What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Antipodes]

All was fairly quiet in the apiary today, with cloudy conditions with a cool breeze. At 4:45 all four colonies appeared to have given up for the day, but then at 5:15 there was mayhem at hive 2. This is a colony with what I think is a drone laying queen and tomorrow’s inspection would decide things. But there was a very large cloud of bees flying around erratically and entering the hive. At first I thought it was robbing, so donned my jacket to investigate. There were very few bees leaving the hive whilst hundreds were entering, with no fighting. Possibly a usurping swarm of markedly yellow/orange bees.

That would have been a good one to get a video of
Have the camera for the inspection tomorrow please. A big colony of yellow bees might be revealed?

 

[Moobee]

Fed all colonies apart from the two big ones which are on 4 supers.
Trying to requeen the out apiary hive which was marginally stroppy & they were full on psycho today as I was knocking down the EQCs . After numerous stings to my hands, I retreated to double glove so I could finish the job.
Warned the home owner to avoid the area of their field for a bit….
Drove home and ordered Olbas Oil!

 

[madasafish]

Fed all colonies apart from the two big ones which are on 4 supers.
Trying to requeen the out apiary hive which was marginally stroppy & they were full on psycho today as I was knocking down the EQCs . After numerous stings to my hands, I retreated to double glove so I could finish the job.
Warned the home owner to avoid the area of their field for a bit….
Drove home and ordered Olbas Oil!

Avon Skin So Soft original is more effective...(ebay)
As tested by my hands...

 

[AKbuzz]

Trimming trees to get more sunshine on the hives and opening up some flight lanes to the hives.

 

[Garry R]

Trimming trees to get more sunshine on the hives and opening up some flight lanes to the hives.

Yes - I find that the sun moving around during the day can be a right nuisance. However when it won't come out at all it's even worse!

 

[Erichalfbee]

All was fairly quiet in the apiary today, with cloudy conditions with a cool breeze. At 4:45 all four colonies appeared to have given up for the day, but then at 5:15 there was mayhem at hive 2. This is a colony with what I think is a drone laying queen and tomorrow’s inspection would decide things. But there was a very large cloud of bees flying around erratically and entering the hive. At first I thought it was robbing, so donned my jacket to investigate. There were very few bees leaving the hive whilst hundreds were entering, with no fighting. Possibly a usurping swarm of markedly yellow/orange bees.

How exciting!
I have a colony in similar decline...........I wish

 

[Erichalfbee]

Awesome...eh?

 

[The Poot]

How exciting!
I have a colony in similar decline...........I wish

I don’t know whether to open the hive today, or leave things for a while before disturbing them.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I don’t know whether to open the hive today, or leave things for a while before disturbing them.

I couldn’t resist a quick Look.

 

[Dibbler]

New bees have decided to stay.
Weather has been awful. Constant rain. Mostly heavy. Cold. They say its summer ! Just managed to feed new hive. All seems well. Bees seem to be flying in 3 hives. Others hunkering down.
Hoping weather will improve tomorrow. Need to inspect before holiday.

 

[rolande]

I don’t know whether to open the hive today, or leave things for a while before disturbing them.

I've had similar experiences (mentioned, with a photo or two, in a thread that B+ started a couple of years ago) my take is that it'll be fine to look. It's an interestingly under reported phenomenon. Willie Robson mentioned his dad discussing in the first edition of his 'Reflections' book but I think that it was cut from the newer edition.

 

[pargyle]

Avon Skin So Soft original is more effective...(ebay)
As tested by my hands...

How many stings did you take last year Mike ? I use Olbas oil ... only times I got stung on my hands were when I forgot the Olbas oil ...

The Avon stuff does work - I've used it to keep mosquitos and midges away from me - the advantage is that it's safe to use on your face - I wouldn't smother myself in Olbas oil. I'll bet you have lovely soft skin though !

