What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Curly green finger's]

Popped the crownboards on the last 10 I haven't checked so far. All looking really good with 6 --> 9 frames of bees and plenty of stores.

Be careful Greg you shouldn’t be popping cbs you have to wait until it’s warm enough, bee police are on there rounds watch out
Or is it just me they like to pick on?

 

[gregior]

Be careful Greg you shouldn’t be popping cbs you have to wait until it’s warm enough, bee police are on there rounds watch out
Or is it just me they like to pick on?

Yeah I was worried about that so worded my post carefully ;-)

 

[JamezF]

Be careful Greg you shouldn’t be popping cbs you have to wait until it’s warm enough, bee police are on there rounds watch out

Nobody expects the Beekeeper's Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise... Surprise and Fear... Fear and surprise... Our two weapons are fear and surprise... And a red hot smoker between the thighs!

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

was pottering around the garden at various intervals today the sun may have been shining but as Dickens said of March, in the sun was OK but in the shade it's still winter. seeing the bees flying around the garden and the apiary. it crossed my mind I could 'pop a crownboard or two' if needed as one hive is decidedly quieter than the rest - but that was swiftly intercepted by a hard mental slap around the back of the head. the last thing a diminutive colony needs at the moment is some eejit ripping the hive apart.
It froze last night, hard enough for me to have to break the ice for the chickens, still ice on the water in the few buckets around the garden this afternoon - In the end, as soon as my jacket came off IT WAS STILL BLEDDY COLD!

 

[JamezF]

IT WAS STILL BLEDDY COLD!

Felt that way here, too. Plenty of sunshine to melt the frost this morning, but despite the forecast it never really felt warm. For some of the time today I was in the workshop making a new cabinet for my laser cutter, but I had to stop in the end because my hands became too cold and the PU glue was turning into treacle.

Small numbers of honey bees were about, mostly collecting water. I suspect many opted to hide under their duvets and wait for warmer weather however.

James

 

[pargyle]

Be careful Greg you shouldn’t be popping cbs you have to wait until it’s warm enough, bee police are on there rounds watch out
Or is it just me they like to pick on?

Give it a rest Mark ... you were not picked on - you posted an apparently ambiguous post and you were picked up on the post - not PICKED ON.

 

[pargyle]

was pottering around the garden at various intervals today the sun may have been shining but as Dickens said of March, in the sun was OK but in the shade it's still winter. seeing the bees flying around the garden and the apiary. it crossed my mind I could 'pop a crownboard or two' if needed as one hive is decidedly quieter than the rest - but that was swiftly intercepted by a hard mental slap around the back of the head. the last thing a diminutive colony needs at the moment is some eejit ripping the hive apart.
It froze last night, hard enough for me to have to break the ice for the chickens, still ice on the water in the few buckets around the garden this afternoon - In the end, as soon as my jacket came off IT WAS STILL BLEDDY COLD!

Pretty much the same down here in the Costa del Fareham ...frost on the cars till past lunchtime - few bees flying and the sun is very low in the sky so not much hitting the hives until past noon.

 

[JamezF]

Give it a rest Mark ... you were not picked on - you posted an apparently ambiguous post and you were picked up on the post - not PICKED ON.

I have to say that I think Mark had his tongue fairly firmly in his cheek when he suggested that he'd been picked on

James

 

[pargyle]

I have to say that I think Mark had his tongue fairly firmly in his cheek when he suggested that he'd been picked on

James

Best read back on his posts then ...

 

[Swarm]

Took the opportunity in the glorious sunshine to make a load of frames, it was 21 degrees in the sun so no brittle wax. Moved on afterwards to treating wooden planks ready for replacing some fence panels and finally finished when I was struggling to see. Beautiful day.

 

[Newbeeneil]

First casualty of the spring!
It was a very large colony on brood and a half. When I opened up, every single frame was covered in dead bees plus approximately an inch of dead bees on the floor.
It seems they just got too big for the amount of stores even though I’d given them about 3.5kg of fondant over the last few weeks.

 

[Antipodes]

First casualty of the spring!
It was a very large colony on brood and a half. When I opened up, every single frame was covered in dead bees plus approximately an inch of dead bees on the floor.
It seems they just got too big for the amount of stores even though I’d given them about 3.5kg of fondant over the last few weeks.

For how long would you estimate they had been raising brood?

 

[Newbeeneil]

For how long would you estimate they had been raising brood?

I’ve no idea, but they were very big so I would guess they probably never stopped.

 

[Penninetrader]

You are clearly very experienced so I am somewhat perplexed regarding their possible starvation. The loss of such a colony would leave me guilt ridden and devastated. Are you going to take emergency measures with your other colonies ? Such a terrible loss

 

[The Poot]

First casualty of the spring!
It was a very large colony on brood and a half. When I opened up, every single frame was covered in dead bees plus approximately an inch of dead bees on the floor.
It seems they just got too big for the amount of stores even though I’d given them about 3.5kg of fondant over the last few weeks.

Thanks for sharing that Neil, a very sad sight. It underlines the risk colonies face this time of year and how it’s sensible to give them fondant as a belt and braces measure. Though with a colony of that size in early March, you were on a hiding to nothing.

 

[Sutty]

Though with a colony of that size in early March, you were on a hiding to nothing.

I'm curious why you say that, surely no matter how huge the colony dying out is not inevitable given sufficient stores, and excluding disease?

 

[Sutty]

Is it possible they were unable to ventilate adequately due to the floor and entrance being blocked with dead bees?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is it possible they were unable to ventilate adequately due to the floor and entrance being blocked with dead bees?

Exactly that happened to me. One winters day I could hear the bees making a racket. I popped the crownboard and there were plenty of bees just walking about so I shut them up and the noise stopped. It soon started up again so I asked here what the problem.could be.
That was one of the suggestions so I went back and looked underneath. Couldn’t see the bottom bars for bees.
Swapped them onto a new floor and they pulled through the winter.

 

[The Poot]

I'm curious why you say that, surely no matter how huge the colony dying out is not inevitable given sufficient stores, and excluding disease?

It was the giving of sufficient stores that I saw as the challenge. Neil had been feeding fondant but he reckoned the colony was just too big for the amount given. Had the size of the colony been obvious to him, perhaps a different feeding regime would have been adopted.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

First casualty of the spring!
It was a very large colony on brood and a half. When I opened up, every single frame was covered in dead bees plus approximately an inch of dead bees on the floor.
It seems they just got too big for the amount of stores even though I’d given them about 3.5kg of fondant over the last few weeks.

#being deliberately controversial#
The treatment free beekeepers would say that these are not the bees you need.

They don't know what they are doing. They had loads of pollen left over to build a big population and they went for it. This year's pollen has only started coming in. Native species. Winter hasn't been that unusual. We don't keep them in totally artificial conditions. We are not totally responsible for their survival. If they'd been in a tree what was a huge colony like this going to eat in early March?

Hate when this has happened to me when it was blatantly my fault but in this case . .. .?