What did you do in the Apiary today?

[pargyle]

And unlike you, he wasn’t beaten back by the heat from the candles on his cake

Beaten back ? It's got to the stage where there isn't a cake BIG enough to get them all on ...and if there were - by the time you lit the last one the first one would have burnt out !

 

[The Poot]

Inspected all five today - seems like only yesterday it was only two!
One is undergoing queen introduction, two newly mated queens are laying really well, one nuc was upgraded to a hive, one nuc’d swarm still on three frames, so left alone.
Two have two full, but not fully capped supers each, with patches of newly stored nectar and each has a largely empty, but drawn super to fill.
Temperaments all good, with the requeening one a little feisty.
I was really glad I bought a ventilated suit last year!

 

[Goran]

Today I just went to see sentiment at apiary, well calm but busy. No bees at water.. Had some other non bee jobs to do.. Later in a day helped friend to finish some job on his bee container as he prepare onto new " pastures" to move.. Seen some really nice colonies and calm bees today were.. Yesterday was preparing jenter kit, but still can't go all into qrearing.. Must clear my schedule before..

 

[Wilco]

Was asked to advise on a colony in a tree being felled.



Also called the fire service to report a wildlife on a local common.

Today was slightly not to schedule so will do the last apiary tomorrow once I've returned to remove the bees from the felled tree, been to a funeral and had the car serviced...

 

[TomH]

Checked for mated/laying queens in a few hives that were requeening after swarm control 3-4 weeks ago. On the whole a success, with 4 new queens, and one possibly queenless, but will give it another couple of weeks to see.

One of the requeening hives did have eggs, but also 3 capped QCs? Couldn't find a queen, but didnt look too hard. Was a bit unsure what to make of that, is it possible it's supercedure, immediately after mating? Thought I read on here on another thread that they're unlikely to swarm straight away with a newly mated queen.

 

[gregior]

Incred flow on here every available cell filled with nectar. No kit left. Queens mated 4 weeks ago are trying to swarm,supers of plastic foundation added 4 days ago are drawn out-mental!

 

[Swarm]

Spent the morning taking out extra supers, the ones returned after extraction are filling quickly. We sold quite a few colonies in Spring so expected to have more available kit but somehow we are down to the last few supers of drawn comb and the hives are as tall as they were before we pulled the honey.
I had a visit from the landowner who took a break from his digger and drainage work to give me a hand distributing the supers. I transferred a couple of his nucs into full hives yesterday, they were double nucs so already working eleven frames and needing space. We gave them a super each but they'll need more space pretty soon.
I'll head out to the shed when it cools down a bit and get some frames made up ready to move the new queens up into full nucs. I'll also have a dig around for any old super lying around that can be made serviceable.
Bramble and Clover are flowering, a bit of rain on the weekend followed by more sunshine and high temps and things could get very busy again.

 

[The Poot]

Spent the morning taking out extra supers, the ones returned after extraction are filling quickly. We sold quite a few colonies in Spring so expected to have more available kit but somehow we are down to the last few supers of drawn comb and the hives are as tall as they were before we pulled the honey.
I had a visit from the landowner who took a break from his digger and drainage work to give me a hand distributing the supers. I transferred a couple of his nucs into full hives yesterday, they were double nucs so already working eleven frames and needing space. We gave them a super each but they'll need more space pretty soon.
I'll head out to the shed when it cools down a bit and get some frames made up ready to move the new queens up into full nucs. I'll also have a dig around for any old super lying around that can be made serviceable.
Bramble and Clover are flowering, a bit of rain on the weekend followed by more sunshine and high temps and things could get very busy again.

The flow is not so strong here as we have had no rain at all for several weeks. Things are wilting. Bramble is coming into flower but I wonder if it will yield much. Rain is possible at the weekend, as it was last weekend according to the forecasts, but it passed us by.