 

[Beth]

Demented with bees. Put QC in and waited. Week later still making cups . Introduced a Q in a cage and they were instantly delighted, trying to feed her through the cage. Checked yesterday, absolutely wild. Eventually found a small patch of 6-7-ish day old brood. Nearly impossible to see due to the angry bee tornado. No point trying to pull the frames and inspect properly, just mayhem. Going to give them another week and look.
Meanwhile other hives and nuc ( who also got an excellent QC) - nil. Zip. Nada. No eggs. I'd never spot a virgin queen. Will leave them to it another week. All have massive stores in the brood super so no chance of starving. June break really kicking here. The hawthorn has peaked.
Oh and this- a definitely queenless, cell-less nuc with older open brood has drawn a half dozen QC's on it????? Whatever are they doing?

 

[Moobee]

Avon Skin So Soft original is more effective...(ebay)
As tested by my hands...

Aha - we use that as a mozzie deterrent!

 

[Antipodes]

I don’t know whether to open the hive today, or leave things for a while before disturbing them.

You've left it too long already....
I agree with Dani. I expect photos posted on here by the time I'm awake tomorrow morning .

 

[gwt_uk]

Inspected 8 colonies. Some more full supers almost ready to take off. A few extracted supers that were put back on the hives last week now being filled again. Large patches of OSR still in flower.

New queens from splits all starting to lay. Glad they were able to get out and get mated. One colony that had been been transferred from a Nuc to a full hive a couple of weeks ago had multiple swarm cells. They hadn’t even drawn out all the new foundation in the BB. Obviously keen to leave! Removed the Queen and will go back in a week and leave them with one QC. Been a bit of a swarmy season, good crop of spring honey though.

 

[Nannysbees]

How many stings did you take last year Mike ? I use Olbas oil ... only times I got stung on my hands were when I forgot the Olbas oil ...

The Avon stuff does work - I've used it to keep mosquitos and midges away from me - the advantage is that it's safe to use on your face - I wouldn't smother myself in Olbas oil. I'll bet you have lovely soft skin though !

How do you use the oil, just put a few drops? sitting here at the moment right hand swollen, left foot!!!! My fault went up change the roof for me to paint one got my on the ankle, puffed up double the size, the hand during an inspection, went through the marigolds, going to have to use something else, gauntlets are just too cumbersome for me though

 

[pargyle]

How do you use the oil, just put a few drops? sitting here at the moment right hand swollen, left foot!!!! My fault went up change the roof for me to paint one got my on the ankle, puffed up double the size, the hand during an inspection, went through the marigolds, going to have to use something else, gauntlets are just too cumbersome for me though

Just a couple of drops on the gloves, rub your hands together and it spreads over the gloves - it's a very strong smell (lots of menthol and other aromatics in there) and the bees move away from your hands.

Feet - and ankles ...? I just wear jeans and workboots and I don't think I've been stung on the ankles very much. Perhaps some long trousers, socks and bycycle clips might be the answer to the ankle biters ...

 

[The Poot]

You've left it too long already....
I agree with Dani. I expect photos posted on here by the time I'm awake tomorrow morning .

Sorry to disappoint, but had a look in and it looks like yesterday they just had a funny five minutes. Same queen, large and a lovely amber colour. The eggs and young larvae seen last week have turned out to be workers, not more drones. This is the second time this year there was evidence she had become a drone layer, only to find worker brood a week or so later. Still a very large amount of drone brood though.
Their temperament today was pretty awful - as it was in April before greatly improving in mid May. I don’t know what these bees are on, but they’re no good as a garden colony. They do have two supers filled but only partially capped.
So I don’t understand what occurred yesterday.

 

[JamezF]

Inspected all but my home apiary today. I have one colony still in a Demaree, two supers in the middle and two on top. I'm going to take the top two off tomorrow and work my way down. Partly I'm doing it piecemeal because clearly at some point I had brainfade and put the Demaree board in with the entrance to the side rather than the front. So now I have lots of bees to train to look for the entrance on the correct face of the hive. I put a super and a clearer board into the stack of boxes and it's now so high that I can't see over it Lifting a full super to head height and putting it gently on top of the stack of boxes is not easy.

As it happens the hive next to it also has something of an orientation problem. The bees have managed to make a hole in the rim around the floor and appear to be using that as well as the main entrance. It's tempting to go back in the evening and screw a flat piece of timber over it rather than break the entire hive down to replace the floor at this stage of the season.

James