What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Tremyfro]

Gate? A pallet and some baler twine required!

Ha ha.....I can just see me trying to move a pallet...we only have those heavy duty ones! We still have the original gate...so I could cut the wire and insert the gate...good old binder twine will secure. However...if I wait until OH has fixed the sprayer to my little trailer....I can go spraying whilst he fixes the gate....lookout docks...I'm on the warpath!

 

[Goran]

Bees still calm. One colony show intention for swarming, 14 frames of brood. Next week when they seal qcells will split ( 2Fof Brood+2F of Food and queen).. Queen from 2014. Black ash still seducing with its smell and bees attend its flowers. Rain and cold is coming this evening..
Soon will have to plan extraction before black locust ( if black locust flowers survive cold). Will see..

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Varroosis alert

So my @Hivemaker. -Q led colony that I was worried about had extreme varroosis; nothing wrong with the Q, that's for sure. But I had thought I was on top of treatments etc. and the warm winter obviously messed it up. I have taken extreme measures and hopefully saved the Q. (100% brood sacrifice, swapped position with a strong nuc and vaped OA.)

 

[MuswellMetro]

well fools go in where beekeepers fear to tread

lifted a few crown boards but did not inspect brood or frames just to add supers as the hives are close to flowering OSR, the temp was 12c

As we were about to go home when i found one that we forgotten to bruise the ivy frames and the records said it still had four 14x12 frames full of ivy. The temp was still 12c but the hive was in direct sunlight, so we did a quick bruise of two frames and added a super. BUT in doing so we saw a large charged Queen cell...ahhh, we found about four live QC charge and surprisingly ten chilled and abandoned brown larva Queen cells at the bottom of the brood frames (? low overnight temp)...back tomorrow to sought it out

So we decided to give the last hive a quick inspection as it was large and had two supers one being capped)....OMG, we found it was on 9 frames of 14x12 brood , 30 charged Queen cells and snow is forecast tomorrow!!!! What do the bees think they are doing!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

What do the bees think they are doing!

Swarming.

 

[birdsandbees]

Swarming.

you're not wrong!

 

[Cussword]

Swarming.

That's just mean.

.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The first non forum cuckoo of spring

spent all morning in my shirtsleeves in the glorious sunshine finishing a job I started yesterday - painting all my poly nucs - safer in the apiary as (as with marriage in general) didn't want SWMBO seeing all my kit out on display. Bees were bringing in shovelfuls of pollen both willow and dandelion (handy being the councillor in charge of the pollinator project - verges are awash with carpets of dandelions this year ) and the cuckoo was singing his heart out up on the Garn - I thought I'd heard him yesterday but I was stood between SWMBO and her grandmother at the time so my ears were ringing a bit.

 

[Hachi]

Just popped up to my bees in the corner of a field expecting them to have demised over the winter to find all 3 hives giving it maxi revs...... so much for reducing hives this year to fit in with the day job...... Still, it looks like I'm getting the hang of this beekeeping lark at last.....

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Placed the two bait hives put together yesterday. Peeked under crown board of a colony I'd given a super to (brood a plenty and nearby OSR) and glad to see it was being filled.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Getting out the feeders, bees cant fly its too cold, nothing coming in. Tons of pollen in the frames to will feed a little to keep them going until it warms up next week, or so were told!!
Making up all my swarm traps, they all need to be out this coming week. a few swarms have bees seen last week.

 

[Dadnlad]

Sorted out some smelly old brood comb whilst too cold for the bees to fly, so both bait hives now deployed - fingers crossed

Sold the last 20 jars of 2015 honey since Wednesday, forgot to keep any back for ourselves so had a quiet word with the girls to pull their fingers out

 

[snelgrove]

just visited one site where hardly a bee flying, had added a couple of supers of foundation last week, peeked under coverboard, started to build comb but now retreated to brood chamber with the cold.

 

[madasafish]

5C and raining. Quite a lot of bees flying.
Found dead bee feet up on my cold frame roof. Picked it up and went into the greenhouse with it - righted - in my hand. After 10 minutes it flew away - I opened the door for it... Ungrateful thing.

 

[REDWOOD]

Up at 7:00 made feed, made Bb and 11 frames, apiary visit, Baileyed a hive with wild comb, added supers to two more hives. Bees were packing in the pollen and quite a bit of fresh nectar capped. Definitely T shirt weather here today.

 

[Frenchie]

What height have you put your bait hives? I was told to put them about 3 mtrs high, but of the dozen or so swarms I have collected over the years only one has been above 8'.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

of the dozen or so swarms I have collected over the years only one has been above 8'.

there's a difference between a swarm clustered waiting to decide on where to live and the 'ideal home' for a colony

 

[beeno]

Glorious sunshine so far this morning, so hopefully it will be a bit warmer than forecast...

 

[Dadnlad]

What height have you put your bait hives? I was told to put them about 3 mtrs high, but of the dozen or so swarms I have collected over the years only one has been above 8'.

Both at 6-8'

Likewise, steps are fine, but life's too short to be clambering up ladders for swarms

 

[BeeJayBee]

Glorious sunshine so far this morning, so hopefully it will be a bit warmer than forecast...

I'd hoped today would be warmer too, but the layer of hailstones currently covering the ground spoiled all that.