What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Elaine]

Transfered a colony to a poly hive for transportation tomorrow night to my sisters near Cambridge, to join their half sisters that she took last July. Fully suited up, zips double checked , even had a pair of gloves ready in case they didn't like the invasion, but they were fine - happy that I saw the queen as I did the transfer, so I know she's in there. BIAS and starting to build up well. Hope they like thier new home. It's silly but I'm sad they are going!

 

[YorkshireBees]

Quick look at the field of OSR in which one of my out apiaries is in and it's time to super!

 

[Chris Luck]

Quick look at the field of OSR in which one of my out apiaries is in and it's time to super!

Let's hope it gets hot enough to flow then eh?

Chris

 

[Haughton Honey]

Let's hope it gets hot enough to flow then eh?

Chris

16c and above as I understand it.

We tipped 17c here today.

 

[Les]

Had a look yesterday at my four colonies and three doing ok and one had a drone laying queen.
So back today to unite – first job find the queen and what a job, it took my queen finding wife and I three goes through a brood and a half to find what turned out to be a very small queen.
Anyway Queen duly dispatched and hive put on top of newspaper on the smallest of my other colonies.
At least it was warm enough to work up a bit of a sweat in Rochdale today

 

[Pete D]

Checked a nuc that I made up with an imported queen I was given on 20th April.
The previous owner of said queen had ordered and paid for her prior to Christmas but lost his hives over the winter so had nothing to do the pre planned split with. Queen was paid for and despatched and it wasnt untill the e mail confirming the despatch came through that he realised he had forgot to cancel. I shook 4 frames of young bees out of a couple of my stronger hives (2 from each) into a nuc containing a frame of sealed brood, 3 combs with some stores and laying space and 2 frames of stores, reduced the entrance to nearly nothing and left them overnight, quick check for queen cells the next day, 2 which I removed and then hung her in her fondant plugged cage between the frames and then left them be untill today, quick peep straight in the middle and a lot of the capped brood had hatched and been relaid and there were eggs in the next 2 frames...................go girl.
Hardly a bee flying from it as they were all young uns as any fliers had gone back home 20 yds away on the day I made it up. Interesting to see a queen wasp dead on the landing board though as they clearly were up for a scrap even being youngsters.
Not a text book intro I guess but it worked for me this time.
Hmm wonder what to do with the nuc now...............sell him it back ! ?

 

[Salamagundy]

Marked my first queen this afternoon using a crown of thorns.

I didn't immobilise her properly for fear of damaging her - the blob went on well but she wriggled under the mesh and smeared her wings.

She seemed unconcerned as she wandered off afterwards but looked very visible.

I'm hoping I haven't done any harm....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Marked my first queen this afternoon using a crown of thorns.

I didn't immobilise her properly for fear of damaging her - the blob went on well but she wriggled under the mesh and smeared her wings.

She seemed unconcerned as she wandered off afterwards but looked very visible.

I'm hoping I haven't done any harm....

sae happened with one of my queens last year - a combination of her squirming in the mark and turn catcher and POSCA pen spouting a gout of paint out - paint on her wings,head and legs. The week after, the bees had cleaned her up leaving an almost perfect dot on her !

 

[Salamagundy]

sae happened with one of my queens last year - a combination of her squirming in the mark and turn catcher and POSCA pen spouting a gout of paint out - paint on her wings,head and legs. The week after, the bees had cleaned her up leaving an almost perfect dot on her !

Thanks JBM - that's a relief!

 

[witchcraft]

sae happened with one of my queens last year - a combination of her squirming in the mark and turn catcher and POSCA pen spouting a gout of paint out - paint on her wings,head and legs. The week after, the bees had cleaned her up leaving an almost perfect dot on her !

I finally found and Posca penned one of my queens late last year and the little s0ds licked all of the Posca pen off so I'm back with three hives with unmarked queens due to them replacing and/or licking. And I struggle to see queens - eggs are no problem though

 

[YorkshireBees]

Put supers on 5 hives after work last night. All of them had glued down the crown boards with brace comb filled partly with honey!

Definitely a flow starting / started for me!

 

[Headnavigator]

Do queens change colour as they age, does anyone know? Hive with nice huge dark red queen in the Autumn had big very pale queen when I opened up today for first inspection. Not going to complain as everything fine but I am a bit bemused!

I've found this, too - all mine started off blonde, but darkened to black & amber stripes?

Spoke to a VERY experienced beekeeping friend this morning who said (in essence) "Don't be silly it was a supercedure".
"Not", said I, as I knew I had seen Mme Dark Red very late in the year and didn't think it possible.
Ho hum. Opened up that hive today and after several frames found myself staring at Mme Dark Red. Absolutely her as there were still the very faint remains of the yellow mark I had put on and watched the surrounding workers carefully remove within minutes.
So, I must have two queens. Certainly wasn't going to upset them by going through the lot again today, but I shall be on Queen-watch big time at the next inspection. If they can live peaceably together well and good.


Btw removed one frame that had a skein of spider's web and about 50 dead bees entangled in it. Killed spider. Not seen that before?

 

[Goran]

Soon some "extraction", finally something to take this year. Till now only to give, to give.. Also doing final preparations for acacia-black locust. Next week it will start flowering hard ( hopefully)..
One colony where queen lay eggs in queen cells change it's mind and gave up from swarming, seems they smelled the acacia flower
Till now only one colony showed true desire for swarming and I made a split..

This will be so aromatic and great flavour honey ( forest fruits and trees) with high % of wild cherry.

 

[Swarm]

Sounds wonderful, you need someone to sample it I think

 

[Polyanwood]

Found DWV in one nuc and put on Apistan. Found quite a lot of drone brood with perforated cappings in another hive. Got the tweezers out and found some probably chilled dead brood and one or two with varroa on them. Think I'll order some more varroa treatment, perhaps MAQs or whatever it is called?

 

[eleanor20]

Not in the apiary, visiting family in Lincoln so took a trip out to Rand this morning for some shopping (managed not to spend too much!) then a garden centre this afternoon for a couple of flowering shrubs.
Can't wait to get back to my bees now though

 

[VEG]

Did my first thorough inspection today. Bit of a mixed bag. One hive on 8 frames of bias ready for a super next visit. Others on 1/6 frames bias. One hive has swarmed!!! A hatched Q cell the bees were calm in that hive the cells polished no brood at all. Fingers crossed on that one. Happy with them all at the moment. Gave them a thorough looking at as EFB alert in the area, had them the past 4 years and know the chap with the problem.

 

[Goran]

Sounds wonderful, you need someone to sample it I think

You're welcome. Can't wait to see next week the yield per hive. I think it will be sweet extraction and must hurry for acacia.. This forage I mainly use as build up material and to get early nicely built frames ( nicer than in great flow, cause they build it and do not fill it up with honey - longer process and not to heavy). Now I got around 300 new frames, at the moment I am in lack of foundations. Didn't expect it will go so great.. So I must shuffle with built frames till I don't get foundations.

 

[Mellifera397]

I've been looking at the hedgerows near my apiary Nd the hawthorn seems on the verge of flowering, if the weather is right does hawthorn give a good nectar flow?

M

 

[Erichalfbee]

Supposed to need heat and humidity.
Some say that when the hawthorn is secreting nectar you can see drops of it on the flowers.
There can be years between the right conditions.
There was a flow last year when I lived in Cumbria and I took some jars of lovely honey.