What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Swarm]

It's the part they don't mention to beginners, I've seen them look quite horrified when I say they just have to get on and get wet and suffer any indignation from the bees.

 

[B+.]

Preparing nuclei for 10 I.B. Celle test queens which arrived yesterday (http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=751&pictureid=3743).

Also preparing Apidea for another 30 daughters of 6-1-1037-2015 which looks like the best of the colonies I have tested this year. Some will be open mated for use as drone mothers next year and others will be instrumentally inseminated for further testing.

I also expect to receive some of the new Dutch line (instrumentally inseminated because the weather on Vlieland was too bad for queens to mate successfully) towards the end of the week. Then some of VSH carnica from Arista Bee Research (https://aristabeeresearch.org/) in August. I intend to extend the testing for hygienic behaviour to include the VSH protocols next year

 

[Anduril]

No need to avoid inspections because it is raining... wear some weatherproof clothing and use use an umbrella over the hive.

Anyone tried the pop up shower/toilet/changing room tents between £20-£40, height 2 metres by 120cm length by 120cm wide, bit of a tight fit but doable.

 

[Swarm]

Fishing umbrella and a mate to hold it is far easier.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Arrived home to find a large swarm has moved into a bait hive on the shed roof today....yessss!
Still a lot of scout activity around 3 other bait hives.....here's hoping for some casts.
Plus seen the first ghost bees returning with the 'balsam backs' this evening. The hives in the garden are humming......lovely

 

[madasafish]

Moved Q raising frame form Q- hive to Q+ for raising. In the rain .Added fondant to weak hive with minimal stores. In the rain.

Umbrellas are for wimps..

(My umbrella ia ex BMW and is 23 years old. I am sure the BMW I acquired with it is now scrap but the umbrella is perfectly serviceable. They don't make them like they used to.)

 

[JWF]

Got stung just under my eye when I was just popping something back in the greenhouse. I'll be generous and assume that the blustery wind blew her into me, rather than her specifically targeting me.

Ironically, I had made a comment earlier in the day to my wife saying how lucky we'd been not to have had any aggressive colonies so far lol.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Out late tonight moving swarms from their various swarm trap places. What a lot of work this year. Certainly not complaining though I love being out late evening in this lovely weather. Its been my best years for swarm trapping ever. caught more swarms in less places trapped. Up to 22 now!!
One place has given me 4 swarms of differing sizes since mid May.
The problem i always find is when you come to move them , its already 22:30 before they stop flying and then their draped over the front of the box. The other problem is also the flow we have is so strong, that a 5 frame trap with a big swarm in ,is filled in three days!! then they stop building so i really try to move them and give them more space as soon as i can!! knackered!!! but its only a short period, three weeks and it will all be over!!

 

[Motobiman]

One place has given me 4 swarms of differing sizes since mid May.
The problem i always find is when you come to move them , its already 22:30 before they stop flying and then their draped over the front of the box!

Wow that sounds like the greatest fun.

Would one of those garden popup dead leave thingies help?

I gave a hand at one for the BKA and the guy placed the whole trap into a bigger cardboard box supplied by the house holder, with the hangers on still hanging on.

Not exactly in the apirary but I painted two new poly hives . . . . .

 

[Plenty of honey]

Wow that sounds like the greatest fun.

Would one of those garden popup dead leave thingies help?

I gave a hand at one for the BKA and the guy placed the whole trap into a bigger cardboard box supplied by the house holder, with the hangers on still hanging on.

Not exactly in the apirary but I painted two new poly hives . . . . .

Dont know, its a temperature thing too!! what i do occasionally is if i know i cant come for two of three days and i know its a biggy, I bring a 10 framer to the swarm site, but this only works on a low level trap. Trying to move heavy hive as opposed to a nice small 5 framed is a challenge and dangerous!! Nuc is easier even if its heavy, if you sling it over your shoulder and hold on the ladder with the other hand. With a hive, its impossible!

