What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Curly green finger's]

This is the black bee colony I've collected today.
The farmer wanted them moved as there very aggressive and the beek had left them.. they were pretty aggressive but not to the point they were covering my vail.. I would of had lots of stings though if I wasn't wearing leather gloves.

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[madasafish]

Checked my first attempt at grafting: one out of 6 worked.Used Chines tool with thinned tongue.
Second try: tried 8.. Used s/steel grafting tool thinned down (cheap Chinese one)..

Find my eyes get tired after about 10 minutes.. will have work work faster or better..

Head torch plus 2 x magnification head visor..

Much more flexible than Nicot system which I used before.. Can graft any time subject to weather and larvae...

Pity I am not very good but practise etc..

 

[simonforeman]

Last week took 7 supers of rape honey off my 2 producing home hives, 2 were crystallised. I added the 5 good ones back the same day after extracting and today they are all full again and all 5 are nearly capped. Looks like another extraction this week sometime. Farmland all around and on the edge of a small village so God knows whats coming in now.
Added another brood box to 1 of the hives also to convert from brood 1/2 to double brood.

At the out apiary, 4 supers nearly capped with no rape around this year. Think I'm going to be well over 100kg of spring honey this year. Wife moaning about buckets afound the house now....lol

 

[G4WIL]

Last week took 7 supers of rape honey off my 2 producing home hives, 2 were crystallised. I added the 5 good ones back the same day after extracting and today they are all full again and all 5 are nearly capped. Looks like another extraction this week sometime. Farmland all around and on the edge of a small village so God knows whats coming in now.

Added another brood box to 1 of the hives also to convert from brood 1/2 to double brood.



At the out apiary, 4 supers nearly capped with no rape around this year. Think I'm going to be well over 100kg of spring honey this year. Wife moaning about buckets afound the house now....lol

Get a shed . Think of the size you deem adequate and double it at least .


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[pargyle]

Get a shed . Think of the size you deem adequate and double it at least .


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My wife would not be happy living in a shed ....

 

[Ian123]

My wife would not be happy living in a shed ....

But she may be happier if you did

 

[pargyle]

But she may be happier if you did

There's no MAYBE about it ....it a certainty !

 

[Swarm]

This is the black bee colony I've collected today.
The farmer wanted them moved as there very aggressive and the beek had left them.. they were pretty aggressive but not to the point they were covering my vail.. I would of had lots of stings though if I wasn't wearing leather gloves.

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Lovely, productive little bees, Mark.
Looking at what you did to their home I expect they were miffed. You've had a good flow by the looks of it.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Lovely, productive little bees, Mark.
Looking at what you did to their home I expect they were miffed. You've had a good flow by the looks of it.

It wasn't ideal Steve, I was expecting the hives to be empty there was two colonys one on a 14x12 with two supers and a single nats brood with three supers.
The hive in the pictures had three supers, I've extracted two and left one.. Two supers have produced 80lbs of honey, I'm not sure what the honey is its dark.. There's honey in the supers on the 14x12 colony but its all cristalized.

Considering they had been in a commercial cider apple orchard.

I was told they had been abandoned two years ago but they had been there more than that.. The floors were rotten and the super/brood boxes are falling apart.. Bee's had gone into the side walls of the supers because there rotten.
Today Ive replaced some of the boxes and frames on both but I want to do it a bit at a time.. I think I've stressed them enough moving them from oldfields cider farm to the Clee..

Im going to leave them now for a week or two and then take some samples of bee's to assec
There wasn't many drones in both hives they haven't been treated for varroa for a while.

It reminds me of when I moved grandads bee's that got left for years.

They were a bugger to load up in the car we had to move them a bit at a time.

 

[Barbarian]

Can someone tell me the issue of BK Quarterly that had an article where Polish (?) keeps put rhubarb leaves in their hive ?

Ta!

 

[Newbeeneil]

The hive in the pictures had three supers, I've extracted two and left one.. Two supers have produced 80lbs of honey, I'm not sure what the honey is its dark..

Mark, how do you get 80lbs out of two supers? I never get much more than 25lb per super.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Mark, how do you get 80lbs out of two supers? I never get much more than 25lb per super.

Most I've had out of a national shallow (ten frame SN1) was during an exceptional year whe they were backfilling the combs to less than a beespace apart from a small patch at the bottom - 31 to 32 lbs

 

[Curly green finger's]

Hi folks.. If you look in the pictures they built comb above the crownboard and into the roof space.. Maybe I should of said that in total 80lbs..

There was wild comb pretty much everywhere hardly surprising after years and years of being left.
With the forage there is in that area.

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[pargyle]

Mark, how do you get 80lbs out of two supers? I never get much more than 25lb per super.

25 Lbs a super is a good crop, nothing amiss with that - I occasionally see a little more than this but (I think ... ) because I'm foundationless they tend to build really fat combs in the supers, sometimes almost down to one beespace between them but the most I see, normally, is around 30lbs.

I've heard extraordinary claims at times ... take them all with a big pinch of salt.

 

[Curly green finger's]

25 Lbs a super is a good crop, nothing amiss with that - I occasionally see a little more than this but (I think ... ) because I'm foundationless they tend to build really fat combs in the supers, sometimes almost down to one beespace between them but the most I see, normally, is around 30lbs.

I've heard extraordinary claims at times ... take them all with a big pinch of salt.

No pinches of salt needed here

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[pargyle]

No pinches of salt needed here

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My comment was not directed at you Mark ... bragging rights of huge crops have been seen in here occasionally .. and generally in the beekeeping world.

 

[Curly green finger's]

My comment was not directed at you Mark ... bragging rights of huge crops have been seen in here occasionally .. and generally in the beekeeping world.

I wouldn't know Philip, I'm only a new beekeeper with a short amount of years under my belt.

And I've been very surprised myself.


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[Curly green finger's]

This is one super of honey after taking the wax of it. As you can see just under 40lb.

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[StephenT]

Checked the AS hive that we had introduced a BS Honeybees Buckfast to after they had ditched the old queen and all going well with BIAS. Need to feed them as she has laid in most of the 4 frames of drawn comb and they seem slow to draw the other frames of foundation. Planned to move the partially filled super they inherited in the split to the much stronger parent hive (after clearing it) and then feed them. Does this sound sensible?

Transferred the swarm we collected just over 2 weeks ago out of the nuc to a brood box. Didn't spot the queen but have BIAS. Didn't bother with the parent hive as it's very busy and neighbours having a BBQ just over the other side of the fence. Will check that tomorrow evening.

 

[Vergilius]

Last night I hived this beaut to give me my first colony after a five year hiatus!