What did you do in the Apiary today?

[pargyle]

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?


Come on! Do tell!!

Oops .. Well that's saved me the embarrassment of turning up tomorrow and wondering where everyone was !! I wondered why I hadn't had the follow up email from the association ... doh .. so much for putting dates in your iphone - it only works if you put the right date in to start with !

The association has its apiary at the farm .. about 10 hives up there at present in quite a nice location in one of the fields a bit away from the public.

JBM dropped in to see me whilst he was down this way on Thursday ... after a cuppa and a chat we just wandered round to the corner of the garden where my apiary is and within seconds there were a couple of the little darlings very interested in him (not me it would seem !) and one of them stung him, indeed, after stinging him on the arm she then proceeded to dive bomb him in her death throes and we beat a hasty retreat ... and there was me bragging about what good natured bees I've got .... I went round and gave them a proper talking to after he'd gone and they were very contrite but their reputation is in tatters now !

 

[wessexmario]

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

Get yourself one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Illuminated-Magnifying-Pocket-Magnifier/dp/B005CMKU60/ref=sr_1_25?s=officeproduct&ie=UTF8&qid=1436655372&sr=1-25&keywords=magnifying

has x3 and x6 magnification, the x3 is a nice size for checking for eggs and mites, the x6 good for zooming in on individual items.
it also has a led light which illuminates the cells when it's overcast.
credit card size so easy to hold, and carry in pocket. Perfect for beekeeping.
just a few bob and a week or two from china, or a little more cash and quicker from a uk supplier.

 

[Goran]

Fed the breeders..
In nearby Serbia a lot of reports colonies devastated on sunflower forage.. Neonics wiped out lot of bees.. Horror pics of dead bees, some alive circle desoriented, such horror to watch.. As same it devastated bees, I believe also beeks are under huge psychic stress and material loss.. Who knows how all will end..
And buyers at large are decreasing the honey price they pay the beeks.. To laugh or to cry.. Maybe, we should pay the "buyers" to take the honey from us.. No one thought about that.. So I have a cunning plan.. I will pay them to buy my honey.. But there is a little catch.. my pockets are dry as Sahara desert.. So back to the lab to find some solution.

 

[jonnybeegood]

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.

The good thing about the glasses is hsnds free, you can hold & turn the frame easier with two hands, & you look cleverer with glasses perched on the end of your nose so you can see over them ;-)

 

[malx]

Get yourself one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Illuminated-Magnifying-Pocket-Magnifier/dp/B005CMKU60/ref=sr_1_25?s=officeproduct&ie=UTF8&qid=1436655372&sr=1-25&keywords=magnifying

has x3 and x6 magnification, the x3 is a nice size for checking for eggs and mites, the x6 good for zooming in on individual items.
it also has a led light which illuminates the cells when it's overcast.
credit card size so easy to hold, and carry in pocket. Perfect for beekeeping.
just a few bob and a week or two from china, or a little more cash and quicker from a uk supplier.

Thanks for that have ordered. Hopefully that'll help me.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks for that have ordered. Hopefully that'll help me.

Me too... looks like a useful little device - not just for beekeeping .. and at that price you cant really go wrong !

 

[jonnybeegood]

Been sitting watchjng a bait hive/nuc for the last hour, quite a bit of activity, yesterday there were a few bees looking in then nothing, seems more activity today, not mine i doubt as i checked them last monday and all was ok, i want to watch but have to go out. Hopefully it will be full when i get back, & my hives still full too Lol

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lovely to see a swarm arrive.
It's fascinating watching the build up of scouts then suddenly they are all gone.
Within minutes the swarm arrives

What I didn't realise is that a lot of these scouts return to the old hive.

 

[malx]

Looking at the weeks forecast for weather I had to brave an other inspection. Still cannot see eggs but took a frame with very small larvae (and i hope eggs) and put it in the aggressive colony. Happy they were not.

Beat as hasty retreat.

Job for next year will be to replace older comb with new so i can actually see brood easily.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Unite done yesterday has newspaper on the floor already and a few bees buzzing round the old site.
Weather is pants till Wednesday so will have to sort the frames then.
One maybe two queens from a split due to mate around now, 19˚ sunny and not too windy so fingers crossed.
I've got to the stage when I shouldn't have to look in the broods much.
Bees should be happy about that

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Lovely to see a swarm arrive.
It's fascinating watching the build up of scouts then suddenly they are all gone.
Within minutes the swarm arrives

Then the problem of having spare capacity or knowing someone who does presents itself

 

[Tremyfro]

Well....yesterday really...went to Beekeeping Training...saw the Evil Hive....considerably better now they have been divided up....but still coming out with fists up...just in case. Hoping the new queen is a success.
Also found out the pollen analysis for my spring honey.....OSR...no surprise there. Prunus/Pyrus...top fruit...probably apple and pear...so they have been visiting the gardens down the road and the local fruit farm about a mile away. Also willow....of which we have a number around the pond. The surprise was that there were so few different pollens...only 3-4 identified. Just goes to show how little nectar there was this spring. I am hoping to get my summer honey checked out too.

 

[kazmcc]

Just got back from a beautiful day with Dusty, tending his hives. Hive 1 are back to being lovely again. Despite the swarm, there is a lot of bees still, surprisingly so, and the weather here is lovely so even with all the foragers out it was still a big colony. Didn't spot our new queen, no eggs seen but they are back to being lovely again, so we are assuming they are queenright. Capped QC seen recently has been torn down so all evidence points to them having a new queen present. Now, we wait..........

Hive 2 are HUGE!! 6 supers high now, BIAS, nice and calm. I can only assume that bad day was due to lots of factors, and hive 1 being so upset, it upset hive 2 in the process. No signs of swarm preparations. Still have plenty of room. She's an excellent queen.

Discussing what I saw that first inspection with Dusty and some lessons learned. Never again will I dismiss empty play cups. The amount they had made, along with a few other observations, in hindsight, should have told me what was going on, but it is a lesson learned and they don't seem to have been knocked back by the episode any, still throwing out supers, so that's good news.

Dusty and his wife bought me a few gifts for looking after the bees while he was away, which is so good of them! Oh, and Arran spent the afternoon saving bees he found on the floor, and finding flowers to put them on after he had helped with hive 1

Today has been a good day.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Today has been a good day.

Yes, it has, Kaz.

Thank you.

Dusty

 

[kazmcc]

Any time

Interesting how Madge in hive 2 is darkening. I didn't know they can do that. Another lesson learned

 

[Cussword]

Found eggs in the nuc I'd split from a swarm on the 10th June

 

[jonnybeegood]

Got home & no sign of a swarm in the baithive i was expecting, maybe tomorrow i guess, unless theyve found a home elsewhere.

 

[dpearce4]

bugger all. the weather was rubbish here so had to cancel my apiary open afternoon.

 

[Tom Bick]

A bit late starting but grafted fourteen larvae into my cell builder hive for this years queen rearing exorcise.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Took off the first round of supers today ready for extracting tomorrow. At last I will be able to say YES when people ask me for runny honey instead of soft set!!