What did you do in the Apiary today?

[dpearce4]

Great idea for a new thread. "The most important thing I lost this season was..."

At one point I was convinced my bucket of soda was leaking and I was losing solution all over the bee shed, so I put it outside, since when it has not leaked at all

My main gain this season has been an appreciation of how much difference it really does make how you handle the bees. I remember one inspection where the crown board was off but no frames out and I just moved my hand quickly over the top of the box - reaching for something. The shadow of my hand, moving so quickly, was enough to cause a hum of alarm through the box - like chickens responding to a hawk.

Since then I have tried to behave as if I have the entire day to inspect every hive. The stress levels for us all have been so much less

I just lost my mind this year. Baby arrived and so massive sleep deprivation followed by going from 23 to 40 hives in 1 year.

 

[dpearce4]

I'm sorry dpearce. Not a nice experience I'm sure.

not really but a massive learning experience, I now know what it looks like and will be able to hopefully detect it in the future.

If you ever get the opportunity to go to a disease day go as its much better than looking at photos.

I thought I was ok about doing the petrol but it was a lot harder on my conscience than I thought it would be. I wish there had been a better way but the time of year was just bad.

 

[victor meldrew]

Went to the mating apiary, to collect a mated queen, laying well and apideas bursting with bees last week, to unite with a queenless colony at the main apairy, only to find the apidea full of wasps!

No bees, no queen, no fondant, just wasps, approx 200!

That was a nice buckfast queen - RIP!

Damn wasps!

I also have a colony overwhelmed by wasps ! Three supers emptied .
Queen less .
Still defending but the wasps have control .
I'll sacrifice the rump of the colony to maintain the interest of the wasps as the weather is on the turn in the North West here !


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[Mrs Shoot]

Fed all the hives. Checked the roof hive, no eggs, no large and no capped brood, but saw the queen in there walking around like a preadonna. Plenty of stores, and pollen, loads of highly polished cells.....why isn't she laying? At least 3 weeks now.....wish I could have a holiday for that long.
Got stung on the forehead through the veil from one ungrateful bee while feeding them. Note to self don't put hair in a pony tail as it pulls the veil closer to your face.
Popped up to my parents, where I moved my bees from a couple of weeks ago as they were coming under massive wasp attacks. Stood by the front door and realised a flurry of insects flying past....wasps. Stuck my head around the corner to see a lot of activity in a gap at the end of the sofit. Had words with my dad (nice ones) about harbouring the enemy. He is going to deal with them as we will be moving the bees back to his soon, different part of the farm to where they were before.

 

[victor meldrew]

Keep your pony tail but wear a baseball cap under the veil ,this will keep it off the face


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[bjosephd]

Having removed feed that had some drowning due to, I think, bees running away from Apiguard (although feed also had hive alive in it) I am remixing it having removed the apiguard and mixing in a ton more sugar to make it thicker and dilute the hive alive more. Apiguard is out as I really can't afford for the queen to go off lay! Just need a sunny afternoon to be able to get the feeders back on again.

Oh... and poorly chicken taken to the vet for a couple of injections... she seems to be perking up a bit! Is that part of beekeeping too?!

 

[Obee1]

Took the last few frames off my last super and removed it. started feeding that hive. so now all 6 hives are being fed - my bought in syrup is going fast. Think they'll be back on the homemade stuff when this is all gone.
last week I put foundation into the edges of the brood nest as suggested by ITTLD. Today they are drawn fully and one is laid up with eggs Great way to get lovely drawn comb. Thanks ITTLD!

 

[beeno]

Watch all the hives fly well today. The unite of bees left in nuc less queen from early swarm control and a collected small swarm with very nice black queen went well. No collateral damage at all and all brood emerged in top box. Fed them yesterday and I could hear them draw comb in top box.

 

[Cussword]

Celia Davies gave a talk at our association meeting this evening.
Very Nice lady

 

[Minxpinx]

I vaped 3 hives today. I used my new light weight battery which was brilliant. Last year I lugged a car battery about which was a struggle. Pouring with rain now... Will be interesting to see what the drop will be like.

 

[Roola]

Bloody weather! Was hoping to go put a few feeders on this afternoon... looks unlikely now unless I get a lucky break!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Let us know
Get the inspection tray straight in. My drops have been largely instantaneous

 

[Tremyfro]

The varroa drops from my colonies were about the same as with the thymol pads a fortnight ago.. My double brood colonies had 18 and 80 varroa drop after 24 hours. The others ranged from 10 - 100. The one with 100 drop is on 14x12 frames and there were lots of cappings on the board. So perhaps they were emerging when I vaped and the varroa were zapped...or on reflection, perhaps I killed some bees and the cleaners decapped them and threw them out...hmm not sure which but hoping that it was a drop from the empty cells.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Why are you sublimating Oxalic if the colonies have already been very recently treated with thymol?
Or.....have I missed something

 

[Tremyfro]

Why are you sublimating Oxalic if the colonies have already been very recently treated with thymol?
Or.....have I missed something

Well...I was ready to start my Vaping when I discovered that my OH had borrowed my new...only for charging my battery...charger! He had dropped it or something happened....the workshop gremlin got to it anyway and it wouldn't charge my battery...I was getting worried about leaving so long...so put on some of the thymol pads that I made last winter...and didn't use. Now the battery is ok again...so instead of applying more pads I switched to the OA. It's interesting though. Each of the colonies got about the same drop again...except for one which had a lot less but still had 100. So the thymol had worked. So I do feel rather more confident using the thymol now.
I am pleased that there were not that many varroa. Still going to do the other two treatments though. Considering I haven't done any varroa control all summer except check the drone larvae....I am surprised the varroa drop wasn't more.

 

[For want of a better word]

Early start to avoid the promised rain..... amazingly managed to get around all the colonies and fill all the feeders... wish I had bought another 200 gallons of invert... and a load of Ashforth feeders.. the 4 pinters are a pain!!!

Nos da

 

[Hivemaker.]

Early start to avoid the promised rain.....

The promised rain never arrived here at all, another met office joke.

 

[pargyle]

The promised rain never arrived here at all, another met office joke.

No ... it all fell on us in Fareham ... I'm seriously considering building an Ark ! One allotment already flooded ... doesn't usually flood until about November... The Hens aredeveloping webbed feet and the poor bees are flying in between drops of rain. Ivy still about 2 weeks off flowering - has done nothing in the last week.

 

[nantmoel]

No ... it all fell on us in Fareham ... I'm seriously considering building an Ark ! One allotment already flooded ... doesn't usually flood until about November... The Hens aredeveloping webbed feet and the poor bees are flying in between drops of rain. Ivy still about 2 weeks off flowering - has done nothing in the last week.

I drove from Gatwick yesterday about 13:00 and can through Farnham to spend the night at my daughters in Church Crookham - but god it rained! The M25 was terrible. Perhaps on my next visit I could pop an meet you.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Fareham not Farnham