What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Michael Palmer]

Oh how I wish spring would sprong here. We've had a few cleansing flights, but no pollen yet. Still some snow on the ground, but soon to be mud season. We were able to lift crown boards on 90 colonies this past Monday. Temperature upper 50sF and bees flying. 2 dead and 2 weak. Good honey stores and medium to large clusters. Of the 77 nucs we checked, 4 dead. Too early to get a real count on winter losses, but looking very good.

Now if the price of honey would rise above production costs....

 

[Goran]

It is pretty cold even sunny.. I've got a bit burnt by the sun.. Pruning the fruit trees.. I really don't like that but must do it..
Even cold, strong wind is whipping, bees are on meadow, since frosts scorched forage from forests.. Again plums, apricots, peaches, pears opened flowers - TOO EARLY, and next few days frosts will harvest them for this season.. No good. Such winter without snow and drought.. odd.. these climate changes will devastate agriculture really bad..
Primulas on pic are of our kid, not the meadow.

 

[deemann1]

Some pollen going in today on all colonies, weird weather very cold breezes and bursts of sun .
1 colony down so far

 

[Ian123]

Checked the hives in school garden apiary and school woods, no more than cracked the crown boards. No losses there at all so very good, a couple the nucs looked a little poor but that was it. Some very light so also did the rounds with some syrup, 25 hives in total. Guessing when more in depth inspections are done then there may be 1 or 2 failed queens.

 

[Tim.S]

Checked yesterday and one hive down out of 16 - Not one that I had thought might have problems but it was late being treated last year so possible mite load or failed q. The couple that were weakish seem to be going great so what do I know!

 

[Popparand]

spring has certainly sprung!

That was last week though.....but temperatures starting to creep up and forecast a bit more settled. Maybe another week or two and this horrible wet winter will be behind us.

Almost time for the next round of inspections. All well so far including the colony I was convinced was a gonner last summer.

Made up a nuc yesterday from an online kit offer. Very pleased with the result so will do the second this week. At that price there's little point in using raw timber.

 

[Murox]

spring has certainly sprung!

That was last week though.....but temperatures starting to creep up and forecast a bit more settled. Maybe another week or two and this horrible wet winter will be behind us.

Almost time for the next round of inspections. All well so far including the colony I was convinced was a gonner last summer.

Made up a nuc yesterday from an online kit offer. Very pleased with the result so will do the second this week. At that price there's little point in using raw timber.

I am around 850 miles northwest of you, I am still waiting ! A day of sun today but wind and wet forecast for the week. At times like this I do get a little envious

 

[Millet]

Bees from the garden hive have just been doing a mass orientation flight..and are now piling pollen in from a white flowering cherry tree in the neighbours garden.

 

[coatesg]

Yesterday, all my bees were rehomed with a local beekeeper that's taken on my colonies, boxes, kit, etc. (! had a severe systemic reaction end of last season, still awaiting venom clinic appt, so sadly needed to be done). :-(

Glorious day today (unlike the rain yesterday) - hopefully they are all happy and reorientating themselves again.

Decided to keep the beesuit, smoker and hive tools in case I get to start again in the future - time will tell.

 

[drex]

Checked my nucs (7) as it was warm enough. One drone layer. One dwindled to only a few bees. The rest had enough bees, but not as many as could be expected, with only one strong one. No brood in any, other than the drone layer. No pollen in any either. Been feeding fondant. Ordered some pollen patties and hope it's not too late to turn them round. Lots of bees flying out of the main colonies, but did not open them as I had no reason to.

 

[robmort]

Best day for months and bees from my single small colony flying for first time in numbers collecting loads of Mimosa pollen, so looking promising. Might be the best day for a while to come

 

[Millet]

Yesterday, all my bees were rehomed with a local beekeeper that's taken on my colonies, boxes, kit, etc. (! had a severe systemic reaction end of last season, still awaiting venom clinic appt, so sadly needed to be done). :-(

Glorious day today (unlike the rain yesterday) - hopefully they are all happy and reorientating themselves again.

