What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Swarm]

The follow up in Suffolk

 

[Nannysbees]

From Bryncethin. The beekeeper is going to live in the US, he was a complete novice and the Langstroth hive wasn't even nailed together. The frame design should have housed plastic foundation, instead, coated garden wire was used horizontally across the frame, supporting unwired foundation.

Oh dear!!!! We had one of our colonies from a Beekeeper in parc Derwen and they were a lovely strong placid colony.

 

[Splitter]

Not a Drone in sight in West Wilts

Lots in this hive, so I'm hoping there are a few about locally.

 

[Splitter]

The follow up in Suffolk

Thanks Swarm, that's me!
I didn't want to spam the forum with my videos on the first post. Not sure on the etiquette. Thanks for watching!

 

[Splitter]

Quick check in a couple of hives last weekend showed very limited drone brood, with some capped. With pupating time and a couple of weeks to reach maturity (think that's about right from memory?), it'll be 3 weeks minimum before any viable mating could be achieved here. Don't think I'll be attempting any queen rearing until early / mid May at current rate

I am hoping for a heatwave in a couple of weeks. Probably more likely to snow but you never know!

 

[Splitter]

He's not in Australia!

Wish I was!

 

[Splitter]

I would not bank on it over here with the dreadful weather we have had ... it's barely out of single figures and the rain is almost constant. I'm in the far South of the UK in a very mild microclimate and even down here there's no sign of any drones. If there really are swarm cells and the split was necessary I'd be forking out £40 for an imported queen from BMH or BS Bees ... better safe than waiting in hope - at least then you have some chance of a crop from the split.

Personally, I would want to be absolutely certain they were definitely swarm cells and not just the bees playing - ie: eggs and/or jelly in them. If they were swarm cells at this time of the year I'd have knocked them down to buy a week or two until the spring really arrives.

I knocked a couple down last week but obviously missed one as there was a sealed cell this week. Agree it would have been better to put them off a bit longer but felt I had no choice after finding that. In my experience they don't hang around long after.

 

[Swarm]

Thanks Swarm, that's me!
I didn't want to spam the forum with my videos on the first post. Not sure on the etiquette. Thanks for watching!

I had a feeling it might be
Let us know the outcome.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks Swarm, that's me!
I didn't want to spam the forum with my videos on the first post. Not sure on the etiquette. Thanks for watching!

So correct me if I'm wrong, you've moved the queen and a frame of BIAS plus a few super frames of bees into a full box of foundation (Well not quite full - you've left a space at the end of the frames that they will probably have fun with) and a super with just one frame of stores on top ? You are hoping that the flying bees will return to this new box ? Assuming they can fly with the weather we've had ... if they can't you might have a problem. Not enough bees, too much space, small amount of stores and cold weather - not a great combination. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Bear in mind that, usually, when you are doing Pagden it's well into spring, the bees are flying well and the weather gives them the ability to fly and forage ...

https://www.netweather.tv/weather-forecasts/uk/14-day/27603~Suffolk

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not quite in the apiary but I dropped off honey to a local shop and didn't pay for parking. I was only a couple of minutes but a warden was checking my car when I returned. I see you're a beekeeper, he said. (I had my B car.) We had an interesting chat. He's from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (I didn't ask until it felt safe to do so) and has 50 hives there on his father's farm The climate is warm and wet so the bees can forage more or less continuously. Varroa treatment is icing sugar. The resulting grooming keeps the mite population down. He said they do get brood breaks. Although they can't keep up with demand for honey, island life means that everything is very expensive. Hives they make themselves, but they don't have the tools for frame making. Seeing the long lugs of my frames he politely indicated that National hives were a complex way of solving a simple problem. Their volcano erupted a couple of years ago but the bees survived the hives being covered in ash. They did not survive a man made disaster though when a plane dosed the area in pesticide. We exchanged phone numbers.

I hope you gave him a jar of honey

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I hope you gave him a jar of honey

I didn't but don't think I haven't thought of that since! I keep a jar or two in the car for times like this but, as happens so often, the thought comes too late.

When will I ever learn...

