What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Mint Bee]

Moved some hives out a new OSR site in the rain on Sunday. Felt a bit light, so took advantage of warm lunchtime to do rapid inspection.
One nuc needs hiving and one national will get a super at the weekend, others a bit behind, but flow on! just need temperatures to stay above 15C for the OSR to keep produce nectar

 

[Goran]

Plums.. Still have some crucial work to be done in orchard, then I will " dive" into hives.. Our moral is low due to imports of " odd honey" and all are pressing us to sell real honey for the same price.. We keep saying if we sell that low, it will be less than what our beekeeping operations cost us.. Around me I already saw massive retreating from beekeeping.. Already You can buy productive colony with 8 frames of brood ( delivered in beginning of April)+2 food frames for 70-80 euros.. My maneuvering space is shortening, but when I will completely be pressed to wall - I will sell for that misery and never want to see any beehive in my life again when country support criminals rather than real producers who work hard.. What a world we are living, it makes me sick..

 

[The Poot]

Plums.. Still have some crucial work to be done in orchard, then I will " dive" into hives.. Our moral is low due to imports of " odd honey" and all are pressing us to sell real honey for the same price.. We keep saying if we sell that low, it will be less than what our beekeeping operations cost us.. Around me I already saw massive retreating from beekeeping.. Already You can buy productive colony with 8 frames of brood ( delivered in beginning of April)+2 food frames for 70-80 euros.. My maneuvering space is shortening, but when I will completely be pressed to wall - I will sell for that misery and never want to see any beehive in my life again when country support criminals rather than real producers who work hard.. What a world we are living, it makes me sick..

Nice photo, sad message

 

[Swarm]

Yes, very sad.

 

[pargyle]

Plums.. Still have some crucial work to be done in orchard, then I will " dive" into hives.. Our moral is low due to imports of " odd honey" and all are pressing us to sell real honey for the same price.. We keep saying if we sell that low, it will be less than what our beekeeping operations cost us.. Around me I already saw massive retreating from beekeeping.. Already You can buy productive colony with 8 frames of brood ( delivered in beginning of April)+2 food frames for 70-80 euros.. My maneuvering space is shortening, but when I will completely be pressed to wall - I will sell for that misery and never want to see any beehive in my life again when country support criminals rather than real producers who work hard.. What a world we are living, it makes me sick..

such a shame Goran, it seems every year brings a bigger challenge for you ...the economic situation presumably drives people to buy these dubious honeys in favour of your real, local, honey.

 

[Moobee]

Nice what’s the plan now ?
You’ll need to keep an eye them over the next week or two.

Looks like they’re doing ok……
View attachment IMG_6254.mov

 

[Erichalfbee]

Looks like they’re doing ok……
View attachment 39307

Is that stand ok with six supers on top? Well you never know.

 

[Moobee]

Is that stand ok with six supers on top? Well you never know.

I wish!! I’ve just bought some scaffold jacks so planning on a more robust stand as this usually has two hives on it

 

[Steve7962]

Moved a few hive stands to a new out apiary this afternoon, will need to pop back with concrete slabs and blocks to level the stands before moving the bees over. The farmer has OSR about 1km from the apiary and field beans just the other side of the leylandii as seen in the top pic.

 

[BigAshW]

Popped around the apiaries today to check weights. I went around a month ago and gave everything a pollen sub and the light ones some fondant. Today I'm still at 100% survival although three of the 21 I started winter are touch and go so gave another fondant block as next week looks pretty poor.

 

[The Poot]

Moved a few hive stands to a new out apiary this afternoon, will need to pop back with concrete slabs and blocks to level the stands before moving the bees over. The farmer has OSR about 1km from the apiary and field beans just the other side of the leylandii as seen in the top pic.
View attachment 39314View attachment 39315

What a lovely place to spend your time in. Envy!

 

[gregior]

Lifted the crown boards off a couple i'm worried about,as I suspected they were absolutely heaving with bees but very low on stores. Luckily I had a couple of supers from last year with bits of honey in so decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and popped them on. Weather looks poor for the forseeable.

 

[Swarm]

Cold wind all weekend but the rain had stopped and the sun came out so after completing my chores around the house, I had a drive up the farm to see what was happening there. One of my local late summer queens overwintered in a six frame nuc was looking very busy so I decided to open up and check the progress. Glad I did as she had brood on five frames, three fully capped with patches of sealed drone brood and open brood on the others, the last frame was a heavy frame of almost solid stores. There was some creative brace comb in any available space and nectar evident in the open cells.
It was 3pm and twelve degrees so I didn't hang about, got them all swapped over and hung around until half three, when they were all settled again with a few fanning at the entrance.
Bees were well behaved and there was a lovely smell of citrus during the operation.

 

[ericbeaumont]

a new OSR site

Looks a bit like Compton, West of Guildford.

 

[Splitter]

Today I made my first split of the year after finding swarm cells. Fingers crossed I can get a queen well mated this early

(Suffolk)

 

[Codford]

Today I made my first split of the year after finding swarm cells. Fingers crossed I can get a queen well mated this early

(Suffolk)

Not a Drone in sight in West Wilts

 

[pargyle]

Not a Drone in sight in West Wilts

Not a drone anywhere in my apiary ...

 

[Antipodes]

Not a drone anywhere in my apiary ...

They tend to go to the drone congregation areas apparently.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Today I made my first split of the year after finding swarm cells. Fingers crossed I can get a queen well mated this early

(Suffolk)

BS and BMH have queens

They tend to go to the drone congregation areas apparently.

Yes but you see them flying around the hives don't you? The sound is unmistakeable

 

[The Poot]

They tend to go to the drone congregation areas apparently.