What did you do in the Apiary today?

[gregior]

Beautiful day here sunny,warm and very light winds. Was just watching the bees busy working the hawthorn and noticed an (ex) virgin returning to a hive looking a very plump indeed!

 

[Obee1]

Had to retrieve a garden table that I used to stand a hive on as I need the table back for human use. Bees now balanced precariously on a pile of spare kit trying to replicate the table height. I also moved them 3 feet to the left. family complaining my bees are spreading all over the garden - again - so trying to condense them down to just the patio area. 3 feet at a time.....
What was one hive seems to have become four.

 

[Beechcomber]

Big Mistake.

Sunday 15th May found three sealed Q.cells. Took two frames out with Q and left the three Q.cells. Today 25th May swarm issued from original hive just as I was going to relax with a coffee. Hosepipe out and fine spray sent them into our plum tree. An hour later they are sitting in a skep on top of a brood box with drawn comb and a couple of frames of foundation. Lesson learned, just leave one Q.cell. It's ten days since I checked two other hives which had no Q.cells at that time but due to ill health will not be able to check until tomorrow. Problem is supers are too heavy for me to lift without help, what terrible state of affairs!

 

[Goran]

On Sunday.. A2.

 

[Millet]

On Sunday.. A2.

I had a wasp nest the same as that with eggs and larvae inside a brood body bait hive several days ago, when i took the crown board of i had a wasp pinging of my head.

 

[drex]

I can see from my upstairs window that a nearby field of rape is starting to go over, so I thought I had better start thinking about harvesting. Went through the supers, separating boxes and removing brace comb, which saves a mess when I transport after a few days.
Very few cells sealed. A fair bit of nectar shook out from frames on testing. One hive had 4 nearly full supers, and they were just the same. Guess I will have to wait a bit longer.

 

[Sadders]

images hosting



Looks like she is being slimmed down to fly. Abdomen looks like a mealworm.

 

[Tremyfro]

Ha ha Sadders...you will soon be like the rest of us...scrambling for equipment in the garden shed!
Bee Inspector visit today. All the girls were well behaved and given a clean bill of health. Always lots to learn...a visit is like a one to one lesson. Learnt a lot. My drone laying queen has a stay of execution....as she just likes drones apparently. So my Hygienic queen might get to have her own colony. My new carniolan queen was out of the cage when we opened up...noticeably quieter bees now they have a queen again.
We saw my new black queen....we agreed that she was stunning!

 

[Goran]

I had a wasp nest the same as that with eggs and larvae inside a brood body bait hive several days ago, when i took the crown board of i had a wasp pinging of my head.

I left few empty hives on stands, since I had no space in car to carry all extra kit. And if needed for splits, just take and use. Hornets seems very attracted to it..

 

[Obee1]

Ha ha Sadders...you will soon be like the rest of us...scrambling for equipment in the garden shed!
Bee Inspector visit today. All the girls were well behaved and given a clean bill of health. Always lots to learn...a visit is like a one to one lesson. Learnt a lot. My drone laying queen has a stay of execution....as she just likes drones apparently. So my Hygienic queen might get to have her own colony. My new carniolan queen was out of the cage when we opened up...noticeably quieter bees now they have a queen again.
We saw my new black queen....we agreed that she was stunning!

Wow the bee inspector likes you ... Isn't that your third visit in two years? She told me she wouldn't get round to me this year as she saw me last year.

 

[Cussword]

Yesterday, I acquired another queen (free) after I killed the previous. (Unintentionally)
I was worried that the colony I wanted to give it to was so hopelessly queenless and thought that there may not be enough nurse bees left.
So I decided to put a few frames from rather full colony into a nuc to add her to, ready to introduce later this week.
When I arrived the colony was swarming. Good thing I had the nuc box then!!
The swarm was in a conifer 6 feet away from the hive at chest height.
Some quick thinking needed, took the only queen cell (can't believe I missed that last week) from the colony, put it in an apidea with friends. When I came back to pick up the nuc, I introduced the new queen using rosemary sugar syrup.
Fingers crossed.


.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Wet day so made up twenty brood frames just for peace of mind

 

[wessexmario]

Hive stand from 8ft x 4ft plasterboard pallet

Most pallets being a standard size are recycled, but I noticed that in my area a lot of the 8ft x 4ft ones used for delivering plasterboard get dumped or fly-tipped.

With just a few cuts and a handful of nails, one of these pallets can be easily converted into a robust hive stand that can take 3 or 4 hives. The pictures tell the story...

It turned out to be just a little too long for where I want to put it in my apiary corner, so I cut one of the 4 sections off, making it a 3-hive stand, and the cut-off will be a movable stand for resting boxes on when inspecting.
Alternatively, this size pallet would also make 2 two hive stands.

 

[B+.]

Wet day so made up twenty brood frames just for peace of mind

Yes, a bit damp here too. I have queens emerging in the incubator though so I am keeping busy attaching opilath plates (numbered plastic disks) to the queens thorax.
They will then go into apideas until its time for them to be instrumentally inseminated. These queens will never fly so they will have one wing clipped while narcotised with CO2 for the insemination (next weekend)

 

[JWF]

Most pallets being a standard size are recycled, but I noticed that in my area a lot of the 8ft x 4ft ones used for delivering plasterboard get dumped or fly-tipped.

With just a few cuts and a handful of nails, one of these pallets can be easily converted into a robust hive stand that can take 3 or 4 hives. The pictures tell the story...

It turned out to be just a little too long for where I want to put it in my apiary corner, so I cut one of the 4 sections off, making it a 3-hive stand, and the cut-off will be a movable stand for resting boxes on when inspecting.
Alternatively, this size pallet would also make 2 two hive stands.

Looks like a sturdy bit of kit.

 

[B+.]

It turned out to be just a little too long for where I want to put it in my apiary corner, so I cut one of the 4 sections off, making it a 3-hive stand, and the cut-off will be a movable stand for resting boxes on when inspecting.
Alternatively, this size pallet would also make 2 two hive stands.

They look very sturdy. Well done!

 

[linoleum bonypart]

What glue is used for the number discs

 

[B+.]

What glue is used for the number discs

I've tried different glue - even superglue, but, sometimes they do fall off. This year, I am using the clear glue that comes with the kit but I will clip one wing when they are mated too.
One of my test queens lost her disk in the spring so she cannot play any further part in my reports. If I had clipped her wing, I would have known that she wasn't a daughter.....you live and learn, eh?
The marking tool that has a straight insect pin on one end and a bent one on the other is much easier than using a disposable micropipette (which is what I had used previously - just don't lick the wrong end!)

 

[Tremyfro]

Wow the bee inspector likes you ... Isn't that your third visit in two years? She told me she wouldn't get round to me this year as she saw me last year.

That's cos I'm speshul!

 

[B+.]

That's cos I'm speshul!

People WILL talk, you know!