What did you do in the Apiary today?

[deemann1]

Hi yes. Available in gold or purple - thought purple worked for heather & added the sticker. Sold out in 1/2 hour. The tasting of slivers of cut comb cracked it. Just lovely to see people’s expressions as the comb melted in an explosion of sweetness. Need to do MUCH more next year!

I sell mine in same box sells very quickly

 

[Nannysbees]

Been a hectic few days finishing extracting and putting my stand together for Heptonstall hexagonal chapel local food fair today. I’m one of 9 local producers, first time I’ve done it so fingers crossed for a good day. Made some boards to educate about bees and forage

That stall looks absolutely amazing, well done

 

[elainemary]

That stall looks absolutely amazing, well done

Thankyou! Hard work getting it all together especially extracting heather honey. But loved meeting everyone and sharing my passion for the craft.
Sold out of my heather honey jars and about 1/3rd of my overall summer crop. Plus got a list of new customers and was asked if I would supply a local shop. Lots of interest in planting for bees.
Made a contribution to the Sunday school fund. So a good day and worthwhile work.

 

[pete darbyshire]

Just one thing ...close up those ventilation holes in the crownboards - you don't need them and if you look you will see that the bees are already blocking the mesh up with propolis - tells you something if you need any convincing.

Yep, it's on the to do list, they are holes to allow access to rapid feeders, and should have plugs in them when not in use....well spotted.

 

[pargyle]

Yep, it's on the to do list, they are holes to allow access to rapid feeders, and should have plugs in them when not in use....well spotted.

I have similar holes in my polycarbonate crown boards - what I do is use the circle cut out by gluing it to a slightly larger square of material and then use it to plug the hole when the hole is not needed for feeding. They do propolise it in place but with a square rim above it's easy to prise it out when you need the hole.

 

[pete darbyshire]

I have similar holes in my polycarbonate crown boards - what I do is use the circle cut out by gluing it to a slightly larger square of material and then use it to plug the hole when the hole is not needed for feeding. They do propolise it in place but with a square rim above it's easy to prise it out when you need the hole.

I do exactly the same just have to remember to use the same hole cutter or else its jigsaw time.

 

[GuyNir]

I use silicon plugs.

 

[pargyle]

I do exactly the same just have to remember to use the same hole cutter or else its jigsaw time.

Ha ha ... been there - I have a number of crown boards with a variety of hole sizes - not recommended - have to keep the inserts with the crown boards.

 

[victor meldrew]

I do exactly the same just have to remember to use the same hole cutter or else its jigsaw time.

I use pieces of slate . The bees propolise them which is a plus . No tools measuring aids , just random sizes !
kiss.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Payne’s crownboard cut up into handy squares
Leaves a flat surface for insulation to sit on instead of rocking on a slate

 

[victor meldrew]

Payne’s crownboard cut up into handy squares
Leaves a flat surface for insulation to sit on instead of rocking on a slate

My crown boards have a bee space on each side , the slate used doesn’t protrude above the bee space .
the insulation I used would just indent to accommodate should any bit of slate be a little thicker than the norm .
a bit l8ke me I suppose!

 

[GuyNir]

Walked around the apiary and observed some entrances, all fairly busy. Also started a batch of Kvas.

 

[E&MBees]

Cleaned kit and sprayed super frames against wax moth. Treated for varroa yesterday. Mite drop on one of the colonies remains very high. The others are reducing now.

 

[madasafish]

Wrapped two wooden poly nucs.

 

[RJC]

Visited out apiary this pm to check ex-DLQ nuc, where I took out all drone cells and introduced Q cell from elsewhere (couldn't find DLQ queen but no fresh eggs so i thought safe to try) now has eggs, so fingers crossed.

Just updating this post on the former DLQ nuc. It seems to have worked. Nuc was bursting (not with drones!), so moved into an 8 frame 'nucleus' (paynes polynuc with feeder removed). Perhaps an alternative to a 'shake-out', as nothing to lose really if you happen to have a spare Q-cell?

 

[Swarm]

Bit of an apiary tidy up arranging spare boxes, floors and roofs and spraying spare combs or burning the manky ones. Nice flow on at the moment the bees are very busy, especially the nucs so I decided to add another box to one still on six frames. I dummied it down so they have four extra frames of drawn comb and they were up into it in seconds, probably relieved to have a bit of space.
Added thymol emulsion to a few drums of invert so they can all have a shot in the next week or two, at present they seem very happy with the Ivy and the last of the Balsam.
Will maybe have to look at clearing another area at the farm for more mating nucs as the results at this site have been far better than the others.
Roll on next season.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Away in the camper for a few days. I’ve spotted a few hives in somebody’s garden. One looks like a Flow. Might see if the owner is about tomorrow

 

[Dutchman]

Tidied up my apiary and made space for 5 more colonies. I intended to combine smaller colonies as I didn't want to have more than 12 but they all got so big, we will just have to overwinter all 15 and see what happens in spring.

 

[Michael ECB's]

FYI.... When you don't have the bee spacing exactly right.....
Is it that serious?
Thoughts?

 

[Swn58]

It's been busy! I've been sourcing wood etc for benches to put hives on. I've also been making them. We took a second crop of honey from the farm bees the other day. Around 60 kg. More thn I expected, considering. There will be a bit more to come, when I sort them out for varroa treatment. I'm a bit behind there, but never mind. I lost nucs at the farm, but had the same on other sites. Three nucs though had to be transferred to full hives...Abelo's.
The new Sandwell lot are looking good and have had their first and second varroa treatments. They may get a third if I get the chance, just to make sure. The drop on the first treatment was not that bad though.
The original allotment site has had its ups and downs this year. I went in with only three good colonies and maybe acted too soon in splitting them all in early May. I then lost five potential nucs. Just to make matters worse I lost my strongest and nicest pair of queens as well! I managed to re-queen one with a daughter, but kept having awful trouble with the other. Two nucs grew fast and were transferred. One is in an Abelo. WOW.....talk about strong. It's as if they realise that they are in a palatial home and act accordingly! I took two twelve frame supers, packed with honey, a few weeks ago, about 35 kg! There is still another to take as well, along with some from other hives.
It has not been as good a year as I hoped for, but lessons have been learned. New Years resolutions will follow.... in January!

Some pics