What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Tremyfro]

Just started on the refurbishing of the 2 Dartingtons I bought.
Deep discussions on what colour to paint them.....also taking into account that despite all the colours available....the DIY shop only stocks some of them! Eventually....a light blue and a slightly darker blue were selected.
One of them is now ready for painting...the legs were taken off and shortened a little bit.....OH says the roof needs to be replaced...so a visit to DIY store for Marine ply.....they even cut it up for free! So just got to take off the original ply and replace. So there I am .....paintbrush poised....down comes the rain!! Grrrr...
Fortunately....I had taken the follower boards and crown boards into the house...so I have painted those instead.
I don't know who made the Dartingtons....but thank you...you did a good job...everything fits.

 

[B+.]

So there I am .....paintbrush poised....down comes the rain!! Grrrr...
Fortunately....I had taken the follower boards and crown boards into the house...so I have painted those instead.

I keep telling you that you need a workshop ;-)

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just started on the refurbishing of the 2 Dartingtons I bought.
Deep discussions on what colour to paint them.....also taking into account that despite all the colours available....the DIY shop only stocks some of them! Eventually....a light blue and a slightly darker blue were selected.
One of them is now ready for painting...the legs were taken off and shortened a little bit.....OH says the roof needs to be replaced...so a visit to DIY store for Marine ply.....they even cut it up for free! So just got to take off the original ply and replace. So there I am .....paintbrush poised....down comes the rain!! Grrrr...
Fortunately....I had taken the follower boards and crown boards into the house...so I have painted those instead.
I don't know who made the Dartingtons....but thank you...you did a good job...everything fits.

I am green with envy
I would dearly love to have a go at keeping bees this way.
Alas circumstances preclude such dreams until husband and I move on to our "last house"
Then I will have one in the garden.
Pictures please.


Mind you....I like the idea of Pargyle's insulated long deep hive so I might just tap him for his plans.

 

[Tremyfro]

I know how you feel Erica....I have wanted one for ages...now have two!
I want to get one ready for bees this winter....it's a great way to keep bees. As you know I also have some Beehaus too....so it will be interesting to compare. I will need to add some insulation to the sides and I can use celotex blocks inside. I turned it upside down to paint the legs and just noticed that there are blocks underneath the hives for a varroa board...brill. It will cut down the wind too when it is in place.
You are right....need a workshop.....course if OH didn't have all his tools in my Bee Barn....I could be painting in there! There is a workshop here...with various insitu tools...like a sander/ knife sharpener and other mysterious gadgets! But it is up by the stables ...so not very convenient to my Bee Yard.
I will take some pictures of the finished Dartington...if the weather plays its part! I wonder ...if I push the kitchen table over a bit....if there would be room to bring it in....hmmmm

 

[einsteinagogo]

I visited the mating apiary, and saw bees clustering on both apideas, I suspect no room inside, as last week, they were bursting with bees....

today, checked Apideas, all fondant eaten, and they had very cleverly, built brace comb in the feeders, and filled with stores. I replaced the feeder with two additional frames, and moved the feeder upstairs into a new body, which I'd added.

my Apidea's are bursting with bees, eggs, brood, decisions, decisions, to move them into nucs, or take them over winter in apideas, with feeders, and double brood boxes.

I must admit, I find queen rearing, and these little boxes fascinating, and despite the awful summer honey crop, I must learn more about queen rearing....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The plan was to inspect the carreg apiary and consolidate the supers ready for extraction next weekend - then someone decided to change the weather forecast - instead of showers morning and dry afternoon - rain!! so just did a feeder and crownboard stocktake and watched the bees - in the rain - going great guns. They've found something and they ain't stopping for no rain!!

 

[Anduril]

Just started on the refurbishing of the 2 Dartingtons I bought.
Deep discussions on what colour to paint them.....also taking into account that despite all the colours available....the DIY shop only stocks some of them! Eventually....a light blue and a slightly darker blue were selected.
One of them is now ready for painting...the legs were taken off and shortened a little bit.....OH says the roof needs to be replaced...so a visit to DIY store for Marine ply.....they even cut it up for free! So just got to take off the original ply and replace. So there I am .....paintbrush poised....down comes the rain!! Grrrr...
Fortunately....I had taken the follower boards and crown boards into the house...so I have painted those instead.
I don't know who made the Dartingtons....but thank you...you did a good job...everything fits.

If you had a gazebo you could use that as a makeshift workshop.

 

[Tremyfro]

If you had a gazebo you could use that as a makeshift workshop.

. Awww.....I don't have one ...but a brill idea. Umbrellas, gazebos etc are not very successful here as it can be very windy! I would probably take off and end up in west wales.
Luckily the showers are short...so I managed to paint the legs of the Dartington. OH has cut out a piece of board for the side of the roof..he discovered there was a bit of wet rot there too. So tomorrow off to DIY shop for wood glue...I am told.
All the cover boards are now painted and also the hive entrance reducers. I can see why beekeepers like to build their own kit...it's fun....and I am only doing the painting and insulation...and , of course, adding bees!

