What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Damn pipes backing up again.

you should try more fibre in your diet

Is the weight to keep the cat in? Corrupts the experiment surely?

 

[mbc]

Damn pipes backing up again.

try some senekot

 

[REDWOOD]

Bees making the most of the fine weather and still bringing in buckets of HB pollen/nectar

 

[garlicpickle]

you should try more fibre in your diet

try some senekot

I find drain rods do the job quicker and more effectively.

 

[Bee Bumble]

I find drain rods do the job quicker and more effectively.

I would run that one by the GP first.

 

[user 6228]

Is the weight to keep the cat in? Corrupts the experiment surely?

second run with gaffer tape and weight to improve sealing... and keep the cat out.

 

[leonotron]

Took a look in my hive to see if the new queen was laying. Didn't spot the queen and there aren't any eggs. Rest of the workers doing a good job and there's tons of stores but outlook doesn't look good if I have no queen.

 

[richardbees]

Leon

Is this new Q supercedure or have you removed old Q and introduced a bought one?

either way can take a few weeks..........it's a good sign if they're taking in pollen


edit
gaffer tape and weight to improve sealing
Boots own brand immodium works - not sure what the weight's for....

 

[leonotron]

Queen was damaged on inspection and then mauled and dumped. At least that's what I think happened. Couldn't get my hands on a bought queen. Then when they made emergency queen cells I reduced it down to 3 cells. They are taking in a good bit of pollen, especially as we have been having great weather the past few days. Their temperament seems ok too. After they first lost the queen they got kind of aggressive for a bit. Inspection to check on e. queen cells and reduce they gave me quite a few stings.

 

[REDWOOD]

Queen was damaged on inspection and then mauled and dumped. At least that's what I think happened. Couldn't get my hands on a bought queen. Then when they made emergency queen cells I reduced it down to 3 cells. They are taking in a good bit of pollen, especially as we have been having great weather the past few days. Their temperament seems ok too. After they first lost the queen they got kind of aggressive for a bit. Inspection to check on e. queen cells and reduce they gave me quite a few stings.

When did they hatch ?

 

[leonotron]

When did they hatch ?

I estimate about 12-15 days ago.

 

[garlicpickle]

Went down to heft and top up feeders. As it was warm and sunny (about 17C) I thought I would have one last quick look inside as I'm still not confident about relying on hefting alone. Hive 2 was calm, I quickly checked the 2 end frames (mostly full) and the hive felt heavy, gave them another gallon and closed back up.

Hive 1 also felt heavy but was not calm. The minute I lifted the feeder off the crown board, bees started coming up the feed hole like they meant business. Covered hole with a tile. Cracked the crown board to the accompaniment of angry buzzing, moved it along so most of the frames were still covered so I could hopefully just pull the end one. Annoyed bees trying to get out of the small gap I had left, reached for my smoker to find it had gone out

Decided I wouldn't bother trying to pull any frames given the mood the girls were in so slid the cover board back, quickly tried to get the tile off and feeder back over the hole before too many more could get out. Put the feeder eke back on but quite a few bees on the cover board refusing to move and loads all over the front of the hive.

I put the roof back and stayed around for 20 minutes in the hope they would calm down enough for me to take the roof back off and brush off the bees trapped in the eke, I watched a few wasps and opportunists being repelled by both hives and lots of bees coming in with (presumably) ivy pollen and nectar. They were still quite agitated though, pinging off my veil and buzzing angrily in my ear, so in the end I decided it wouldn't be successful and they would have to stay where they were.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The minute I lifted the feeder off the crown board, bees started coming up the feed hole like they meant business. Covered hole with a tile. Cracked the crown board to the accompaniment of angry buzzing, moved it along so most of the frames were still covered so I could hopefully just pull the end one. Annoyed bees trying to get out of the small gap I had left, reached for my smoker to find it had gone out

Decided I wouldn't bother trying to pull any frames given the mood the girls were in so slid the cover board back, quickly tried to get the tile off and feeder back over the hole before too many more could get out. Put the feeder eke back on but quite a few bees on the cover board refusing to move and loads all over the front of the hive.

I put the roof back and stayed around for 20 minutes in the hope they would calm down enough for me to take the roof back off and brush off the bees trapped in the eke, I watched a few wasps and opportunists being repelled by both hives and lots of bees coming in with (presumably) ivy pollen and nectar. They were still quite agitated though, pinging off my veil and buzzing angrily in my ear, so in the end I decided it wouldn't be successful and they would have to stay where they were.

Well, a lot of them don't like to be mucked about at this time of the year as Brother A would say 'let the bees.....'

 

[madasafish]

Lovely sunny day here. Warre hive requeened 1st September looked moribund yesterday - but today LOTS of new bees on orientation flights. One less hive to warre - sorry- worry about. (still feeding it).

 

[garlicpickle]

Well, a lot of them don't like to be mucked asbout at this time of the year as Brother A would say 'let the bees.....'

I think I'll bear that in mind in future years!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think I'll bear that in mind in future years!

Lovely day with us here - may finish work early and go home to 'fiddle about' in the apiary

 

[itma]

... The minute I lifted the feeder off the crown board, bees started coming up the feed hole like they meant business. Covered hole with a tile. Cracked the crown board to the accompaniment of angry buzzing, moved it along so most of the frames were still covered so I could hopefully just pull the end one. Annoyed bees trying to get out of the small gap I had left, reached for my smoker to find it had gone out

... I watched a few wasps and opportunists being repelled by both hives and lots of bees coming in with (presumably) ivy pollen and nectar. They were still quite agitated though, pinging off my veil and buzzing angrily in my ear, so in the end I decided it wouldn't be successful and they would have to stay where they were.

A few suggestions.
Smoke and then give time. At least 5 minutes. Real eggtimer ones!
Add a water mister (as for tomato plants) to your toolkit (under £1 at Wilkinsons). A mist of water above the hive is better than smoke for persuading them to go back down below the topbars! Again, it takes a minute or two, so a little patience helps!

If there are wasps & robbing, they will be edgy. Reduce the entrances right down and they should be more relaxed.

/// ADDED

Went down to heft and top up feeders. As it was warm and sunny ...

Oh and feeding in the evening sets off less robbing, so keeps them happier.

 

[drstitson]

how is looking at one frame going to be any better than hefting?

 

[victor meldrew]

Weather here superb .bees are going ballistic ,no wasps hanging around ,seem to have passed their peak in these parts!
Wall to wall balsam, ground now moist for the first time in months but the bees are foraging pastures new ! Probably a combination of ivy and Michaelmas daisy .
Yesterday ,went into Manchester by rail. Now the fire risk from locomotives is none existent and the embankment maintenance is much reduced, the embankments are a profusion of shrubbery and wild flowers, including ,miles of balsam Jap Knotweed and Michaelmas daisies ,as are the disused cuttings all around the network
VM

 

[garlicpickle]

Unfortunately I can't get access to the site in the evenings except by special arrangement.

I have entrance blocks in place, but yes, there are some wasps around and another beek has hives in the same apiary, so there's always going to be a few opportunists trying their luck.

The water mister sounds like a good plan, I'll add one to the collection of "stuff" in the car boot.

Drstitson - until recently the outermost frames were not completely drawn out. My reason for looking was to see if they had been, and had been filled. My logic was if they needed those outermost combs for storage and had drawn them, the other storage frames must already have been filled up.