What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Chris Luck]

Chris

and how are the Sunflowers doing?

rb

The first fields are going over fast now and the big storm didn't help flattening huge swathes of them. Waiting for the rain to stop and the late sown fields to start flowering later this week so not looking too bad if the weather picks up as it's supposed to.

Chris

 

[abi-e]

No matchsticks - honest.
I have ended up with a hive that is an odd mix of poly and wooden parts. The top layer is a wooden super and the poly roof doesn't fit as snugly as it would the poly super. I do have a spare wooden roof but it is awaiting repair.
As a newish beekeeper I didn't even realise you could get solid crownboards - I have 3 all with clearer/ feeding holes which are usually covered with tiles until needed. With the poly roof the tiles are too bulky - hence cutting some perspex which is narrower to do the job and make sure that any of the pesky wasps harassing the hive can definitely not get in.
Where do I get a solid crown board from please?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Where do I get a solid crown board from please?

Get some 4 or 6mm pllywood - cut it into 18" squares then add 6mm beading to the sides

 

[Erichalfbee]

I replaced the cone escapes on a Canadian clearer board with cut down Rhombus escapes and added an eke to make the board deeper and was quite proud of myself Went down to the apiary to put it on one of the hives.
Got home and realised that I had forgotten to cover the central hole.......What a dope!!!
Had to get the supers off again and tape it up!
Mind you.....worked wonders. Two supers cleared of all but five bees in 4 hours.

 

[richardbees]

Abi - honestly, you don't need a solid crown board!
we probably all have crown boards with 'feeder' holes and put a piece of slate / ply / tile over the hole when not needed for feeding.(....and be sure to get your roofs sorted and weatherproof before winter!)

Chris
Of course! you probably had the same hailstorms we had about two weeks ago that trashed 16 perspex roofing panels on my "bee shed"

not enough CO2 in the atmosphere.......

 

[itma]

No matchsticks - honest.
I have ended up with a hive that is an odd mix of poly and wooden parts. The top layer is a wooden super and the poly roof doesn't fit as snugly as it would the poly super. ...

Fit the roof centrally over your top board. Then stick a couple of bricks on top of the roof. Wasps won't get in that way.

 

[ichbinpaul]

Spent too much money on cedar mix plywood and had lots of fizzy agreements with wife over same, then sulked off into the workshop and rough cut 8 Langs BB's and 10 Langs supers, felt very good about myself until I put my set square on the cut edges!!! and spent hours more correcting them all, just salvaging them -1mm though, and went home miserably knackered and started round two! of agreements, and came on here to be uplifted!?.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Where do I get a solid crown board from please?

Ask an estate agent if they've got any old or damaged sale boards, cut to size with a sharp knife. Use gaffer tape to seal the edges with the open cells.

 

[MMJ100]

I inserted lolly pop sticks between the supers and between the super and crown board.

The bees are cooler and have more or less stopped bearding.

 

[Davelin]

I inserted lolly pop sticks between the supers and between the super and crown board.

The bees are cooler and have more or less stopped bearding.

Oh dear.... here we go....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Oh dear.... here we go....

well it is France............................

 

[sail819]

Sat in the sun for a short while, watching them being busy busy bees, most relaxing.

same here !! very relaxing, love to watch them: sunning:

 

[cjhart2]

Stopped grass cutting today when i saw a cloud of bees over hive 4 , turned out to be a mass orientation flight , stood and watched for half and hour . You never seem to get any other work done if you have bees .

 

[tonel]

Went to take a quick look to see if the bees were making any progress on a super of foundation put on a couple of weeks ago - clear crownboard so no need to open, quite a few bees in there and seems to be some comb building going on. Nice calm evening with some sun and no wind, hive very quiet with few bees coming and going. Listened to the hive closely, could hear the bees fanning..sounds a bit like an air conditioner

 

[richardbees]

Little wasps are now becoming a real problem around my 'bee shed' - at least 50 caught in my jamjar wasp traps since Monday. So far they are not trying it on with the hives....

 

[beeboybee]

this thread is now at 900 pages long and nearly 9000 posts.... incredible.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I inserted lolly pop sticks between the supers and between the super and crown board.

Doesn't that attract all and sundry.....wasps and robber bees?

 

[stephenpug]

going on my holidays for 3 weeks now just checked the nuc i put into a full hive two weeks ago are doing great THEN i spotted a wasp sneak in the side even though i have got an entrance reducer on i have leaned a sheet of clear perspex in front and it seems to be working but not a lot i can do about it now they will have to look after themselves for a while just a shame i cant skype them to see how they are doing lol

 

[Chris Luck]

Doesn't that attract all and sundry.....wasps and robber bees?

I can't answer for MMJ100 but it doesn't do that with my bees, I have quite a few propped open between BB and supers, no robbers and no wasps to speak of and if the gaps large enough the colony bees use it as an upstairs entrance.

Chris

 

[Goran]

These days I am fanning as my bees.. Interesting to say day temp. 37-41celsius but scale weight near me show some plus in weight. As I can see in many supers pretty much of honey, it will be awesome winter store..