What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

put clearer boards on ten hives ready for the final extraction tomorrow. Wish I could wait a year actually - the bees at Brynmair are still piling it in - the super i plan to leave on on one hive was two thirds full - albeit not ripe yet so that's one hive which won't need too much winter feed. checked another hive which, although there has been no brood in the hive since early last month, nil result from test frame and the bees seem happy and very industrious so I thought I'd check the super which was pretty heavy with a view of extraction - BIAS on nine frames!! she must have sneaked up there somehow (5frames BIAS in the BB before she went BTW) so QX out and left in peace for the winter. Got ready to extract 20 supers tomorrow as I'm on leave until next week but can still check my emails and carry on with my present project if the right info comes in (Just in case any petty little nit pickers are wondering).

 

[einsteinagogo]

back to apiary, nuc-ed to national colony, taken down another 4 pints of syrup, fed another 4 pints.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've posted this elsewhere but it belongs here too

Well, amidst all the plenty (ghost bees coming and going all day) I found a starving colony today. Feeder put on and two brood combs of pollen defrosting in the greenhouse.
I checked all the others and though they do have stores they are nowhere near what I would expect given the entrance activity.

 

[Jimmy]

I've posted this elsewhere but it belongs here too

Well, amidst all the plenty (ghost bees coming and going all day) I found a starving colony today. Feeder put on and two brood combs of pollen defrosting in the greenhouse.
I checked all the others and though they do have stores they are nowhere near what I would expect given the entrance activity.

Robbing?

I think a nuc of mine is a victim of robbing at the moment. Depleted stores despite taking down 3+ litres of syrup in the last week. Parallel/sister nuc colonies are very full of stores.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well, amidst all the plenty (ghost bees coming and going all day) I found a starving colony today. Feeder put on and two brood combs of pollen defrosting in the greenhouse.
I checked all the others and though they do have stores they are nowhere near what I would expect given the entrance activity.

Got a few nearly like that at Carreg - one colony which before the last cold spot was due a second super and i was worrying that because of the rain, work etc i couldn't get to them, monday the super was almost empty, another there which if the weather hadn't got better would have been due a feed.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I've been giving a hand to another beek in the village whose hives had been neglected and it's turned into a saga. So far untangled half of his hives and "rescued" a decent amount of honey. Today I am extracting and filtering a couple more of his supers.

 

[user 6228]

something has changed ... The recent grumpy bees (across most of the apiary) have all returned to being nice bees again.. Still wasps about though.

Puzzled

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Still wasps about though.

A heck of a lot - well in Carreg apiary anyway - went to take the supers away this morning, lifted one lot out and quite a few dead bees on the clearer board, dumped the supers in the jeep and a small cloud of bees csame out - no! wasps, they'd obviously found a chink somewhere above the clearer board and sneaked in - the bees had given a good account of themselves though - on checking, most of the dead on the board were in fact wasps.

 

[pargyle]

Had a peek at mine this evening ... Long hive stuffed with honey ... everywhere... still loads of capped brood through the middle though, must be five frames half full of capped brood. Will probably give them the last two frames to have a go at as the empty one I put in last week has already been built out and half full of runny honey.

The poly hive have ignored the super i put on .. instead they have stuffed every square millimetre with combs, fattest combs I've ever seen, barely a bee space between them ... silly beggars have loads of space above them which they could use. As I'll be leaving them as they are for the winter I may put a feeder on at the weekend if it's warm enough to see if they will build out a few more frames in the super.

The smaller colony in the other poly hive is doing OK but I think I'm going to consider giving them a feed as they still have a bit of space in there that could take another two frames ...

The Ivy looks massive down here but it's still at least a week away from really blooming so if we get a bit of decent weather into the middle of September they should all be well set up for the winter ... roll on next season !

 

[Summerslease]

Put two of those frames in the middle?

Yes, I put all three in the middle. I'll give it a week and check for laying

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Nearly there!

Almost finished extracting 21 supers - last for this year, thus fasr only eleven frames much to high a water content - they'll go back tomorrow. Think somehow they've got hold of some heather (nearest nearly 2 miles away) as I've struggled to extract a few frames. Probably finish off tomorrow morning

 

[Fatbee]

Wondered what was causing the white headed bees coming in to the hive only to discover them coming out of my mother-in laws fuschias covered in pollen. She does have her uses.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Two supers off, one nadired, one clearer board on, feeders in place.
That's nearly it for the year then.......where did it go?
Christmas shopping next

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Up to carreg to nadir the unripe supers from yesterday's extraction then Garn cottage to strap up the hives rerady for moving tomorrow - I had thought at first the Brynmair bait hive swarm now housed at Garn cottage may have come from the hive I'd introduced a new queen into but had missed the existing QC, but these are much too agressive for her bloodlines - if they don't shape up come the spring she'll be decorating the fence post!. Put capping in feeders on some of the home hives.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

To-do list for Sunday after 3 weeks away (the best-laid plans of mice and men...)


Check 1D and 1E for long-chance sign that they have successfully raised a Q. If not, reunite to 1 or unite with each other as indicated. Hopefully 1E needs a brood box and is the third production colony next year.

Check 3 to make sure she has not swarmed (a definite risk). If she has, and there is at least one Q in 1D or 1E, reunite to 1 with no further manipulation. If not swarmed, switch out Q from 1 with a small colony into a retirement nuc and unite 3 into 1, making my Hivemaker Q the new head of Buckybeast. And if swarmed but no Q in other colonies, let them try to raise a Q.

Remove any extractable super frames.

Not exactly letting them bee but this is the week to build the winter configuration ahead of the ivy flow. Then that's it until OA on 18 December, give or take a bit of feeding and getting comb drawn.

 

[Bosleeu]

Extracted the last two supers and put them back on the hive to be cleaned. Filled a hundred jars with honey and discovered a young queen started laying in the last four days. Happy days, now to get the honey sold and get all the hives ready for winter. My syrup-stirring muscles are going to get some exercise.

 

[Headnavigator]

I'm sure this must have been said before: if (like me) you're clumsy enough to have got some of the thymol mix on your fingers, white (distilled malt) vinegar is helpful in dispelling the smell that will go on haunting you for hours otherwise.

 

[theeggman]

Not the apiary but outside the front door (which never gets used).

Tim.

 

[Swarm]

Found out how bad a month August was and thanks to the early flowering this year, not much left on the agenda but Ivy. Removed less honey than expected but it's theirs afterall.

 

[REDWOOD]

Placed a few clearing boards on after work, noticed one hive had packed it in the last week and should have added another super, bees still out in force with masses of white bees returning and still filling supers but enough is enough with the ivy nearly flowering, only one more clearing board to put on at the end of this week.