What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Sadders]

The thymol has been off 1 week now and there is not a lot of laying. On one frame (which is dark so hard to see) there is a patch of what looks like very early larva and possibly a patch of eggs on another.

The syrup I put on top of the crown board has not been touched.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Attended the association apiary as the SBI had come to call - had a row off Ade as I hadn't put my colony which I keep down there for training on beebase put second lot of Apiguard on my hive (low drop thus far) and a gallon of 2:1 queen still happily laying. helped go through all the hives and put first dose of apiguard on the association's.
Then went home put second dose on my own hives (First on two) and a couple of gallons of syrup on all of them.
This evening I shall be mostly making more syrup (after I spend a few hours duck shooting - where i shall be trying hard not to miss

 

[user 6228]

Finally got into the hives... all well. 4hives 4 queens and a reeasonable amount of stores in each and about 4 to 6 frames sealed brood in each....
with an ivy flow in full torrent here (10am at 10c looked as busy as june at 12 noon at 25c). We wont do anymore feeding until the next inspection..
took a PIR out of service that been hurriedly put together in the june swarm season... the taping had been rushed and the bees had found tape that had not overlapped the foil covering and got into the foam..

 

[victor meldrew]

Dumped 12 Supers on 4 hives to clean out. It's a little late ? but the bees were still clogging the Balsam @17:30 hrs .
Sorry Hammering the the Balsam !
VM

 

[Mellifera397]

Hammering the the Balsam !
VM

My girls were just the same when I got home

Theyre out as soon as the sun shows

Mellifera

 

[Walrus]

Removed apiguard, removed varroa boards, fed 2:1 syrup with "hive alive" in it. Bees fairly active - bringing in yellow pollen (HB or ivy I think). I haven't actually pulled out any frames for some time now, just checking on the food/apiguard situation. 2 hives have enough stores, one needs a bit more.

It's all looking quite good & hopefully they will get through winter. Next year I'm going to try a new MB poly langstroth hive to see if I prefer it.

 

[Mike a]

Went down the New Forest today with friend to pick up the last two hives I have down there. It was only when I got there I remembered one of the hives has 3 deep chambers making it too tall to fit into my car. So ended up having to leave it there and I'll have to go back with a spare floor and roof so I can take off the top chamber. On the plus side when I go I may as well brush off the bees from the frames in the top chamber and extract the honey as both hives are really heavy when hefted. Even with help today we struggled to remove the other hive (green) which is a lang deep and medium chambers so 2 deep chambers is going to be fun.

 

[garlicpickle]

Topped up the feeder with the last half gallon of syrup. Apilife Var can come off in a few days at the next available weather window.

Yesterday I extracted my first ever honey and am putting it in jars later. Cleaning the extractor took longer than extracting the honey!

 

[WelshPaul]

Checked the hive today before I closed up for winter, bees bringing in lots of pollen, good stores but when I opened up, I found no brood or eggs, my question is if the bees are acting normal, have I lost my queen or has she gone off lay?

 

[Moggs]

WPaul: unlikely that you have lost your queen unless you have inadvertently done her in! A number of factors affect rate of lay/ brood presence including natural inclination to reduce numbers in cooler conditions, thymol, space available, amount of stores/ forage, etc.

 

[WelshPaul]

Just been up to see friend who I had them off, he said he have had a few that have balled the queen when we moved the hive, so he said take them back and he will give me another hive.

 

[witchcraft]

Just tried to drown one of my colonies when the lid wasn't on a nasty Th$$rnes bucket contact feeder (I normally use Miller types) properly and about a litre of ambrosia washed through the hive - I feel an idiot

 

[drstitson]

picked up a paddle mixer and bottle of aldi's best prosecco.

 

[Outlander]

I learnt a valuable lesson. No mater how easy and quick you feel a job will be, light the smoker. Five minute job to take old Apigaurd off bees would not get of the edges, every time I brushed them of there was more there taking their place. Of I went to light the smoker which seemed to take an age as fuel was damp. Memo to self find dry place and stop taking short cuts.

 

[Cazza]

picked up a paddle mixer and bottle of aldi's best prosecco.

Is it any good?(Prosecco not paddle.)
Cazza

 

[itma]

picked up a paddle mixer and bottle of aldi's best prosecco.

Is it any good? (Paddle not prosecco.)

 

[Moggs]

I too have picked up a paddle mixer. From Aldi. Seems to be well built. Nice soft start on it - very low to very high revs. Rugged construction. Paddle comes coated in machine oil so a clean needed before mixing syrup. Can't comment on the other stuff !

 

[jp19sqn]

Visited all 3 Apiaries today.

Started at 1000 am with a visit to the Golf Course and hefted all 12 hives there. 4 were a little on the light side so feeders were put on ready for evening feeding. Sadly only 2 supers of capped honey but 4 other drawn and partially filled supers. The latter were removed to reduce space for keeping warm. Will spin out the honey and give it to them as feed next week.

Visited the next apiary to find a similar story.......Grrrrrrrrr!

The last Apiary, which I call Highwayman, is for new colonies yet all of them have filled up the double brood space in just 3 weeks. Although this is helped by them being in a field full of sunflowers.

This evening I put on clearer boards for the filled honey supers and fed the light colonies. Then got my car stuck in mud and had to be pulled out by the golf course groundsman with a tractor.....Great day with the bees but hugely frustrating to get so little reward.....Sob....

 

[drstitson]

mixer seems sturdy. paddle will be fine for syrup. need to track down M14 stainless paddle (or get a local metal worker onto the job).

prosecco fine too (the £5.99 rather than £6.99 stuff) - doesn't taste like fizzy sherry as some of the cheaper ones can (i'm talking under €4 here).

 

[itma]

... paddle will be fine for syrup. need to track down M14 stainless paddle (or get a local metal worker onto the job).
...

I wonder whether a small batch might work out cheaper individually?