What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Tom Jay]

A swarm settled on the roof of our outhouses. I set up a cardboard box with some foundation frames in it, on the ridge. They didn't take long to take up residence. Big! Surely a primary swarm. I'm wondering if it is the queen I lost last year, coming home, as they definitely look Caucasia and I'm the only keeper around here with those bees.

They took up residence in a brand new hive with little fuss. I trust they'll appreciate my welcome and stay! Sugar syrup cooling as I type this evening and they shall have it in the morning to aid their wax production job as I have only foundation frames to offer them, bar one super frame of un-capped honey which I gave them as a welcome home present from another hive.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

A swarm settled on the roof of our outhouses. I set up a cardboard box with some foundation frames in it, on the ridge. They didn't take long to take up residence. Big! Surely a primary swarm. I'm wondering if it is the queen I lost last year, coming home, as they definitely look Caucasia and I'm the only keeper around here with those bees.

They took up residence in a brand new hive with little fuss. I trust they'll appreciate my welcome and stay! Sugar syrup cooling as I type this evening and they shall have it in the morning to aid their wax production job as I have only foundation frames to offer them, bar one super frame of un-capped honey which I gave them as a welcome home present from another hive.

Pleased to hear of your success but it's unwise to feed a swarm for 3 days so they consume any honey they brought in their stomachs to make wax thus if the honey contained any pathogens they are safely locked into the wax.

 

[jonnybeegood]

A swarm settled on the roof of our outhouses. I set up a cardboard box with some foundation frames in it, on the ridge. They didn't take long to take up residence. Big! Surely a primary swarm. I'm wondering if it is the queen I lost last year, coming home, as they definitely look Caucasia and I'm the only keeper around here with those bees.

They took up residence in a brand new hive with little fuss. I trust they'll appreciate my welcome and stay! Sugar syrup cooling as I type this evening and they shall have it in the morning to aid their wax production job as I have only foundation frames to offer them, bar one super frame of un-capped honey which I gave them as a welcome home present from another hive.

Arent you going to wait untill they use up their stored honey for 2/3 days?

 

[Tom Jay]

Pleased to hear of your success but it's unwise to feed a swarm for 3 days so they consume any honey they brought in their stomachs to make wax thus if the honey contained any pathogens they are safely locked into the wax.

Arent you going to wait untill they use up their stored honey for 2/3 days?

Thanks for the suggestion, John and Jonny. I didn't know that. I'll wait a couple of days to give them the syrup; meanwhile too late to take the one super frame of honey off them I guess.

 

[bontbee]

It's best to feed in the evening rather than the morning, to reduce the chances of robbing. Make sure that their entrance is defensible, too.

 

[Tom Jay]

It's best to feed in the evening rather than the morning, to reduce the chances of robbing. Make sure that their entrance is defensible, too.

As a newbie I love all these tips coming in! Thanks. Monday evening for the syrup then. As to defensible, I'm thrilled to report it was a large primary swarm by my reckoning - more than twice as many bees as the only other swarm I have hived [last summer]. So I guess they can look after themselves!

 

[malx]

Annoying inspection today. Saw one Queen out of three, cannot for the life of me see any eggs which makes swapping frames tricky. My most productive colony were very aggressive making me think the queen is gone.

Will need to work out a better way of locating eggs.

Both dogs and the other half were stung by the aggressive colony.

 

[jonnybeegood]

Annoying inspection today. Saw one Queen out of three, cannot for the life of me see any eggs which makes swapping frames tricky. My most productive colony were very aggressive making me think the queen is gone.

Will need to work out a better way of locating eggs.

Both dogs and the other half were stung by the aggressive colony.

I dont know how good your eyes are but mine arent brill close up so i use cheap glasses i bought in Aldi that are 3x magnification, i now spot eggs easily

 

[nantmoel]

Popped into a local roofing company on the off chance to see if they sold flat metal sheet material and was pleasantly greeted with a stack of 10'x4' resin coated galvanised sheet, just what we needed, and even better when he said we could have the top sheet for £20!. All we need to do now is to cut up for roofs.

 

[bpmurray]

Checked the bees first thing this morning and, being impatient, I stole a capped frame from one of the supers. Went indoors to change out of the smokey clothing and noticed smoke when I glanced out the window: I hadn't properly extinguished the smoker's contents and the mound of grass cuttings had started to smoulder. A quick squirt with the garden hose had it all back under control, but I think I'll be more careful in future.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Micro swarm covering one 14x12 frame that arrived in a bait hive 7 days ago has eggs gave them a frame of emerging brood. Broke down queen cells in another colony in prep for a unite tonight.

 

[Mrs Shoot]

Checked on a test frame I placed in a nuc (emerged QC 4 weeks ago) last week, no QC's drawn and lots of polished cells on the other frames.

Took a frame of capped brood and a frame of BIAS from 2 strong hives. Took these over to my friends. We found and dispatched his drone laying queen and inserted the two frames from my hives. Will check in 4 days for QC's.

 

[mjt68]

Checked 3 nucs I was using for mating - two mated with brood present and one gone laying worker. Not great but at least it worked - earlier in the great was even worse. Some honey in supers but not much.

