What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jonnybeegood]

Looks like ive made a big cock up! I had a 14x12 comb with a lot of honey in it so i froze it & thought i would feed it to a swarm in a nuc i collected, i thought if they dont use it , they will move it into super frames in the top of the nuc. Nope, they have filled it with honey despite it lying flat in two pieces on top of the supers :-/

 

[madasafish]

United my twe only TBHs -nucs- one had laying workers..

 

[pargyle]

Looks like ive made a big cock up! I had a 14x12 comb with a lot of honey in it so i froze it & thought i would feed it to a swarm in a nuc i collected, i thought if they dont use it , they will move it into super frames in the top of the nuc. Nope, they have filled it with honey despite it lying flat in two pieces on top of the supers :-/

So were the super frames on the top of the Nuc drawn comb ? IE: Did they have anywhere to store the honey you gave them ? And where was the crown board ?

What I have done in the past is crush and strain the honey out of the comb and fed it back to the bees in a rapid feeder, they take it down in no time. If you give them it in the comb they do tend to treat it as a bit of extra comb in the hive and will do with it what they usually do ... build on it, fill it with whatever they think is necessary.

I'm surprised that they did not just model the comb into the top of the frames as well ...

 

[jonnybeegood]

So were the super frames on the top of the Nuc drawn comb ? IE: Did they have anywhere to store the honey you gave them ? And where was the crown board ?

What I have done in the past is crush and strain the honey out of the comb and fed it back to the bees in a rapid feeder, they take it down in no time. If you give them it in the comb they do tend to treat it as a bit of extra comb in the hive and will do with it what they usually do ... build on it, fill it with whatever they think is necessary.

I'm surprised that they did not just model the comb into the top of the frames as well ...

Yes the super frames were fully drawn foundation, i put the two lumps of comb in an eke on top of the frames with perspex crown board on topof the eke so i could check without disturbing them. I thought with it lying flat they would remove the honey, i guess i will just remove it again & as you say press it out. Maybe if i'd put it above a crown board with a small hole in between it & the frames, they would have took it down. It just suprised me them filling cells the wrong way round i.e. Vertical cells instead of almost horizontal.

 

[einsteinagogo]

I suited up before strimming yesterday and boy am I glad I did. Out they came and surrounded me in a cloud, like a scene from a cartoon.

Got one sting on each hand, through nitrile, before retreating! Mowing is no problem...

Ouch, I've got to strim round mine! I'll remember to suit up!

 

[einsteinagogo]

Put out two Apidea's in my "mating apiary", and opened the doors....wow they all came out, and flew around, orientation flights.

I'll just leave them, check in two weeks.

The last virgins took 4-5 weeks to mate and lay, from this point...these virgins are buckfast virgin queens.

 

[pargyle]

Yes the super frames were fully drawn foundation, i put the two lumps of comb in an eke on top of the frames with perspex crown board on topof the eke so i could check without disturbing them. I thought with it lying flat they would remove the honey, i guess i will just remove it again & as you say press it out. Maybe if i'd put it above a crown board with a small hole in between it & the frames, they would have took it down. It just suprised me them filling cells the wrong way round i.e. Vertical cells instead of almost horizontal.

Yes .. But they tend to store the honey at the top of the hive so if there was comb with honey in it already at the top of the hive and not separated from the rest of the hive then they would have considered this bit of comb as a proper place to store their honey ... think like a bee !

 

[jonnybeegood]

Yes .. But they tend to store the honey at the top of the hive so if there was comb with honey in it already at the top of the hive and not separated from the rest of the hive then they would have considered this bit of comb as a proper place to store their honey ... think like a bee !

Yep, daft mistake to make, we live & learn, i'll remove it tomorrow when i do my inspections.

 

[BeeJayBee]

doh .. so much for putting dates in your iphone - it only works if you put the right date in to start with !

Or writing stuff in the wrong (next year's) diary!

 

[pargyle]

Or writing stuff in the wrong (next year's) diary!

Yes ... I've done that as well .. and looked to see what day of the week a birthday is and then argue with my wife who told me I was wrong only to find that I was looking at last years diary ... so it was a different day....

I'm not safe to be let out most of the time ...

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Destroyed a box of wired foundation frames they had brace-combed below but not drawn. Grrr...

Made up three mating nucs, only to see drones being evicted from one of my production colonies.

Not a good day.

 

[Falesh]

Now that the queen should be emerging in the extra hive I made during the Artificial Swarm it is time to unite it back with the original hive. I had fun finding with the search for a queen, I cut a LOT of searching from the vid , but it all worked out in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKA-J08Mqdg

 

[Erichalfbee]

Which queen did you keep?

 

[BrianO]

Or did you leave them to choose ?

 

[jonnybeegood]

Now that the queen should be emerging in the extra hive I made during the Artificial Swarm it is time to unite it back with the original hive. I had fun finding with the search for a queen, I cut a LOT of searching from the vid , but it all worked out in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKA-J08Mqdg

Not good putting a hot smoker on top of a poly roof lol

 

[jonnybeegood]

Went into a nuc today that i made from a large Buckfast swarm, looks to be lsying well & nice calm bees, i'll keep these ones i think.

 

[Falesh]

Which queen did you keep?

I kept the original one, the one I bought, not the one they made.

Not good putting a hot smoker on top of a poly roof lol

The bottom of mine doesn't get too hot. Having said that I didn't even think about this so I will now do a test to see exactly how hot it does get. Good catch.

 

[Swinton apiaries]

United a queenless swarm with a weak nuc the old school way with flour all worked fine

 

[Goran]

Rollin'
Tomorrow cloake insert..
One new queen ( swarm one) is completelly yellow. Grrr.. seems someone around is playing with italian queens.. That will increase winter losses over here, such iliterate beeks are we..
Will see if she has lot of brood in October, in spring I will organize her departure..
Plan to make 3 turns of qrear from 3 queens. Now got borrowed a jenter..
My mentor has some awesome queens.. But for now I keep to my stock ( his bees are pretty near to me so I believe I will benefit from his drones - open mating..).
I had one nice surprise, one new queen .. Such calm bees, does it was the moment or really gentle temper I will see later. Have to keep it. I have increased good temper of my colonies, but always some come up annoying.
At my place unfortunatelly a lot of beeks are in favour of very agrressive colonies. I am totally against that, only I can do is to improve my stock with more gentle and less swarmy bees..

 

[madasafish]

Regional Bee Inspector (Jo Schup - very nice lady) examined my remaining hives for AFB - end of my 6 week standstill period following discovery of AFB end April and destruction of 4 out of 5 colonies...

All clear given and standstill order removed..

Back to normality (follow up inspection next year).


BDI paid out on destroyed frames including TBH bars (£0.70 each bar)..Total £126 odd. Very quick payout..

Have not yet fully rebuilt all my TBHs - much of insulation destroyed either as part of disease control or when flaming inside of hives.. New mesh floors required...

Grass on top of big pit in lawn where bees/frames and assorted hive bits were burned has now almost completely regrown .


Not an experience I would wish on anyone.