Whats with this cold weather

[user 819]

You are going to have lost swarms, IMO.

Such sweeping statement, you don't know my bees as I do or the colony status.

 

[pargyle]

Such sweeping statement, you don't know my bees as I do or the colony status.

If you were a beginner he would probably be right but, over the years, you do get to know your bees and your locality and the weather and swarm prediction becomes more intuitive ... but there again - the little beggars can still catch you out ! Such fun - double guessing honey bees !

 

[user 819]

The reply from the poster shows he is a bit more then just a beginner, one can't make sweeping statements without knowing any other facts.
Not all bees swarm at a drop of a hat, London or outer London is a different place then a 5k pop village location.

 

[Walter]

March swarms as a management strategy!

Whilst the weather was warm, I took a March split from one of my hives that had raised a few QC's.

Although it was March, and probably too cold for mating flights, I took a punt on AVM and made sure I took some of the drone brood with the split. Queen has hatched, been out and mated, come back and started laying. I now have them on a single brood between dummy boards with a feeder on.

It's been said before, bees know how to be bees.

 

[Ian123]

Whilst the weather was warm, I took a March split from one of my hives that had raised a few QC's.

Although it was March, and probably too cold for mating flights, I took a punt on AVM and made sure I took some of the drone brood with the split. Queen has hatched, been out and mated, come back and started laying. I now have them on a single brood between dummy boards with a feeder on.

It's been said before, bees know how to be bees.

Be vigilant often very early queens get out and mate return and start laying. With some! it’s a different matter if there still there laying end of season or aren’t replaced by the bees later. Just so your aware. Ian

 

[madasafish]

I have only one hive out of six with any sizeable number of drones, the weather has been below 9C at peak for the last week, it hailed yesterday and may have wiped out most of the fruit blossom.
Hawthorn is not yet out, blackthorn is but too cold to forage and inspections are impossible in this weather.

Beekeepers need to be adaptable as much as bees in these conditions. (What's a swarm?)

 

[jeff33]

I had to do my 1st AS last week as I spotted several Qcs. I went for the easy option of making a nuc with the queen and knocking all but 1 cells in the original hive. Too cold and not enough stores being brought in to do the normal AS with foundation. I have 2 virgins that emerged last Thursday and I really hope for it to warm-up so they can mate. It is not looking promising for another 8-10 days here.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Such sweeping statement, you don't know my bees as I do or the colony status.

Yes I didn't mean to "sweep": sorry. And of course none of us on here ever loses swarms. But I am in a similar environment and my bees (and others', given swarm activity) don't seem think the weather is as bad as my shivering self does.

 

[Walter]

Be vigilant often very early queens get out and mate return and start laying. With some! it’s a different matter if there still there laying end of season or aren’t replaced by the bees later. Just so your aware. Ian

That's true.
IMO most AVM queens are superceded due to lower fertility, but time will tell

 

[F.F.Stung]

Don’t go knocking queen cells down. If you see queen cells you need to act straight away
Print this off and keep it handy
https://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/wbka-booklet-english-PDF.pdf

Thanks to Wally for an exceptionally good article.

 

[gregior]

This awful weather has actually been a bit of a blessing for me as I have had to move some hives, no bees flying and the hives are as light as a feather.

 

[The Poot]

10:00 took the dogs for a walk, fleece on against the cold wind.
11:00 returned home, hot in the sunshine. Today will be the opportunity to check the hives.
11:30 went to get kitted up and noticed gathering black clouds.
12:00 cold and raining and it stayed that way off and on through till 16:00 when three hives went bananas and looked like it was swarm time.
16;20 black cloud, rain, bees indoors.....

 

[user 819]

Much similar here east of you, tomorrow looks like I have a good chance to look in some colonies tomorrow. Yesterday and today partly spent gardening dodging the weather.

 

[IndiBee]

I seem to be in a very strange area. People complain about bad weather I don't see and then people say wow what great weather and I haven't seen the sun in weeks.
Many of my hives are bursting and although I would never normally super with a risk of frost I have a super on every hive - 2 on almost half.
These welsh dark bees are loving the weather. They don't expand too quickly so manage to cover the brood when needed.
But no drones anywhere to be seen yet so no splitting round here.

 

[Levitt53]

I've just about managed weekly inspections here in Cambridgeshire. Colonies are all doing well with drones in all. I'm splitting a colony today to make up some nucs. Weather today and next week much better. Just about managing to keep on track but I'm fed up with cold weather for myself.

 

[philipm]

Been a good year for blacktorn and dandelion but hardly a bee to be seen on them.

 

[Curly green finger's]

This wind has put payed to the best blackthorn season I can remember.

Yeah same here, blackthorn blossom all over the roads like snow after the windy days..
Dandelion honey /pollen frames are being removed from brood boxes even though the weather hasn't been brilliant.

 

[user 819]

A little update from moi,
Still a chilly wind and when the grey clouds appear the temps drop a couple of degrees but managed to check my 3 colonies in village garden location today.
All bees very well mannered as expected no stings or grumpiness.

All last inspected last on April 19.
Colony #3 is the largest one and has continued to increase only 4 brood frames of E/U/S with also 18 super frames of E/U/S, they nearly have I full super of nectar 10 of 11 frames & one filled with sealed brood. The lack of incoming stores means little back filling so Queenie is happy nearer the top with the warmth and at the mo pretty much not interested in the BB, she is a 2019 girl I think ( caught as a swarm). In the BB with 4 frames of brood plumb in the centre of one and the only one in the whole box or colony for that reason is a single capped SS cell. Here I'm think possibly pheromones waning however she is in three/four boxes, no Qx's being used this year.
If they were going to swarm they have had a chance to do so I would have thought, not wanting to tempt fate I have made up a 6 frame nuc with said frame with QC and the three other brood frames along with 2 stores & pollen. Once the new queen is mated and up and running I will swap them over, the colony produced a daughter from her last year as well as a grand daughter, and now another daughter thus far this year.

Colony #4 is the daughter queen and overwintered in a 6F nuc as they swarmed late July, ticking over with 4 frames of brood they were placed in a poly BB and increased to 9F brood & some stores coming in. Gradually they have been moved over the last fortnight 3 feet at a time to a new spot where they now sit in a 50mm PIR long hive which I built as a winter project. Another half dozen frames have been given and a PIR dummy board for now.

Colony #5 is the daughter Q of #4 and is on 12 frames of brood over two boxes no QX again, again stores aren't plentiful so need some better weather really. This time last year a heavy flow was evident at this locale.

Carried out a sugar roll on all three with the Lyson toy, bees shaken off two brood frames into a 30lb bucket and decanted into the cup a good cup full as well so gave them a bit more I/S to roll in. 3 sugar roll tests and nil mites, so looking quite good. I have no doubt though that the pesky buggers are in the hive somewhere.

 

[jeff33]

For the first time in 6 years I am unlikely to get a spring crop. Out of the 10 production colonies I have, only 4 have have 2 full ish supers while all others have 1 still empty super. 10 nucs transferred into full hives have just enough stores. It started well 3-4 weeks ago with the dandelion but the weather has been against us. I think we are 2 weeks away from the hawthorn and sycamore which is later than usual.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hawthorn started opening today with us