Starting to think this year has been a bit of a bust. Lots of swarms in May (and first call in April!) but then poor results getting queens mated and although there's been enough sun and forage for the bees, not much surplus honey. OSR didn't really seem to happen, despite the fact we're surrounded with it.

 

[Goran]

Queen in a jenter cage.. Prepared couple of colonies for breeding.

 

[malx]

I dont know how good your eyes are but mine arent brill close up so i use cheap glasses i bought in Aldi that are 3x magnification, i now spot eggs easily

I actually just bought a magnifying glass but the light was poor. Normally take a small torch but left it in the house.
Seeing eggs, through mesh on dark wax it a nightmare.

 

[pargyle]

Went through all five hives ... Pretty good generally .. two capped supers on one hive, one and a half on another and one on another. Moved a few capped frames into an empty super to make some space and put some new frames in the space made, shuffled the stack to get the empty frames at the bottom ... three supers ... that's a first !

One hive where the queen has been laying a bit erratically - not drones just a very patchy pattern - have built a classic supercedure cell right in the middle of the frame, capped - last time I was in this brood box was only 9 days ago so they must have decided they had had enough of her the day after, I checked for other queen cells and none found. I put it back together and I'll let them get on with it.

The swarm I collected at the beginning of June are tramming along .. the original red queen that came with the swarm has gone ...another supercedure... I found the empty queen cell at the last inspection and she's obviously been out on the town as it's wall to wall brood now on 7 frames... There's a nice arc of honey on some of the brood frames and one frame at the end is half filled with capped honey. Took the insulation block that was reducing the brood area and filled the box out with three empty frames. If they build those out in the next week I reckon they will be ready for a super next inspection - clear crown boards mean I can have a peek to see what's happening.

So ... not perfect beekeeping but I've got honey, more on the way, all the hives are strong despite their best efforts to thwart me ... what surprises they will have in store for me next ? Who knows ?

Bees and Honey weekend at Manor Farm, Bursledon this weekend with our Association - my turn there tomorrow, so a day talking bees and probably rolling candles... lots of fun for all.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/manorfarm

 

[JWF]

Looked through a nuc to try and find HM, who is from this year but has only managed to lay sporadically, and today its clear she's a drone layer. So, found her, tried to pick her up in order to despatch her and the little bit flew away! Turns out she's got a damaged front leg which would explain her dodgy laying.

Inspected hive 1, which is a cast swarm which ended up getting requeened. She's laying in a lovely pattern and there should be a pretty big increase in population soon, so hopefully they'll go into winter nice and strong.

United hive 2 with a small nuc. Looks like I'll need to take honey off soon, as its already got 2 supers on and I nearly put my back out putting them back on. Hopefully the two colonies will get together without too much aggro!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Went through all five hives ... Pretty good generally .. two capped supers on one hive, one and a half on another and one on another. Moved a few capped frames into an empty super to make some space and put some new frames in the space made, shuffled the stack to get the empty frames at the bottom ... three supers ... that's a first !

One hive where the queen has been laying a bit erratically - not drones just a very patchy pattern - have built a classic supercedure cell right in the middle of the frame, capped - last time I was in this brood box was only 9 days ago so they must have decided they had had enough of her the day after, I checked for other queen cells and none found. I put it back together and I'll let them get on with it.

The swarm I collected at the beginning of June are tramming along .. the original red queen that came with the swarm has gone ...another supercedure... I found the empty queen cell at the last inspection and she's obviously been out on the town as it's wall to wall brood now on 7 frames... There's a nice arc of honey on some of the brood frames and one frame at the end is half filled with capped honey. Took the insulation block that was reducing the brood area and filled the box out with three empty frames. If they build those out in the next week I reckon they will be ready for a super next inspection - clear crown boards mean I can have a peek to see what's happening.

So ... not perfect beekeeping but I've got honey, more on the way, all the hives are strong despite their best efforts to thwart me ... what surprises they will have in store for me next ? Who knows ?

Bees and Honey weekend at Manor Farm, Bursledon this weekend with our Association - my turn there tomorrow, so a day talking bees and probably rolling candles... lots of fun for all.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/manorfarm

I would show you the ones at Carreg as well - but I can't, it's all hush hush up there - only make you cry anyway

 

[pargyle]

I would show you the ones at Carreg as well - but I can't, it's all hush hush up there - only make you cry anyway

It's no wonder you keep running out of kit !! Your bees must be on steroids !!!

Mine were so calm and placid today I could have probably inspected them without a suit .. don't know what got into them on Thursday ... Envy at their Welsh cousins I reckon .. the word must have spread on the bee grapevine !

 

[BeeJayBee]

Bees and Honey weekend at Manor Farm, Bursledon this weekend with our Association - my turn there tomorrow, so a day talking bees and probably rolling candles... lots of fun for all.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/manorfarm

website says 18th and 19th July! http://www3.hants.gov.uk/countryside/manorfarm/whatson-manorfarm.htm
and
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/countryside/manorfarm/manorfarm-eventdetails?id=273349

How many hives do you have there?

.. don't know what got into them on Thursday ...

Come on! Do tell!!