 

[hemo]

I knocked a couple down last week but obviously missed one as there was a sealed cell this week. Agree it would have been better to put them off a bit longer but felt I had no choice after finding that. In my experience they don't hang around long after.

Until the weather improves I would have been inclined to carry out a vertical split dividing them , give the top BB a new entrance over a QX and with the inclement weather they could then align themselves at will to each BB.
A poly nuc for the Q until she and her bees increase another option.
Clipping can alleviate losing a swarm.

Issue now with the less then ideal foraging weather is two weakened colonies, one will be devoid of most flying bees in the next day or two and the Q in a cold empty BB with no or little drawn comb. I would have been inclined to give the Q a couple combs of sealed emerging brood to keep her going in 6f Nuc rather then a full BB.

 

[hemo]

Another week and a half of this wet chilly spell then for rest of April supposed forecast is a mixed bag of showers/ sun and low teens temps for the whole month. Clocks go forward on Sat eve so we hope temps should be a degree to two higher .

 

[hemo]

We have many options open to us in todays world and the old tried and tested methodigy doesn't have to be applied because that is the way things were carried out, a forward thinking beek should try and think ouside of the usual box and adapt techniques suited to the conditions.

 

[pargyle]

Until the weather improves I would have been inclined to carry out a vertical split dividing them , give the top BB a new entrance over a QX and with the inclement weather they could then align themselves at will to each BB.
A poly nuc for the Q until she and her bees increase another option.
Clipping can alleviate losing a swarm.

Issue now with the less then ideal foraging weather is two weakened colonies, one will be devoid of most flying bees in the next day or two and the Q in a cold empty BB with no or little drawn comb. I would have been inclined to give the Q a couple combs of sealed emerging brood to keep her going in 6f Nuc rather then a full BB.

Precisely ... Answers Post #38969 above .... Two very good options that would have limited the risk and if the weather did show promise there are the further options available. Unfortunately, this situation arose because of the often seen malady in beekeeping - the 'OMG they have done something I must act NOW' syndrome. Whilst swarm cells do need a reaction a few hours thinking about what all the options are and planning the best course are rarely going to be wasted.

We've all been there at some point and we learn from our errors of judgement. Beekeeping is never an exact science but a SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the plan you envisage, even at the most basic level, will sometimes guide your thoughts in the right direction - or at least slows you down a bit when things may become clearer.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’m despairing at the weather.
The bees will miss the dandelions which won’t open in the rain anyway.
I might get into the bees in May!

Woke up to this

 

[The Poot]

Woke up to this

View attachment 39366



View attachment 39367

So…..just be glad you woke up

 

[Murox]

Woke up to this

View attachment 39366



View attachment 39367

Its sometimes nearly May before I get into my hives out here. Your picture reminds me that years ago when I kept bees in Essex some years we used to have a quick blast of snow for easter day, the fields around looked just like that. Easter can fall anywhere from 4th April to 8th May depending on the year, always the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon and it is earlyish this year.

 

[pargyle]

Woke up to this

View attachment 39366



View attachment 39367

Oh my goodness ... we had torrential rain overnight and the wind was very strong but that front that came through obviously dropped a load in the West before it arrived with us ... We are not out of the woods yet.

 

[Splitter]

Until the weather improves I would have been inclined to carry out a vertical split dividing them , give the top BB a new entrance over a QX and with the inclement weather they could then align themselves at will to each BB.
A poly nuc for the Q until she and her bees increase another option.
Clipping can alleviate losing a swarm.

Issue now with the less then ideal foraging weather is two weakened colonies, one will be devoid of most flying bees in the next day or two and the Q in a cold empty BB with no or little drawn comb. I would have been inclined to give the Q a couple combs of sealed emerging brood to keep her going in 6f Nuc rather then a full BB.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure I have overreacted after failing to prevent a number of swarms last year.

The bees are out foraging this morning and my saving grace may be the better weather over here on the east coast. It's forecast to be 13 degrees during the day and down to 7 overnight for the next week, with only showers of rain. We had quite a bit of nectar coming in last week.

They do appear to have split themselves fairly evenly in terms of flying bees. I remain hopeful, although accept it will be more luck then judgement if I get away with it.