What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Podilia]

I spotted a jar of “Leonardslee honey” in the shop and as one does, I looked on the back to find the label below.

Last year Britan was at the first place in the rating of false honey imported to the EU. That honey was bought in China by the EU companies. For some unclear for me reason they used Britain in the scheme of import.

 

[Podilia]

I was riding bicycle when a policeman stopped me for "a minute". He said my face is familiar for him. I said I often ride here because I have an apiary there. He said he had to inspect my backpack for "suspicious substances, objects, or guns". I had an empty bottle and a notebook. I said I was going from my apiary, the bottle was for water, the notebook - for the notes about colonies. He checked the bottle and pages of the notebook. Then he apologized for taking my time. "You know, this is my job, and now the time is crazy". He was polite and didn't ask any personal information. Unfortunately I didn't have the packages with oxalic acid and a couple of syringes which I use for sprinkling. The conversation could be more interesting.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Unfortunately I didn't have the packages with oxalic acid and a couple of syringes which I use for sprinkling. The conversation could be more interesting.

Thank you for that and being able to laugh and make others laugh in these trying times xx

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

final apiary visits today and tomorrow, feeders off and home for washing and stowing away until next year. All hives feel screwed down with the ivy still coming in.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I recently started taking off the Apivar treatments and came across an apiary of 3 hives that I had forgotten to put the Apivar in!
All three are very strong hives so it will be interesting to see how they do over the winter.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Spent this morning helping a mate remove a nest from the roof of a massive house being revamped. The left hand side was an old nest that had been sealed off with expanding foam by someone years back and had been taken over by wax moth.
The right hand side was a very active nest that stretched from the gutter to the top of the roof.

 

[Superlativesoul]

Spent this morning helping a mate remove a nest from the roof of a massive house being revamped. The left hand side was an old nest that had been sealed off with expanding foam by someone years back and had been taken over by wax moth.
The right hand side was a very active nest that stretched from the gutter to the top of the roof.

Wow I must say ,you take on virtually anything ,very impressed
John.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I recently started taking off the Apivar treatments and came across an apiary of 3 hives that I had forgotten to put the Apivar in!
All three are very strong hives so it will be interesting to see how they do over the winter.

What are the mite levels just now?

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Spent this morning helping a mate remove a nest from the roof of a massive house being revamped. The left hand side was an old nest that had been sealed off with expanding foam by someone years back and had been taken over by wax moth.
The right hand side was a very active nest that stretched from the gutter to the top of the roof.

I'm very interested to know more about how you dealt with all this, bees and comb! If you don't mind...

 

[Nannysbees]

Busy afternoon.Mouse guards and recticel fitted on all 5 hives

 

[Newbeeneil]

What are the mite levels just now?

I haven't checked and to be honest I'm not going to delve into the hive and grab a load of bees at this time in the season. I'll vape them in December and see what they are like in the spring.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I haven't checked and to be honest I'm not going to delve into the hive and grab a load of bees at this time in the season. I'll vape them in December and see what they are like in the spring.

why don't you just hit them with a vape x3 now?

 

[Newbeeneil]

I'm very interested to know more about how you dealt with all this, bees and comb! If you don't mind...

Dealing with the bees and comb was easy. Just a case of brushing the bees off of the comb into a nuc as we removed it. We only found two small patches of brood which was fixed into a split frame no placed into the middle of the nuc. I assume we got the queen as bees we're going into the nuc when we left it on site.
The hard part was getting to the nest. The tiles had been removed but we had to remove the battens, sarking felt, 50mm of PIR, more sarking felt then saw through 3/4" sarking boards to get to the bees who were in the 4" between the boards and the ceiling.

 

[Newbeeneil]

why don't you just hit them with a vape x3 now?

I may do, I think I'll wait until I get my new toy at the NHS.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Dealing with the bees and comb was easy. Just a case of brushing the bees off of the comb into a nuc as we removed it. We only found two small patches of brood which was fixed into a split frame no placed into the middle of the nuc. I assume we got the queen as bees we're going into the nuc when we left it on site.
The hard part was getting to the nest. The tiles had been removed but we had to remove the battens, sarking felt, 50mm of PIR, more sarking felt then saw through 3/4" sarking boards to get to the bees who were in the 4" between the boards and the ceiling.

And presumably you had to bag up all that comb and honey and cart it off.

I had a similar situation recently but a roofer did the heavy work and exposed the nest -two 7 foot lengths on two adjacent sides of the roof. One length fell 15' to the ground. What a mess. There were few bees and just a tiny patch of eggs. I put that comb in a nuc with some bees but they didn't move in. The builder was able to get on with the extension but from a beekeeping perspective it was a disaster.

 

[Newbeeneil]

And presumably you had to bag up all that comb and honey and cart it off.

I had a similar situation recently but a roofer did the heavy work and exposed the nest

The comb from the dead nest on the left was put in two plastic bin bags but the honey combs from the live side were put in 3 buckets. This will be crushed and fed back to the colony via a feeder.

The roofers were ok about taking off the tiles but didn’t want to go digging into the roofto find the nest.
I don’t think the roofers will be back on that section of roof for a few days as there will be thousands of robbers about for the next few days.

 

[Nannysbees]

Stocking up

 

[Nannysbees]

All sorts of visitors today

 

[Erichalfbee]

Excellent. I look out for these but I’ve never seen one.

 

[E&MBees]

Hefted and weighed the hives. Still learning what ‘feels’ a good winter weight. Smell of ivy is fading but the bees are still finding plenty of pollen. They were busy in the sun this afternoon.
Had an offer of a new apiary site. I’ve been renovating the kitchen and freegled units and appliances no longer needed. The person collecting the stove has a farm locally and asked if I would like a site. One to check out over the winter especially as one of my existing apiaries has a limited choice of foraging for the bees. This new site is close to the village so the bees would have hedges and gardens available.