so it’s promising) and made up two, three frame nucs with the next best two.
All the rest were removed.
I’ll leave the hive & nucs alone for several weeks for the queens to do their thing.
Hive 1 was rammed with bees with 10 frames of brood and a few shiny hairless bees wandering about so looks like the start of CBPV so have added a brood box to give them more space. Fingers crossed this works. Varroa board now out as well.

 

[Dr. Abe]

I checked a nuc I made last week and found everything A++ with the new queen laying eggs.

I also killed an older queen. (Sounds like no mercy for the super layer of last year!) She has not been doing good on eggs, patterns, or drones so I'm requeening her tomorrow with a mated Queen.

Hives seem ready for the Clover, Basswood, and Blackberry flows coming soon.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Busy day today nuced 8 queens split two triple brood into 6 , demareed 4 and added supers some super frames starting to be capped but not brilliant this spring so far

 

[Nannysbees]

Inspected the two hives today, on a double brood with the half put above the qx. Couldn't find either queens but saw eggs. Found a lot of weak looking charged queen cells, took them down, hoping its the upset of changing the hive around!!!! Will go back in a week hopefully if we can find the queens and there's queen cells we'll split. Hopefully made the right decision, if not in sure the bees will let us know.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Inspected the two hives today, on a double brood with the half put above the qx. Couldn't find either queens but saw eggs. Found a lot of weak looking charged queen cells, took them down, hoping its the upset of changing the hive around!!!! Will go back in a week hopefully if we can find the queens and there's queen cells we'll split. Hopefully made the right decision, if not in sure the bees will let us know.

I can see a cell on the bottom of the frame with capped brood was that one charged?

 

[Nannysbees]

I can see a cell on the bottom of the frame with capped brood was that one charged?

That one wasn't, there were lots of cups as well

 

[Erichalfbee]

Will go back in a week

No ........3 days

 

[Nannysbees]

No ........3 days

Oops thank you very much for that, I will

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Made a right pig's ear out of doing a Snelgrove artificial swarm using a split board. Luckily had 2 roofs and a spare box but still chaos. Hadn't thought it through. You start with a neat stack of boxes and you end with a neat stack of boxes but inbetween. . . . ! Evening, after the rain, all the foragers were home.
Sooo much easier to nuc the queen if you can find her. If she hasn't already gone.