What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Millet]

You can build a new house extension with the frames now....

I was moaning about these Queens a few weeks ago but they have gone into overdrive now..9 1/2 frames full of brood wall to wall in the top brood box not looked in the bottom box yet.

 

[Millet]

..I will have to extract some soon or start using deeps for super if I can reach that high..

Then try using English language better[/QUOTE]

Try reading a bit better Mr Magoo..I have already stated on other threads that I have extracted 140 + lb of rape honey..they could be a bit left on the hives but the majority is phacelia...so stick that in ya pipe and smoke it.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Must have missed that then sorry

 

[Millet]

Must have missed that then sorry

No apology needed..this forum has that many posts per day which can make it hard to keep up to speed..

 

[maddydog]

Released more introduced queens from their cages into nucs. Weather still rubbish so continuing to feed nucs.

Marked a couple of this years laying queens. First of next batch of virgins emerged in the incubator this morning. Checked the grafts in two starters, looking like 26/30 taken so happy with that. Converted (8 frame) Paynes 14x12 poly nuc with a top feeder appears to be working well.

 

[Millet]

Blasted a bigger than I thought Wasp nest 10yards from my hives...I love bendiocarb..

 

[birdsandbees]

- Checked up on all hives, most of which are either Superseding or awaiting Virgins to mate, definitely lighter than they were after all the rain!

- Went into what was the angry hive, I opened it two weeks ago and still vile!, yesterday the new queen has laid up really well and 99% of bees present are now her offspring and lovely!

- Fed the Nucs, merged a couple as one was Q- (suspected mating flight loss)

- Set up a few more Mating Nucs and transferred V Queens from the incubator.

- Checked on one of my bait hives and discovered a large half built wasp nest!

 

[masterBK]

The weather seems to be holding up mating of honeybees but is not stopping the Bumbles.

 

[Hachi]

The weather seems to be holding up mating of honeybees but is not stopping the Bumbles.

Awesome piccy. Countryfile calendar entrant perhaps?

 

[Millet]

I mentioned previously that i had a drone laying Queen in one colony..well i could not settle so i went through it again today and i THINK! not 100% but i may have found her..
She was the same size as a worker...same length abdomen as a worker but it was ever so slightly thinner and she had one less yellow band on the middle of the abdomen..she moved on the frame like a Queen in random direction always trying to get on the underside of the frame..the only thing that has me 50/50 is she did not have brown back legs even though they where longer than normal...i dispatched her anyway and i will check next week for egg's..if i see no eggs it is a miracle from god that i found her..

 

[Millet]

Awesome piccy. Countryfile calendar entrant perhaps?

+1..

 

[gregior]

Not in the apiary but took the kids to a play centre in an big old mill today. Along the side wall were 6 chimney breasts with 20m gaps between each.Spotted a colony of honeybees going in through an air brick in the firsrt chimney, walked on and was astonished to see colonies in every single chimney breast! 6 separate wild colonies within 150m!

 

[Newbeeneil]

Just inspected the hive in my garden which I haven't had a chance to looking for a few weeks!
Just took 11 virgins from it and left at least one in there (I only found one but I couldn't be sure with all the bees in there.)
Now I just have to find places for some of these..... I hope they are as placid as their mum.

 

[GuyNir]

Beautiful day today. Some inspections done. Lots of orientation flights going. Big quantities of pollen coming in. Noticed bees on the bramble for the first time this year.

 

[gregior]

Had a visit from the SBI today,checked my 8 home apiary colonies.Found a bit of sac brood in two of them and slight signs of varroa in another couple but overall the bees are doing very very well with lots of brood in very good pattern. They were also very well behaved which surprised me a little after the recent terrible weather however they were all very low on stores even though I didn't take a spring crop this year and most had around 30lbs on at the end of May i'd say the average today was around 5-- 10lbs per hive.The SBI said mine were the first bees she'd inspected recently that had'nt shown signs of starvation but some were close.

 

[Millet]

Had a visit from the SBI today,checked my 8 home apiary colonies.Found a bit of sac brood in two of them and slight signs of varroa in another couple but overall the bees are doing very very well with lots of brood in very good pattern. They were also very well behaved which surprised me a little after the recent terrible weather however they were all very low on stores even though I didn't take a spring crop this year and most had around 30lbs on at the end of May i'd say the average today was around 5-- 10lbs per hive.The SBI said mine were the first bees she'd inspected recently that had'nt shown signs of starvation but some were close.

The weather down South must have been worse than up north for a change..all but one of my colonies are bursting at the seems with stores..to the point where i have ran out of supers..the one colony that needed fondant was a nuc artificial swarm with the old Queen..i did not want to give them syrup as they are not a strong colony at the moment and the last thing i want is to attract robbing..

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

The weather down South must have been worse than up north for a change..all but one of my colonies are bursting at the seems with stores..to the point where i have ran out of supers..the one colony that needed fondant was a nuc artificial swarm with the old Queen..i did not want to give them syrup as they are not a strong colony at the moment and the last thing i want is to attract robbing..

You have the benefit of a field of phacelia though...

Three hives in a row. Following a week with the trays in, two had no varroa at all but the third (the middle one) had hundreds.
Today vaped the middle one a second time and the others the first time to double check the boards at the weekend.

The middle one had swarmed at least once, so has had a brood break too.
Odd?

 

[simonforeman]

Checked the 2 nucs and 1 hive that was requeened with 3 Peter Stofen German queens.... all released, seen and laying.... great result. Can not wait to see how they perform.

Has anybody used his economy queens before and how do they compare to others?

 

[Ian123]

If you have his cultivation queens or the hygienic you can produce your own economy/open mated. I have a couple inc hygienic arriving soon

 

[simonforeman]

If you have his cultivation queens or the hygienic you can produce your own economy/open mated. I have a couple inc hygienic arriving soon

I did look at those Ian, maybe next year when I am looking at raising my own queens. This was the first queen I have bought from abroad so was a learning curve on the process. But happy so far.