What did you do in the Apiary today?

[user 6228]

Welll mostly not panicking!!!! as an first time orderly shook swarm plan degenerated into a three way split, when the queen couldnt be found, plus 10 swarm cells over 5 frames and one opened queen cell.
There was lots that could have been done better, planned better, but we both got out it with only 2 stings from accidently crushed bee between us...
emptied the house of kit going through this... weekend of build the spares stock up and keeping fingers crossed.

 

[meidel]

I had to put a super on a swarm hived on 1st May as they'd filled up the brood box size 14x12 - nearly 6 frames of brood, the rest stores. And then due to lack of equipment - ie floor and roof, the cast swarm which was hived on 8th May was found also to need some space as they'd filled most of their 6 frames in the poly nuc with stores, so I put 2 ekes together and piled on 6 super frames. It was 27C right up to 6pm!

 

[YorkshireBees]

Checked on the large prime swarm (my own) that I hived in a 6 frame polynuc on Sunday, they have drawn all 6 frames and filled most, Queen laying ok, moved into full National Polyhive.

Added a super to the colony that only just survived winter and was previously in a polynuc to recover, building up fast now, Queen almost caught me out as she was on the end frame, normally only stores, laying!

Checked supers on 4 hives in the other apiary, not doing aswell in some, so made plans on which colonies are going to be combined.

 

[mystil]

Got a phone call to say a very nice person had a swarm in his hedgerow and could we pick up.

Moved that swarm to isolation apairy.

This is our 5th call this week to swarms. Collected or organised collection of 3 of them.
Moved one of our Nucs to a new site as ran out of room in Home apairy.

All our hives have had vertical splits due to swarming!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What a difference a week makes

Checked the two garden hives. No1 has drawn all remaining foundation in brood (some swapped this year) and super (half drawn/half foundation going on) and super is over half full with nectar and a lot of pollen over the brood, Hive 2 all comb drawn again and heavy with stores - super on each again. Compared to last week where the stores situation was somewhere between nil and bugger all. But bees were a little aggressive - first time they've followed me back to the house with any serious intent.
So warm this afternoon it was a struggle to do anything - went up the chapel at six ish to give the dog a walk (she sees dead people and likes it!!) and check the trapout again - loads of bees now trying to get in and /or cramming into the hive but I forgot my camera. Spent the evening pottering around the chamber of secrets (funnily enough the coolest place to be : brick walls but it has a tin roof) finishing off the brood boxes and making up two more roofs (timber was ready cut but just lying around) clumsily knocked a jar off the top shelf containing HM's thymol emulsion which promptly leaked all over me SWMBO hasn't commented yet but i'm getting used to the smell!

 

[susbees]

Haven't got near the apiary...again. Spent most of the afternoon and evening at the brewery. Bees, eh .....

 

[Queens59]

Redirected one call to local BBKA as it involved a 3rd floor swarm...made a load of brood and super frames...and ordered a jumbo Langstroth poly hive and frames...if we have more than 6 swarms ----I CAN'T AFFORD IT!

 

[psafloyd]

Checked my hives. Found that two casts (not mine by the way) may actually have been the one I thought and have reunited in the nuc I put one half into. That or half buggered off.

One of my main colonies still has muchos bees, but couldn't find a queen and found QCs and an open cell. So, despite going back and forth several times in case it was recent and the original queen (a real ebony beauty, but a swarm originally) was still around, I found nothing. So hot today any virgin may have been out on the pull, so have done an AS not knowing where the queen is with a QC in the moved box. Annoyed as I knew this was coming, but just couldn't get in there. Oh, well...

The swarm I caught last week from my apiary looks like it may have been from my main colony. This colony would appear to be queen less but filling supers and drawing out the 14 x 12 (thanks, Tom) box nicely and have whacked loads of stores away. Thought she may have swarmed anyway and potentially missed a QC (remember, these were a Long time left with the awful weather). Anyway, open up this swarm box and see there are four day old larvae and think – wow, a queen. Then I see this rather light coloured queen (apologies for poor camerawork), very familiar (my first) and realise the AS I hoped had been in time last week probably wasn't. Still, I suppose I should combine her back with the original colony and let them go for it.

Other splits haven't got going yet, so will see how it goes.

Saw the queen In a swarm I collected on Monday (small cast) and have a Q about her which i shall post on the main section.

