What did you do in the Apiary today?

[hemo]

First check since mid Dec vapes on three colonies at a village out apiary , all pretty busy with various orientation flights and some foraging . All hefted and two quite heavy and a Sept swarm on single brood not too bad , they hefted with two fingers ok so may put on a tub of fondant above them. Good to see the CBPV colony very active .

Very early days yet till spring arrives and we get April out of the way so one certainly can't take anything for granted yet, depends on the weather over the next 6- 8 weeks ahead.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

had the contractors in - some work the council did at the workshops near the home apiary means that in the winter now, whenever there's rain I have two springs in the bund behind the hedge, and a sparkling stream running underneath the hives and half the stands sitting in a foot deep lake.
Two winters (or is it three - when was covid?) of this has shown that the oft chanted 'damp kills bees not cold can comfortably sit with the other beekeeping myths, but I finally chivvy the council up enough to admit liability and offer mitigationView attachment 38967View attachment 38968View attachment 38969

Solid tyre on the blue barrow?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Solid tyre on the blue barrow?

looks like it - it's not mine, although all my barrows now have solid/foam tyres

 

[Cuckmere couple]

nice to see pollen going in to all of my overwintered hives and nucs....quite a bit of it too

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Contractors have finished inserting the French drains (why are they called that? is it because they don't do much, just lie there and get wet when trodden on?) so a late afternoon of resiting and levelling hives stands then moving the hives back - one stand which hadn't needed to be moved had sunk a bit and was dangerously off level so, as the bees were already shut in I took them off the stand and sorted that out. Hives are still a bit heavy so my back is squeaking now.
Here's halfway through the job
View attachment 20240216_194340_1076133623177450.mp4

and the finished job



It cost me three jars of honey, and the Polish labourer (whose father in law back home runs thirty colonies) was particularly chuffed and will be calling back to buy more!

 

[JamezF]

French drains (why are they called that? is it because they don't do much, just lie there and get wet when trodden on?)

Oddly, no I looked it up a few years back when I wondered exactly the same thing (well, not the second bit) as I was contemplating the need for one around the edge of a patio. It has nothing to do with France at all, but is entirely down to this chap:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_F._French

Whatever next? Was the full English breakfast actually created in an 1850s Berlin restaurant by Messrs. (or rather, Herren) Fulle and Englisch?

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Oddly, no I looked it up a few years back when I wondered exactly the same thing (well, not the second bit) as I was contemplating the need for one around the edge of a patio. It has nothing to do with France at all, but is entirely down to this chap:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_F._French

Whatever next? Was the full English breakfast actually created in an 1850s Berlin restaurant by Messrs. (or rather, Herren) Fulle and Englisch?

James

but did he actually invent it, or just adapt/make use of an older system then claim the credit? here we call them gwteri gwsc (sleeping ditches) and they've been around for many centuries, I have some earthenware 'pipes' that I dug up in the usk reservoir during a drought years ago that were ages old and would have originally been from a 'gwter gwsc', I could actually see the pattern of the ditches as the topsoil and a lot of the subsoil and stones had been washed away leaving the pipes in situ. The pipes are about a foot long, three inches inside diameter and would have just been laid end to end (no sealed joint) in a ditch which was then filled with stones collected from the fields then grassed over, the pipes were simply a clay tile which, when still wet would just be wrapped around a mandril with no effort being made to seal along the length of the joined faces which often would open slightly in the kiln. Our smallholding, Penywaun goch (top of the red heath) had a system of these sleeping ditches and the farm hadn't really been maintained to any great extent since the beginning of the 19th century- the ditches are older than that. The land had been farmed since at least the mediaeval times There's another farm just a few fields away from me Abernant Goch) which had fields drained this way, I remember in my early teens, we rented the fields for a time (my father was toying with the idea of buying the farm as that hadn't really been worked since the war) and during that drought year, the grass above the channels died off and you could see the vaguely herringbone design of the ditches as the fields was on a steepish slope so we could stand near the hedge and see the whole extent of it.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Was the full English breakfast actually created in an 1850s Berlin restaurant

Have the English any real right to claim a breakfast of bacon and eggs their invention anyway. Fried bacon has been a staple in Wales for centuries as have an accompaniment of eggs, sausage and blood pudding - and in this area it can be cheered up with a generous helping of laverbread. Ok, if you add baked beans to it, they're welcome to take credit for that abomination.

 

[JamezF]

but did he actually invent it, or just adapt/make use of an older system then claim the credit?

I suspect he was just the first to formally document their design and from that point on people referred to it by his name.

The pipes are about a foot long, three inches inside diameter and would have just been laid end to end (no sealed joint) in a ditch which was then filled with stones collected from the fields then grassed over

Who are you and what have you been doing digging up the drainage field of my septic tank?

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Have the English any real right to claim a breakfast of bacon and eggs their invention anyway. Fried bacon has been a staple in Wales for centuries as have an accompaniment of eggs, sausage and blood pudding - and in this area it can be cheered up with a generous helping of laverbread. Ok, if you add baked beans to it, they're welcome to take credit for that abomination.

