What did you do in the Apiary today?

[gregior]

Inspected another 12 this evening. First 8 are swarms from my bees from this year on brand new 14 x 12's. All doing really well,the earliest one has drawn out and filled a full 14x12 brood box with 9 solid frames of brood and filled 2 supers since the first week in May and is now putting up cells again! The other 4 are my grumpy hives that i moved from other apiaries away from people,they are still as bad as ever despite my attempts to requeen them but are doing a great job on the honey front. I introduced a pulled virgin from one of my gentle dark hives into the worst one after making it queenless but they've made a new bright yellow queen from thier own brood so not expecting any improvement in that one, at least i don't have to inspect it again this season thank god.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Had a couple of hours free so finally got around to trying to sort out my shed at the apiary. Found out I’ve got enough kit left for another dozen colonies!

 

[holmbee]

Checked the nucs that I set up for two queens arriving from mbc earlier this month. Had to wait a while until they finished trying to make their own queens. Surprising it took longer than I expected. Then released the queens about two weeks ago. I had not checked for eight days and today they had both been laying extremely well. Found the queens easily and marked them. Need to move to full sized hives within a couple of days.

 

[Erichalfbee]

First inspection. Same sort of bees we always catch there. Arrived a week ago. Black and orange queen all her bees jet black. This one was a cast but they are getting going.

 

[StephenT]

Reduced to one queen cell in a hive we did swarm control on last week. Put another super on 4 hives as they have pretty much filled the ones we put on laat week. Looks like we are going to have a half decent harvest after all.

 

[Garry R]

Not in the apiary but two of these gigantic moths in the garden. No idea what they are but certainly impressive

 

[Vanterrier]

Privet Hawk Moth
K

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Had to wait a while until they finished trying to make their own queens.

why? much easier to make up the nucs once the queens arrive and introduce them immediately - far less hassle, and I've found it has a higher success rate

 

[drex]

Took the two grandsons ( 10&8) for their first look in the hives. The youngest was apprehensive at first but as soon as he got into the magic of a hive he relaxed. I could not keep pace with the questions. Fortunately we saw the queen. Now asking when is next time.

 

[drdrday]

Finally feeling reasonably in control with the apiary at the moment - but well aware I've probably jinxed it now.
Combining back to 4 colonies is all finished and 3 out of 4 hives are full of bees, have beautifully laying Queens, nice polite workers and are packing in honey at top speed, with each colony having at least 3 full supers. Just waiting on a queen to emerge in the fourth hive.
All in all a great day and now looking forward to extracting a pretty decent crop in a week or two.
A nice change from the spring that started fantastically and then fizzled back to nothing! My mini wildflower meadow in the apiary is in full bloom and packed with visitors too.

 

[Murox]

first warmish day for a week so checked the farm hives, Finally found a new queen in a colony I split in the middle of May. Made another split of another hive putting the sealed queen cell into a corex nuc/transport box (never used one before) cos Ive run out of kit. Phoned a friend on a local island who wanted a swarm really, thankfully he will collect the nuc on Monday as long as the ferry is working.

 

[holmbee]

why? much easier to make up the nucs once the queens arrive and introduce them immediately - far less hassle, and I've found it has a higher success rate

Thanks jbm. I will try it next time. This time I followed Laurence at BHM advice.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks jbm. I will try it next time. This time I followed Laurence at BHM advice.

just pop them in, wait 24 hours before breaking the tabs on the candy seal and a quick check in case they have made any emergency QC's, then leave them alone - I usually pop in after a few day/a week to make sure they've released her and remove the cage (don't inspect/look for her) then leave them alone for another week or two before doing a light inspection.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Noticed here a few folks finding laying queens from splits and demarees made in mid-May. Not so lucky here.
Nuc made w QC from demaree top, now full of capped drone brood.
D. top has nothing but pollen and nectar stores.
Going to try grafting and Ben Harden set up as she's the more agreeable of my 2 queens.

 

[Moobee]

So the bait hive which had scouts round it two days ago turned out to be from one of my colonies which I’ve been trying to requeen since I split them at the start of the month. So I made them hopelessly queenless that day and popped in a recently mated queen from a mini nuc in a cage with a wodge of fondant.
Today she’s out and busy on the comb.
One hive has been teetering on a wobbly hive stand so replaced it this afternoon which they were quite unimpressed with. Happy I did as supers are so heavy I could barely lift them off (not capped!) so they might have crashed over before long. Several workers have been buzzing me when I go anywhere near them. Hopefully they’ll settle down soon. Think these are the very last of the previous Queen’s progeny which weren’t very nice.
View attachment IMG_7967.jpeg

 

[Penninetrader]

at least i don't have to inspect it again this season thank god.

Now that made me chuckle

 

[Steve7962]

Noticed here a few folks finding laying queens from splits and demarees made in mid-May. Not so lucky here.
Nuc made w QC from demaree top, now full of capped drone brood.
D. top has nothing but pollen and nectar stores.
Going to try grafting and Ben Harden set up as she's the more agreeable of my 2 queens.

I’ve had similar experiences here I. Northamptonshire,
There were 2 colonies I was certain they were queenless, a pleasant surprise this week when inspecting.

 

[philipm]

Run out of supers yesterday so had to use a brood box instead,hopefully the bees will start capping some of the frames soon as one hive is getting too tall for me and my back.

 

[E&MBees]

Run out of supers yesterday so had to use a brood box instead,hopefully the bees will start capping some of the frames soon as one hive is getting too tall for me and my back.

I’ve got that problem with one hive too. Ended up balancing on stacked concrete blocks to reach the top. I would have moved the top super onto another hive but no suitable candidates to receive it.

 

[The Poot]

Run out of supers yesterday so had to use a brood box instead,hopefully the bees will start capping some of the frames soon as one hive is getting too tall for me and my back.

I have a similar problem. They seem slow to cap it this year.