What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Horse chestnut pollen is red. Very red.

Unless theyre Lipizzaners

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

White might be Holly.

 

[pargyle]

Unless theyre Lipizzaners

Very very good .... ! Guess they are not guzzling the horse chestnuts then - how come the candles are bright creamy yellow and the pollen is red ?

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Full inspection. Honey starting to be capped, added more frames in 2nd super. Went to look in the brood box and surprise surprise 2 sealed queen cells and several cells with larvae. Only cups last week. Queen seen on frame so quickly fetched a nuc. box popped in the frame with the Queen and a couple of frames of food and bees. Transferred them to a waiting brood box, already set up in another area of the garden. Heard voices and found a family watching over the hedge recently cut back as it had become a straggling jungle. They introduced themselves. The lady was Russian and her family have kept bees for generations she asked me if I had honey for sale. I promised to let her know when it was ready. My Gas Fitter rang to remind me it is gas check time. I walked away from the hives, mindful of the stories of stinging when phones vibrate, returning after the call ended. I noticed bees under the hive and thought they were cleaning up wax and nectar from the Corex board took it out and left it on a nearby shrub to clean later The bees had all disappeared when I picked it up. Later i saw bees under the hive again and it looked as though they were on guard. A row of heads peering out. Donned bee jacket and fetched a kneeler,thinking the mesh floor might have come adrift. On looking right underneath I saw quite a good cluster so I have put the polynuc box with some frames and a little wild honey comb that I was able to resist eating into it at a jaunty angle on its end in between the hive supports, swept some bees into it to explore (they were non too pleased at the disturbance) and the lid is now acting as a temporary roof on the other end. As I still have the queen I am assuming this is a cast from someone else's apiary. Ooo just a thought are these perhaps flyers who have got confused because I moved the queen down the garden?

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

I will think of of some way to deal with it in the morning. "After all tomorrow is another day".

 

[Mellifera397]

Opened the entrance to my newly moved hive and covered it in grass and leaves to confuse the foragers, hopefully they will confuse most of the flyers.

M

 

[cjhart2]

I think it was Tommy Lee Jones sat on a park bench talking to Will Smith in lower Manhattan whilst filming MIB who said that

I left the bit out about the aliens , but it is still a good quote

 

[Newtobees]

Made use of the wife being out to check two inspection boards that had been in place for 3 days, i am moving these two hives to a new apiary this morning. And no she has not got a clue that i have found a new use for her beauty room.

 

[Newtobees]

And no varroa seen either.

 

[galileo]

Yesterday, actually....

Well, the old queen in the superceding hive, having been absent for 2 close (bees feathered off) inspections, has reappeared in a very slimline version. She's been on a residential weight-watchers course, clearly! She wasn't being harried at all, but it's clear that she's not being fed very much. Methinks she'd popped through the excluder for a week and came down again. So, she's in a keiler mating nuc now, with 2 frames of young bees, tasked with overseeing the drawing down of comb from starter strips. Two chances: it'll work or it won't. If she's not entirely dried up, gets fed and starts laying, all well and good but if not, her days are numbered and in theory, I'll have a ready-to-go mating nuc out of it in a few weeks.

On a more delighted note, the second brood box that was added to a "hmmm, shall we swarm?" colony 2 weekends ago, has 7 fully drawn frames, 3 of which are laid up and a busy queen marching around looking for more empty cells. I put it under the original 2 weeks ago on the basis that bees build down and thinking it warm enough for the wax makers to go to work, but last weekend revealed nothing done, other than a fair bit of foundation shredding. So, I swapped the boxes and put it on top, instead of adding the second super that was needed. It seems they've taken to it very readily, so by the end if June I should have a 14+ brood frame colony to get onto the field beans. Great, except I've got to move them back to the woods tonight, and the stack has grown considerably in the last 4 weeks! But good practice, 'cos I've got to do the same with the other 2 next weekend, and they're 14x12, 2 supers and deep.

And relax....

 

[psafloyd]

Removed yet ANOTHER cast from my adjacent allotmenteer's plot (yes, the one who is phobic about bees).

Not sure they are even mine as I am pretty sure I had got things under control, but there was another cast on this tree recently and so the pheromone possibly wasn't smoked away. Will take some nasty perfume back this time.

Tempted to throw them into a box with another cast from last week, smoking it heavily, and let them get on with it. Will then find the queen and reunite.

 

[Chris Luck]

Just come indoors from getting soaking wet trying, (and ultimately succeeding), to coax a large swarm into a hive.

It was a rare sunny interval today when they decided to swarm, then the rains came....but we love it don't we?

I guess they will stay put OK.

Chris

 

[nikca]

Just a quick inspection to make sure all is well and I don't need to feed again after the recent nice weather...

Came back in to the office and found queen European Hornet sat on the laptop!

Being a big girl I used a glass rather then my hands to remove her...

 

[nikca]

Wow - consecutive posts on different days...

Either I have far too much time on my hands or everyone is very busy: never seen WDYDITAT on page 2... Maybe my post was just too boring!

So: today the girls new floors with landing boards and the middle hive got a fancy sloping roof. Apiary bling!

 

[Tom Bick]

Went and checked on a hive for the 2nd time whose owner has had a big operation and as yet unable to inspect.

On my first inspection last week it was clear the hive had swarmed some weeks earlier and the queen needed a bit more time. This inspection found the queen under the mesh floor and safely put her back in the hive.

Will hopefully get the owner to the hive this Saturday to see HRH laying away.

 

[hiveabee]

Full inspection on all hives and nucs. Gave some young bees and a frame of brood to a hive that is still struggling,I followed the instructions from an old book of mine written by William Hamilton, and as He wrote; there was no fighting, It was a very peaceful union. They all marched towards the hive entrance said hello to the guards and just walked in.
Took the spare Queen cell from a Nuc I set up (Queenless) about 10 days ago and Then I put this cell onto a mini mating nuc along with some young bees. This is somthing I have wanted to try for a while. There was also two smaller Queen cells in the same nuc, just for an experiment I have set them in hair roller cages and have placed them in a small incubator, just to see if I can manage to hatch them (i will find a use for them. Its been a very interesting day.

 

[beebopalula]

Inspected last weeks swarm and casts. Swarm lovely gentle bees - felt guilty giving them OA (cruel to be kind). Casts too small to be viable, will unite.

 

[Chris Luck]

Went to pick up a couple of empty hives from a field..

....one no longer empty but full of bees.

Chris

 

[TOBY-3652]

put 30 brood frames together and sorted 3 supers out with drawn comb to put on 3 hives tomorrow. these hives have got 2 on allready and filling them

 

[london_flower_guy]

Had my first ever visit by my regional bee inspector out to my apiary today for a routine check up. Had bees almost 5 years and never been visited before despite being registered on Bee Base.

All was well apart from 2 dodgy larva showing signs of sack brood but nothing else other than that. She recommended I combine a weak colony i have indoors in an observation hive with a strong colony in the garden - which we did without any problems.

was reassuring to be told my apiary was in overall good health and the inspector appeared impressed with our bee friendly planting efforts

It was very educational for my mentee who was present also.