What did you do in the Apiary today?

[victor meldrew]

Inspected 4 colonies ,
What a job! I had left a shallow eke on each when feeding fondant , a later than normal inspection due to protracted Winter has allowed the bu**ers to stuff the gap with brood and honey !
The bees were very tolerant of my major intrusion of their world meaning that casualties were kept to a minimum
VM


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[itma]

...
One thing that concerns me tho is i found about 15 play cups and on several frames i found bands 4cm diameter of drone brood going across bottom of frames, queen laying very well tho apart from that solid full frames side bar to side bar of worker brood.

Going to be a interesting year

Sounds like she is going well... BUT ... you need to check those "play cups".

If they are 'wet' inside, it isn't play.
Check VERY carefully indeed.

15 is a lot of play cups to appear suddenly, but not an unusual number for swarm QCs.

And remember, if they are swarm QCs, by the time you see that they are capped -- the swarm will be gone.

And that wouldn't be the best start to "an interesting year."

 

[Insy]

Yes believe it or not slice the side of each one off and check for wet/charged cells every time, sometimes i even pull most of them down anyway as ideally i would like them to build up a bit more before i attempt a split or making nucs.

It is a swarmy colony every year and tbh its a pain but i love the bees temperament/placid on comb etc i don't want rid of the queen .

 

[itma]

If even one is seen to be 'wet' inside, it isn't play.
Check VERY carefully indeed.

Fixed that for me!


// and cross-posted with Insy. Good that you checked carefully.

 

[Cazza]

Did put another drawn BB on but didn't want to say just in case I got slated on here for it. Glad you said do it that way, I was umming and arring to put it on top or underneath.

I find that quite depressing. This forum should be somewhere where no one fears "getting slated."

Cazza

 

[beebopalula]

Moved bees from two hives onto new floors and started painting some poly nucs ready for future use.

 

[Glenviewbee]

Still not able to do a full inspection - though it is warm in the sun, the breeze is definitely chilly
Unfortunately the smaller colony seems to be on its last legs ( It has always been much less populous than the other one (1st) , and in the last week, while the bees have been very busy in the 1st colony there have only been the occasional single bee from this colony (
The 1st colony have been bringing in lots of pollen - my neighbour says they particularly like her blue 'Honesty' bush!
I really hope to be able to have a proper look inside the colonies this weekend

 

[Swarm]

- my neighbour says they particularly like her blue 'Honesty' bush!

 

[Haughton Honey]

- my neighbour says they particularly like her blue 'Honesty' bush!

She really needs to see a doctor.....

 

[ultreen1]

Last wooden hive swapped for polly and 1st full inspection on all 3 hives.
Pleased to say they have all survived the winter.
Oh yeah I wore my new bee suit! What a difference to my old one!

 

[Shabro]

Requeened a failing queen from last year, took a split ready for another new queen.

 

[abi-e]

cleared the foundation that the mouse hadn't eaten over the winter and started to put new foundation into the super frames - a lesson learned for next year, but I still have about 20 more frames to clean and replace fresh foundation into.....Mice...Grrr

 

[Loubylou]

Inspected all 3 hives today as it was so sunny and warm All looking healthy, plenty of bias, and found each queen and managed to mark the dear ladies (first time...scary). My fears of 1 hive having a dlc are no longer there. The other 2 inherited hives are off to a good start too. Fingers crossed for a good year ahead.....

 

[Hivemaker.]

Shaking bees, for packages.

 

[Haughton Honey]

Are you selling packages Pete??

 

[nonstandard]

Mowed the grass in the apiary, no-one was particularly impressed

 

[Erichalfbee]

Needed to mark two queens.
Found one straight away. The other eluded me through two passes of the box.
Brood building up and nice weather on the way......

 

[freethorpe bees]

I find that quite depressing. This forum should be somewhere where no one fears "getting slated."

Cazza

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Set out with the intention of completing a merge of 2 14x12s, but the queen had been so busy that to ram all the brood into one would leave little space for pollen/food so decided to leave them as they were and stick a super on top for good measure, with the intention of splitting once mating gets going. Now quite tower of babel-like.

The other colony is going great guns as well, so may yet get some OSR honey

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Checked my hives after a fortnight away - the Welsh blacks are going great guns packing in pollen and BIAS on five frames, Q seen, not much stores so a feed of 1;1 tnight to help them along - as I'm boiling the kettle to make it I thought I'd have a cup of tea and come on here
The colony i took back to a nuc a fortnight ago had nothing but a small patch of drone brood and some advanced larvae, the queen was nowhere to be seen so I'm certain she was a late supersedure that failed to mate properly. Nuc shaken out in front of other hives,
The two Buckfasts are building up but nowhere near the Welsh bees - 3/4 frames BIAS plenty of stores, Q seen in one.
The Swansea hive (the srongest by far going into winter) is down to about four frames, no sign of brood or queen, so they will be combined with one of the Buckies tonight (have to obtain a quality paper first NOT the grauniad btw!!) I Haven't seen number 6 hive yet as it's down in the training apiary
Went to give blood tyhis morning one of the questions was 'have you got a dangerous/high risk job or hobby? I told them i was an operational Customs officer who keeps bees - she used a red pen to print 'LUNATIC' on the form