What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Plenty of honey]

Here too I think. Took 15,000 lbs from 4 yards of 24 in the last 3 days. 60 drums filled so far, the hot room is full, and 7 more yards to go.

"I got blisters on my fingers"

Nice, Great news!! do you think you will break last years record?

 

[Brigsy]

I did see tongues out. I didn't check all though. I guess I will see what tomorrow brings. It has affected both my two colonies yes.

 

[Brigsy]

I shall do my homework on the virus.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Chronic bee paralysis virus.
Any crop sprying around with you? or just some daft gardener obsessed with spraying his roses?

 

[pargyle]

Regarding what I thought was robbing bees due to the dead bees outside one hive and dead and dying bees being spat out of the entrance at a rate of knots sometimes being dragged.

There were also a lot of walking bees around the apiary.

I tried the wet sheet over the hives overnight and awoke to an apocalyptic scene outside the hive that was not spewing dead bees.

I went into the other hive that I thought was being robbed and found the bottom screen about an inch deep in dead and dying bees.

Now I am wondering if they have been poisoned.

It doesn't sound like robbing to me ... if you have strong hives then it's really not usual for them to be robbed ...but if you have removed a queen it can precipitate a lack of focus in the colony almost instantly and it seems opportunist bees from hives close by recognise the headless chicken syndrome in the queenless hive and it can result in robbing starting - and once it starts it very quickly escalates.

The wet sheet is not for putting on the hive overnight ... the idea is that you put it on during the time when the hive is being robbed and leave it on.. There should be a gap somewhere below the entrance but above the floor so the bees in the colony can find their way in and out. The robbers tend to cluster on the sheet around the entrance but seem unable to find their way in whilst the colony being robbed seems to manage to find their way in and out. The sheet needs to be wet to keep the hive cool and reduce the smell of the honey in the hive.

But ... I'm with JBM - unless you've caused carnage by suffocating the bees or there has been a real robbing frenzy and what you are seeing is the result of that ... you might have to look for another cause.

 

[Brigsy]

Thank so much for the help and ideas.

For what it's worth I made sure to leave a gap and attempted to keep the sheets wet in that hot weather. I didn't notice any bees clustering where the entrance would have been. They seemed to react quickly and were making there way through the gap at the bottom.

 

[pargyle]

I shall do my homework on the virus.

Beebase is a good place to start:

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=275&video=03

 

[Brigsy]

Thanks. I have found Hoopers section as well in his book.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

You are only using one bar per hive, half a pack??

Thanks Snelgrove, yes just one bar per hive. The others are all fine, business as usual, just this one hive that seems to object. I've used Apilife Var before and never had bearding like this colony is doing. It's not in the sun or any stronger in numbers than the others, just one of those things I guess. At least it seems to be working well.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Nice, Great news!! do you think you will break last years record?

Yes, by several tons

 

[chrisb]

Yes, by several tons

I like good news

 

[B+.]

Yes, by several tons

Unfortunately, when you have a good year, other people tend to have a good year too. This makes the price fall (supply and demand) so you often don't benefit much. Any sign of this happening?

 

[Michael Palmer]

Not from my customers. Still at $2.50/lb in drums and $3.00 in pails.

I'm glad I'm not keeping bees in Canada. Prices are in the gutter because of foreign imports and adulterated trans-shipped honey coming from overseas. I spell overseas...CHINA

 

[Brigsy]

Update on my carnage:

No dead bees outside the colonies this morning and no walking bees with K wings etc

My Brood and a half that I took two supers off yesterday is bursting with bees, banging their heads on the top half brood. BIAS but no queen sighting. Bees were of different character to usual and quite runny. Possibly queenless. Will check back in a few days. This is after clearing up several dustpans of dead bees yesterday from outside.

The other, that I originally thought was being robbed and had inches of dead bees inside, has much less activity, and as I took the tab off a queen introduction cage last night, I'm going to leave them alone for 9-10 days.

As for my extraction......

On reflection, what I thought was robbing and fighting from this colony was possibly just the removal of dead and dying bees from within. So, without walking bees and dead being removed, maybe poisoning was the cause.

I've put some of the uncapped frames from both supers and made one super that I have given them for space and there is lots of forage still coming in. I've put a crown board with a hole in above and wet frames above that,

 

[madasafish]

Vaped all hives again at 9am. Sweating away..Two treatments done, 2 to go.

 

[Levitt53]

Fiirst year beekeeping. Two hives since May. Today I saw a queen for the first time. She was just there as plain as day. Not being shy and running away. I can't believe now that I've never seen her.

 

[Helen]

Watched a colony get really active ... loads of bees flying around the entrance. Surely, not a swarm! Nope ... seemed like they were having a major clear-out and were throwing out all the drones. They were ruthless in their task!

 

[JWF]

Mine were so busy today that you would have been mistaken for thinking it was the beginning of July.

Supers off and extracted yesterday, roughly 110lb altogether. Some supers back on today to give them a bit more room mainly, but also because there is still a flow on from somewhere and I don't want the BBs to get clogged with honey.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Took advantage of the good weather to paint up some nucs acquired in the Maisie's sale before putting away for the winter - rather than wait until spring and not getting a chance as they'll be in use. Went to check the hives at carreg - they're still piling it in up there and some hives needed supering - one is this year's nuc not long hived but the queen running out of laying space due to the amount of stores in the brood.Think it will be another fortnight before I extract at this rate.

 

[gregior]

Up at the crack of dawn to cut some lovely balsam comb for today's market ,got 15 pieces off 3 shallow frames,had sold them all within the 1st hour of the market! People were super impressed by the fact the comb was still warm from the hive.

Still a big balsam flow on round here.