What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Swarm]

After a wonderful week in Ireland, it was nice to visit the bees and see them all flying, busily bringing in Ivy pollen and nectar.
My landowner has done the invert run and is now keeping a low profile, he refuses to split the bill so I'll get him back when I buy the next load of frames and wax!!
Removed the few feeders from the single boxes so they are now on their own until next Spring. The colony me and Bill rescued from the felled Ash are really flourishing,

 

[pargyle]

Council recycling uses hot composting, the thorns will be fine.

I've tried putting them in my own compost in the past and whilst everything else rotted, the thorns stayed intact... fine until you start seiving it to use it as seed compost and one sticks in your finger !

 

[E&MBees]

Having spent most of today doing the annual pruning of the hedge from hell (Pyracantha) - its grown nearly 5 feet in the last year) and then cutting it into small pieces to go in the council brown bin (Not one for the compost heap as the thorns don't rot down !) I managed to get very little else done. I think if it was not for the fact that I would need a skip and a mini-digger to get rid of the thing and what else would grow against a North facing wall ... So many jobs to get done at this time of the year ...

I can empathise with that sentiment !

Don’t you wait for the birds to eat the berries before pruning? They are an excellent source of late food for Blackbirds etc

 

[pargyle]

Don’t you wait for the birds to eat the berries before pruning? They are an excellent source of late food for Blackbirds etc

They've eaten the lot already ! They are a mix of red and orange - not a very heavy crop this year - they are usually laden with berries but what there was they have eaten. There were just a few berries left on the lower branches and I left those. A Coal Tit was cleaning them up as I was chopping up the branches - cheeky thing saw off my garden robin in no uncertain terms - the robin is always there as soon as I set foot in the garden but I haven't seen any coal tits for a year or two.

 

[Erichalfbee]

They've eaten the lot already

Same here. We have two mountain ash in the garden and they are stripped long ago. The hawthorn, alder buckthorn, aralia are gone. A few rose hips survive. Lean picking for any flocks of thrushes that come by

 

[The Poot]

Having spent most of today doing the annual pruning of the hedge from hell (Pyracantha) - its grown nearly 5 feet in the last year) and then cutting it into small pieces to go in the council brown bin (Not one for the compost heap as the thorns don't rot down !) I managed to get very little else done. I think if it was not for the fact that I would need a skip and a mini-digger to get rid of the thing and what else would grow against a North facing wall it would be gone ! ... So many jobs to get done at this time of the year ...

I can empathise with that sentiment !

Pyracantha is a bit of a beast. When we bought our current abode, I found one had grown through a wooden window ledge and had just kept on going. The thorns, certainly, are pretty grim! Mine has good flush of red berries, which so far have not been taken.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Pyracantha is a bit of a beast

Ours suddenly just died a few years ago. We put a cotoneaster in its place
There are still a few berries on it for the birds

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Ours suddenly just died a few years ago.

Pyracantha are prone to disease, I remember when I was setting out the pollinator planting scheme for the valley's public spaces way back when and the contractor we engaged to do the work was very reluctant to plant it.

 

[pargyle]

Pyracantha are prone to disease, I remember when I was setting out the pollinator planting scheme for the valley's public spaces way back when and the contractor we engaged to do the work was very reluctant to plant it.

Ours was planted by the builders in 1989 so it's now 35 years old and it's not the most attractive hedge these days as it tends to put its efforts into growing upwards and not filling in the gaps lower down. It seems healthy enough but given the option I would rather have cotoneaster as it easier to manage and not riddled with thorns that are vile ...

 

[Murox]

Both Berberis and Pyracantha were used extensively as hedging, I think they were a cheaper alternative to real fences and walls. Nowadays I suppose they should be thought of as "green alternatives"

 

[ericbeaumont]

suddenly just died

Pyracantha are prone to disease

Yes, fireblight. So endemic in Switzerland that it is forbidden to plant pyracantha.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Surprised to find this mid-July swarm, unfed and on 12 frames this week. Rest were foraging strongly on ivy here in Hackney.

 

[The Poot]

Surprised to find this mid-July swarm, unfed and on 12 frames this week. Rest were foraging strongly on ivy here in Hackney.

View attachment 41544

Amazing little creatures

 

[Curly green finger's]

Nice area, I tried to get the wife to move there about 15 years ago but then our first grandchild was born - no chance of getting her to move after that!

Any where near me @Erichalfbee let me know and in the interim period I might be able to site your bees so you won’t have to sell them

 

[Erichalfbee]

Any where near me @Erichalfbee let me know and in the interim period I might be able to site your bees so you won’t have to sell them

Ah, how sweet of you Mark.
We will rent and be in a position to cash buy so who knows how long that would be but that is a lovely offer… bless you.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Ah, how sweet of you Mark.
We will rent and be in a position to cash buy so who knows how long that would be but that is a lovely offer… bless you.

Well the offer is there, I have permanent sites and I’m always offered new ones.
I would hate it if I had to sell my bees or anyone having to sell there’s for that matter.
I feel lucky I still have some of ceris 2021 queens still knocking around, one of them specifically is very near by and it’s intersecting because her daughters and granddaughters are there too but the old mother colony are always out before any of them flying, I hope I can rear from her a couple more seasons yet
Granddaughter in the hair curler cage

 

[beeker]

Ah, how sweet of you Mark.
We will rent and be in a position to cash buy so who knows how long that would be but that is a lovely offer… bless you.

Likewise Dani if you choose to go slightly further north than the other Mark, be nice to offer some payback for the sage advice I've been given here.

 

[Erichalfbee]

payback

Gulp!

 

[The Poot]

Changed the entrance blocks to the mouse guard setting - Abelo hive stuff, to open the entrance now wasps appear to have snuffed it.

 

[Penninetrader]

Placed a lump of home made fondant in one of the colonies at my home apiary, was a test really as I had set up my feeder boxes for winter feeding. Just to be sure of not upsetting them I placed a warm wheat bag over the part they can climb up between the insulation and the feeder tray. When I had done I removed the bag to find a couple of dozen bees had cosied up to it and one sat on my hand, all very calm for a cold day.