What did you do in the Apiary today?

[irishguy]

stood deciding wether to go into the hives or not seeing as my last visit was a week ago. Decided not to go in seeing it was cold, windy and some rain. Now wondering was this the right choice because the rest of the week going to be even colder and wetter! This bee keeping is some carryon i tell ya

 

[Obee1]

stood deciding wether to go into the hives or not seeing as my last visit was a week ago. Decided not to go in seeing it was cold, windy and some rain. Now wondering was this the right choice because the rest of the week going to be even colder and wetter! This bee keeping is some carryon i tell ya

The weather forecast here was for cold wet weather too but by afternoon sun came out. Today looks like it's going to be a beautiful warm day again

 

[wessexmario]

I do my second oxalic acid vaporization treatment today and talk about some how to use one with a polystyrene hive. In particular I found that it's a bad idea using a vaporizer below the varroa inspection mesh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9qyMVr923k

I found it works quite well applied under the OMF if you use matchsticks! For the purist who doesn't want to use matchsticks, just slide the crown board open a couple of millimetres along one edge.

What this does is allow the hot air to start a flow through the hive, from the vaporiser through the OMF and out through the top. Without the top ventilation there is some resistance to flow through the OMF, with it a good vapour flow happens quite quickly. Once the vapour is seen to be coming out of the top of the hive, slide the crown board closed for the remainder of the duration of the treatment.

 

[Falesh]

I found it works quite well applied under the OMF if you use matchsticks! For the purist who doesn't want to use matchsticks, just slide the crown board open a couple of millimetres along one edge.

What this does is allow the hot air to start a flow through the hive, from the vaporiser through the OMF and out through the top. Without the top ventilation there is some resistance to flow through the OMF, with it a good vapour flow happens quite quickly. Once the vapour is seen to be coming out of the top of the hive, slide the crown board closed for the remainder of the duration of the treatment.

It wasn't the flow that was an issue for me, it was the OMF taking all the heat out of the vapor which then recrystallized on the OMF. This may be less of an issue with different metals, my OMF is aluminium which has a very high thermal conductivity.

 

[Tremyfro]

The third and final sublimated OA treatment for Hive 1.
Since the last treatment I have had drops of 30 down to 10 per day. Hopefully the varroa load will be somewhat diminished again over the next few days. If the weather is generous....meaning dry and the wind drops....should be able to inspect on Wednesday. Hopefully we will see the last frames pulled out into comb in the lower Brood box. Hope to move some stores around to put new frames into 2nd brood box....then we will have some spare brood comb. As soon as the weather warms up again...there will be a strong flow here. Slowly moving into a position where we can make some new Queens.
A few days ago ....looked in Hive 4... They had released the new Buckfast Queen....now a wait whilst she starts to lay.....that is with fingers crossed!

 

[einsteinagogo]

It wasn't the flow that was an issue for me, it was the OMF taking all the heat out of the vapor which then recrystallized on the OMF. This may be less of an issue with different metals, my OMF is aluminium which has a very high thermal conductivity.

I use a Varrox, your device, seems slightly different, and has a larger heating block. The varrox has a small cup, and I ensure the crystals are compacted, like coffee in an espresso machine. On testing in the open air, it certainly does not spit, it melts, and turns to vapour immediately.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The weather forecast here was for cold wet weather too but by afternoon sun came out. Today looks like it's going to be a beautiful warm day again

In camper in Derbyshire. It's snowing. We are coming home early.

 

[pargyle]

In camper in Derbyshire. It's snowing. We are coming home early.

Well ... that's the North for you ... quite a bit of snow about in Scotland still as well ... it's sunny but very chilly down here on the Costa del Fareham .. down to 8 degrees overnight which is about the coldest it's been for a couple of weeks now. Bees don't seem to be concerned - the sun's out and so are they !

 

[For want of a better word]

Collected 2 colonies locked in last night and took to NZ mating apiary.
Would have loaded into car last night, but by the time the little ladies retired for the night it was pitch black, with occasional sighting of half a moon.... and a very uneven field, I did not care to attempt to carry two heavy wooden hives bursting with what I was assured were very angry "Buckfast" bees.
Bees belonged to a neighbor of a friend whose husband has had to give up beekeeping due to a stroke, 275miles more wear on my new off road tyres and £300 lighter for the colonies, twas up before sunrise, and watched it rise over Dartmoor.