 

[gregior]

The flow is not so strong here as we have had no rain at all for several weeks. Things are wilting. Bramble is coming into flower but I wonder if it will yield much. Rain is possible at the weekend, as it was last weekend according to the forecasts, but it passed us by.

It was slow here until we had a big thunderstorm on Monday,it's gone crazy since. Looks like most places will get some good rainfall on Sunday so brace yourself!

 

[ericbeaumont]

larva I didn't like

What were the suspicious symptoms and the SBI diagnosis, Will?

 

[ericbeaumont]

unsure what to make of that

Could be duds or re-sealed historic QCs. Flip the tip with a sharp blade and they may open easily.

 

[Wilco]

What were the suspicious symptoms and the SBI diagnosis, Will?

Dead larva in a cell workers were removing. I don't see many dead larvae so that in itself was one factor, looked slightly shrivelled and poked it with a bit of grass and thought it a bit stringy. Nothing like AFB images though, in hindsight. Contacted RBi but also chatted to @Newbeeneil who reckoned I was probably worrying about nothing.

SBI came, cheeked all coloniee, ending with that one and couldn't see anything he was concerned about with them. One other colony he did test for EFB but was negative - they seem to be a DLQ. He said there were some bacteria in the gut of the larvae he tested but not anything he's worried about.

My ineptitude continued today, after a thanksgiving for a classmate who recently committed suicide I checked the Frensham site, among the slight smoke haze from various local wildfires, got there and realised I'd forgotten my Marigolds and hive tool. So inspected with my Opinel plus wearing pair of socks and a pair of the bags the Marigolds come in. Just about managed all five, admittedly with a break for taping some tears up. I really hope I get heather honey this year.

 

[Curly green finger's]

It was slow here until we had a big thunderstorm on Monday,it's gone crazy since. Looks like most places will get some good rainfall on Sunday so brace yourself!

Possibly a few more stones/boulders on top of the hives straps have gone expensive

 

[ericbeaumont]

really hope I get heather honey this year.

Bell heather in flower last week. Too early, I'd have thought, and the older plants didn't look good - lot of dead wood - and not many young.

Nothing foraging on it, though it was 7pm when I stopped to look.

 

[Garry R]

Have just woken up and had a look outside and everywhere seems to be soaking wet and there is stuff falling gently out of the sky and it seems to want to go on and on. Can anyone explain this and is it an indicator of climate change. I trust this is temporary - really you can't rely on anything these days ..................

 

[Wilco]

Bell heather in flower last week. Too early, I'd have thought, and the older plants didn't look good - lot of dead wood - and not many young.

Nothing foraging on it, though it was 7pm when I stopped to look.

Yes, thought I saw some in flower yesterday by the Great Pond. Definitely too early and wondered if the Ling will do the same. They really need to do some sequential burning to rejuvenate it properly but I guess the wildfires are doing that for them.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Yes, thought I saw some in flower yesterday by the Great Pond. Definitely too early and wondered if the Ling will do the same. They really need to do some sequential burning to rejuvenate it properly but I guess the wildfires are doing that for them.

Had a drive round some of the heather the other day in places it looks brown but still loads looking nice and green
It’s not budding up yet.

 

[Wilco]

Had a drive round some of the heather the other day in places it looks brown but still loads looking nice and greenView attachment 36644View attachment 36645View attachment 36646
It’s not budding up yet.

Looks better than down here!

 

[enrico]

Yes, thought I saw some in flower yesterday by the Great Pond. Definitely too early and wondered if the Ling will do the same. They really need to do some sequential burning to rejuvenate it properly but I guess the wildfires are doing that for them.

By the great pond do you mean Frensham? Lived at Churt for 20 years. Lovely area.

 

[Wilco]

By the great pond do you mean Frensham? Lived at Churt for 20 years. Lovely area.

Yes, I've got a friend with some land by the river and about a mile from the heather. I grew up in Bordon. I presume you knew Pete the FEO?