Galaxy55
House Bee
Agree - laying workers
What did you do in the Apiary today?
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Hivemaker.
Queen Bee
Workers or small drones emerging.
Hivemaker has it in one! Unlikely laying workers this early in the season, but workers or drone brood is a good giveaway as to the likely outcome in the longer term. Doubt if it will recover in a full hive unless the weather improves rapidly. Seems like a nuc might be too big!
If worker brood, it may need some more bees to recover to a viable size.
If worker brood, it may need some more bees to recover to a viable size.
It's called spring dwindling- if you leave them alone they will have dwindled to nothing.
This is what I did one year.
Found this small patch of bees with queen laying multiple eggs in cells with handful of bees:
If you want to save anything then it's only worth trying to save the queen. Made up a mating nuc with young bees from another healthy colony and put the queen in a cage and put the cage against the ventilation screen of the mating nuc whilst I drove home.
Released the queen into the mating nuc a couple of hours later and kept them closed off, inside for 4 days before opening the nuc.
Queen performed well on this occasion and I was able to re-use her:
If you've only got a couple of hives then it may be worth the effort. I personally wouldn't bother now.
justsmith
House Bee
Checked on my hives. (last week)
All looked like they was flying with lots of bees but when opened for a quick check 2 had died with the other hives robbing them.
they was all flying and fine a few days before the 2nd beast to the east hit when i toped up they food but looks like the 2 strongest at that site ate they food and the backup sugar i gave them and was unable to make use of they other frames.
Cleaned up the hives and removed the frames which was left just got to get ready for the sudden buildup of mites which hits that site at the start of the year.
Other hives on the site had 8-9 frames of bees so should be able to replace the lost hives soon once the weather gets a bit warmer.
All looked like they was flying with lots of bees but when opened for a quick check 2 had died with the other hives robbing them.
they was all flying and fine a few days before the 2nd beast to the east hit when i toped up they food but looks like the 2 strongest at that site ate they food and the backup sugar i gave them and was unable to make use of they other frames.
Cleaned up the hives and removed the frames which was left just got to get ready for the sudden buildup of mites which hits that site at the start of the year.
Other hives on the site had 8-9 frames of bees so should be able to replace the lost hives soon once the weather gets a bit warmer.
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Must get cracking with my accelerated drops.
After Spring convention.
After Spring convention.
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Girls perfumed their hives with cherry scent .. a lot.. Some are already working on 12th brood frame, some are still at 5-6th.. Overall all will be fit for black locust.... if weather allow.. or it will be 3rd season bust..
Still no one called for colonies to buy.. So, have to buy additional hardware cause I didn't plan to have so many colonies in this season ( the money isn't the problem, cause there is no..).. The barrels I won't buy to don't jinx it. So far seems will enjoy in awesome fruit scented spring honey - which I won't sell at large, believe it or not they " pay it" 2,5 euros per kg.
I am too small to think about export outside of Croatia where is extra class honey appreciated..
Still no one called for colonies to buy.. So, have to buy additional hardware cause I didn't plan to have so many colonies in this season ( the money isn't the problem, cause there is no..).. The barrels I won't buy to don't jinx it. So far seems will enjoy in awesome fruit scented spring honey - which I won't sell at large, believe it or not they " pay it" 2,5 euros per kg.
I am too small to think about export outside of Croatia where is extra class honey appreciated..
gregior
Field Bee
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Did 1st inspections on 6 of my 10 today;
Hive1 Very strong going into winter. Bees on 8 frames and 5 frames of BIAS lots of honey stores left over from the winter nice gentle bees BUT spotted a lot of dwv and also signs of nosema so need attention.
Hive 2 My best colony last year giving me 120lbs honey. Very small cluster with bees on 4 shallow frames and maybe 1 shallow frame of bias in total.Signs of varroasis from last autumn in the brood box with old brood dead on emergance. 50/50 weather they would make it on their own so considering adding some brood from a stronger colony.
Hive 3 ; 8 deep frames of BIAS look really healthy and will need supering soon.
Hive 4 ; 5 frames Bias but very patchy and quite a few drones mixed in with the worker brood so think this Q may be failing.Spotted a few with DWV too.
