What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Vanterrier]

You have a schnauzer

No, sadly, I HAD a Border...
K

 

[Moobee]

Spent the last five days in bed with a hideous virus and nasty cough which only made me fret about my remaining colonies after reading too much about starving bees. So now concerned that the nuc at home could be light on stores after a shocking run of wet & windy weather, I dragged myself out of my sickbed. Was good to check as they had munched through most of the fondant and the nuc felt distinctly light even in my feverish state. Added another 3lb block and a small wedge of candipolline as they’ve been bringing in pollen in their rare forays out and the weather is set to be rubbish until the middle of next week.
Found this wee one cold and still but she revived in the warmth of my hand so I could return her.

 

[user 819]

Not in the apiary but something for the apiary , some simple wick bait stations using 250ml pet jars.

 

[gregior]

Quick bit of hefting and as I suspected some of mine are running VERY light on stores,not surprising when they're on about 10 frames with 6 frames of brood! Added 2.5kg fondant to 3 and 1.25kg to another 4,suspect i'll need to add more unless it warms up a bit.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Three of mine need food. Fondant on tomorrow. Never had to do that this time of year ……..ever
Thank heavens the willow is a while off. Or that would be written off.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Nothing we have 4-6 inches of snow

 

[drex]

Sunny but cold. Went to heft my 2 remaining hives. One flying well, the other no activity. Slight buzz when I put ear to box. Looked through clear crown board. Handful of bees with queen at top of one frame.
Decided to put them on top of the crown board of the strong hive, with their own entrance. The warmth fron below might give them a slight chance of survival. Too cold to do anything else. Both had adequate stores still

 

[Redcap]

Fresh fondant added to all my hives....sooo glad I went and checked today... definitely needed it !

 

[Sutty]

Checked fondant & renewed one lot as they had completely finished it!
It's definitely still winter!

 

[Wilco]

Delivered honey (jars and bucket to different purchasers), checked fondant levels in one apiary, so much variation between colonies. Suspect one double nuc there may be no more but will see in time. Saw a roe deer and possibly some fallow. Water table is very high.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

seem to spend most of my time bottling my un raw un cooked ordinary but not up my own a*se honey to keep up with orders, have to take the first batch of the season's honey up to the castle tomorrow as it seems the grockle season has started early.
As I'm up there may have a quick peep at the bees at the castle apiary for the (packed my binoculars to save me walking over)

 

[Swarm]

Nothing beats the sight of bees enjoying early Spring sunshine. At the farm today, all colonies busy with a constant stream of bees heading down across the meadow to the copse of mixed trees beyond. Bees all around the yard collecting water or searching out pollen from the Primroses and Gorse. Willow pollen is still piling in and I noticed the little Willow near the Oak tree stand has come into flower as well.
My wife showed me a photo this morning from six years ago today when we had a foot of snow as the beast from the east arrived.

 

[StephenT]

Weighed all the hives over the last couple of days and only a nuc needed fondant adding. A couple of hives (with plenty of live bees) had maintained their weight over the last 3 weeks so must have been making best use of the forage.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

went up to the castle to drop off some honey, then took a stroll up to the bees (field too wet for the truck) at the foot of the castle. Still a bit cold up there so no bee movement, hefted the hives and they have still got a good weight, came home as the sun had warmed up the home apiary and all colonies flying strongly.

 

[Niv]

Hefted my hives after some of the starvation news in this thread and found they were still on two fingers so all good for now. No loses to report, which is nice.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Nothing beats the sight of bees enjoying early Spring sunshine. At the farm today, all colonies busy with a constant stream of bees heading down across the meadow to the copse of mixed trees beyond. Bees all around the yard collecting water or searching out pollen from the Primroses and Gorse. Willow pollen is still piling in and I noticed the little Willow near the Oak tree stand has come into flower as well.
My wife showed me a photo this morning from six years ago today when we had a foot of snow as the beast from the east arrived.

I was looking at photos from the 2nd of march 2018 and we had drifts of snow higher than the disco .

 

[Antipodes]

Nothing beats the sight of bees enjoying early Spring sunshine. At the farm today, all colonies busy with a constant stream of bees heading down across the meadow to the copse of mixed trees beyond. Bees all around the yard collecting water or searching out pollen from the Primroses and Gorse. Willow pollen is still piling in and I noticed the little Willow near the Oak tree stand has come into flower as well.
My wife showed me a photo this morning from six years ago today when we had a foot of snow as the beast from the east arrived.

We had our first cool morning of the autumn down here and not a bee was venturing out until a few hours after sunrise, which was a peculiar sight given the usual activity. 33 forecast in a few days though.

 

[Garry R]

Checked all hives for flying bees - all good with all eight hives flying and pollen from the very adjacent willow tree being brought in by the double legload. Roof off and fondant check and a bit more onto each one removing any empty plastic bags. Roof back on and the front parts of my conduit home made wasp and mouse guards popped off leaving my spring/summer sized entrances on the hives. Whole job about 30mins - see you in 2 weeks girls - lovely to see you in such fine spirits. No flow or full inspection needed yet - they aren't going to swarm before then so why bother disturbing them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

we had drifts of snow higher than the disco .

you wouldn't catch me out clubbing in that weather - the chances of getting a taxi home would be near zero

 

[Curly green finger's]

you wouldn't catch me out clubbing in that weather - the chances of getting a taxi home would be near zero

Discovery (disco) I haven’t been clubbing since 2008