Decided to keep the beesuit, smoker and hive tools in case I get to start again in the future - time will tell.

Sorry to read this..let's hope you pull safe and carry on carrying on..

 

[Levitt53]

Decided to check one of my hives which was fairly light. I have poly hives and find they don't use up much of their stores over winter. I messed up with this hive slightly and ended up in the Autumn with two brood frames of foundation (I know!!). So I left them with a fairly full super to make up for it. It was however my lightest hive so relented a couple of weeks ago and gave them some fondant. I looked today and they have plenty of stores in the super (and brood) so I'm kicking myself for panicking and wondering what to do with potentially contaminated super.

 

[Murox]

Decided to check one of my hives which was fairly light. I have poly hives and find they don't use up much of their stores over winter. I messed up with this hive slightly and ended up in the Autumn with two brood frames of foundation (I know!!). So I left them with a fairly full super to make up for it. It was however my lightest hive so relented a couple of weeks ago and gave them some fondant. I looked today and they have plenty of stores in the super (and brood) so I'm kicking myself for panicking and wondering what to do with potentially contaminated super.

Just keep it and use as feed for a nuc or as feed later. If you you need the comb/box just extract it separately and feed back later you can even freeze it.

 

[gregior]

Took advantage of the mild weather to clean the floors on mine today ,lots of pollen coming in on all colonies.Some were a little light but look in good shape overall.

 

[Courty]

First decent day that I have been able to visit my hives, Sunny, windy and dry.
All three colonies busy bringing in pollen, put the last of my homemade fondant on the one that had used the most. I removed the mouse guards, two hives had clearly been visited, the back of the poly inspection tray had been nibbled and there were mouse droppings in the tray.
I spent a pleasant half hour just watching them come and go, it’s the first time I’ve seen them out and about in numbers.
I’ve really missed just watching them, it made me feel very happy. Surprised to see a bumble bee squeeze through the mouse guard and come out thirty seconds later with an angry worker on its back.

Looking forward to the first inspections and putting supers on.
I love beekeeping!

Courty

 

[Murox]

Although still only a sunny 10 degrees I finally had a quick look inside, not too windy. Still some whole frames of stores untouched. Bees sitting on around four and a half frames.

 

[Swarm]

A cold wind but at least it was dry so I took the opportunity to cut back a load of bramble near the hives. Horrible job but better than house arrest.
Steady stream of bees coming and going.

 

[drex]

Varroa boards been on for a week on all main hives. Not one mite to see and on three colonies debris from all 11 frames. But most had debris on 4-5.
The supplier made a boob on the delivery of pollen patties and sent 2lbs rather than the 20 ordered, but I split those patties into three and gave a lump to each nuc, none of which have any pollen stores or brood, but OK for sugar/honey. Will give them some more when the correct order arrives on Monday. Will check their queen state when a bit warmer.
These nucs contain queens bred last year and were strong going into winter

 

[B+.]

Varroa boards been on for a week on all main hives. Not one mite to see and on three colonies debris from all 11 frames. But most had debris on 4-5.
The supplier made a boob on the delivery of pollen patties and sent 2lbs rather than the 20 ordered, but I split those patties into three and gave a lump to each nuc, none of which have any pollen stores or brood, but OK for sugar/honey. Will give them some more when the correct order arrives on Monday. Will check their queen state when a bit warmer.
These nucs contain queens bred last year and were strong going into winter

I started doing natural mite drop 4 weeks ago. Most are nothing special but I do have one that only dropped 4 mites in 21 days. This is a pretty good guide for the infestation level at the start of the season because they haven't been touched all winter. With little/no brood, all of the varroa are still on the bees. Of course, as the season begins, natural mite drop is inaccurate so it's best done early.
The fields are still very water-logged where I am so it's a long, tiring walk in the mud to reach the bees