What did you do in the Apiary today?

[pargyle]

I am interested in different ways of providing bee accommodation but I don't really have the skills, or time to get them, to do the work, so I am admiring the skills and ingenuity of others.

At the end of the day all bees need is a cavity that they can heat and cool and that provides them with the space to live. The joy of beekeeping is watching them put up with (and adapt to) what we inflict upon them !

 

[garlicpickle]

Scraped wax and propolis off my supers, yesterday I painted one deal super which I had to knock together in a hurry and didn't have time to paint before it went on. Sealed them all up in large plastic bags ready for storage.

Cut a rhombus escape in half and made a clearer board with 2 large escape holes, I shan't need it now until next year but at least it's done.

 

[einsteinagogo]

removed four supers, extracted four supers. now I need to filter, and purchase some labels and jars!

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

At the end of the day all bees need is a cavity that they can heat and cool and that provides them with the space to live. The joy of beekeeping is watching them put up with (and adapt to) what we inflict upon them !

Bee as kind as you can with the knowledge you have.
I have started of with national but could very quickly see that it is far from ideal for the bees or for me only 5'1". Now there are several supers on one hive the weight in the top full super is really not at a good ergo-dynamic height for me.

 

[pargyle]

Bee as kind as you can with the knowledge you have.
I have started of with national but could very quickly see that it is far from ideal for the bees or for me only 5'1". Now there are several supers on one hive the weight in the top full super is really not at a good ergo-dynamic height for me.

Be careful with you back when you are lifting ... the physics and gravity is against you !!

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Be careful with you back when you are lifting ... the physics and gravity is against you !!

yes I found that out when I tried lifting the full super. The Corex nuc. box came out and I took five frames off then I made the mistake of putting the rest in the poly nuc I had bought in case the bees went mad making queens, I forgot that it had a mesh floor and attracted every bee for miles. We live and learn as they say.

 

[Outlander]

Took the last of the honey off which came in at 70lb, now need more jars.

 

[einsteinagogo]

my first honey extracted and filtered, using coarse and fine mesh, and now sitting in a honey bucket waiting for jarring, came in at 15kg. (33lb old money!)

[VID][ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewu8C4Kn7c8"]Filtering Honey After Extraction using Coarse and Fine mesh filters - YouTube[/ame][/VID]

 

[Bead]

Tried to do full inspection today. New smaller colony was good as gold, building up nicely. The main colony had their grumpy heads on so decided to give it a miss today, closed up, and killed some wasps that were hanging around the hives instead.

 

[alldigging]

Just went and had a look at the hives.
Massive numbers of bees on balsam. Wondering if they'll fill a super this week.
Was going to be taking off the supers after they've cleaned them and getting on with apiguarding them.

 

[Cazza]

Returned from a week in Czech Republic. ( Mendel's bee house and beehives in an interesting Mendel museum in Brno.)

Just had a quick bee check after all the wasp panic posts. All good, bees managing wasps well despite a nest only a few yards away. Reduced bee entrances and strong hives-scout wasps seen off very quickly.
Cazza

 

[einsteinagogo]

placed an order for my first 66 12oz jars....with my 10% BBKA discount from F......

 

[drstitson]

gave my 5yo nephew his second look at a hive. this is a recent swarm in temporary accommodation so i put a QE on allow me to rationalise frame complement prior to moving and added first ALV biscuit.

 

[Chris Luck]

Saw an Asian Hornet go into what is probably a failing, (certainly weak), hive and surprisingly get kicked out in seconds.....

.....goes to show eh?

Chris

 

[BILL.HEARD]

Lovely warm day in this part of Devon, watched the last of the drones being dumped/dragged out of a number of hives.

 

[richardbees]

Checked a colony that had made a supercedure Q cell 3 weeks ago.....saw the new Q, some eggs/grubs but no sign of marked Q so assume everything OK.

re Bill Heards observation above...there were possibly as many as 100 drones in this hive. None in my other colonies which haven't made supercedure Q cells.

Just goes to show.........!

 

[beehive1234]

Watched as bees came home with pantaloons stuffed with pollen, others dusted white, heavy with nectar landing with precision.
Like collecting my hen's eggs, or digging up potatoes I planted weeks ago, there is a 'magic satisfaction' and wonder at the bounty pouring out.
It makes me wonder why the bees make so much honey. What would happen if we didn't take the honey. Would the colonies grow even bigger. Are we dealing with tiny colonies because it suits us? How big can a colony become? Could a colony fill an Oak Tree, are we selectively breeding this out of them? I can't help but feel we are curtailing their species.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

behive1234, Amen to that.

Otherwise, absolutely nothing. I'm away receiving occasional updates. Pollen still pouring in and wasps currently at bay. I can't wait to see what if any progress they have made into the double brood after 3 weeks of LETTING THEM BEE.

 

[drstitson]

"It makes me wonder why the bees make so much honey. What would happen if we didn't take the honey. Would the colonies grow even bigger. Are we dealing with tiny colonies because it suits us? How big can a colony become? "

as shown by the experiements of Prof Tom Seeley feral bees prefer 40litre cavities (about the size of a national or LS brood box). Our bees are given extra space as required for stores or brood (or honey harvested).

IMHO this demonstrates good evolution - the colonies build up and are "forced" to swarm at the optimal time to ensure maximal chance of new colonies surviving.

The overall size of a colony is of course limited by the laying capacity of HM. Jochen Pflugfelder demonstrated that queens have a (obvious) limit to numbers of sperm they can store. running out at the wrong time is fatal (DLQ; no chance of supercedure). likewise supercedure as HM gets past her best but still laying may allow a colony to grow BUT unless it swarms it's not reproducing.

 

[garlicpickle]

Just been to check inspection boards and put 2nd dose of thymol on. Only a small drop but one hive needs immediate feeding as almost no stores, it has lots of capped brood so I guess they have used up all their stores feeding larvae. There's no balsam in this area so no forage really.

Just about to start mixing syrup up, and will go down this evening and put it on.