What did you do in the Apiary today?

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Hi Mike. And a stockist is a supplier. Say: is this US cold spell an issue for you; we tend to get your weather a few days later.

 

[Michael Palmer]

No, not really cold here yet.Looks like it will move in tomorrow night with low of 6F. High Wednesday of 14F. Cold for the following week, single digits at night. 31F next Wednesday. No below zero.

 

[MuswellMetro]

No, not really cold here yet.Looks like it will move in tomorrow night with low of 6F. High Wednesday of 14F. Cold for the following week, single digits at night. 31F next Wednesday. No below zero.

must make our current overnight low in London of 48F (9c) seem like summer, max today was 55F (12c)

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Wow! Orientation flights going on outside all 6 hives this morning. One poly-nuc looked like it was swarming with the number of young bees hovering outside! Fabulous sight to see.

They are all taking in huge pollen loads, mostly pale yellow but some orange too, which miraculously the mouse guards don't seem to be knocking off, and from the outside at least, they all look to be thriving! My inspection board varroa counts with the Apivar on are now down to between 0-4 per day. Two more weeks of treatment and then the strips can come out.

I love beeing a beekeeper on days like today!

 

[stephenpug]

Wow! Orientation flights going on outside all 6 hives this morning. One poly-nuc looked like it was swarming with the number of young bees hovering outside! Fabulous sight to see.

They are all taking in huge pollen loads, mostly pale yellow but some orange too, which miraculously the mouse guards don't seem to be knocking off, and from the outside at least, they all look to be thriving! My inspection board varroa counts with the Apivar on are now down to between 0-4 per day. Two more weeks of treatment and then the strips can come out.

I love beeing a beekeeper on days like today!

same here like a summers day loads of bees out and the hives are heavy so full of stores
if they go through winter like this i hope they all build into strong productive hives next year

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

That does it: webcam for Christmas

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
All colonies out flying today in +13C. A little pollen going into one, but did not hang around too long. Week before Christmas and I have just picked some wild mushrooms! The season is totally topsy turvy and I cannot help but wondering how it is going to affect the bees?

 

[Erichalfbee]

We are going to have to keep a really close eye on stores and possibly feed them earlier than usual, I guess,

 

[Amari]

Applied oxalic acid by dribble to my 7 hives today. Temp 6C but a couple of hives rather frisky and stung newbie who had decided not to suit-up

 

[Roola]

That does it: webcam for Christmas

Thats what i have... careful its very addictive!

 

[user 6228]

chopped down 10 x 15m leylandii in someone elses apiary
Complicated fell with power lines,telephone wires, public road and house.
the wires stayed up, the house still stands, and we didnt call an ambulance... success
The bees ignored us.

 

[VEG]

It would have been a different story if you had hit the power lines. I hope they were insulated ones lol.

 

[Swarm]

Fancy a job sorting my neighbours' leylandii hedge/monstrosity?

 

[Hivemaker.]

chopped down 10 x 15m leylandii

Loss of more future potential natural bee nesting habitat, and pollen.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Do Leylandii have pollen? I thought they were a sterile hybrid?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Do Leylandii have pollen? I thought they were a sterile hybrid?

Plenty of pollen on the ones in the hedges around here, but they may not be true Leylandi.

 

[pargyle]

Plenty of pollen on the ones in the hedges around here, but they may not be true Leylandi.

Lot's of baby Leylandii set themselves in my garden from my hedge from hell ... so I don't think they can be sterile (and mine are true Cupressus Leylandii) 20' tall and grow 3 foot a year if I don't keep them cropped.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Where can I get Leylandii seed?

Leylandii are grown from cuttings, not from seed, so you will not find any seed available. Until recently, it was thought that Leylandii didn’t produce viable seed, however, in 2011, James Armitage sowed seed he collected from females cones on a mature Leyland Cypress in Wisley Garden. These produced a Leylandii seedling for the first time under controlled conditions, showing it is possible to grow Leylandii from seed. However, it is still uncertain whether the parentage was mixed as there are suggestions that Leylandii is self-sterile and may need a compatible pollen donor. At Wisley, a specimen of Nootka Cypress (one of Leylandii’s parents) grows near the mature Leylandii and may have cross-pollinated the tree.


And......some more on here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyland_cypress

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Even more like the bl%dy incestuous mites then.

 

[FreeFall]

Took out the inspection boards after having them in for 8 days (a bit long I know but just didn't get around to it). Counts were 0, 0, 2, 8, 30 and 40... Guess the oxalic will be coming out for a couple of them at least. The two worst affected were swarms collected mid-summer.

And there are STILL damn wasps around - chilly today so not much bee activity, wasps wandering in and out at will - thankfully not too many though.