I love laverbread used to go picking it when I was young, the smell of it cooking in the oven after cleaning it was mouth watering

 

[Curly green finger's]

watched our apiary near the summit just, my notes say they were flying last on the 8th of December all 4 colony’s have servived so far

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

not much - checked out the new land drains at the home apiary - it coped well with last night's torrential rain (pity the poor sould in the new (badly) builds below me though.
Watched all the colonies flying strongly between showers

 

[Martimart]

Had a quick lift of the roofs and decided with the weather looking a bit colder, decided to put a small fondant block on 2 of the Hives. Whip em off and put 'em on 30 second job. Lifted the empty container off and up they came, legged it back to the house to get a smock on, went back and both hives were up at the veil and not at all happy. Had one sting on my hand, and quickly put the fondant on, roofs on and did a military retreat. Picked out 10 stings out of the smock.

They've been fine and placid every time I've looked at them, just hoping it was the weather. Nothing on the floors etc to suggest queens have failed. Who knows, I'll find out in a few weeks time.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Had a quick lift of the roofs and decided with the weather looking a bit colder, decided to put a small fondant block on 2 of the Hives. Whip em off and put 'em on 30 second job. Lifted the empty container off and up they came, legged it back to the house to get a smock on, went back and both hives were up at the veil and not at all happy. Had one sting on my hand, and quickly put the fondant on, roofs on and did a military retreat. Picked out 10 stings out of the smock.

They've been fine and placid every time I've looked at them, just hoping it was the weather. Nothing on the floors etc to suggest queens have failed. Who knows, I'll find out in a few weeks time.

Time of year I’ve had a few do the same, even feeding fondant you want protection I’ve been caught out a few times not wearing a suite.

 

[BeeBird]

Time of year I’ve had a few do the same, even feeding fondant you want protection I’ve been caught out a few times not wearing a suite.

I had a similar experience yesterday when checking and topping up fondant, thankfully I had my bee jacket on but got stung through my jeans. I think generally the bees are more defensive in the winter.
When swapping fondant tubs or bags for new one’s how do forum members get the bees out of the old fondant tub/bag? Giving it a shake seems to cause a bigger surge of bee’s moving up. I seem to end up with cross bee’s in the space outside the tub which gets covered with the insulation lid blocking them in, this is the time there are more risk of stings. Maybe using smoker is the answer?

 

[JamezF]

Been tidying up some sycamore "prunings" in the home apiary today. I suspect my bees are way behind other peoples', but happily all the colonies that I took into Winter are flying and bringing in pollen. Most are busy, but one that I honestly wasn't sure would make it is quite slow.

I've been debating when I might start inspections this year. I know "it's still Winter", but at least around here it isn't, really. And who keeps bees by the calendar anyway? The majority of days when it's not persisting down I am now comfortable outdoors in a t-shirt and sleeveless jacket (though it's not quite warm enough to switch back to shorts yet) and regardless of what the calendar says that's "shirtsleeve weather" to me. I think if the majority of days are over 10°C and the bees are flying in significant numbers I shall be cracking hives open within a month. I don't want to get caught out like last year when I put things off until mid-April only to find the hives were already rammed.

James

 

[Curly green finger's]

I had a similar experience yesterday when checking and topping up fondant, thankfully I had my bee jacket on but got stung through my jeans. I think generally the bees are more defensive in the winter.
When swapping fondant tubs or bags for new one’s how do forum members get the bees out of the old fondant tub/bag? Giving it a shake seems to cause a bigger surge of bee’s moving up. I seem to end up with cross bee’s in the space outside the tub which gets covered with the insulation lid blocking them in, this is the time there are more risk of stings. Maybe using smoker is the answer?

I don’t use tubs or bags I’ve got into feeding above a cb, rolled out fondant parchment paper solid cb insulation roof.wait untill the majority has gone and replace, replacing at dusk is handy when it’s cooler if you have the option.
Bees in a cleaned out tub won’t be in there in the evening.

 

[steve1958]

Topped up the fondant today. At present all colonies have made it through the winter, though one does appear light on bees.
Looking forward to the warmer days so that I can have a proper look inside.
It was just nice getting outside today and seeing the bees flying.

 

[gregior]

Checked 15 of mine for stores and had a very quick peep in a couple so see how they're pregressing as after the next few mild days things look to be cooling off again to . Most ok for stores but a couple a bit light so gave them some feed. The ones I had a look in had pretty good amounts of brood and the queens are laying well. All hives were around 6 to 10 seams of bees which is a fair bit bigger than is usual for this time of year.

 

[E&MBees]

I had a similar experience yesterday when checking and topping up fondant, thankfully I had my bee jacket on but got stung through my jeans. I think generally the bees are more defensive in the winter.
When swapping fondant tubs or bags for new one’s how do forum members get the bees out of the old fondant tub/bag? Giving it a shake seems to cause a bigger surge of bee’s moving up. I seem to end up with cross bee’s in the space outside the tub which gets covered with the insulation lid blocking them in, this is the time there are more risk of stings. Maybe using smoker is the answer?

If there are not too many, I carefully lift each one off and put it on the landing board or I prop the packaging on the board for them to climb back inside.