Hive 5 12 Deep frames BIAS sealed drone brood and queen cups present needs supering asap steaming ahead!
Hive 6 11 deep frames BIAS needs supering ,a bit tetchy.
Most had decent amounts of stores left so no feeding needed.
A very mixed bag with some really poor colonies and some real beauties.As has been stated before,my strongest colonies from last year that had no brood break are now my lame ducks due imo to varroa damage even though i treated all hives ( by vaping OA) in the same way at the same times.
Hive1 Very strong going into winter. Bees on 8 frames and 5 frames of BIAS lots of honey stores left over from the winter nice gentle bees BUT spotted a lot of dwv and also signs of nosema so need attention.
Hive 2 My best colony last year giving me 120lbs honey. Very small cluster with bees on 4 shallow frames and maybe 1 shallow frame of bias in total.Signs of varroasis from last autumn in the brood box with old brood dead on emergance. 50/50 weather they would make it on their own so considering adding some brood from a stronger colony.
Hive 3 ; 8 deep frames of BIAS look really healthy and will need supering soon.
Hive 4 ; 5 frames Bias but very patchy and quite a few drones mixed in with the worker brood so think this Q may be failing.Spotted a few with DWV too.
Hive 5 12 Deep frames BIAS sealed drone brood and queen cups present needs supering asap steaming ahead!
Hive 6 11 deep frames BIAS needs supering ,a bit tetchy.
Most had decent amounts of stores left so no feeding needed.
A very mixed bag with some really poor colonies and some real beauties.As has been stated before,my strongest colonies from last year that had no brood break are now my lame ducks due imo to varroa damage even though i treated all hives ( by vaping OA) in the same way at the same times.
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linoleum bonypart
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Lidl selling Polish honey here £3.99 for 900g
B
Beefriendly
Guest
Wow....currently 12C here today and my bees are acting like it's summer. Huge amount of activity round the hives with large quantities of yellow pollen going in. Looks like I can remove the pollen patties soon.
It's very reassuring after this long long long winter.
It's very reassuring after this long long long winter.
philipm
Field Bee
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The willow has finally bloomed and the bees are making the most of it whilst they can.Everything seems to be running late this year or is this normal and previous years have started early?
Tomlow bee
New Bee
At last some sun
Most unusual the sun's actually out and the temperature is in the high teens. Blackthorn starting to come out in a few patches and plum trees just starting to come into bud, just in time for the bullfinches. Hives bringing in yellow/orange pollen and will aim to go through them as long as we get two sunny days in a row. Plenty of early bumbles around and noe need to get out the hornet and wasp traps.
Most unusual the sun's actually out and the temperature is in the high teens. Blackthorn starting to come out in a few patches and plum trees just starting to come into bud, just in time for the bullfinches. Hives bringing in yellow/orange pollen and will aim to go through them as long as we get two sunny days in a row. Plenty of early bumbles around and noe need to get out the hornet and wasp traps.
Angularity
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Queen wasp hanging round my biggest colony. Put a trap out.
Zante
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Looking forward to the inspection tomorrow, today wasn't just tshirt weather, it was also shorts and sandals. Hopefully the spell won't be broken tomorrow...
I'll be taking another super to the apiary to store above the empty hive, so everything will be ready for the Acacia flow. There are still two old black frames in the populated hive. Since they were the only ones with brood in I couldn't remove them, but tomorrow I'm planning to move them to the edge of the box, so it'll be easier to remove them later on.
I hope they've started to use up all the **** sugar that they still had in the comb. Last week they were flying but not as much as I was expecting, so I hope they were still using those **** stores. I have still some empty comb from the dead colony, so I will see if it's worth removing some of that sugar or not.
In any case, lesson learnt: don't overdo the feeding for winter. By the time forage is starting to be scarce usually the temperatures here are still good for inspection, so I will make sure they actually need feeding before feeding them.
I'll be taking another super to the apiary to store above the empty hive, so everything will be ready for the Acacia flow. There are still two old black frames in the populated hive. Since they were the only ones with brood in I couldn't remove them, but tomorrow I'm planning to move them to the edge of the box, so it'll be easier to remove them later on.
