What did you do in the Apiary today?

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Got away with one today i think, had not checked hives since before christmas and yesterday i found one of my hives had,had its roof blown off, got down there and found 2 house bricks on the floor, kingspan in the hedge and poly roof in the next field and the strap in 2 pieces.
closed it all back up and feared the worst,went down today as nice and sunny and guess what ?? they were flying from the hive very strongly, so may have got away with that misshap
 
Vaped my last apiary, think it was a little cold when i started, but by the time i had finished, bees were greeting me at the landing strip on introduction of the said vaporiser.

Took the rest of the day off "Needed a pick me up" went to my bigger of the two bee shops. Stroked a new Dadant smoker, felt a lot better!! Bought some more Oxalic Acid, got 1 kilo for just over 12 euros. about 9 of your £'s, as had nearly ran out. Or should i be calling it wood bleach? No questions asked here, at the bee shop, its for vaping bees, end of. At the diy shop its for bleaching wood, and cheaper still. France has many positives!!
Checked some of the results from last weeks vaping. Too encouraging that the vapour is doing its job and at the same time worrying that my counts were so High. but, we've had a very long warm autumn and over a years since my last treatments . This year will be vaping all colonies in our dearth at the end of August. That way populations should be lower by the time i vape again after the ivy flow, hopefully in colder, more normal weather for November!
 
Not going anywhere near bees today (Thursday) due to snow...Might take a picture when snow stops.
 
Millet said:
I could lie and make something up, but to be honest i have not been near my babies for 5 day's .
Finman could you fire some ideas over to me via PM, on what to say and how to make thing's up, as i'm not a very good lair..:spy:
Click to expand...

Maybe you could get inspiration from an angling forum? :)
 
Gilberdyke John said:
Maybe you could get inspiration from an angling forum? :)
Click to expand...

Many of us fish and keep bees...so no hiding behind fishy tales!
Eureka...I found the tube that fits in my handheld pressure sprayer. I use it to spray stables and chicken huts with antibacterial/viral/antiseptic etc.
funny how these items evade being found when needed yet pop up when you have long since stopped looking for them....usually after having thrown away the other part!
It's been sunny all day...but cold and breezy. How lovely it's stopped raining ATM.
My waspbanes are all clean now....phewy...were they smelly!
Checked all the entrances to the hives and scraped away any dead bees to keep clear. Didn't see any bees so I guess they are clustering at last.
Sunny, sunny, sunny...all day!
Decided where to move the smaller colony to from Pond Apiary....it will be sunny in the morning and shaded a bit in the afternoons....next to the Bee Shed.
So tomorrow will be Bee Hive moving day.....it's about 150 yards to the Bee Yard from Pond Apiary.
So a wheelbarrow job I think. This time I don't have all the worries of moving a hive a short distance in the springtime...it went well last time and this time they are at least in the middle if winter.
 
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Don't touch anything.

Only reduced feed to cats :reddevil:
Joking of course.. Such mean animals, how they know to get what they want..

On Saturday whole day lecture I hope ( if snow storms don't mess our plan). Plenty of various lectures, bee health, varroa especially, queens, legislations, technology, bee business, wax and wax forgery.. Bunch of beeks. Even some consider this waste of time ( there is all written on "internet"), this worth a fortune for me.. I hope my hand won't get tired of writting, and voice won't abandon me for asking..
Also still didn't sold the honey, got some offers.. But spite in me don't let me accept such generous offers. I would feel like I spit myself in face..

And 6-7. February will be again bee fair lectures+trade.. It is that time of year..
 
A day making roofs for our Mini Plus polystyrene mating nucs. We make our own, as we find the polystyrene ones you can buy are just not up to the job. Wooden ones are much stronger and seem to protect the whole thing better. We make them deep so you can also stick a feeder under the lid and you dont have to bother the bees to feed them. The lid then still has enough depth to close around the nuc.
Seasoned pine, cut , rebated, cut to size and assembled. Now for the painting, that will be next week. Got to catch up on the real work and earn some money! However it was lovely to be working inside today!!
 
With a period of cold weather coming I put the nets on the hives to protect them from green woodpeckers. Also hung up some strips of bird scaring tape.
 
masterBK said:
With a period of cold weather coming I put the nets on the hives to protect them from green woodpeckers. Also hung up some strips of bird scaring tape.
Click to expand...

I was always envious of our UK neighbours who have such exotic species of birds as green woodpeckers but on seeing posts like this, I suspect that we're actually the lucky ones! There are no native woodpeckers in Ireland, although some years the Spotted version does drop in for a visit, albeit in very small numbers.
 
Hurrah! At last we managed to get the smaller colony in Pond Apiary moved to Bee Yard. We fitted extra straps around the hive and transferred it to the wheelbarrow. I steadied the hive whilst OH pushed it. Only a short trip around the pond, across the drive, around the garden and through the Chicken Yard to the Bee Yard. I will leave them shut in for a couple of days....none of mine flying today although it was sunny. After the move...I could hear their indignant buzzing when I had my ear near to the side of the hive.....it is a double nuc.
I hope we don't get many returners when the temperature rises. There is still one hive at Pond Apiary...so they could go in there.
 
bpmurray said:
I was always envious of our UK neighbours who have such exotic species of birds as green woodpeckers but on seeing posts like this, I suspect that we're actually the lucky ones! There are no native woodpeckers in Ireland, although some years the Spotted version does drop in for a visit, albeit in very small numbers.
Click to expand...


BP we have them breeding for a few years now and increasing their range.

http://www.irelandswildlife.com/great-spotted-woodpecker-ireland/
 
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