If their on the front i use foam and sometimes pick a moment when their all in pushing range and use the foam rectangle strip to push then all back in in a swift swoop!! you get the odd sting but it works!! the trouble with fitting metal doors is generally its a bit fiddly and you need to move very quickly before the rest come at you. Were dealing with AMM here, feisty little darlings!!
Also metal doors with ventilation holes aren't that good. Bees stick their antenna through the tiny holes and after a while they get damaged. Foam blocks this all off and always gives a good fit!!
It is good fun , Yes indeed!! however property owners give me the curtain twitching regularly, "wtf is he doing", its 10:45, they just dont know about the flying habits of bees!!! You can imagine its pretty quiet around most of the Brittany countryside so they get a bit worried your looking for scrap metal. hence got some stickers for the side of the truck, Big words that say in french, "Live well, Eat honey!! they know its me now!!

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=13320&stc=1&d=1468144797

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Wonders what .... WTF is in French .....hehe

 

[Motobiman]

Only tried it once and it worked well.

Very near where the swarm settled, lay out a single bed sheet with the corners pegged down and put the swarm box on top and shake some of the bees onto it at the front.

Later, even if some bees are still outside, the corners can be picked up and the top tied up with string so most of the stragglers are collected too.

Keeping the sheet pulled out away from the front of the box when transporting it helped too.

 

[Cussword]

I do the same with netting .


.

 

[Erichalfbee]

4 weeks after expecting to do an AS but instead finding the queen not swarmed but dead on the landing board we found the new queen today
Big and fat and very ginger, right in the middle of a patch of eggs......
So so docile, they hardly moved in the drizzle.
Wonderful Buckies from Pete

 

[Swarm]

Added some supers to a couple of hives. Mixed reception, one lot grateful, the others were less happy and were up in the air in force. Rotated more frames in the demarree, mucho bees but all little darlings. Nice to see some nectar coming in but not lots by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[taurus]

I made up a nuc of frames of BIAS and stores and it was time to check for eggs - but sadly none to be seen. Plenty of bees, very calm, loads of pollen and honey. Just not a single egg.

The weather hasn't been brilliant so maybe she's just a bit later than expected. My mentor suggested I add a frame of eggs to see what they do with it, so that's what I've done and will check at the end of the week.

They are incredibly good natured, I was picking raspberries within a few inches of the entrance and they just ignored my presence.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

1st April 2012, 12:06 PM

Please Stop

Don't ask me why but I do not like this thread its too big could someone please stop it and start a new one so today means at least this month.

Err. No.

 

[Cussword]

Wow, where you dig that up?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Adventures in Q incubating

Never say "die". I grafted on Sunday 26 June, so emergence due about Saturday.

I have got fed up with Apideas neglecting sealed QCs. So as an experiment I put four of the sealed cells in my honey melter / solar melter adapted as an incubator. Dead as a doornail as I thought: one dead larva. Then one dead, fully formed Q. Progress of a sort. Spotted a hinged lid. Blimey! No sign of the murderess though. Fourth of four was a live, beautiful, virgin I pulled and promptly made up an Apidea for. Wow; that's a lesson learnt. I can do this stuff, even if these timings seem a bit more flexible than I had been led to believe (she was unemerged at day 18.5 minimum).

So future plan is: graft to top of strong Demareed colony. Insert split board as cells are sealed so as to prevent any swarming. Take sealed cells to incubator in lids of separate jars with smear of food. Wait to emerge, or pull, then throw straight into freshly made-up Apidea.

 

[Robbo8916]

It was with bated breath that the day had arrived to check the result of my post-swarm split!

So I went down to the garden with Gregior to see what disastrous result had befallen my bees. I really wasn't expecting much. Main hive opened up, Greg saw queen cells, I wanted to cry. But then he spotted eggs!

Anyway to cut a long story short. Ended up catching, clipping and marking TWO beautiful new mated queens!

My first year, lost a swarm, created a nuc with queen cells, having no idea what I am doing. Ended up as a two colony owner with two beautiful new queens! I know I have marked them blue but as it is only for my reference it doesn't really matter