What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Otleybee]

Oxalic acid treatment done. I decided it was necessary after a larger than expected mite drop in Spetember when I treated with Apiguard. No big deal really. Some of them were not too impressed but I was in and out in less than two minutes per hive. Lots of stores left and all three hives over about 5 seams of bees.

It is very mild here today so they were busy bringing out the dead!

 

[VEG]

Waiting for a dry day to do the OA and give them some fondant as well.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Oxalic done and all colonies looking quite healthy.

Unfortunately I recieved a SMS message just beofer opening the first hive, so stepped away to unzip the beesuit and get the phone. Failed to remember to zip up the mask before returning, consequently opened up Hive #1, bunch of defenders leap out, and one finds its way straight onto the eyelid. Ouch.

Madame A not impressed that we are entertaining folks this evening with me expected to be impersonating the Elephant man

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Waiting for a dry day to do the OA and give them some fondant as well.

same here and the forecast isn't fantastic for the rest of the weekend either, maybe I'll get a chance tomorrow afternoon, fingers crossed

 

[Ely]

16x10s - that were presumably full of stores in autumn - shouldn't need any fondant feeding until much later on. You need to learn to heft pretty quickly, as a hive that has been continually fed with fondant over winter, and therefore has not consumed its stores, can be a problem come spring. A box full of stores leaves HM with no laying space, and early swarms could result - am many newbees found out this spring.

Of course you could continue your line of feeding regardless, but please make sure you remove the full frames come Spring! In my opinion this is wasteful; why waste money buying fondant instead of making the bees eat their natural stores?

You may have got lucky - your bees may actually need the feeding - but it's always better to learn how to do things properly, rather than using guesswork.


Ben P

Ok. Thanks for advice. I guess I could get some form of scales, similar to what anglers use, weigh a hive full of stores at end of autumn and weight a hive with no stores and monitor it that way. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell just by hefting. How can you account for what is brood, cluster size etc?

 

[drstitson]

bees (and brood) will weigh very little relative to a hive full of stores!!!!!

 

[Ely]

I'm thinking I should maybe remove the fondant then as both hives are really quite heavy. It is hard making these sorts of decisions in my first winter. All part of learning I guess

 

[Queens59]

Spent an hour watching orientation flights...why do my bees never read the books????

 

[MJBee]

Ely - google "Balanza digital luggage scale"

I screwed a cup hook into the middle of both sides of the OMF. Clip on the balanza, lift the side 1cm clear of the stand, machine bleeps and weight is frozen, reset, weigh the other side, add together = hive weight accurate to 100g. All done in less than a minute. Good for checking luggage weights too

 

[gavin]

I don't think I'll ever be able to tell just by hefting. How can you account for what is brood, cluster size etc?

Yes you will! At the moment you can peer down between the frames without pulling any. You should be able to see which frames have capped stores, at least near the top. If the frames the bees are clustered on still have stores the bees will be down a little with capped stores over their heads. In this state they don't need fondant for now anyway.

Then in spring on a warm day you can pull a frame or two beside where the bees are and see the state of their stores then. If they are going to starve it is usually March after the brood rearing has started again in earnest. But that time they can move freely through the box and isolation starvation isn't likely. Assessing the state of their stores and hefting at the same time will give you a feel for what colonies depleted in stores feel like. It just takes a little experience.

 

[Ely]

Yes you will! At the moment you can peer down between the frames without pulling any. You should be able to see which frames have capped stores, at least near the top. If the frames the bees are clustered on still have stores the bees will be down a little with capped stores over their heads. In this state they don't need fondant for now anyway.

Then in spring on a warm day you can pull a frame or two beside where the bees are and see the state of their stores then. If they are going to starve it is usually March after the brood rearing has started again in earnest. But that time they can move freely through the box and isolation starvation isn't likely. Assessing the state of their stores and hefting at the same time will give you a feel for what colonies depleted in stores feel like. It just takes a little experience.

Thanks dude. How does isolation starvation happen? Don't the bees move the cluster to where the frames of stores are?

 

[gavin]

Once they have started raising brood they will cluster over that area. If the weather turns cold in early spring for a protracted period they may simply not be able to reach stores in the box that are too far away as they are committed to keeping that brood warm.

The things that may help avoid this are:

- enough stores in the autumn so that there is plenty over their heads, on the same frame or even in a super
- fondant or even syrup in an insulated feeder over their heads where it is warmer, with the fondant close by rather than over a crown board
- polystyrene hives or insulation above the crownboard (making the hive a little warmer, so they can reach stores more easily)
- stronger rather than weak colonies

G (Dude!)

 

[richardbees]

Thanks davelin, at al, regarding varroa updates in Ted Hooper.

imho controlling V is now about the first priority in beekeeping

 

[Nic Rhodes]

don't forget Nosema Richard, Varroa is just one of the balls we have to have in the air. Nosema is a killer......

 

[starflex]

Spent yesterday knocking up a new hive stand out of scratch (ie recycled wood from varius skips etc etc). A coat of paint later today and it can be put out on Monday, which looks like a good day to do my OA treatments.

 

[Skyhook]

Thanks dude. How does isolation starvation happen? Don't the bees move the cluster to where the frames of stores are?

As I understand it, isolation starvation tends to happen either after a long cold spell, when they have 'tunnelled up' through the stores, then can't move onto other frames because it's too cold to break the cluster, or if the cluster breaks up on a warm day and the temperature then drops. bees can re-cluster on the frames where they are, which may be away from the main cluster, resulting in a ball of bees to small to keep warm.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Finally foud a weather window to do the oxalic dose (wished bees happy new year as i dribbled them with acid!) A bit more content now that I've actually seen the bees properly for the first time since September.
Nuc - well clustered and well laid back (their usual summer temperament) and clustered on five frames, still some stores above the cluster but having the odd bash at the fondant.
Hive no 2 totally different to her sister in the nuc - quickly bursting out and having a look on seven/eight frames with a little stores left.
Hive no1 (my bigest worry as I've hardly seen them stir since the autumn), now moved up into the super nicely clustered on six frames, down to the last of the stores and beginning to take an interest in the fondant, and like any good teenager as soon as I'd finished snuggled back under the covers!
That now means that the alternative dry day (tomorrow) I can spend the day hunting

 

[oldsalthouse]

Vaporised all the hives this morning with oxalic

 

[Beesand]

Oxalic Treatment

Took the opportunity of a mild morning to apply oxalic treatment to my ladies today. Being a newby and this being my first winter, I was expecting on opening the hive to find a vastly reduced colony clustered in the centre of the hive so was surprised to see a very large colony spread right across the brood box. I can only presume this is a reaction to the very mild winter we've experienced to date in my area, is this normal and are there likely to be any consequences of having so many bes so early ie swarms etc?

 

[busybee53]

Put preservative on one of my new hives and Fixed all the fence posts up for my new apiary, all before it rained. Well chuffed.