What did you do in the Apiary today?

[madasafish]

Tell me again why beekeepers like WBC hives

So many new beekeepers buy them - when I ask why, it's because "They look like proper beehives"....unlike my national tea chests.

Also, come to think of it, why buy a 'peaked roof' as you can't put it upside down on the ground to put Supers on?

I make peaked roofs out of insulation: easily wedge the sides # to put supers on them..".proper" (!) beekeepers bodge these things...

# a small length of wood either side..

 

[user 6228]

Tell me again why beekeepers like WBC hives

So many new beekeepers buy them - when I ask why, it's because "They look like proper beehives"....unlike my national tea chests.

Also, come to think of it, why buy a 'peaked roof' as you can't put it upside down on the ground to put Supers on?

the peak roof will shed rain and so be a bit warmer and have less condensation unlike my flat roof garage. The double walls will be warmer...
If someone will lend me an empty one I will measure how much warmer or not

 

[Gilberdyke John]

the peak roof will shed rain and so be a bit warmer and have less condensation unlike my flat roof garage. The double walls will be warmer...
If someone will lend me an empty one I will measure how much warmer or not

Having moved to 14 x 12 Nationals as a standard I sold the WBC which I started out with so I'm unable to help. However I used the WBC to overwinter a cast swarm in using just the basic outer shell, standard thin wall brood box and 20mm of EPA insulation sheet on the crownboard. I didn't expect much but they came through ok.
I like the sloping roof as it sheds water much better than a flat one and I kept 2 bricks on the floor next to the hive to invert the roof onto.

 

[Hachi]

Moved the final hive from the back garden to the new out apiary.

Started treating for varroa.

 

[Tonyatcwfarm]

took 25lb honey off hives today(first ever harvest)late in the year I know but there seemed to be a large gap for me and the early stores were eaten.Bees have really filled the supers back up in the last couple of weeks
From weight in the rest of the supers I reckon another 40/50lb yet to extract,doing that as soon as the weather shows signs of breaking,late summer over here and bees are busiest iv seen them all year

 

[B Special]

2nd tray of apiguard set in. 1st almost clean. All in order.

 

[richardbees]

Found the queen I thought I'd squashed!

now that is what I call a good result!

 

[Rio]

Checked 4 hives in home apiary.
Lots of stores so no need to feed.
3/4 had BIAS.
One had no brood so I'll check that one again at the weekend and merge with a nuc if I can't find the queen.
Continued to filter honey ready for jarring.
Will apply Apilife Var at the weekend.
Bhi se a bhlain go brea!

 

[Falesh]

I put in one tray of Apiguard when I took the supers off for honey extraction. This time I put the second one in as well as doing a full inspection, I didn't have the energy to do one at the same time as extracting the honey.

The queen has really slowed down on the brood with roughly half as much as she has been producing during the main season. They are still pulling in lots of honey though. The brood box is very full with it and they also have some in newly drawn super frames. Next year I am definitely extracting a week later to catch this too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCo1dsZBr0E

 

[Summerslease]

A week ago I put three frames of drawn foundation into a colony where the queen had stopped laying either because of a MAQS treatment or because the bees had filled all the cells with 2:1 feed.
I checked today and she had started laying straight away- not in the frames I provided, but in two adjacent to them. Now I know all my colonies have laying queens going into winter. Peace of mind.
All the bees are very active in this good weather.

 

[sbisme]

Had a visit from the bee inspector today, all is fine except a slight increase of Verroa so recommended another Apiguard treatment, apart from that all is good going into winter.

 

[maddydog]

Checked 4 colonies and removed the supers. None had added to their stores in the last month but they're all full of bees and bias. Think i will overwinter the two standard national hives as doubles. Ivy just starting to flower but i will be keeping a close eye on stores

 

[Floyd]

Checked all 4 hives today with the plan being to remove all the supers.

However the heather flow is still going strong so have only taken the fully capped frames (17) and left the others to hopefully be capped. We have had a lot of rain over the last month and then really good weather, so this must be the reason for the extended flowering season.

The test frame in hive 3 showed no signs of QC raising so she is in there somewhere but is now nearly 2 weeks overdue to get started. Would they raise a superceedure cell on a test frame?

Queens in hives 1 & 2 hives have not taken notice to reduce laying as of yet. Weather still looking good for the next week so will let them cap the remaining heather frames.

Hive 4 is packed with lime green pollen, brood and stores

Falesh - Enjoy your videos, however I did notice that you put the frame with the Queen on, onto the ground. Rather risky I think and you may not be so lucky with her not walking off and into the shadows the next time. However I do wish that my bees were as docile as yours.

Off to press 50kilos of apples for cider will be a long night pressing by hand.

 

[Falesh]

Falesh - Enjoy your videos, however I did notice that you put the frame with the Queen on, onto the ground. Rather risky I think and you may not be so lucky with her not walking off and into the shadows the next time. However I do wish that my bees were as docile as yours.

Yeah I swapped that frame back in and put another in it's place on the floor after I thought about it.

 

[Nige.Coll]

fed again.
Had a look through one hive as it is only 8 miles from an efb outbreak and they aren't doing as well as the others. Didn't find anything that looked wrong just found annoyed bees.

 

[malx]

Managed to get out today at lunchtime and they were so calm.
No sign on queen today although she was there last week and they seemed calm.

No sign of any eggs or sealed brood which is beginning to worry me Not sure there is much I can do about it so may just have to leave them to it.

Lots of sealed food but added a feeder and put in some syrup anyway.

 

[TOBY-3652]

brought 6 hives home from the balsam pleased with the weight.. could lift them on my own. but at least they haven't starved

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Put apiguard on the home hives - only the association apiary left now

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Yesterday I closed down an entrance on one hive to 'tiny' as some robbing had started, which surprised me as I thought it was actually one of my stronger colonies. There are far easier pickings in the apiary, IMO, including 2 nucs. Today the robbing has eased but boy, is there a queue to get in. There is SUCH a flow on here now.

I also made up 6 new floors and 2 brood boxes, only to find that my tennis elbow has flared up again. I never had this before I kept bees and started making up my own kit. Apparently I am holding the hammer all wrong and it's all about the right wrist action! Whoever thought hammering could be so technical!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yesterday I closed down an entrance on one hive to 'tiny' as some robbing had started, which surprised me as I thought it was actually one of my stronger colonies. There are far easier pickings in the apiary, IMO, including 2 nucs. Today the robbing has eased but boy, is there a queue to get in. There is SUCH a flow on here now.

I also made up 6 new floors and 2 brood boxes, only to find that my tennis elbow has flared up again. I never had this before I kept bees and started making up my own kit. Apparently I am holding the hammer all wrong and it's all about the right wrist action! Whoever thought hammering could be so technical!

Try a nail gun