Found both unmarked queens and have caged them... their fate has yet to be decided!
Possibly will go to new home back to Devon over the Tamar ( That's the Great grey green greasy Tamar River all set about with Social Housing) If not will become swarm bait!

Queenless colonies will be merged with NZ Italians to boost the number of bees for some early queen rearing.... on inspection there was hardly any drone brood, and the ones I did find and uncapped were free of Varroa. Will OA vaporise them later today if the weather permits.

Then sky became dark and it began to hammer down with Hail!

Gods of Wrath????


Yeghes da

 

[malx]

Managed to find someone with a frame of eggs I could use so on Sunday we dodged heavy rain and extracted a frame from one hive, quickly transferred it to a nuc and then drove home with the heating on full.

Hopefully they'll be able to requeen themselves.

 

[B+.]

took to NZ mating apiary.

Isn't that a bit far?

 

[For want of a better word]

Isn't that a bit far?

... I wish!..... but it is not Autumn down under in the Antipodes?

Yeghes da

 

[BrianO]

Originally Posted by icanhopit View Post
took to NZ mating apiary.
Isn't that a bit far?

Now that's Funny !!

 

[ianorsven]

Went to a friend's apiary in one of the superb St Anne's allotments (oldest in Europe allegedly) to find and mark her queen. A job not helped by the fact that she had assembled her hive with Hoffman spaced brood frames in metal castellations which should have been fitted into the supers! Big fat comb in the frames and plenty of brace comb too! The crown board had both holes open so the bees had taken advantage of this and built comb in the roof! Some of this was full of honey which she took for eating. One comb was full of capped drone brood and having seen quite a few bees with deformed wings we uncapped this to reveal quite a high varroa load. I'm advising MAQs as a possible treatment asap. Eventful but satisfying to help another beek along.

 

[Goran]

Wild cherries on a way out SE flowering ash in focus, true service trees start to bloom. Brood now up to 16 frames, even I bit neglected them. Some beeks started queen rearing, even if I want, can't accomplish it, only to clone myself..

 

[Goran]

We got some rain after longer period. Nice. Temps are rising, all beeks only talk about black locust/ robinia. All are in weather or blooming prognosis.. If they got it right.. I don't have enough boxes.. From May 6th -10th beginning. I hope it will be proper weather, not just the honey also happening itself is awesome to experience - and to have free time to be there more. Previous years weather always ruined blooming catstrophically.

 

[Fatbee]

Wimped out and put queen excluder back in a really strong hive, queen laying across brood box and three supers, can't believe the difference in bee numbers compared to those in brood and half. Like not having an excluder but felt it was getting a little big! Will probably extract when top box filled and give a fresh super for queen and if get bold enough take the excluder back out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

A very few brave bees are dashing out between wind gusts to collect water, eating their stores, I guess; all those early filled supers lying three quarters empty....just dead space. I put three of the winter cosies back on.
It's been far too windy to add more nurse bees to the queen I nuc'd yesterday but as no body is flying much the bees due to return to their original hive might stay long enough for the two frames of emerging brood to bolster numbers.

Fields full of dandelions are shut tight, cringing in the winter weather.
Come on sunshine.......May bank holiday day after tomorrow.

 

[itma]

Not MY apiary, but other folks' apiaries.
Saw a whole lot of different situations in about half a dozen Canterbury members' apiaries on the 'safari' with the SBI.
A wonky Warré, the several minutes it took before anyone spotted the swarm sitting in the tree just above the hive the SBI was inspecting and some decidedly 'tetchy' bees were among the obvious memories of the day.
But there were also some spectacularly well-behaved Buckfasts, calm as anything on the comb, and not in a hurry to swarm away from their overcrowded hives (even though one was absolutely raddled with varroa).
The Queens producing these impressive bees seem to have come from some chap down Exmoor way ...

 

[irishguy]

Weather hasn't been great this last week on west coast but bees have been flying in and out of hives. Looked under hives and packed with bees. One hive had lots of either chalk brood or wax cappings, I couldn't tell but suspect CB because last inspection one brood frame was out ofhive to long IMO.