What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Robbo8916]

Oh and as the nuc queen appears to have been mated later than the main hive queen, there was no sealed brood at all and so nicked a frame of sealed brood and whichever nurse bees survived my 'medium strength shake'.

That should give the nuc a boost and also gave the main hive a frame of pollen and some nectar from the nuc which they can sort out giving more space for the queen to lay. Both hives had plenty of stores so took the decision not to top up their feeders again and let them do some work now I know whats going on inside.

Greg decided that his fee for his services was to take the three queen cells that were in the main hive home and try to hatch one out and re-queen one of his colonies. We were both at a loss as to what on earth they were up to. He did keep going on about how beautiful my new HMs were.

Opened up some sealed drone brood, varroa count very minimal so all good there too.

Felt like an actual beekeeper today!

 

[Swarm]

Propolis paws.

 

[nantmoel]

Popped to see Obee1's bees whilst she is away on holidays, its not the first time I have been and looked through her bees! One hive that is well documented here on the forum was evil, really evil. In fact they continued to attack me whilst I was looking through the rest of the hives. HB flowering everywhere down her way, bees bringing in a fair amount of honey.

 

[REDWOOD]

checked a colony that I introduced a new queen last week and she's laying frames at a rate of knots

 

[gregior]

Went down with Robbo to check his 2 colonies to find both queens mated,clipped and marked them,one had sealed swarm cells in even though it was only on 3 frames of brood and had tons of space? Removed them and plonked them in my mating nuc just hope they didn't get chilled on the way home.

Checked all mine and was pretty pleased to see they are all very strong and not interested in swarming honey levels have been treading water for the last few weeks which isn't great during the main flow but considering how awful the weather has been i was reasonably satisfied.

The main flow plants around here (clover,bramble,rosebay and balsam) are all in flower now and look really healthy,especially the balsam which has been loving the monsoon like conditions.If the weather comes good over the next 3 weeks which the forecast models are hinting at then i could end up with a pretty decent crop.

 

[Goran]

These days night temps over 20C ( I think this night 22C), day temp over 30 ( today 37C).. I don't touch the bees, not only due to weather but..
Some beeks which are after sunflower honey say they are filling supers decently.. I am surrounded with forest, I only can expect honeydew these days, not that I am wishing it..

 

[B+.]

For many years, I have used push -in cages for the introduction of mated Queens but, having read many different views on the subject, I decided to try something different this year. I bought a number of cages from a German beekeeping supplier (I think they are called "Iltis" cages) to use instead.
They are very similar to the old Butler style but have a hinged wooden door and slip easily between two frames.
Well, I made up splits and used these cages to introduce a batch of test queens. The splits were quite irritated and were all over the cages so I thought I may have done the wrong thing. However, after leaving the cage closed overnight, I returned to replace the closed entrance with a fondant block so they could begin to release the queen. Their attitude was completely different. They were much calmer and seemed happy with their new Queens. Perhaps the secret to success is that we should just give them time to become accustomed to her.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

For many years, I have used push -in cages for the introduction of mated Queens but, having read many different views on the subject, I decided to try something different this year.

Do you ever use direct introduction, matchbox methods etc?

 

[B+.]

Do you ever use direct introduction, matchbox methods etc?

When time has been short or I didn't think I could return to the apiary to release the queen I have allowed queens (mated and virgins) to enter the hive directly but there is a huge risk that they will ball her so I usually observe their behaviour for a while (just as Michael Palmer shows on his video).
These were splits I had just made up though and they were clearly still missing their old Queen. I would usually use push-up cages in such instances, especially when the queens have some value and have come through the post.
The reason I thought this experience was noteworthy was because it was different from what I would normally do / recommend. It's like saying "when all you have in the toolbox is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail". I think we should all try different methods occasionally - who knows, even old dogs might learn new tricks ;-)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The splits were quite irritated and were all over the cages so I thought I may have done the wrong thing. However, after leaving the cage closed overnight, I returned to replace the closed entrance with a fondant block so they could begin to release the queen. Their attitude was completely different. They were much calmer and seemed happy with their new Queens. Perhaps the secret to success is that we should just give them time to become accustomed to her.

