What did you do in the Apiary today?

[linoleum bonypart]

Amazed to see activity on the landing board at 1°c and very damp miserable day

 

[Finman]

Amazed to see activity on the landing board at 1°c and very damp miserable day

Only bird activity on entrance. -28C.

I will install a terrarium heater to the 4 frame nuc. I bought 40 m electrict wire.

 

[user 6228]

ally foil taped the roof joints on the hives after elaine check fondant usage.

 

[Tremyfro]

Checked all the varroa boards, except for Beehaus and nuc...will do those tomorrow. Only a few varroa on each board after 2 days....so either they are all in brood cells or I have low counts...the only board with a higher count was the buckfast hive on double brood....about 50 for 2 days drop....so I will do again after 5 days. One double brood colony had no varroa....it had a low count in the autumn too. This colony has shown chewed varroa and always has some on the board when I have them in...so perhaps they are dealing with enough to keep the count down.
I am pleased, on the whole, as for a beginner beekeeper, I am always a bit unsure of varroa controls. The vaping seems to be helping.
Also, got my Go Pro set up...yay....

 

[VEG]

going to check on mine in the morning

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Tremyfo that's maybe the hive to use mainly for increases then

 

[Tremyfro]

Tremyfo that's maybe the hive to use mainly for increases then

In truth they were all very low except for the Buckfast.
The hive which had no varroa....is not the colony that I like so much. It is more feisty ....though compared to other people's bees...they are fairly gentle and quiet. They have got better as the hive has got larger. So there was a stay of execution....well not death of course...but selling. This year they are going into a Beehaus...so it is easier to manage the double brood without lifting brood boxes and splitting the brood when inspecting. I did sell a colony from an over wintered nuc from this hive and the new owner is very pleased with them.
The increase I made last year was from my carniolan queen. I have been really pleased with those colonies.
I am unsure about making nucs this year....have to see what the spring weather is like...getting queens well mated was a problem last year.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Vaped another two apiaries. Had a look inside two nucs, a few minutes after vaping
I find bees are still disorientated enough, that is gives you a few seconds of just having enough time to lift out a a frame or two(if weather still warm enough, guess what, it was). Found capped brood in both nucs, but no open brood,. Disappointed that queens are still laying but she does seem to be slowing right down. Will have to repeat in a few days time, as i know my infestations are high!!
Good populations in my production colonies, large roars as the oxalic acid sublimates in to the colony.
Moved 8 hives this evening, all very heavy, so i am pleased at that, with colder weather on the way, its reassuring. bedtime, knackered!!

 

[Tremyfro]

Checked the nuc and Beehaus varroa boards today...nuc has only a couple but the Beehaus had quite a few...so will be revaping them next week. I guess most of my colonies have brood in them. So I might do them all again next week. These little critters may have been hiding!

 

[Martley]

Low Stores

After a week at work cleaning up flood damage, took advantage of a brief break in the wet weather for a quick hive check.
Both hives now hefting light - fondant slapped on.
Some minor bird? damage to one hive cosy.
Snow forecast for next week. Sigh... Roll on spring

 

[Dadnlad]

Hefted earlier in the week and three were worryingly light, so with proper winter hopefully approaching we put fondant on all of them in the rain this afternoon

 

[Goran]

Over Wednesday/Thursday night it poured snow like mad ( I believe just for that night it has fallen new additional 25-30cm of snow). Today I went to the apiaries, bees collecting hazel pollen. Warm southern wind melted snow almost completelly. In shade still has some snow. Water in streams is running down the hill, you can hear rumour of raging water streams through forest.. Also deteriorating my road even further.. Soon I fear won't be able to go on foot last 500 meters.. Landslide also threaten to close it..
In the valley oposite picture, all still in white, slower melting. Despite that on the hills I believe was higher snow cover..
Today was 10-11celsius day temp.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

went up and vaped the Carreg hives - not a peep out of any of them, nicely clustered and no sign of them getting short of stores
Discovered that the bucket I'd brought with me for cooling the varrox had a hole in the bottom luckily I had brought plenty of water and there were a few empty plastic cans up there and I've always followed my grandfather's advice (as well as years of working at sea) 'Always have a good knife in your pocket'

 

[madasafish]

Went out this pm in a cold wind and hefted all hives.
None light enough to worry about - one will need fondant in next 3-4 weeks.
Bees active under clear crownboards/clear cover on crownboard holes.


Benefits of insulating covers - no condensation on crown boards.

After 10 minutes, I was cold. Wind and 3C .

 

[nantmoel]

went up and vaped the Carreg hives - not a peep out of any of them, nicely clustered and no sign of them getting short of stores
Discovered that the bucket I'd brought with me for cooling the varrox had a hole in the bottom luckily I had brought plenty of water and there were a few empty plastic cans up there and I've always followed my grandfather's advice (as well as years of working at sea) 'Always have a good knife in your pocket'

There's a hole in my bucket dear Lizzer! lol - Why cool it? To take it home?

 

[Swarm]

There's a hole in my bucket dear Lizzer! lol - Why cool it? To take it home?

Never used one but I reckon for safety, to stop the next treatment starting to vapourise as you add it?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Never used one but I reckon for safety, to stop the next treatment starting to vapourise as you add it?

spot on - the pan is hot enough to sublimate the crystals for quite a while after you switch it off - I've watched it still going great guns three minutes after, so if you have got a load to do, it's take it out from one hive, quick dip in water as you use the other hand to move the metal tray to the next hive, lid off your pre-measured pot of crystals, tip it into the varrox, slip it under, foam in, power on, done - I did forget the cooling bit once back in September and it flashed straight away!
I also reckon this is the highest risk time for getting a gobful of OA dust as quite a bit collects on the tray - lucky for long beards I say

 

[Millet]

went up and vaped the Carreg hives - not a peep out of any of them, nicely clustered and no sign of them getting short of stores
Discovered that the bucket I'd brought with me for cooling the varrox had a hole in the bottom luckily I had brought plenty of water and there were a few empty plastic cans up there and I've always followed my grandfather's advice (as well as years of working at sea) 'Always have a good knife in your pocket'

I dare not carry one these days as it can be an offense .
On the gassing subject and through various experiments ( probably pointless) i have concluded that it is best to keep the pan as hot as possible in-between gassing, not too hot but hot enough to fire the lethal chemical up pretty quick once the battery is reattached in-between gassing as it speeds it up and saves battery life. ?

 

[MikeT]

Treated all 5 hives with Oxalic acid, I was surprised at how the stores had depleted, non were low but the lightest 3 I gave a pack of fondant. I also put a sheet of Celotex on each hive, I was given this by a builder friend should be better than the old bed spreads I used last winter.
Cleaned all the inspection boards, so I can check on the drop later in the week.

Stacked my Thorne's supplies in the bee shed, plenty of work for later in the month making frames and putting the hive parts together.

Mike

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I dare not carry one these days as it can be an offense .

It is only an offence in certain circumstances - much too much blather has been spoken about carrying knives, the guidelines are pretty straightforward.Just use a bit of common sense - if you walk into a nightclub with even a fruit knife then all bets are off even the derogations for small pocket knives.

On the gassing subject and through various experiments ( probably pointless) i have concluded that it is best to keep the pan as hot as possible in-between gassing,

Unless you are kitted out with the full face mask etc. is it worth the risk? two and a half grams of the stuff sublimates totally in two and a half minutes from cold, and given the two further minutes you should leave it before removing, unless your battery is on the last dregs there's no problem