What did you do in the Apiary today?

[MuswellMetro]

One colony wall to wall bees 5 frames brood, QE super on (drawn frames).. going to be an interesting year...never supered in March before.
Note.. no crops near me, just gardens and wild flowers.

exactly the same here in North London, some colonies have gone from 3 to 6 frames of brood in 7 days, yellow OSR pollen coming in from about one mile away, and greenish pollen from damson/plum/blackthorn, flowering currents in full bloom,and lots of nector being evapaorated

supered up the OSR colonies andonover largecoloniesnot near OSR place a comb super above their open crown boards

 

[psafloyd]

Lots of pollen coming in, but don't think any can be rape (just not close enough and my honey is always runny). Still, must inspect if the weather stays warm.

Moved two hives last night at about 1800 as no activity. Stuffed one with grass and moved a few feet the other side of a screen and the other I pulled a few feet closer towards the one I moved. Should be able to close that one up and walk it around the screen in a few days.

Then have one to move about 60ft to same place. Then all I have to do is inspect six or seven colonies and see what they're up to.

 

[RobKing]

I may change the floor on one of my two hives - I have a new one ready - but need to think about how exactly I am going to do this without hassling the bees, and only if it is warm enough.

 

[oliver90owner]

Nothing more difficult than:

Lift off brood box (remove roof to reduce weight first?).
Replace floor.
Replace brood box (and roof, if removed).
Job done

Not really temperature dependent as far as I can see. If warm, there may be some flying bees but that presents no real problem for most.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Have done two already.
Lift off roof
Move hive aside, place new floor on old site.
Lift brood box onto new floor.
Move back to old position.
Roof back on.

 

[djg]

Hi RobKing,

Welcome to the Forum.

I agree with other respondants that you should take the roof off first to reduce the weight. I would then move the hive intact to an adjacent flat, stable surface. That gives you the opportunity to clean up any residue which may have accumulated under the hives. Then you can place the new floor on the old spot.

Since separating the floor from the brood box may involve a bit of levering and cracking of propolis with the hive tool and has the potential to disturb the bees, I would do this now, not earlier.

Then simply place the brood box on top of the new floor unit. Check for alignment. Roof on. Job done!

 

[Heather]

I tend to put brood box transversely across the upturned roof, or on a spare hive stand to reduce any risk of bee damage when changing floors- rather than onto a flat surface. There just may be a hanging cluster on a frame.

 

[RobKing]

Thanks for your very helpful reply. Very useful.

 

[Dave /Oscroft]

Floor change

Changed floors on four hives (Jenks underfoor entrance floors and all works fine, very pleased)
Checked on stores and gave more fondant ! Havent done inspections yet on all colonies but two I have done have lost queens ones a disaster, hardly any bees and the other has plenty of bees but looks to have just turned to laying workers but I havent inspected fully yet, hopefully I will this weekend if the weather is ok but forecast isnt good at the mo. So what should I do with that colony ? just abandon it ! as they'll be all old bees I would think and no use to any other colony.

Dave W

 

[REDWOOD]

I tend to put brood box transversely across the upturned roof, or on a spare hive stand to reduce any risk of bee damage when changing floors- rather than onto a flat surface. There just may be a hanging cluster on a frame.

I'm glad someone mentioned the up turned roof, basic maneuver

 

[Beeline]

So what should I do with that colony ? just abandon it ! as they'll be all old bees I would think and no use to any other colony.

Dave W

Extra bees mean extra heat in the hive which at this time of the year is important. Personally I would shake them out and let them find a new home amongst your other hives but best do it tomorrow as the weather looks to turn for the worse, certainly down south here.
Good luck.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Sat and worried about all my brood, as the weather turns. Brooded, haha.

 

[Chris Luck]

Sat and worried about all my brood, as the weather turns. Brooded, haha.

What sort of weather are you expecting?

Chris

 

[yellowrage 53]

when is the right time to feed syrup?

 

[pargyle]

when is the right time to feed syrup?

First question you need to ask yourself is 'Do they NEED feeding ?' and the second (if not the first !) is 'Why do they need feeding ?'.

What they are fed (ie: Fondant/2:1,1:1 sysrup) is dependent upon what the temperature is and what the feed is required to achieve ...

 

[Heather]

IMO.. hungry hive - fondant,- busy hive needing to draw foundation- syrup.

None of mine need feeding syrup this Spring. They used the fondant I put on late Jan, now all feed been off for 1 week. Then I put on supers as they were expanding well..

 

[yellowrage 53]

First question you need to ask yourself is 'Do they NEED feeding ?' and the second (if not the first !) is 'Why do they need feeding ?'.

What they are fed (ie: Fondant/2:1,1:1 sysrup) is dependent upon what the temperature is and what the feed is required to achieve ...

best have a look then

 

[YorkshireBees]

A quick check on 4 colonies. All have a super on with some part filled / crystallised frames from last year as a reserve of stores. All 4 hives had plenty of bees in the super cleaning the frames up, swapped some now empty frames for some more with stores and found at least one hive that was storing small amounts of fresh nectar in the super!!!

 

[pargyle]

best have a look then

Well ... if it's a warm day and the forecast is not a cold night then that's about your only option if you are really worried.

For the future, hive weighing is what I do so there's no real need to open them up ... in fact, the weight remained very constant through the 'winter' and it's only the last few weeks that the weight has really dropped ... at the moment they are bringing in buckets of pollen and some nectar (I think) from the willows so I'll be expecting the hive weight to remain pretty static.

Weather forecast down here is saying its going to be colder so it's probably going to be early April before I get in to them. But ... I've got a clear crown board and I've had a few peeks through that .. I can still see capped honey at the top of the frames and there's also some nectar in some cells as well.

Hindsight ... 100% science .. ?

 

[Alabamaeee]

Inspected all colonies this afternoon, was surprised to find they were full of winter stores and little room for new brood. Only 3 frames of brood in each hive, so will put supers on in the next day or so and take out some stores and give them drawn comb.