What did you do in the Apiary today?

[coffin dodger]

Be careful of these they can cause adverse reactions when stung.

the reason the first sting doesnt show up the alergy is ur body has never had the venum in it before so isnt aware of it, its like loading a gun, the first sting is the bullet going in, the next could be either ok or a shot, just like russian roulette.

Thank you for clearing that up for me, I understand now. I'll be a little more careful next time and make sure that there's someone else around just in case.

Regards
CD

 

[busybee53]

Watched. One of my hives is already active with two types of pollen going in at 10 a.m. and I guess the other bees were bringing water to help with their fondant. Also a few orienting. Newly hatched? This does not feel like January. Any one else seen this?

 

[acabee]

Temps 12C and bright. 1 hive busy - flying and orientating, though no pollen coming in. There were enough out that I could hear them as I approached. Other hive nothing except 1 or 2 bees (hefted - plenty of stores).
Similar weather likely for next 10 days.
Winter? Where? More like a Spring day.

acabee

 

[Silly_Bee]

Oxalic acid with brood present?

Planned to put an oxalic acid treatment on today, but when I inspected the hive, I saw quite a few uncapped brood on one of the frames, and maybe a couple of dozen capped cells. Not surprised, as the bees have been quite active throughout December, bringing back pollen which is a sure sign that there is brood to feed.

The instructions on the bottle say don't apply oxalic if brood is present. What should I do? Guidance needed.

 

[Little John]

"What did I do in the apiary today ?"

To the bees ? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Just watched.

Bees flying around as if it were the first day of spring. And no more diarrhoea streaks - as I suspected - was just confinement squits a couple of day ago. Still, I'm very relieved (as are the girls, no doubt ).

Nice day, think I'll do some painting ...

LJ

 

[MJBee]

Silly_Bee - If you only have "a couple of dozen" sealed cells go ahead and treat as they are almost broodless. The advice not to treat with brood present is because any varroa mites in capped brood cells will not be killed so the more capped brood there is the less effective the treatment is.
With the topsy turvy weather it is very difficult to find a colony totally broodless.

 

[Silly_Bee]

Thanks for the prompt response. I'll go ahead a treat them...either first thing tomorrow or later today when most of the bees will be back in the hive.

 

[Newtobees]

Had a quick look at hive today as i finished work early a few bees out coming and going removed correx sheet to do a varroa drop count as treated with O/A Tuesday. Very suprised as only counted 60 was expecting a lot more.

 

[madasafish]

Bees flying 12C.
First time for at least 6 weeks.
First dry day with sun and NO rain all day for at least 6 weeks.
Hefted all TBHs.. seemed OK.

One warre alive but looks very weak. Other dead (from Oct)...

 

[MuswellMetro]

hefted a few hives, but all seemed ok for stores, also did ten oxalic dribbles for a friend, realy a bit too warm for oxalic as bees not well clustered...10c-12c, i prefer it colder...i did mine in december

 

[beeno]

Watched. One of my hives is already active with two types of pollen going in at 10 a.m. and I guess the other bees were bringing water to help with their fondant. Also a few orienting. Newly hatched? This does not feel like January. Any one else seen this?

Hi busybee,
All of mine bringing in one type of white pollen with a slight hint of grey. Not a lot though. Could it be winterflowering heather from the garden centres down the road? Hope they don't overdo it on the brood front as their baskets are not very full.

 

[busybee53]

Hi Beeno. Don't know what the light pollen they were bringing in was but sounds like yours and is perhaps heather. There was only very small loads of it which is why I watched to be sure I wasn't seeing things. The bright yellow pollen was coming in in very large loads though. Perhaps they found crocus or dandelion. If so I expect yours will too. They might get a shock if we get a cold snap though. I would feel happier if I had some spare pollen just incase and am thinking of perhaps getting a pollen trap before next winter.

 

[Silly Bee]

No rain, bit of Sun, hoped for a bit of frost, but I'm away for two weeks so I went for the oxalic acid treatment.

Five hives all with a good cluster, dosed and checked fondant at the same time.

Such a pleasing sight to see the bees survive the winter.


(But I know we're not out the wood yet)

 

[DarynWebb]

unpacked my first poly hives, cannot wait to try them out

 

[Outlander]

At first I did not think I would ever go poly over wood but with 6 frame 14x12poly at £30 was able to get 4 for a little more than one of my wooden ones would have cost. Also an Apidea from Village Girl for Christmas so all in all it's been a good day.

 

[Shabro]

Finished treating with oxalic, pretty happy with the state of things.

 

[victor meldrew]

.
Such a pleasing sight to see the bees survive the winter.
(But I know we're not out the wood yet)

Too true, we're not out of the woods yet!
Winter usually does it's worst from about now until the end of March ,,
VM

 

[victor meldrew]

Glorious weather here today , bright ,wind less . Only two of 5 showing activity .
I got on with job in hand ie. , oxalic acid trickle. 4 treated and left with 1 kilo fondant each.
One dead out ( expected as Queenless late Autumn)4 full frames 14x12 of stores for use next Spring, every cloud and all that .
VM

 

[jp19sqn]

Did the oxalic trickle today on 18 hives and averaged 1.5 stings per hive! Sadly they were all from the 4th hive I tackled. The stings went straight through a new coat I had bought for beekeeping. Back to the drawing board on that one! Happily only 2 colonies are starting to get light. Early days.

 

[drstitson]

picked up a box of fondant (and a lardy cake) whilst passing a local bakery on way to unscheduled morning at work to make up for the short working week.