I hope they've started to use up all the **** sugar that they still had in the comb. Last week they were flying but not as much as I was expecting, so I hope they were still using those **** stores. I have still some empty comb from the dead colony, so I will see if it's worth removing some of that sugar or not.
In any case, lesson learnt: don't overdo the feeding for winter. By the time forage is starting to be scarce usually the temperatures here are still good for inspection, so I will make sure they actually need feeding before feeding them.
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A lot of checking . Main disappointment a weak nuc showing supersedure cells and couldn't immediately find the Q so think that's a merge next week. Otherwise, had to super my two double-brood colonies. Pretty pleased after that winter and looks like I might have the foundations of a decent crop. Let's see.
Poly Hive
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It's a very late season after at least here the worst winter I can remember for long enough following the 5th wettest "Summer" on record.
It started raining in June 2017 and stopped yesterday.
And people are surprised at their losses. Do they think they are robots?
PH
It started raining in June 2017 and stopped yesterday.
And people are surprised at their losses. Do they think they are robots?
PH
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Association Apiary thi am - 9C, cold wind , topped up feeders. Beejacket for warmth..
My own bees this afternoon - 15C and no wind - inspected mini nucs with veil and shirt sleeves. One side (East) of B Equipment double nuc down to 1 frame of bees and likely to croak - other side West facing had three out of three frames of brood. Unmarked queen (supercedure) - ran and hid under nuc so I could not mark her.. next time!
LOADS of yellow (willow ) pollen and some nectar. Cut grass and strimmed round under hives in shirt sleeves - this is the life!
My own bees this afternoon - 15C and no wind - inspected mini nucs with veil and shirt sleeves. One side (East) of B Equipment double nuc down to 1 frame of bees and likely to croak - other side West facing had three out of three frames of brood. Unmarked queen (supercedure) - ran and hid under nuc so I could not mark her.. next time!
LOADS of yellow (willow ) pollen and some nectar. Cut grass and strimmed round under hives in shirt sleeves - this is the life!
Zante
Field Bee
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Quite the opposite here.
The '16 - '17 winter was bone dry, a little bit of rain in spring, then bone dry from may to september. The reservoir near here lost 15m water level and still hasn't quite recovered. It took 2 weeks of constant rain in the '17-'18 winter for rivers to even start swelling.
Whole crops were written off, and commercial beekeepers made a total loss last season. Even the acacia crop was ruined by those few days of rain in spring.
What gave them some honey was mainly the large trees such as lime and chestnut. The local beekeeping supplier said she never sold so much fondant as last year.
Not the ideal year to start beekeeping
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C
Curly green fingers
Guest
First inspection.
17 C sunny and really still removed nadir no Queen or brood put it to one side. Took eke of the brood after a bit of smoke with the smoker. Had to remove burr comb of frames first before I could go through the frames. I have bias on 2 frames and 2 frames either side of stores capped so I've 4 frames of stores. I bruised the frames either side of the brood and left the other two untouched. I didn't see the queen but seeing the bias was good enough for me. QE on then supper there was a small amount of nectar in the middle frame so theres nectar about and lots of gorse willow . pollen .
Going forward I plan to do another inspection in a week or so to see if they have moved stores and to find HM to mark her , also the development of the bias.
Everything seemed to be good and I'm happy I was surprised to see so many stores they've had about 3.75 kg of fondant since Feb 20 th .
Q. Could I start feeding syrup now.
Cheers mark
17 C sunny and really still removed nadir no Queen or brood put it to one side. Took eke of the brood after a bit of smoke with the smoker. Had to remove burr comb of frames first before I could go through the frames. I have bias on 2 frames and 2 frames either side of stores capped so I've 4 frames of stores. I bruised the frames either side of the brood and left the other two untouched. I didn't see the queen but seeing the bias was good enough for me. QE on then supper there was a small amount of nectar in the middle frame so theres nectar about and lots of gorse willow . pollen .
Going forward I plan to do another inspection in a week or so to see if they have moved stores and to find HM to mark her , also the development of the bias.
Everything seemed to be good and I'm happy I was surprised to see so many stores they've had about 3.75 kg of fondant since Feb 20 th .
Q. Could I start feeding syrup now.
Cheers mark
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