What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Obee1]

Here goes - as I said it sits between the feet of the nuc and can be made narrower to ensure only the mesh floor is available to the varrox - it was that wide with me for stability and I happened to have an eke I made for a plywood nuc years ago now redundant. the combination of the slot and the fact that only the pan and the foot of the iron is within the eke means that the varrox can't be moved out of position.
No need for faffing around making a hermetic seal around the eke or anything - very little escaped on testing.
Just put the charged varrox down on the metal plate, put eke over then move closed up nuc over the lot

Thanks for the pics. I have placed my order with OH aka 'maker of all things wooden' and hope to be presented with an exact copy in the next few days

 

[GaryB]

First of the feeders on

Me too. First feed on.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Me too. First feed on.

Feeding first and probably only "main" hive. (After a very turbulent year, ending in the incoming—mated—Q being rescued from under the OMF on 22 August, after several weeks, it is barely more than a decent nuc.)

About half-way through nucs. Ivy indeed flooding in here as well.

Ramping the thymol content as they get used to it: want no more nosema.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Funny world some fully fed others just starting I'm amazed where the bees are finding pollen they are seriously piling it in

 

[Plenty of honey]

Funny world some fully fed others just starting I'm amazed where the bees are finding pollen they are seriously piling it in

I know, same here, its the first cold morning, 4 degrees, bees flying by 10 degrees and piling in the ivy!!

 

[REDWOOD]

Last of the feeders off.
One colony is so busy it could be summer!

Did you have to feed your 14x12 ? mine are full to the brim, although they will be getting Thymol like it or not

 

[Chriszog]

More feeder topping up!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Did you have to feed your 14x12 ? mine are full to the brim, although they will be getting Thymol like it or not

One brood was practically empty when I took supers off. They have all had 10 litres of invert with thymol one has had 14. They seem to be concentrating on pollen now.

 

[maddydog]

One brood was practically empty when I took supers off. They have all had 10 litres of invert with thymol one has had 14. They seem to be concentrating on pollen now.

Same here, many light hives after I'd removed the supers. Most have supped 10-15l with a few more to go yet.
Lovely to see the girls busy today on a cool overcast day. Ivy pollen going in by the bucket load

 

[mbc]

One brood was practically empty when I took supers off. They have all had 10 litres of invert with thymol one has had 14. They seem to be concentrating on pollen now.

There is a shake from the ivy but not enough yet for them to pile on much weight, if this settled weather continues they should gain more weight from the ivy towards the middle of October as their demands lesson with less young to feed, at the moment some hives are actually loosing weight (if they're not being fed) due to raising brood despite the ivy income. Ivy is the most certain nectar flow of the year in our part of the world

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes a couple of hives have been losing weight and I put that down to brooding. Four out of the six have shallows under so even though they are heavy they should have room

 

[Obee1]

Yes a couple of hives have been losing weight and I put that down to brooding. Four out of the six have shallows under so even though they are heavy they should have room

Are you up to 6 hives now Erica?

In my apiary - I did nothing.
In my hall I cluttered the place up with 5 boxes of glass jars and a package of oxalic acid (my yacht deck was looking decidedly grubby)
In my kitchen I stank the place out making the thymol recipe
In the back garden I spilled syrup on the decking whilst filling the jerry can. hosed it down as too lazy to clean it with oxalic

Had planned to top feeders on farm apiary but it got dark earlier than I hoped.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I did have 7
2 have been combined; a 14x12 and a BS. The smaller box had a shallow under and I have left all in place so it is a bit of a skyscraper.

The nights are drawing in and clocks go back soon

 

[Saffabee]

I finished feeding all six hives finally all hefted and only one seems light but they wouldn't take down anymore syrup. They are only on 8 frames so will see how they get on. Season finally coming to an end, now a well deserved rest till next year.


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[chrisb]

there mad busy today its not even that warm, can hear the buzz 8 foot away easy
they not even kicked all the drones out yet still odd ones around

 

[madasafish]

Fed and weighed Association hives.
Fed my hives..or those that were still taking syrup.


Lovely sunny calm day.. watched young great tits doing flying exercises (a bit late in the season)..

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Saw a pigeon egg shell!


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[nantmoel]

Arrived home after 9 days away to the pundent smell of 'Ivy' on the 4 hives and a Nuc that we have in the garden.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

did round two of hive cleaning last night and this evening, moderate to light mite drop on all but two hives and those two don't have a drop that's particularly concerning..
Bees have been full on at the ivy the last few days - you can hear the bees over a hundred yards away and they're flying strongly dawn 'til dusk.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Saw a pigeon egg shell!

I've got one of those in my car! We went out for the day and when we got back to the car there was an empty shell nestling against the windscreen wipers.

The top looked as if it had been neatly cut open so we thought it might have been dropped by a crow or a magpie.