What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

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

We were promised dry. It rained.

Never mind we'll have BBQ summers promised the Met Office. They have a supercomputer to organise excuses.

 

[Minxpinx]

Just checked varroa drop in the hives I treated yesterday - 1 has 100 ish and the other 2 around 50

 

[Tremyfro]

Just checked varroa drop in the hives I treated yesterday - 1 has 100 ish and the other 2 around 50

Are you pleased?

 

[For want of a better word]

Fareham not Farnham

That's SatNav for you!!!

Mytten da

 

[nantmoel]

Checked our suicide hive that have raised yet another queen, she's laying and has been for a few days. Because they have been hell bent on 'removing' their queens all summer (even an Exmoor Bucky) after about a month in all cases, this was their last chance. They have dwindled down to about 5 frames of bees and with the frame of brood I gave them a few weeks ago now all emerging I was thinking of moving them into a Nuc. What are other beeks thoughts on doing this? Advice please.

 

[Minxpinx]

Are you pleased?

Yes! Last year I lost a colony to varroa, in comparison this is a very small drop.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Checked our suicide hive that have raised yet another queen, she's laying and has been for a few days. Because they have been hell bent on 'removing' their queens all summer (even an Exmoor Bucky) after about a month in all cases, this was their last chance. They have dwindled down to about 5 frames of bees and with the frame of brood I gave them a few weeks ago now all emerging I was thinking of moving them into a Nuc. What are other beeks thoughts on doing this? Advice please.

Yes......that's what I would do......a poly nuc.
I've had a suicide hive too. They went through three queens and two unites.
They are on their last chance too with a final unite with a bait hive swarm.

 

[beeno]

Hi nantmoel and Erica,
I should imagine that both colonies will be dead by February next year. Let me know the result in due course. Thanks

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well I might just bookmark your reply, you optimistic person and put it in my diary for mid April next year.

 

[nantmoel]

Hi nantmoel and Erica,
I should imagine that both colonies will be dead by February next year. Let me know the result in due course. Thanks

Moving to a Nuc is not doom and gloom for any small colony, its a way of managing the space they have for winter, smaller there space the warmer they can maintain the hive. In fact a well managed Nuc will come through the winter better than some full colonies, they can also build up rapidly when given more space in the spring.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Finished apilife var applications, a couple of hives had a decent drop so will be lined up for oxalic this winter. Glad to see some brood in all three hives, if not very much in two of them. Hopefully their queens will get back in the groove

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Lovely to see the 'egg yolk yellow' ivy pollen piling in to the hives and smell the distinct smell of ivy honey ripening in the apiary. Took a look at my 4 weakest hives. Two have had a severe varroa infestation and the other two are queenless (....to pinch another's phrase, one suicidally so!). They are all coming to the end of Apilife Var this weekend so I will be doing some uniting....I have a question about this but will start another thread.......

 

[beeno]

Well I might just bookmark your reply, you optimistic person and put it in my diary for mid April next year.

I would appreciate it as I have made a point of not faffing around with continuous supersedures.

 

[Goran]

Yesterday I heard two beeks considering to go "seriously" at large in queen rearing. When other beek asked did they have plan and material for it ( queen mother lines and drone mother lines) they where surprised - why?
They think just take queen which they think might be good at the moment - without at least several years of observing and roll on..
I wish I have their brain for a week to relax..

Still warm here 35celsius, tonight might be some rain. But I don't believe much to weather forecast..

 

[einsteinagogo]

Hungry bees!

Quick check on Apideas, after a top up of fondant yesterday (0.7l) replaced the inner feeders with a full feeder full of fondant, checked today and half the fondant has been eaten!

I'll monitor food carefully, and may expand the brood chambers, and add a feeder, I have spare drawn frames!

 

[kazmcc]

Another lovely day at Dusty's apiary. Just making sure they are all ready and well going into winter. Hive 2 (my bees ) as quite as ever. They are that quiet, you can barely hear them buzz! Filling up the brood box nicely for winter, frames very heavy now. I'm going to miss them when we close them up for winter. I have learned so much this year!

 

[victor meldrew]

I'm glad you're back in the swim beautiful day here, bees working very well, plenty of bright orange pollen going in , I think they have found the Ivy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[bontbee]

I had a wonderful surprise at one of the out-apiaries yesterday. Supers (some deep!) stuffed with glorious heather. I was grinning from 'ere to 'ere as I struggled to take the boxes off and stagger to the car with them...
What heroic little bees
But, as ITLD has mentioned on here that heather is heavy work for them, is there anything I can do, now, to give them a bit of support?

And how do I get the stuff out of the comb...though I have put that question on http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35159 if anyone has a suggestion that doesn't cost a lot of money... (Perhaps I could persuade the association to splash out...)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They've been going mad on the heather around here - nearest apiary to the heather is 1.9 miles away and they producd a fair amount - managed to extract some of it tangentially but the remainder has stayed on - not quite ripe amyway. I reckon one apiary is three to four miles from the heather but they managed to bring quite a bit in.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I think I smelt ivy.