What did you do in the Apiary today?

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Finished extracting the last 3 supers. Cleaning up afterwards now. If and when there is a weather window I need to check the nucs I made for mated / laying queens!
 
Six box hive has swarm cells so I am trying to find an unmarked q. What fun! I have been through all boxes and no sign of her. So I have split the boxes apart and covered them, and will go back in a while and see which one is fanning to thin the possibilities down a bit. 50 or 60 stings to the gloves so a fresh pair when I go back. Wish me luck!
 
Unfortunately discovered that my apiary is (was) on a WW2 bomb site (photo attached). In clearing up, FOUND THE RED QUEEN UNSEEN and entered some form of Demaree arrangement (finally) with amazingly little disruption. She really is elusive; even double-checking the frame I knew she was on gave a tense moment.

Now the tense part; having no drawn comb is a real issue for a newbie so all the flying bees have to get drawing. Chances are they'll choose a set of big fat swarm cells, not worker brood...
 
today

just painted 2 poly 14x12s ready for either snelgrove or demaree this week.

Weds & Thurs look the best days as long as this damned wind will drop

we might have some half decent colonies ready for the end of May...just in time for the June gap

bugger

S
 
Checked our new (swarm) hive to find lots of comb drawn, eggs and uncapped brood. Hooray. Saw the queen but didn't manage to capture her before she disappeared.

Checked hive two, which was slow to get started this year. Improvement and uncharged queen cups. So need to make plans. Have put first super on

Hive one (that swarmed) left alone. Hopefully queen has emerged and will be off for mating flight.
 
All seems quiet today at Apairy No.1, I thought we might have seen more Casts, but the weather was worse today than yesterday.

Visitied Apiary 2, to replace frames, Hive No.2 pollen going in, Hive No.1 quiet, nuc also very quiet, I think the cast swarms I collected yesterday and merged have absconded!

If they have absconded today, must have done it quickly during a dry spell, because we've not had many, looked around in the trees and hedges, and didn't see a wet clump of bees!

But the Bait Hives in the area, are very busy! Lots on interest!
 
This damn wind. Went to one of my out apiary's to find a hive blown over. Cobbled together some out rigging to secure it until this wind drops and I have time to make improvements. Think its time to start looking for an alternative site.
 
Today was third day of relative good weather at black locust forage. Now started the rain and seems most of the week with dropping down temperatures. I am thinking that meat ( bees and queens) production will be more reliable for me than honey.
 
Quick check after the weekend's strong winds and before today's showers hit - both QC above both Snelgrove boards had emerged. Fingers crossed there's a healthy virgin queen in each one, so no more door changes or disturbances for now :)
Hopefully there will be some clear weather windows for them to get themselves mated. It won't be today as there are now hailstones coming down :(
 
Found a dozen or so QCs with freshly hatched larvae in #2 so broke them down (after checking the hive was Q+ of course!) and demaree'd the hive (new BB over QX, 2 supers, QX & old BB, no separation board). My first time doing it, hopefully it'll be okay. At six hives I can't afford the extra gear to do ASs on them all.

Replaced the OMF and brood box on #1 and the brood box on #3 - no QCs, or on #4-#6, but #4 took major exception to being opened just as it started to drizzle :(
 
Checked on one colony which was artificially swarmed (Pagden) a few weeks back. The queen right part which now has 4 frames of brood has continued to produce queen cells but I'm pretty sure they are supercedure cells as there are only 2 and they are on the face of the comb. The brood is healthy but the pattern is a bit patchy too ? Failing queen. Decided to close up and leave them to it. The queen is clipped so if they do swarm off these cells then they can't go far. This colony was due for a replacement queen anyway - far too pingy!
 
scuttlefish said:
Found a dozen or so QCs with freshly hatched larvae in #2 so broke them down (after checking the hive was Q+ of course!) and demaree'd the hive (new BB over QX, 2 supers, QX & old BB, no separation board). My first time doing it, hopefully it'll be okay. At six hives I can't afford the extra gear to do ASs on them all.
Click to expand...
Hope for you it does - demarree doesn't always work once they have decided to swarm: It's more of a pre-emptive evolution
 
Removed some top BB's post demaree in showers!!!!

Only took 1 sting to the hand. phew
 
Apparently OH is currently attempting to coax a swarm in neighbour's tree into a brood box ahead of rain overnight.

All done from a safe distance as life threateningly allergic!!!

DOI: not a swarm from my hives.
 
Went out to see my newly hatched virgins go on mating flights... but they decided to swarm and go off to my neighbour's. The highlight was finding a queen. She then flew off. I then heard her piping in my right ear! Partner in crime trapped her from my shoulder.

Then I heard another piping in my left ear!

Definitely caught one swarm... not sure what happened to the other... but that was a relatively small cast.

Just been down to release the virgin into her new colony. (She was in a queen clip in the colony.) She was a bit chilled but seemed to be reviving amongst her entourage.

Neighbours were very good about the excitement.
10268688_10152222147869093_6591613742755026787_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
Watched a mating flight from a hive whose last-week swarm is happily making comb in the nuc they moved into.
 
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