What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

Added fondant to 3 nucs and 3 hives. All seem strong. Flying in 7C...a little.

 

[Outlander]

Prepared 4 new hives ready for coating with Osmo oil this morning then attended a talk by Graham Royal. If Heath Robinson had been a beekeeper. Then Association AGM.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Replaced the fondant on the 3 hives that I had identified as needing it during the week as I am away for over a week and wanted to make sure non run out.

After finishing all the hives the sun came out instead of the predicted showers and so I stood watching the 1 hive in the garden and bees came out.

 

[poshpikey]

Snow here overnight and this morning. It settled. Sun now out and has melted. Bees busy flying.

 

[Les]

Added fondant to one hive – other three ok.

 

[enrico]

Snow here too, melting in sun.....waited and waited for bees to fly......saw three! Too cold even in the sun I fear!

 

[Polyanwood]

Checked 2 of my apiaries and 2 of association apiaries. All alive. Some of them had finished off the fondant I put on 2 weeks ago.

Something funny with the association nucs. 4 of the 9 had the roofs half on half off. The wind has been strong, but I don't see how the wind could do that. They all have bricks on them. Am left worried about vandalism.

No fun doing this in the pouring rain, but they definitely needed checking. March has been the month that I have lost bees to starvation in the past.

The park warden reckons he saw wasps going into the hives last week. I didn't believe it, but I guess they could have been queens?

 

[enrico]

I find it difficult to believe there are wasps around yet, even in London!

 

[itma]

Went shopping for "just a few extra bits".

No snowfall right down here since the beginning of the week. But a bit of rain.
Hence surprised to see the roadside still adorned with rather a lot of drifted snow that hasn't quite thawed yet.
Bees have been staying in with the cold and rain. Its getting very tedious. For them too, I suspect!

 

[RogueDrone]

Finished building my permanent stand 4.8M 4*1 on 4" fence posts to allow for flexibilty on my sloping ground. If I move the hives along the beams the moveable bit will always be in my safety box ie waist to chest hieght. nucs will ne placed at the upper end and Double Brood towards the low end or thats the plan.

 

[Chris Luck]

Someone has been having dinner on top of one of my hives...

Goshawk? Stone Marten? Sparrowhawk?

Chris

 

[Ely]

Sorry. There was a shortage of picnic tables. Burp

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[Luminos]

Looks like the victim was a pigeon

 

[TBRNoTB]

Sorry. There was a shortage of picnic tables. Burp :


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[Chris Luck]

Looks like the victim was a pigeon

Wood pigeon, but taken there from somewhere else following plucking so could have been left overs although I suspect Goshawk in the first instance and possibly it took the remains there to finish.

Chris

 

[Luminos]

Not Felis Catus then, lol

 

[youngyoungs]

Weighed hives and then checked fondant levels in case it had run out. Plenty left. Didn't go any further into the hives, so I'm hoping they're ok.

 

[busybee53]

Yuk (to the dinner table).

One of my hives has a resin owl on it. Would be a bit hard to chew.

 

[itma]

Only about 6C, with thin sun. But bees were flying. Most strongly from the polyhive.

And not just poo flights.
50 yards down the road, the heather in their front garden was full of bees when I was walking the hound.

Left them to it.

 

[Walrus]

Quick check on bees as last chance before several days of really cold weather. Today felt freezing (6 deg, ice cold wind).

On 2 hives I moved the remaining fondant so it is right on top of the cluster, and they tucked in straight away. These 2 colonies are quite small and quiet at present (about 4 seams of bees visible from above).

The other colony is a different beast entirely. They are doing really well (7-8 seams of bees) and tucking into pollen patty as well as fondant. A few flyers from this one but only a few. They are definitely more "active" than the other 2 hives & signs are that HM is laying.