What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Jimmys Mum]

However, learnt a great deal and looking forward to more attempts next year.

Indeedy. It's been a really interesting thing to do and I like the idea of trying to be more sustainable but with a bit more control. If nothing else, this round of 'attempts' will at least put me someway up that learning curve!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

So yes, new queens can definitely swarm in their first season, well within 7 or 8 weeks actually.

33 days here. Any advance?

 

[bontbee]

Got back from an out apiary just in time to see a swarm take up residence in my garden bait hive.... even better, it wasn't my bees that had swarmed!

 

[Dazzabee]

Inspected 2 of my bigger colonies to find that both had filled around 1& 1/3 supers since last Sunday! Added an extra super to each and realised I was down to my last 3 drawn and ready to go supers in the shed so I built 3 more super from the flat pack pile.

Then got a call at 6pm about a swarm on a persons shed. Got there 10 mins later to see the last stragglers going in the cottage air vent and into the cavity under the floor.

 

[meidel]

Feeding them thymolised syrup will do nothing to address the varroa problem - it's for treating nosema. Do something else right away

cheers i only had thymol syrup to hand which was why i did that, am planning on making the other thymol infusion from hivemaker's recipe for treating varroa, although worry that it will knock the colony out completely, anyway, they'll probably dwindle to nothing if I don't treat now.

 

[dickndoris]

Went through the colonies with the new queens in that are all now mated. Th y are all unbelievably big! Last years queens all lovely so far with only 2 thinking of swarming and one gone leaving the colony.
Went through a fostered hive with very nice slightly neglected bees only to find sealed ready to hatch queen cells and a virgin queen scurrying around stinging the qc. Never seen this before. She will nibble a little hole in the side of the Cell and then sting the queen inside. I rescued 2 queens and ran them into the entrance of the hive with no queen that was diminishing. We will see how they get on in 3 weeks or so.
1 nuc with laying worker tipped out on the grass.
Painted up more Paynes hives, roofs, eeks for nucs to be 8 frame supers on top of 8 frame 12x14 nucs. Works really well when you run out of big boxes
Finally extracting. Lots and lots of extracting. This year seems to be non stop and have run out of honey buckets too many times with the bees that have no foundation doing better than those with, as the ones with tend to cut big holes in the stuff!

 

[maddydog]

Extracted 60lbs of honey with another two full supers warming in the cabinet. Probably all I will get this year as my 3 are now 6 and rebuilding. Happy though

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

Combined a q-nuc to a q+one,first try at a combine so I'm a bit anxious.ILeft the positive test frame in the nuc with some bees to bring it out so I can offer it to someone when it's mated
Marked 3and clipped 2 queens in other nucs,all laying really well and should be for sale or rehoused in 2/3weeks
Watched a large swarm going into a bait hive I'd set up at my fathers(83yrs),he had been ringing me since early this morning,it was like Christmas morning for him
Cut back the piece of scrubland that iv been offered to put a few hives 2 miles from my own,plan on moving three there tomorrow evening

 

[Goran]

Watching nature play with flashes, showers, clouds and finally washed me a bit at the end, refreshing. Bees started to work in the morning before sun shows up ( before 4:30 in the morning CEST, I think it is 2:30GMT).. But still are agressive - annoying. Tomorrow will have to face their bad attitude with schedule I have. Will see who will win..

 

[meidel]

found some apilife var in shed, expiry date next month! so treated ailing bees. looked through swarming colony and found more queen cells, so culled these and released one virgin - she didn't look promising - short abdomen. oh well, can always reunite with mother colony if she fails over the next 2-3 weeks. Helped another beek with super heavy supers - no more QCs, thank goodness. heard about a swarm which went while I was at work this afternoon, when I returned to apiary no sign of them. oh well...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Checked on the newly mated nucs - and promptly transferred them to six frame nucs (hopefully the new out apiary will be sorted in short order so will be easier to transport) Checked on a hive that i witnessed queen emerging last month - still no sign of laying or any preparations by workers so it looks like she fell by the wayside somewhere - opened another hive to get a frame of eggs (hive needed 'releiving' a bit anyway) Third super with mostly foundation was put on last Friday - another one will probably go on before the next inspection is due!! they are piling it in!!

 

[REDWOOD]

Picked up a cast swarm from Blackpill lido hiding under a bench and went to collect another from a golf course but was too high up a tree so left a bait box in hope

 

[jd101k2000]

Sold a nuc of bees. There is now a hole in the apiary where my first queen was :-(

Had not hefted the nuc in a while. Absolute tonne weight!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Went over to look at a swarm I and a new beek hived on Saturday. The frames had been shaken about a bit which disturbed the spacing and consequently the bees had built a bit of wild comb. Trimmed it out and rectified the spacing. The foundation had been drawn on two frames and some nectar being stored already. The bees were calm and plenty of traffic in and out so will have a look in a week when they have had chance to settle in to their new home.

 

[meidel]

helped a fellow beek A/s with nuc method, queen spotted easily - this is the 2nd A/s, the first was done, pagden style, this time round, doing the relatively painless nuc method, stuffed nuc entrance with grass and escaping bees were doing the rounds exploring the surrounding area of their box and new position. put additional super on original colony site, now left with one open QC.

found that what I thought was a dud queen has started laying - she was seen emerging on 13th of June - and

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Did a bit of trashing and tidying up at the association apiary, arranged to meet someone tomorrow and decide where in the forty acres of wildflower meadows my new out apiary is going to be situated. Did a stocktake ar Brynmair and decided I should think about making up some more supers!

 

[einsteinagogo]

I went to the apiary today, and was very surprised to see a new national hive with 5 supers had appeared, and it was not mine. It was very green with algae - at first I thought some cheeky beek, had moved their bees in....I checked the entrance (solid floor) no traffic, opened up and it was empty, with a note left in the roof with drawing pins...

it read...

"it's been in my garden for years, since my father gave up keeping bees, please use me, my father would like to see it in use again"

no name, or contact details.....

a shame, because I would have like to thanked them....or at least given them a jar of honey!

I spent a few hours cleaning it, scorching it for use!

 

[beeno]

I went to the apiary today, and was very surprised to see a new national hive with 5 supers had appeared, and it was not mine. It was very green with algae - at first I thought some cheeky beek, had moved their bees in....I checked the entrance (solid floor) no traffic, opened up and it was empty, with a note left in the roof with drawing pins...

it read...

"it's been in my garden for years, since my father gave up keeping bees, please use me, my father would like to see it in use again"

no name, or contact details.....

a shame, because I would have like to thanked them....or at least given them a jar of honey!

I spent a few hours cleaning it, scorching it for use!

Hi einstein,
It is nice to be reminded that there are some very nice people out there.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Hi einstein,
It is nice to be reminded that there are some very nice people out there.

Yes, I think I'll have to put a Thanks in the local paper! with a few jars of honey are here, for you if you want to collect!

Because are local Association Apiary Site, was vandalised again, (second time now) hives pushed over, and rocks thrown at them, and in the wet and flooding a few weeks back, many colonies have been lost. Also a bad time of year, because it's used as a training site during the summer months.

 

[REDWOOD]

Added some more supers, fixed a nuc to a ladder to try and entice a swarm out and fed a small cast swarm, checked a new queens performance and she's up to scratch, just need to collect my bait box before the weekend hopefully with bees.