What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Curly green finger's]

Got a call from the farmer " there's millions of bees everywhere" one had swarmed (it's already swarmed once in April),i have no kit and knew it was rammed so tried the head in the sand approach and hoped they would stay put. When I got there the swarm was back on the front of the hive and the clipped Q was in the grass a few yards away. Caged her and plonked her in a super above a crown board on the original hive with a stick to give them an entrance. All the bees duly marched in.Man I need about £3k worth of kit but just not possible at the minute. Extracted a couple of supers from late May when they were on the hawthorn-darkest honey i've ever seen from my bees,hope it sells. Can you spot them?

Ummm nope

 

[TomH]

A first for me today. Collected two swarms in a car park, about 5ft apart. Found what looked to be a be virgin queen in one of them and they were both behaving as if they were queenright, fanning etc.

Is it likely to be two casts from the same colony at the same time?

 

[Garry R]

I think so - yes!! I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. Two swarms entered a bait hive about 3 hours apart, then a lady across the road phoned to say there was a swarm in a tree and managed to get it down and into a brood box. Had a pepper pot queen at the apiary and so united he tree swam with it after making the pp queen a late queen using the squish technique. They united through newspaper and she was laying in a great pattern in two days so think that was the prime swarm although small. The ones in the bait hive are now laying after about two weeks so imagine they sorted themselves out. I hasten to add these were not my bees - my apiary is well away from the house. However they are mine now..............

 

[Curly green finger's]

Workshop morning , now making more nucs up with virgins and mated queens .
All new stock below in the photo, I also hived up a few early nucs which are now double brood and working on their first supers.
I thought I’d add this short video this emerging queen has been put in the freezer because she had a damaged abdomen and she also wasn’t what I’m looking for .

 

[Curly green finger's]

Emerging queen

 

[gregior]

 

[Wilco]

Checked 13 colonies plus nucs and a handful of mating nucs across four apiaries before giving up for the school run so. Couple of queens in mating nucs looking good so may remove them and keep those on a, 'rolling boil' over the summer. Most hives behaving although a couple seem to have gone off laying or have refused to go into shallows. Couple of nucs into full hives and one DLQ hive shaken out and queen sadly met a telegraph pole. One more site to check tomorrow where a double nuc needs hiving and another four colonies are hopefully behaving.

Also got website tweaked a bit last night, need to improve my images for some items and figure out how to get postage costs down and figure out some presentation packaging for honey sales. Also sourced honey buckets so hopefully will have those on soon... Only a month or two behind schedule!

 

[Goran]

Early morning trimming grass at one apiary. Then ran away until sun hit harder. Bees weren't pleased nor I but what must do - must do.. Some 35C now in a shade.. Linden/lime started to open few days ago, but I am afraid these temps will burn the flow.. Sorting data for colonies, still reluctant to go into qrearing, but I must..
All is quiet on selling front, our buyers at large turn into importing chinese and south american " honey" rather into buying our honey and exporting it - more lucrative.. I still don't get idea how much the beekeepers there are paid for honey when is when it come to Croatia price 1,5-1,8 USD per kg ( if I want to buy at large)..
These imports are destroying our beekeeping heavily, right to the point if I can't get some decent price for my honey - there is no common sense to maintain beekeeping.. Only to leave couple colonies to have real honey to eat..

 

[Erichalfbee]

United two adjacent AS splits with air freshener. Time will tell.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Went through 24 hives and 6 nucs in my main apiary this afternoon between 3 & 5pm. I think I could have wrung out the clothes I was wearing!

 

[The Poot]

That’s 4 minutes per colony! My mind conjures up images with Benny Hill music playing!

 

[Wilco]

Went through the colonies at my final apiary today then caught some crayfish.

Stopped off at a single hive site from last season which died over winter and was due restocking shortly... Guess I had a bait hive! They'd filled a takeaway tub with comb so that's breakfast sorted. Also a rather nice brood pattern. Guess I'll need to get another box made up for what would have been their replacements.

Lime fully out in most places. Sweet chestnut starting to open, first day I've seen any properly in flower this season.

 

[Goran]

On the east of the country they sprayed mosquitos with airplane aaand of course killed zillion of bees and other beneficial or rare insects like Lucanus cervus- stag beetle in that area.. In this action was like the goal justifies the means.. whatever is necessary.. I knew the result will be as such, so they knew what will happen also.. But now they all become french maids and " shocked" what happened.. No one question what direct effect has it on humans sprayed in that area.. but hey, we still can manage to find cheap beer, so no worries..

 

[Erichalfbee]

I recall newsreels of houses and people being liberally sprayed with DDT in African Countries in the 50s and 60s

 

[Newbeeneil]

That’s 4 minutes per colony! My mind conjures up images with Benny Hill music playing!

Most needed little inspection. Most had been ASed so it was just to check they were Q+. The worst bit was taking off the supers!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

That’s 4 minutes per colony! My mind conjures up images with Benny Hill music playing!

Being chased by young ladies in suspenders?

 

[StephenT]

Checked a nuc that is making a new queen and found her laying well. The nuc is rather light on bees though so plan to give them a frame of emerging brood from the biggest hive. Downside is that the biggest hive has 4 shallows and a deep to lift off before I get to the brood.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Checked a nuc that is making a new queen and found her laying well. The nuc is rather light on bees though so plan to give them a frame of emerging brood from the biggest hive. Downside is that the biggest hive has 4 shallows and a deep to lift off before I get to the brood.

I hope that’s a can of cider that girl is drinking.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Found seven large sealed cells in the bottom box of a Demaree which hadn't been 'rolled' for a few weeks, along with a full box of brood and the original queen. The colony is big but didn't look as if it was planning to swarm with masses of eggs in all available spaces. I didn't want to risk a swarm so I put the queen in a nuc. The general impression I've picked up here is to think swarming if there's more than a couple of cells.

 

[StephenT]

After looking at the nuc earlier, I got a frame of emerging brood from the strongest hive to put in the nuc. The hive I took it from has drawn out a deep with foundation in 4 days and is beginning to fill it. Another nuc that I let swarm through lack of attention now has a laying queen and has drawn out a second nuc brood chamber. Another hive needs a 5th super and so have made that up. Time to chill now in the apiary garden with the chickens, a cigar and some beer.