I use the JzBz cages - they come with a plastic cap to cover the candy, I leave it on for at least 24 hours before going in again, checking their temperament and, if happy, removing the cap.

 

[B+.]

I use the JzBz cages - they come with a plastic cap to cover the candy, I leave it on for at least 24 hours before going in again, checking their temperament and, if happy, removing the cap.

I have used Nicot cages with the same sort of features. The problem with all of these travelling cages is that the queen doesn't have direct access to the comb so she can come back into laying condition (which is why I recommend push-in cages instead). Clearly, they can all do the job in the right conditions

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Vapourised my new swarm earlier

 

[Robbo8916]

Vapourised my new swarm earlier

Sounds painful lol

 

[Erichalfbee]

Vapourised my new swarm earlier

Did you do a drop count? It would be interesting in the light of previous discussions about how diseased swarms can or cannot bee

 

[madasafish]

Inspected 7 x langs, 2 x TBH and 3 xNucs.

1 lang fed fondant.Rest OK.

Bringing in (lime?) nectar when it is not raining. Most appear to have now restarted brooding. The horrible colony has nearly filled two supers (1 Ritecell) and may need another but I'lll extract first and eventually requeen.

Queen rearing a dud due to the lack of food.

 

[Cussword]

Swapped a cedar hive for a poly.

 

[Robbo8916]

Balsam still hasn't burst open just yet but any day now it will. There are odd bits that are flowering but the main flow hasn't quite started yet.

Sat and watched the hives for a while. Tonnes of pollen coming in. More into the nuc than yesterday after giving them a frame of brood in all stages. Hopefully they will appreciate the boost in numbers until their new Queens recently laid eggs start hatching.

Will check on them at the weekend to make sure the main hive aren't building more swarm cells the little monsters! They have tonnes of room since I split them!

Still over the moon that I managed to end up with two laying queens!

 

[Motobiman]

Checked two new queens escaped into their new homes at the BKA apiary.

Both cages empty so will check at the weekend.

All appears well as both colonies pretty unconcerned at being disturbed.

 

[theeggman]

Balsam still hasn't burst open just yet but any day now it will. There are odd bits that are flowering but the main flow hasn't quite started yet.

Sat and watched the hives for a while. Tonnes of pollen coming in. More into the nuc than yesterday after giving them a frame of brood in all stages. Hopefully they will appreciate the boost in numbers until their new Queens recently laid eggs start hatching.

Will check on them at the weekend to make sure the main hive aren't building more swarm cells the little monsters! They have tonnes of room since I split them!

Still over the moon that I managed to end up with two laying queens!

To the world of bees Robbo and your non "stupid" dog, if he learns to keep his nose out of the entrance that is.

You've sussed out what it's all about, sit, watch and marvel at the little b'ggers. They've got "life" sorted and we chase to keep up with them.

 

[Robbo8916]

To the world of bees Robbo and your non "stupid" dog, if he learns to keep his nose out of the entrance that is.

You've sussed out what it's all about, sit, watch and marvel at the little b'ggers. They've got "life" sorted and we chase to keep up with them.

I sit and watch them frequently. The dog will learn, I am surprised he hasn't yet, he caught a bumble as a pup and got stung in the mouth. His whole face swelled up.

I agree very much that all we can do is try and keep up. They certainly don't read the books. All the books told me that my first year would go pretty smoothly.

Incorrect! I have lost a swarm, ended up with 12 queen cells in my hive. Followed some advice and split them into a nuc and the rest in the main hive. Somehow managed to raise two new queens who are now mated, caught, clipped and marked them. Removed queen cells for my friend to try and hatch in his mini nuc.

My main colony went from 6 to 3-4 frames of brood. Everything seems to have shrunk.

However, I do feel that now I will have the opportunity to really learn and master my craft and hopefully get these two colonies through the winter giving me a slightly better knowledge of how to deal with everything next year.

Still clueless as to why my main hive keep building swarm cells with such a beautiful new mated queen. Greg was baffled too. I await their next lesson...............