What did you do in the Apiary today?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I did find thornes are no longer selling there standard foundation.

They did announce that at the beginning of the lockdown - to enable the lads to concentrate on one product as the workforce was depleted due to self isolation.

 

[Ian123]

Yes saw that on the site I did have a delivery a couple of weeks ago and she had to check first so guess they had been running down stock. A bit odd just to do the premiere though you would have thought the standard is the norm, so did wonder if there was an issue with supply/shipping. Anyway I went to C wynne for those supers and another few hundred deeps and foundation.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The premier is made from wax that has been exchanged so they probably have the stuff on site.
If you were buying that much it would probably have paid you to get it from Maisies as the 25% discount on larger orders brings their prices right down.
Old Castle farm sell foundation now as well - they claim their prices can't be beaten - It's Eastern European wax, from the same place they have the suits made (Estonia I think although unsure) looks and smells good and of a good thickness, unfortunately they've listened to those of little imagination and it's all packaged in packs of eleven

 

[Newbeeneil]

Inspected 20 hives today and found one that seem to have superseded. When I opened the first hive I lifted a frame and heard piping so I spent a few minutes scanning the frame to find a beautiful black virgin. I found the open cell and another 3 sealed cells.
As I removed the other cells 3 other virgins appeared so I caged them and later made up nucs. Hopefully they will get mated over the next week or so as she was one of my favourite queens.

 

[Ian123]

That makes sense re the wax, Jones was out of super thin so will sort tomorrow. Could have been worse I may have had to buy that sterilised stuff

 

[boywonder]

No interventions today... Just took a wander up to the hives at the top of the garden, to lift the spirits this lunchtime... when one of my girls stopped off on my T-shirt to say, "Hi." ... Been on the OSR, by any chance ? [emoji846]

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Goran]

Today all area is covered by light sweet scent.. Bees were working really hard. So do I, part of municipal road still not fixed after some 5-6 months so I had to engage my one donkey power and muscle it to can reach 2nd apiary by the vehicle.. It was destroyed by tracked forest vehicle when with full load it goes when it was near mud consistency due to heavy rains.. There were tracks meter deep.. One more example why people are running from here.. At least it was good exercise..
I needed to do it since seems will have some extraction of spring honey and I don't want to carry full boxes 80-100 meters..

 

[thedozzer]

Did and inspection today, Yellow hive had one frame was 30% drones wandering about eating stores, and would sat 15% of some frames is drone brood, so there are plenty here already, and some have been flying today. its 17c here.
We have had some charged QC's so will need to split soon.
2 supers on green hive filling nicely, 3 on the yellow hive with 2 supers about 1/3rd capped.

 

[gregior]

Inspected 7 at the home apiary today,not surprisingly they were all bursting at the seams with tons of brood,pollen and fresh honey.All apart from my breeder colony which had swarmed I found and clipped all my queens last inspection apart from the breeder which I couldn't find-typical! Split it into 3 nucs with nice cells so may get some new queens from it but still gutted to lose the queen. Another had swarm cells so I padgened it. A demaree from 2 weeks ago isn't putting cells up so this should be a super strong colony this year. All colonies very calm.

 

[drex]

Took a test frame over to the disappearing queen colony at the animal sanctuary. Will read it when next over there, to muck out, on Wednesday

 

[Bear]

Went through two hives to clip and mark the Queen. Couldn't find her in either hive!!! Removed the insulation, the empty fondant bags, placed on Queen excluders and added a super of drawn comb to each hive.

 

[XYZ]

Inspected my 3 colonies. One doing really well although I'd like them to collect more nectar. Didn't see queen but saw eggs
Second full hive doing OK but want them to build up more. Didn't see queen but saw eggs
Nuc I'm not sure about. Didn't see 2018 queen or eggs but saw two charged cups. Only knew they were charged after opening them.

I think my plan of action is to stick a test frame in the nuc, donated from the buckfast colony. I know the idea is to take from the strongest colony, but I'd like the genetics to be optimised. Will have to be sensible about the frame, making sure it least impacts colony strength. Might do that today, or at some point next week. Will do some research first.

Open to any tips.

 

[Murox]

Doesn't have to be a whole frame of eggs - just cut a section out, you get the picture? Remember to mark the frame.

 

[SaraR]

Removed winter wraps and insulation. Put a super on one particularly busy hive and quickly checked on the rest. Interesting to see how different the colonies are looking now, despite most being very similar going into winter. Put a nuc box out as well. Also ordered a painful amount worth of of boxes etc to be ready for when they really kick off.

 

[Wingy]

Set one hive up Snelgrove as I found a charged QC a couple of days ago.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Removed the insulation,

Removed winter wraps and insulation.

Why?

 

[jeff33]

I finished making a batch of mating nucs and mini frames, tedious work! I also set up my cell builder with a view of grafting next Sunday.

 

[SaraR]

Why?

Because I needed the supers that were stuffed with insulation to hold frames for the two busiest hives. The thin insulation I had under the roofs is still there.

 

[Heather]

having a day off..coffee time.. sitting watching my mason bees use the 'cane house' . so here's a question. Why do some go in head first and then a few seconds later come out and re-enter in reverse.

 

[kazmcc]

having a day off..coffee time.. sitting watching my mason bees use the 'cane house' . so here's a question. Why do some go in head first and then a few seconds later come out and re-enter in reverse.

Females will size up the holes before deciding they are suitable by having a good look around but when bringing provisions back they enter back-end first to scrap the pollen off the underside of the abdomen or lay an egg. Males will nip in head first looking for females that may be hiding or emerging.