 

[Elaine]

Yesterday united two hives over newspaper (queen that had been laying, but untidy, turned drone layer) , half way through, with bees all over the place is not the best time to realise that the zip on my boots has failed and is gaping open! Luckily very calm bees, and as they are in the garden, not too far to retreat and change footwear
Had a look around the hive today, and no large piles of dead, so hopefully combine has gone ok.

 

[dpearce4]

Showed a lovely Gent from the Czech republic who is over here learning English round some of my hives yesterday. He is a beekeeper and a teacher and wanted to see if we did things differently here and I think that we treat the bees similarly in both countries.

 

[masterBK]

MAQS were put into 26 colonies last thursday so today checked the varroa monitoring boards under the OMF's. Over a thousand dead Varroa per hive in many cases. Looks like the colonies were carrying a much higher mite load for this time of year than I found in the previous 3 years. However in one hive very few mites but dozens of Wasps on the board presumably harvesting the mites.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Looks like the colonies were carrying a much higher mite load for this time of year than I found in the previous 3 years.

Do you not bother testing to see what the mite load is during the season, to find out if it is high or not?

 

[Anduril]

Laying workers in one of my hives. No brood left now but multiple eggs only in play cups. It was one hive I was trying to requeen, but they had other ideas. Now dealt with.

 

[Helen]

OH has cut out a piece of board for the side of the roof..he discovered there was a bit of wet rot there too. So tomorrow off to DIY shop for wood glue...I am told.

So for mine, I made the roof boards out of ply. Not Marine ... too expensive, but still weather resistant. One, I added a layer of roofing felt. On one side, I created an extended flap which sits over the other half to seal the join from the rain. One year on, and the non-felted roofs have delaminated badly and need replacing. The felted one is still like new and totally dry.

So a job this weekend is to rebuild the other 2 roofs with new plywood and add felt.

Mine are all painted a mid-dark grey so they blend in with the fence that is painted the same colour. The bees seem to find them easily enough though.

 

[Helen]

Checked 2 colonies into which I am introducing laying queens. Both are in introduction cages with brood. One hive seems ok with theirs; no large activity on the cage, bees gentle, no sign of QCs being built. The other seem unhappy. The cage uses stainless mesh which I sprayed with black paint to make it easier to see through. A fair amount of the paint has been chewed off by the bees; lots of activity across the mesh, bees drawing QCs and are still quite feisty.

 

[Tim.S]

Housekeeping this weekend. All hives (9) gone through and re arranged, brood down the bottom, stores to the top (no qe). As they have not been able to get much in the way of forage in recent times quite a few boxes worth of empty frames removed and taken to storage. In about another week I will extract what honey there is and then treat for varroa ready for winter.
Six is my target number for hives, but I have gone for nine as I intend to merge six in to three next spring to provide bigger hives to take to the rape. Not to everyones taste I know, but I need more rape honey.

 

[Tremyfro]

So for mine, I made the roof boards out of ply. Not Marine ... too expensive, but still weather resistant. One, I added a layer of roofing felt. On one side, I created an extended flap which sits over the other half to seal the join from the rain. One year on, and the non-felted roofs have delaminated badly and need replacing. The felted one is still like new and totally dry.

So a job this weekend is to rebuild the other 2 roofs with new plywood and add felt.

Mine are all painted a mid-dark grey so they blend in with the fence that is painted the same colour. The bees seem to find them easily enough though.

We have some roofing felt....but OH has said it will make the roof heavier....so opted for the marine ply. Painting it as well....so finger crossed it is ok. I will keep an eye on it ...at the first signs of weathering...we will put the felt on...thanks for the tip. Using sheeps wool for insulation in the roof. I am going to paint the legs and roof pale blue and the body a darker blue. All my hives are pastels. I did see a lovely lilac...very tempted to paint one of my Beehaus with it.
I hope your queen introduction goes well....it is always a worry until they settle down. One of my queens was similar when I put her in. Before I released her I sprayed them all with very thin syrup with a little peppermint in it. All went well after that...ha ha I think they were too busy cleaning the syrup off themselves to be nasty to her.

Getting ready for winter...soon be here.

 

[theeggman]

We have some roofing felt....but OH has said it will make the roof heavier....so opted for the marine ply.

Have you thought about using rubber pond liner? Much more flexible and lasts longer. Sometimes water garden centers have 'small' offcuts for sale cheaply. It works on our chicken house roofs and postbox.

 

[Tremyfro]

Have you thought about using rubber pond liner? Much more flexible and lasts longer. Sometimes water garden centers have 'small' offcuts for sale cheaply. It works on our chicken house roofs and postbox.

No I hadn't thought of that...great idea....will remember that one. Our chickens have Omlet hen houses...so they are waterproof. We have an old wooden coop which needs a new roof...the last one just ripped off and blew away. Probably decorating the woods! We keep that one for emergencies and sick hens. Thank you for the idea.

 

[masterBK]

Do you not bother testing to see what the mite load is during the season, to find out if it is high or not?

Normally I do a sugar roll with 300 bee sample to estimate numbers but been rather busy with other things this year and not done any. As one of the NBU sentinels I also put the tray under the OMF at intervals and send the debris off for checking for Tropilaelaps, hive beetle etc and saw very few Varroa on the boards on these occasions but Varroa drop often not an accurate method of estimating numbers.