What did you do in the Apiary today?

[E&MBees]

Completed a second round of OA vaping this morning for both sites. Started early but still very unpleasant with protective gear on. Bees have found a source of nectar judging by the traffic, all flying in one direction but hives are hefting very light still. More feeding required. Ivy buds are developing fast but not open yet. Watched a European hornet hawk my bees. At the other site removed a PIR dummy board that had been excavated by the bees. Was able to confirm suspicions from a few weeks ago that one of my queens had been usurped. Had one white marked ginger queen and one red marked black queen. The ginger one has gone and there is a new black queen with a red dot in her place. Someone local to the apiary has lost a 2023 queen. They have a good temper and excellent laying pattern so I’ll assess further next year. The ginger one was for the chop anyway as she wasn’t doing so well.
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[Curly green finger's]

Put this empty super on 4 days ago- it's half full already!View attachment 37567

That’s crazy , hb and ivy ?
Some of mine are backfilling broods , heather has slowed right down I’m waiting for it to be capped.

This is in flower on the headlands and interplanting
Also a lot of brassicas flowering and going to seed

 

[gregior]

That’s crazy , hb and ivy ?

Vast majority is Balsam, small bits of Ivy and knotweed also. Love the balsam it's so so easy to process,flies out of the frames and through the filters,fully settled and ready to jar in under a day.

View attachment 37570View attachment 37571

 

[Curly green finger's]

Vast majority is Balsam, small bits of Ivy and knotweed also. Love the balsam it's so so easy to process,flies out of the frames and through the filters,fully settled and ready to jar in under a day.

That’s really interesting some of mine are foraging on it but at home only bumbles , I’ve never seen the home apiary ever forage on it and I’ve observed at loads of different times of day what is foraging on the hb ! it is flowering exceptionally well this year don’t you think?

 

[hemo]

Checked on my village out apiary, stores ok and gave them their third vape. Only winter bees just on the go a couple frames with just eggs so looks like they may have been off lay for a week or so.
Also here a crabro briefly hawking one of the colonies for about 10 secs before jogging on.
Ivy just flowering bud a lot of bud to come out yet, most activity were hover flies, wasps and the odd crabro.

No Vv decimating colonies yet.

Returned home sat down for a late lunch and the phone rings, a swarm has turned up at a local primary school early afternnoon. So tootled off with bike/trailer and kit to box them up.

 

[gregior]

That’s really interesting some of mine are foraging on it but at home only bumbles , I’ve never seen the home apiary ever forage on it and I’ve observed at loads of different times of day what is foraging on the hb ! it is flowering exceptionally well this year don’t you think?

Yeah the wet July and August really helped, new plants are popping up all the time only about 10inch tall but still flowering well. I can honestly say this week has been one of the strongest flows i've ever seen.Looks like 3 more days then it's all over. I did a video on my Facebook showing the flow.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Yeah the wet July and August really helped, new plants are popping up all the time only about 10inch tall but still flowering well. I can honestly say this week has been one of the strongest flows i've ever seen.Looks like 3 more days then it's all over. I did a video on my Facebook showing the flow.

Facebook page ?

 

[elainemary]

Are they making room for bees to fan nectar do you think?
I've never seen broods so heavy with bees at this time of year

Yes definitely. Broods v heavy with bees and backfilling heavily with stores. Don’t think I’ll need to do any top up feeding this autumn.

 

[E&MBees]

Yes definitely. Broods v heavy with bees and backfilling heavily with stores. Don’t think I’ll need to do any top up feeding this autumn.

Wish my bees were back filling with stores. Nothing of any significance around here currently. Brood boxes are packed with bee’s though.

 

[elainemary]

Wish my bees were back filling with stores. Nothing of any significance around here currently. Brood boxes are packed with bee’s though.

Mines the opposite problem Emily. The yearly differences and weather patterns make beekeeping challenging and interesting don’t they!

 

[hemo]

Fresh nectar stores are looking sparse in all my colonies, there are signs of some but nothing special. A lot of the stores they presently have are unused/ spare stores I have given back that have been in one of my bee sheds.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Almost finished giving the bee shed a good slathering of oil based treatment (It's tanalised anyhoo but this just keeps the damp out)t doing some early morning to avoid bee traffic, then some late evening for the same reason, when the sun is shining directly at the apiary, it's safe to do the back as it's well shaded and tucked against the top garden hedge and the boundary fence which is seven foot tall chainlink and concrete pillars which, over the last forty years has been enveloped in ivy. by 1100 this morning it was buzzing with bees and other pollinators hammering the ivy which started to flower yesterday and has still got a long way to go before going over. for a moment I thought one of the hives had swarmed!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Been checking but no Ivy yet.

 

[hemo]

Collected the 5f swarm from the school at 07.20 this morning and took them to my village out apiary , Queen looked plumpish so assume it is the older mated one. Will hopefully see next week when I check on them.
Finished all my sublimination treatments today and generally most counts were low, gave the swarm one as well as they were the ideal candidate for a one off vape.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Been checking but no Ivy yet.

been smelling ivy for a few days, then saw a few flowers opening at the apiary yesterday - and the apiary ivy is usually a bit behind other sites in the area. this afternoon though it was buzzing with bees

 

[JamezF]

Been checking but no Ivy yet.

Same here. Had my head in a load of it this morning when I was picking elderberries. No sign of the flowers opening just yet.

James

 

[steveselvage]

Discovered that the unite that looked good last week have a dead marked queen and laying workers, I should have taken the advice given here and shook them out, now both nucs lost.
I also saw a couple of hornets hovering around but with ageing eyes looking through a veil I couldn't see if they were European or Asian.
Checked on the bbka map and found the nbu were dealing with AH in Southampton on the 6th and if the map is accurate less than 1/2 a mile away.
My mission this weekend is to knock one down for a closer look.
Absolutely nothing in any of my traps since I destroyed a wasp nest in July.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I also saw a couple of hornets hovering around but with ageing eyes looking through a veil I couldn't see if they were European or Asian.

My mission this weekend is to knock one down for a closer look.

big difference betweek AH and Crabro, size alone would tell you which is which (plus the fact that European hornets are yellow and stripy)

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Same here. Had my head in a load of it this morning when I was picking elderberries. No sign of the flowers opening just yet.

James

One patch of ivy started flowering a couple of days ago. Other big patches, no interest yet.

 

[steveselvage]

big difference betweek AH and Crabro, size alone would tell you which is which (plus the fact that European hornets are yellow and stripy)

They were definitely yellow and none here today.
I hate hornets, I once took five stings after accidently disturbing a nest, not nice I was rough all day