 

[KDW]

We did our first full inspection of two new colonies rehoused from nucs last week (one a swarm, one an AS). Both doing well, one has drawn almost all brood comb so is, I think, ready for a super. Very nice to have bees back in my garden.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Still pottering around in the shed making up hive bits - took the dog for a walk up the chapel to check the bees - loads now outside the trapping cone and starting to use the hive

 

[Chris Luck]

Regarding the massive swarm from the other day.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8543&page=413

That evening I knocked the lot down as near as I could into a 10 Frame Dadant plus super and comb and then put boxes upside down where ever there were heaps of bees on the ground, total chaos with bees regrouping in the tree in two places, entering the hive and collecting in two of the boxes.

The following morning there were bees in the hive, a huge cluster all up one side of the hive, bees in one box only and two clusters in the tree. Fetched two more hives and knocked one large cluster from the tree into 12 Frame Dadant plus super with comb. Then knocked the other tree cluster into a 10 Frame Dadant but they didn't really want to stay so emptied the cluster from the cardboard box into it. This seemed to do the trick and within half an hour the air was full of bees with all remaining clusters breaking up including the one up the side of the original hive.

Today all three hives are behaving as "normal" colonies with pollen being taken in to all of them...

...of course what is actually what will only be revealed in time or when I have a poke in a weeks time, and NO, I didn't see any Queens but I'm sure there are some there, Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

Job well done, I would say!

Regards, RAB

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Wat not to do in the apairy

Too hot to do much in the garden so after giving the first coat of ronseal to the roofs I'd made thought I'd chill out on the lawn, beer in hand watching the bees go by - one of a few bottles of an interesting honeyed brew which found their way home from Bromsgrove
Not a good idea, after five minutes a couple of very insistent bees buzzing around my head, so moved further away and definitely nowhere near the flight path - now four bees one which took great interest in my beer and actually popped into the bottle for a quick look before zipping off then zipping back and tagging me on the right ear plan B now in force - I'm off down the club for a BSG of Jubilleescious ale from the local red kite brewery .
(BSG = British standard gallon BTW )

 

[milkermel]

very smooth and enjoyable AS done today on my main hive. queen unmarked but managed to find her and get the job jobed. this colony had the second super put on on monday today it is now 3/4 filled!!! eke. run to the shops tomorrow me thinks for some more frames!!

 

[Salamagundy]

Found an unmarked queen today for the first time

The hive had been q- since March, so not a lot of bees but, hey, it's a start! She looked big, fat and beautiful! I was so excited I forgot to check if she is laying.

Things got better: the supers on the three other hives were pretty much full.

Then I found one sealed queen cell in the last hive (half way up the frame, towards one side.) Couldn't find her mum anywhere and there still seem to be lots of bees in the brood box and in the super. Hoping it's an emergency cell, rather than a swarm....

Rushed off to knock up some more frames of foundation to put a second super on each hive, only to find that I'd forgotten to order gimp pins....

On balance, I felt, a good day!

 

[YorkshireBees]

Planned my weekend inspections, then in the afternoon I thought I would probably leave work a little early and inspect a few hives before a BBQ.

As plans go....

The phone range, was the swarm coordinator that I contact earlier in the week and passed a few swarm calls to as they were not really in my area, she had a swarm reported in my area, would I like to take it.

Ok, now I wasn't really planning on any more colonies but I do no some beekeepers wanting swarms.

Off I went and when I arrived I was greeted by the swarm in the following photos, including some closeups of the bees entering the box and fanning.

** The swarm was about 2ft long and nearly 1ft wide.
After knocking them into the box and waiting till they started fanning I closed down the top to a bee gap then had a look at the bees that missed the box and landed on the ground. Found the Queen wandering round!
Carefully picked her up and popped her in the box!

 

[Luminos]

The first picture looks a bit like a novel hanging basket lol

 

[MuswellMetro]

I started a new apiary on the third floor sedum roof of the local university, the bee hives tick the green boxes on the university check list and i get a new apiary site very close to home

managed to get all the equipment up there via the lift then took the colony up....the security guard did not come in the lift that time!!!

I gave the hives nice gabled roofs, not that practical but it's what the university expect a beehive to look like and will look good on their publicity

the strength of the wind eddies aound modern high rise buildings worry me up at that height so the hives are strapped down to a large paving slabs with yacht heavy duty ratchet straps

 

[YorkshireBees]

the strength of the wind eddies aound modern high rise buildings worry me up at that height so the hives are strapped down to a large paving slabs with yacht heavy duty ratchet straps

Hope the bees can cope with the wind!

I watched mine the other week, in one out apiary than is sometimes exposed the winds, some were missing the hive entrance and I found whole groups of bees in the grass behind the hives! I gues they waited till the wind dropped or they had the energy to try again as there were no bees there when I check next time.

 

[joctcl]

30 super frames (More wishful thinking on my part) in an hour and a half getting quite good at this, helped with glorious sunset, a cold beer and a nail gun, is there anymore to life?