What did you do in the Apiary today?

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Started feeding up my small NUC, think I will feed for two weeks then Apigaurd then feed again


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Checked my bees to see how the 'uniting' is going. Bees have chewed through the newspaper and appear to be tolerating each other :grouphug: Queen happily going about her business :Angel_anim:, BIAS seen, and lots of pollen coming in. All bees very calm and a pleasure to handle :hurray:
Things seem to be going in the right direction at last, time for a celebratory drink I think :cheers2:
 
Took off 5 supers ready for extracting tomorrow along with the 3 from the previous day. Hoping to get 150lb plus :hurray:

3 Hives that had 2 supers on (ie I added a second when the 1st one was 70% full) now just have 2 supers on about 70% full and hardly anything capped, guess they must of ate plenty in the poor weather.
I left these on but want to try and get them to move it into just 1 and cap it..........any tricks to do this you would like to share as I would like to get the varroa treatment on soon.
If I stuck 1 beneath the brood and the fullest one above using 2 x QE would they move it up and cap it ? Or should I stick 1 above the crown board and maybe they would move it down........:rolleyes:

Pete D
 
I think both those tricks work for getting bees to empty supers...more or less. Below works better.

The only comfort with them eating the stores is that they are more likely to eat the stuff that they don't have to dilute, leaving you (possibly) with the drier honey.

Today I went to check on the apiary the bee inspectors are coming to was tidy.
 
Dusty Rhodes said:
Hi Lois!

I think I joined after your temporary absence.
Great to make your acquaintance!
I love the way you dealt with your little problem - the other side of the forum from all the bad tempered sniping.

Glad you've rediscovered your bees!

Dusty.
Click to expand...

....sometimes..... someone makes a poignant comment!:)
 
Had a phonecall Wednesday evening from the bee inspector saying my name's come up on his list (this was who I got my nuc's from so I found it quite amusing). He went yesterday whilst I was at work, got the all clear from him yesterday evening.
 
Showed a couple of experienced beekeepers round my TBHs yesterday. They are going to build one ----- or several.:rolleyes:

Bees as usual very very docile...warm day.. no smoke or gloves.. (could have used no veil as well but did not)
 
Saw my first wasp this morning.

I was checking the last 2 supers to see if they were ready for extraction, and putting on clearer boards, when the cheeky wasp flew straight into the frame I had in my hand.

It must have thought all it's Christmases had come at once - a split second before going to that Great Wasp Hive in the sky!

I reduced the entrance immediately.

Must remember to remove it tomorrow before I extract. Don't mind the odd bee bit, but I'm not having a wasp contaminating my crop!

Dusty.
 
Moved a bursting 6 frame nuc into a poly hive. Checked two other nucs one of which had a king size slug that was having a hard time of it. It would have been mummified in propolis had I not removed it off the floor!
 
Yesterday the bee inspector and me spent the day filling in a questionnaire and then going through nine of my hives. samples where taken from the front of the hives, hives thoroughly inspected and a sample of approx 500 bees taken from each hive. This was all for a Europe wide study of bee health there will be a further two inspections done over the next year. There are 200 apiary site in England and Wales selected mine being one of them has any one else's been selected for this?
 
Collected this monster swarm. Had to house it in a brood and a half. this will take some feeding. will stick in some frames of stores from triple brood box in a few days
 
johnandyrob said:
Yesterday the bee inspector and me spent the day filling in a questionnaire and then going through nine of my hives. samples where taken from the front of the hives, hives thoroughly inspected and a sample of approx 500 bees taken from each hive. This was all for a Europe wide study of bee health there will be a further two inspections done over the next year. There are 200 apiary site in England and Wales selected mine being one of them has any one else's been selected for this?
Click to expand...

500 Bees from 9 hives... 4500 bees? Oh and I need a sample of a queen... Just pop them all in this lil nuc box. Right - i'll be off then! :hurray:
 
I inspected my two colonies that I have at home, the Everett’s and the Springfield’s which are both doing well. I must have done such a brilliant job with the help of my eyes, that is Village Girl, that just above our heads the Red Arrow’s again for the second time this year done a loop the loop. It’s great when the RAF display team appreciate the work I put into my bees.
 
Andy Duff said:
Collected this monster swarm. Had to house it in a brood and a half. this will take some feeding. will stick in some frames of stores from triple brood box in a few days
Click to expand...

That looks like the one I lost last week.......send it back in the post please:hurray:
 
Hello everyone, first post on the forum.

Today my children and I went to our golf course apiary to rationalise the number of colonies. We started the year with one colony which swarmed in the first week of May whilst I was incapacitated with slipped discs in my neck. We split out the resulting cells and put them in home-made wooden nucs. Since then with the frequency of swarming instincts and swarm collections we got to the stage of having 20 nucs! Obviously that would outstrip the available forage were they to grow into full colonies. The better nucs were put in polystyrene nationals as a reward, and the slower ones were put in cedar nationals. The poly colonies ALL grew quicker and most ended up on double brood and all have filled the top box with sealed honey. Today we moved 2 full colonies on cedar to a new apiary we call the highwayman, as a real highwayman was hanged in the 1700s in the hedge next to where our bees are. We swapped them over to double brood polystyrene at the same time. Very enjoyable afternoon was had by all and my children are showing the makings of great beekeepers! Very little varroa drop on any hive so far, so just going to do the oxalic acid routine in January. We have 11 supers out with 7 sealed fully. I think we have been very lucky considering the weather but we have been very sparing in terms of when we have inspected. If the weather was rubbish we left them to it and just a quick look for QCs at the most. Despite the majority being this year's swarms they ALL went in to swarm mode 2 or 3 times. One colony went queenless for a week and we united another nuc over paper to it after checking with a frame of new brood. A very enjoyable year and getting set up well for a retirement in 14 years time. 4 apiaries now set up with hive stands and security ready for stocking next spring. Basic exam taken.....Bliss!!!! Can't wait to see what a GOOD year looks like!
 
Opened up a hive with a brood and a half I was given, full of bees, brace comb and just looks a mess. Got a friend coming over tomorrow to have a proper look. :(
 
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