What did you do in the Apiary today?

[drstitson]

Forgot to add -

yesterday - bottled my first attempt at ginger beer - tried some today and nicely fizzy. also tried my elderflower & lime cider which is around halfway through fermenting - seems to be working fine so picked another 90 flowers before the weather changed and set up 2 more batches of 25 litres.

 

[dpearce4]

Forgot to add -

yesterday - bottled my first attempt at ginger beer - tried some today and nicely fizzy. also tried my elderflower & lime cider which is around halfway through fermenting - seems to be working fine so picked another 90 flowers before the weather changed and set up 2 more batches of 25 litres.

the elderflower and lime cider sounds wonderful do you have the recipe?

today my hive became a republic for a week or so. killed the queen on perpose as they seem to think its time for her to go so she is gone. so now have 2 hives both Q- the first which had a sealed QC last sunday still had a sealed QC today.

just gona keep an eye on it for a week or so to see if they start bringing any pollen in. and give them a small contact feeded so they have stores to build wax when she starts laying.

and going to keep fast feeding the other Q- as they have lots of comb to build still.

god the stress of it all i hope by the summer i still have 2 hives both with new queens. i thought beekeeping was sposed to be a tonic for stress not to give you more. lol

 

[plumberman]

Grafting (as in queen rearing)

For the first time ever..

 

[drstitson]

"the elderflower and lime cider sounds wonderful do you have the recipe?"

This is what i'm using to make an adequate copy of the Kopparberg stuff:

1 youngs brewbuddy cider kit (£12 @ tesco)
2kg sugar
juice and zest of 4 limes
45 elderflower heads (fully open, not gone over)
water to 25 litres

basically follow the instructions on the can but with increased sugar and the limes and elderflowers added at the end.

 

[taff..]

had a propper battle with my 'lively' colony this morning.

I got as far as taking the roof off, then 2 supers off at the same time, then thought something like 'these are a bit lively today'

had a look at the front of the hive and they were streaming out, at the same time they were pouring out through the QE

lots of smoke to try and shift the bees and the 2 supers were replaced and the hive closed up.

fortunately I spoke to someone a couple of days ago to supply me with a new queen for that hive so it's only a couple of weeks untill I can sort them propper


I also found 2 supers empty of bees on one of my other colonies

they have been Q- for a few weeks after they were AS'd, but last week the Q was mated so I popped another super on and an excluder.....watching the bees for a few seconds I could see loads of worker trying to get through but failing, I guess I'll be ringing Thornes about their 'harmless excluder' that doesn't let bees through in the morning

 

[YorkshireBees]

Put 4 'wet' (extracted) supers back on the hives. Nothing else as it was too cold / windy!

 

[alynewbee]

Had a fab day on my practical course. Spotted the queen and was allowed to mark her (under supervision). Picked up a drone and marked him too for good measure. Was a bit chilly though so had to shut them up sooner than I would have liked. What a great day, roll on next week.

 

[Vergilius]

Amongst all the revision managed to extract a super of osr honey, and watch a mating flight from a small cast swarm that my dad caught and hived in a poly nuc for me yesterday! Busy days eh!!!


Ben P

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

yesterday - seperated two new queens from their attandents in a poly bag and placed them in their cages into two jumpy nucs. Protective cover over the candy plug will be left on for four days, then assuming the bees outside the cage aren't overly hostile I'll take off the cover and leave them to it.

 

[victor meldrew]

As yesterday ,watching the wind driven rain trying to uproot the Hornbeam hedge around the apiary . Good job Hornbeam is pretty well gale proof
Getting boring now .
I have one colony that I really should be looking at but I shall have to adopt the philosophy of "If they swarm they swarm" Like the first rain/wing free day .

No! No! I'm not quite ready to join the hands off brigade but if things carry on as they are, who knows?

John Wilkinson

 

[Queens59]

Watching the wind and wondering when my hatched virgins will be able to fly...

 

[Chris Luck]

Looking at the parched brown earth that should be grass, longest Spring draught now on record here with no proper rain for several months.

Almost zero for the bees for a good week or so now, Lime, Bramble and Sweet Chestnut about to start flowering BUT all far too early this year - looking grim for Summer and Autumn.

Chris

 

[Mike a]

Designing labels again, looking through old threads for recommendations of printers of bespoke labels with tamper proof strips.

Three supers worth in jars ready to sell.

 

[chalkie]

As yesterday ,watching the wind driven rain trying to uproot the Hornbeam hedge around the apiary . Good job Hornbeam is pretty well gale proof
Getting boring now .
I have one colony that I really should be looking at but I shall have to adopt the philosophy of "If they swarm they swarm" Like the first rain/wing free day .

No! No! I'm not quite ready to join the hands off brigade but if things carry on as they are, who knows?

John Wilkinson

I'm in the same boat as you john, been 10 days since last checked, not much chance of checking tomorrow either, hospital appointment which i imagine will take all day

 

[starflex]

Hmmm.... the weather must be grim up North. Sunny, but a bit windy down here in Hampshire.

I've just collected my first swarm. Not very big, but they are now hived in a 3frame nuc box. I've cut down the free space with dummy boards. Will feed them once the syrup cools down, as I know they have been hiding in a bush for the last 3 days.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Watching the wind and wondering when my hatched virgins will be able to fly...

Ditto

 

[victor meldrew]

I'm in the same boat as you john, been 10 days since last checked, not much chance of checking tomorrow either, hospital appointment which i imagine will take all day

Thursday is forecast to be the best bet !!!

4th was the last inspection I managed !!!

John W.

 

[victor meldrew]

Designing labels again, looking through old threads for recommendations of printers of bespoke labels with tamper proof strips.

Three supers worth in jars ready to sell.

Looks like spoon bender honey .

OSR?

John Wilkinson

 

[Queens59]

Lost my first colony. It was half a bursting WBC BB, they were building a queen cell, had 4 frames of stores and in excess of 4 frames brood.

We noticed it was too quiet today - although appeared to be flying well yesterday. Anyway, we checked and apart from scattered brood cells, full queen cells, a few emerging brood...they were gone...and the hive was empty. Had it checked by an expert tonight who thinks it 'may' be SPV (Paralysis Virus), and will check all the other hives for me...

 

[dpearce4]

Fed both hives today. hive 1 went through 1ltr of syrup in 24hrs. not even a full colony and with no queen.

weather still very dry god we need some rain, not had any now other than 1 thunderstorm since mid march. and none forcast for 2more weeks and sposed to be getting hotter next week again to. might be good for virgin queens and swarms to.