What did you do in the Apiary today?

[B+.]

B+ are those poly with the pecked holes? There's huge holes, one of mine, a wooden box has a small pecked hole but the bees prefer it.

Yes.
They're Paradise Honey Bee Box hives (Langstroth) from Finland. Woodpeckers go through them just as easily as a hot knife through butter....just like wooden hives
The woodpeckers seem to prefer the handholds where it is thinnest. They're not stupid

 

[wightbees]

Sh!T those peckers must sharpen there beeks well up there: D they slow learners down here lol

 

[Heather]

14 d here today so grabbed the chance to reorganise a brood box. They were a recovery from a barn floor (between joists) last Sept. Lots of comb wired in from original but old, dark and not straight. All the food used up, and bees half way through fondant.
5 seams of bees, 2 frames with new BIAS so I reduced hive to a 6 frame Nuc, and all new foundation except the 2 with brood.
I wedged the remaining fondant down the edge of the hive and 1:1 syrup above. Narrow entrance and bees now settled well in their new abode.
Bees were lovely and well behaved. Slightly larger than my other bees at this apiary. Queen looked great.

 

[colinc]

Woodpeckers

We have woodpeckers both Green and Greaters, fortunately they have not shown an interest in my hives this year. I have heard it said by Beeks who have had issues that once the woodpeckers learn the trick of opening hives in an area it can become a persistent trait that they pass to young. I hope not. I will be investing in hive covers for next winter.

All hives flying today and bringing in pollen. Still waiting to open hives but they are still taking fondant well.

 

[Heather]

Greater WP usually ignore. Greens are the problem.
Just surround hive with 1/2" chicken wire that is about 2" from the hive all round. Seems to deter ok

 

[B+.]

Greater WP usually ignore. Greens are the problem.
Just surround hive with 1/2" chicken wire that is about 2" from the hive all round. Seems to deter ok

We seem to have a lot of green woodpeckers around here Heather.
I prefer to choose areas that have a variety of forage so i am not constantly moving hives from one spot to another every year. This is the first time there has been any problem on that site so I don't really want to abandon it. I think you're right. I may have to net them from now on.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Popped some Neopol on. Glad to see all three hives apparently active though not yet looked inside.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

16°c today ...pollen patties on

 

[madasafish]

11C this am . Sunny. All bees flying vigorously and crapping on my car, teh windows etc.. Collecting pollen.
Clouded over later on.. so fewer flying.

 

[amigadave]

Greater WP usually ignore. Greens are the problem.
Just surround hive with 1/2" chicken wire that is about 2" from the hive all round. Seems to deter ok

A beekeeper local to me recommends stapling plastic sheeting around each hive to deter green woodpeckers, although I haven't had to do so myself (yet!).

 

[bjosephd]

Last year I used the mannlake wrap stuff. Cheap and solid and pre cut to various correct sizes (for langstroths).

This year I relied on my Celotex cosies.


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[nantmoel]

Looked under the roof of a 'Queen Castle' we have been over wintering 3 queens in, they have survived the winter and are busy eating through the containers of fondant we gave them. Its the first time we have tried this method of overwintering.

 

[snelgrove]

Checked my colonies for stores, all ok apart from a couple, boiling with bees. Seems using Hivemakers thymol mix has done the job. Definate improvement than previous years.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thymolised syrup for me too. I try to get 10 litres of treated invert into each colony

 

[B+.]

A beekeeper local to me recommends stapling plastic sheeting around each hive to deter green woodpeckers, although I haven't had to do so myself (yet!).

I've heard of that one too. Some people say they're detered by the movemet of the plastic in a breeze and others say its the reflection of a shiny surface. I haven't tried it either although I did have a silver cover over some and that seems to have worked

 

[B+.]

I popped some sticky backed plastic on boards under the OMF for assessing natural mite drop.
It was so mild that I even checked on a couple of queens (althouh its really too soon to be chasing around a hive looking for them).
Queen 89 is one of the NL-Line queens I'm testing this year and the other queen is a line marked I.B. Celle queen (notice the eggs!). They're pushing out already

 

[coatesg]

Tightened up ratchet straps on hives this evening - blowing up strongly here.!

 

[BMH]

Checked my colonies for stores, all ok apart from a couple, boiling with bees. Seems using Hivemakers thymol mix has done the job. Definate improvement than previous years.

Can someone point me in the direction of the mix please?

Going to start feeding syrup to get some comb drawn when the temperature allows it and want to give them all a blast of thymol.

 

[BMH]

Looked under the roof of a 'Queen Castle' we have been over wintering 3 queens in, they have survived the winter and are busy eating through the containers of fondant we gave them. Its the first time we have tried this method of overwintering.

Interested to hear more about the queen castles.

I have built 5 for use this year but didnt even think about overwintering on them. Be good to see how you get on and what your feeding regime has been like?

Mine are a mix of 4-3-4 and 3-4-3 set ups. Even bashed out a couple in wooden supers as a fair number coming out of the winter are on brood and a half.

 

[madasafish]

Can someone point me in the direction of the mix please?

Going to start feeding syrup to get some comb drawn when the temperature allows it and want to give them all a blast of thymol.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1840