What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Michael Palmer]

All kicking off really, too much to do. Ohh and small swarm from my brood factories in lovely conditions.
Its great to be working bees again.!!!

Not too far behind you Richard. Setting up my first cell builder on May 9. Now, it's transferring nucs to shipping boxes. Another hundred to go...when it stops raining that is.

 

[Sadders]

I took my dad to the apiary for the first time.

 

[Eyeman]

Thanks MasterBK
Didn't think mice chopped the heads off the bees and ate the abdomens? Maybe it was team work,

 

[pargyle]

Lovely day here today and apart from a bit of rain coming through tomorrow the rest of the week is high pressure and building up to (potentially) 20 degrees next weekend - so, bees flying strongly, lots of pollen going in and it seemed the right day for a first inspection.

My overwintered nuc was wall to wall brood (that was the compost bin cut out last year) so really pleased with them. Moved them into my Paynes modified nuc to give them another three frames - will probably give them a couple of litres of 1:1 to get them building out the empty frames - Give them a few weeks and I reckon they will need a full size hive.

The other five hives had mixed levels of brood - plenty of bees - all of them had lots of drone cells ...but all had worker brood as well so it's much as I would expect at this time of the year - I don't interfere with their drone production and they are all foundationless so if that's what the want then that's what they can have.

Only one colony gave me a bit of conceren - rather a high percentage of drone cells - there was worker brood there as well but with two and a half frame sides of drone cells - wall to wall - I'm a little concerned that the queen might not be firing on all four cylinders - she was the result of an A/S from last year and took ages to start laying - indeed, there was a point where I thought she was a dud and then took me by surprise by suddenly laying up three frames - so, she's got a couple of weeks and if the drone percentage doesn't improve ... might be time for a change. Oddly, there were 3 frames of nectar/capped honey and another two of mainly pollen in there so they are producing ... I put a super on.

The other colonies were much as I expected - no disease, no queen cells (breath easy !) and the bees were very accommodating .. had to use a little smoke to get one colony down off the top bars when I closed them up .. that was a bit unusual .. but no agression from them at all.

So ... mostly good news and confirms that I was right to leave them alone until now .. could probably have left them a bit longer but with the weather fine for the week ahead they have time to recover from my meddling.

 

[kazmcc]

I took my dad to the apiary for the first time.

How lovely! What did he think?

 

[Sadders]

How lovely! What did he think?

He did ok. Was calm and good around the bees.

Had to repeat things several times as his memory is not what it was but that's ok.

He quite enjoyed it. Would have liked to had some more time to watch the bees come and go, and a chair for him.

Gave him the smoker so he had something to do.

Bumped into @meswellmetro which was also good.

Nice day.

 

[Bee Bumble]

Added supers so all the hives are now ready for the warmer weather (which began today - 16c sunny and almost calm).

 

[Obee1]

Removed a queen 10 days ago from a strong hive to get some emergency QC's. The Q went into an Apidea with starter strips and 300 of her workers. Today all frames in Apidea nearly drawn and plenty of eggs & larvae. I harvested 8 QC's from the queen less hive which went into incubator and the Q from the Apidea went back to her original hive. Job done. When the first virgin emerges in my incubator she will go into this apidea, any others will have new Apideas.
In a further 10 days time this original strong hive will pretty much have zero sealed brood so will have OA sublimation.
By combining QC production (emergency) with brood breaks you can create an environment that ideal for getting mite levels down. It's nice and simple for small scale QC production.

When returning your original queen after her sojourn to the apidea how do you reintroduce her?

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's very similar to Wally Shaw's modified snelgrove, in principle where the queen is absent for a week. In that case you just pick her up and pop her into her original hive.

 

[Eyeman]

As EricA said once all the QCs have been harvested you just let the old queen run in to the hive.
Will be removing the queens from 2 more hives this Wednesday to produce some more emergency queen cells and then OAV. Will be notching the frames this time to see if I can get them to build emergence QC's where I want them rather than where the bees want them. I try and take some pictures.

 

[Eyeman]

The other five hives had mixed levels of brood - plenty of bees - all of them had lots of drone cells ...but all had worker brood as well so it's much as I would expect at this time of the year - I don't interfere with their drone production and they are all foundationless so if that's what the want then that's what they can have.

Hi Pargyle
Do you pre wire or fishing line your foundationless brood frames? Do you keep empty drawn brood frames over winter to use for the spring build up?

 

[pargyle]

Hi Pargyle
Do you pre wire or fishing line your foundationless brood frames? Do you keep empty drawn brood frames over winter to use for the spring build up?

I use stainless steel wire (ebay from China - cheap as chips) and wire them three wires horizontally. My beekeeping is still expanding so I'm rarely in the position of having spare brood frames to carry over ... they draw out foundationless frames at the same rate as they draw out foundation so I don't worry too much.

I don't wire super frames - although they are also foundationless and I do keep them overwinter for re-use - a very valuable commodity.

 

[Cussword]

As EricA said once all the QCs have been harvested you just let the old queen run in to the hive.
Will be removing the queens from 2 more hives this Wednesday to produce some more emergency queen cells and then OAV. Will be notching the frames this time to see if I can get them to build emergence QC's where I want them rather than where the bees want them. I try and take some pictures.

Notching frames?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Notching frames?

using a hive tool you make a notch in the comb below the cells you want the bees to make QC's from, creating a space so they can extend them straight down like supersedure cells rather than out and down like the usual emergency QC's

 

[Cussword]

Right, makes perfect sense when explained. Thanks.

 

[nantmoel]

After a really damp morning and days and days of rain, sleet and snow, it finally brightened up this afternoon to take a look at our bees in the garden. What surprises me is the amount of stores they consume this tim elf year when rearing brood. They have not been able to forage for about 5 days, they are all going like crazy now. No signs of swarming, plenty of drone brood appearing. Still got feeders on three Nucs, however one seems to be ignoring it.

Cherry blossom is only just breaking here, Sycamore flowers are also making good progress, we must be three weeks at least later this year.

Will have to find time to look at the other 5 this week.

 

[REDWOOD]

Managed to inspect hives at one apiary, no swarm signs yet although it won't be long with one hive on 10 frames of brood (14x12). took my first sting of the year and need to get a few more to know the season is well on it's way

 

[nantmoel]

Managed to inspect hives at one apiary, no swarm signs yet although it won't be long with one hive on 10 frames of brood (14x12). took my first sting of the year and need to get a few more to know the season is well on it's way

Took one to the forehead last week! I looked like 'Herman Munster' for 5 days, also took two whilst inspecting on my upper arm through my suit, they were OK.

 

[Millet]

Took one to the forehead last week! I looked like 'Herman Munster' for 5 days, also took two whilst inspecting on my upper arm through my suit, they were OK.

How are the stings getting through, i double layer , i see them stinging my suit and gloves on occasions but my skin never gets touched.

 

[Robbo8916]

Had a lovely chat with hedgehog66 on the phone (albeit brief) and arranged what/when and where is happening on either Wednesday or Thursday for my ladies to arrive!

Either 2 or 3 more sleeps and they're here!!!!!!!

Finally got to looking through my Thornes delivery which arrived n Sat as I have been so busy with work. Everything in tip top condition.

It has come around so fast!

Now I am scared..........I am going it alone as my 'mentor' and I had differences of opinion (not bee related) so I have no choice as I had already agreed a date etc and paid for my bees.

So I am relying on the 5 or so years of theory and practical experience and this forum to guide me through. Although I am sure Kath won't mind me bugging her from time to time!

Aiming to split in late May/early June as I am not after a honey crop as such this year.

Oh Lord I am probably panicking for no reason.......