What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Swarm]

Set up three Amm mating nucs, two with cells and the third with a newly emerged virgin from the incubator. Then replaced the stand under the oak tree before it collapsed which went much smoother than I expected. Stacked some blocks in front of the stand, moved the hive onto these, a double brood with three supers. Removed the old stand and replaced it with new beams before moving the hive back. All good fun.

 

[gregior]

Set up a new apiary site at a local garden centre.

 

[Moobee]

Set up a new apiary site at a local garden centre.

That’s a lovely big swarm!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Buckfasts?

Yes but I have three others just as strong, home grown like these and they don’t do this.

 

[Nannysbees]

The chap we gave the lovely big swarm to returned our nuc box and frames to say that he put the box wherever he put the box and when he returned all the bees had gone even though the queen had laid eggs on the drawn comb which was also returned to us!!!!!! Very disappointing as it was a tricky swarm to catch in the pouring rain

 

[Erichalfbee]

The chap we gave the lovely big swarm to returned our nuc box and frames to say that he put the box wherever he put the box and when he returned all the bees had gone even though the queen had laid eggs on the drawn comb which was also returned to us!!!!!! Very disappointing as it was a tricky swarm to catch in the pouring rain

Did he feed them?

 

[Nannysbees]

Did he feed them?

We did tell him at the time of handover but I'm not convinced he did!!!!!! They were a lovely big swarm, very light colour

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I love being in this apiary in the early evening so I thought I'd share a photo with y'all. Trouble is that I then forgot to take home the mini nucs that I'd just stocked with bees and a queen cell. They're sitting there, right in the middle of the picture.

 

[pargyle]

I love being in this apiary in the early evening so I thought I'd share a photo with y'all. Trouble is that I then forgot to take home the mini nucs that I'd just stocked with bees and a queen cell. They're sitting there, right in the middle of the picture.

View attachment 40017

Ha ha ..that's nothing - I went and got another super to put on a hive last night ... put it on its side by the greenhouse ready to put on ... got engrossed watching the bees in the evening sun and ... forgot to put it on the hive - still there this morning ! Fortunately, I was out early to open up the greenhouse and so there were only a few early starters sniffing around it ! My short term memory is not what it was and I have the attention span of an earwig ...

 

[madasafish]

Finally got around to inspecting the second of the poly hives I was given last Friday
Only eight fames in brood box. A lump of loose comb flopping around (no frame), a 20cm long branch intersecting three combs, No Q, LOTs of QCs.. must have swarmed before I got them,,Cut them down to one and put another in a nuc which was Q - More filthy topbars..

 

[Antipodes]

I love being in this apiary in the early evening so I thought I'd share a photo with y'all. Trouble is that I then forgot to take home the mini nucs that I'd just stocked with bees and a queen cell. They're sitting there, right in the middle of the picture.

View attachment 40017

Fantastic growth there at the moment. Beautiful. I always take a photo as I leave a site (and when I get there..if I remember!) to help me remember things I've done and it's helped me to see what I've left behind before too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We did tell him at the time of handover but I'm not convinced he did!!!!!! They were a lovely big swarm, very light colour

I thought maybe he did feed them straightaway...which you shouldn't...so they tanked up and scarpered

 

[Erichalfbee]

I love being in this apiary in the early evening so I thought I'd share a photo with y'all. Trouble is that I then forgot to take home the mini nucs that I'd just stocked with bees and a queen cell. They're sitting there, right in the middle of the picture.

That's a lovely snap

 

[Garry R]

This is my favourite time of the year. Things still fresh looking and growing like the clappers especially this year when the wet winter and spring had us demented. Who would have believed that the bees would do so well since the Bee Unit's starvation warnings of a couple of weeks ago. Just flags up what remarkable creatures they are. Foxgloves in our garden are superb this year.

 

[Nannysbees]

I thought maybe he did feed them straightaway...which you shouldn't...so they tanked up and scarpered

I'll check on that!!!!

 

[Curly green finger's]

Grafted into a triple nuc on Friday going to have a looksy today hopefully I have 10 cells being drawn out .
Also I’ve got 4 supers to extract of spring honey from the town hives.
Also another demaree with two cells in the top box this morning ones capped and the other almost capped.
I’m going to take the capped cell for the incubator and leave the other

Edit also trying a closed of demaree colony (top box) with a frame of eggs from a lovely black queen.

 

[Do224]

I thought maybe he did feed them straightaway...which you shouldn't...so they tanked up and scarpered

Do you really think feeding would encourage them to abscond?

I understand you shouldn’t feed straight away for other reasons (wanting them to use their existing supplies to draw wax rather than store it, in case they’re carrying disease)

 

[Nannysbees]

Went through our double brood, packed with bees ,feisty hive today. Dispatched the queen last Friday. Took out quite a few charged cells after shaking all the frames, lucky as we'd have easily missed cells. Put the caged queen in between the two boxes, clip closed, just to give them a chance to get used to her pheromone as they are a grumpy lot!!!!
Was going to unite two hives, but the split were fanning like mad although no eggs and couldn't see a queen, didn't want to risk killing another queen so left alone for now.
Looked in the hive where we left a capped queen to emerge, no eggs but as we removed two eaten out cells which I put onto the roof of another hive I thought that's a bit of a weird shape for a worker, think it was a queen so popped her quickly back into the box.
Nothing in the supers,dry as a bone

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

It has rained relentlessly here today. The forecast promised a partly sunny afternoon but it couldn't have been more wrong. So I took a parasol which looked waterproof with me and did essential checks on about 20 hives. The bees were mostly not happy but, unlike me, were able to stay dry.



I'm rubbish at making a video with one hand but this gives an idea of the kind of reception I got. There was much more fuss when I was actually holding a frame. It's a feature of this colony, even when it's not being defensive, to send out almost the whole colony to smother my suit. They obviously don't like the (very trendy) sage colour. I say that's not defensive behaviour because they seem quite mild when doing it - no frenetic buzz etc.

View attachment bees in the rain.mp4

 

[Erichalfbee]

Do you really think feeding would encourage them to abscond?

If they aren’t happy with where they are and you give them a choice then yes. If they have no choice then they are more likely to stay.