Author Topic: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today? (Read 67616 times)

Bill Murray · « **Reply #260 on:** July 29, 2022, 07:23:20 pm »

went through 3 yards today. Had a couple hives that I thought queenless when removing supers, verified and merged them with other hives, boosted some dinks, balanced out quite a few hives getting ready for fall splits. Still lacking drones. out of all hives could count all drones on two hands. Quite a few in pupae and capping stage though.

The15thMember · « **Reply #261 on:** July 30, 2022, 04:13:00 pm »

I only got one hive inspected before it was supposed to rain, so I decided to just bail on the other two hives since the bees were cranky, but then it never rained!

Oh well, I'll just try again on Monday. This hive had an absolute TON of honey, so I put a bunch of frames above my escape board. I had some robbers come sniffing around as I was sorting through the supers, so I'm not sure exactly how many frames I ended up pulling since I was rushing, but it was a lot.

The15thMember · « **Reply #262 on:** July 30, 2022, 08:05:02 pm »

Quote from: Lesgold on July 28, 2022, 06:36:11 pm

Hi AustinB

Yes I do run deeps for supers. The advantages are obvious. The BIG disadvantage is also obvious. Those supers are quite heavy when full. The honey that I?m harvesting comes from the spotted gum. It only flowers once every four years. It?s the only winter flowering tree in my area that produces a flow. The majority of honey produced in my region comes from flowering eucalypts. Each species has a different flowering cycle. Some flower every year, others every two, three or four years. As I don?t move bees to follow a flow, my seasons vary considerably according to what is going to flower that year. Some years are quite poor. I may only extract about 20kg of honey per hive for those seasons.

Hey Les, I've got a question about this. If you only have this flow once every four years, and it's the only tree to bloom in winter, do your bees build up brood at this time every four years, and then is there a difference in how they winter? I seem to remember you saying your climate is pretty warm year round, so I imagine your bees don't go overly dormant in the winter anyway, but do you notice a difference in the colonies' brood cycles or populations in these spotted gum years?

Bill Murray · « **Reply #263 on:** July 30, 2022, 08:09:13 pm »

Finished rendering all my wax 1st time, finished packing away supers.

Lesgold · « **Reply #264 on:** July 31, 2022, 09:53:30 am »

Hi Reagan

The hives are reasonably strong at the moment (not as strong as in the spring) and I did notice that there is a reasonable amount of drone brood on the corners of some of the frames. Crazy stuff for the middle of winter. I will be expecting a big swarming season early in the spring this year. The early spring build up will start soon. There is plenty of pollen coming in and the spotted gum is still flowering. I am currently pulling off queen excluders as I rob the hives.This will give the queens chance to move up to the top box of the hives. All hives are 3 deep boxes.

The15thMember · « **Reply #265 on:** July 31, 2022, 12:53:37 pm »

Quote from: Lesgold on July 31, 2022, 09:53:30 am

Hi Reagan

The hives are reasonably strong at the moment (not as strong as in the spring) and I did notice that there is a reasonable amount of drone brood on the corners of some of the frames. Crazy stuff for the middle of winter. I will be expecting a big swarming season early in the spring this year. The early spring build up will start soon. There is plenty of pollen coming in and the spotted gum is still flowering. I am currently pulling off queen excluders as I rob the hives.This will give the queens chance to move up to the top box of the hives. All hives are 3 deep boxes.

That's really interesting. Just another example of how you can't keep bees by the calendar!

Lesgold · « **Reply #266 on:** July 31, 2022, 06:24:49 pm »

I agree. I sometimes wish that was the case. Every year is different in my location. The only consistent flow that I have occurs during the spring build up. I have a tree that flowers every year just at the start of spring. It produces good pollen and a nice honey. Apart from that, every season is different. This last season is a great example of what can happen. I had a variety of gum tree in bloom late last winter and into early spring. This led to a big swarming year as the hives built up quickly and swarming was difficult to control due to a lot of wet weather. That tree will not flower for another three years. This season has produced a lot of honey. About 80kg per hive (plus a lot of comb honey) has resulted in a shed full of the stuff. The coming season will be a small season compared to that. Apart from a small flow in the spring, there will be only one other flow that will occur in the summer months. Most of my planning is done via walks in the bush with a pair of binoculars. Flower buds on the trees in my area form anywhere from 6 months to 18 months prior to flowering. Each species is different but is quite predictable.

Cheers

Les

The15thMember · « **Reply #267 on:** July 31, 2022, 07:53:21 pm »

Quote from: Lesgold on July 31, 2022, 06:24:49 pm

I agree. I sometimes wish that was the case. Every year is different in my location. The only consistent flow that I have occurs during the spring build up. I have a tree that flowers every year just at the start of spring. It produces good pollen and a nice honey. Apart from that, every season is different. This last season is a great example of what can happen. I had a variety of gum tree in bloom late last winter and into early spring. This led to a big swarming year as the hives built up quickly and swarming was difficult to control due to a lot of wet weather. That tree will not flower for another three years. This season has produced a lot of honey. About 80kg per hive (plus a lot of comb honey) has resulted in a shed full of the stuff. The coming season will be a small season compared to that. Apart from a small flow in the spring, there will be only one other flow that will occur in the summer months. Most of my planning is done via walks in the bush with a pair of binoculars. Flower buds on the trees in my area form anywhere from 6 months to 18 months prior to flowering. Each species is different but is quite predictable.

Cheers

Les

That's wild! I'm super curious about this. Why do your trees stay in bud so long? Are they waiting for the right conditions to flower? Or does their life cycle just take really long? Does it have something to do with your climate being mild year round? I don't think we have any trees that do that. Our trees bud, flower, and fruit over a period of several weeks.

Lesgold · « **Reply #268 on:** August 01, 2022, 01:36:39 am »

Hi Reagan,

The trees I?m talking about are eucalypts. Each variety acts slightly differently. Once you get to know their cycles, you can plan ahead. I noticed the first stringy bark out in flower this morning. It started a couple of weeks earlier than expected. That?s OK as it will provide pollen and nectar for the bees. As the weather has been reasonably mild over night, the bees will start building new comb soon. A couple of wattle variety have also started flowering. Spring is on the way.

The15thMember · « **Reply #269 on:** August 01, 2022, 02:43:35 pm »

Quote from: Lesgold on August 01, 2022, 01:36:39 am

Hi Reagan,

The trees I?m talking about are eucalypts. Each variety acts slightly differently. Once you get to know their cycles, you can plan ahead. I noticed the first stringy bark out in flower this morning. It started a couple of weeks earlier than expected. That?s OK as it will provide pollen and nectar for the bees. As the weather has been reasonably mild over night, the bees will start building new comb soon. A couple of wattle variety have also started flowering. Spring is on the way.

That's so interesting! It's always so cool to hear how different (and how similar) beekeeping is in other areas.

AustinB · « **Reply #270 on:** August 03, 2022, 08:07:43 am »

Put down new 4x4 posts on CMU blocks to get 9 colonies higher off the ground, have a skunk that has been paying me a visit. Did some weed whacking and got things cleaned up.

The15thMember · « **Reply #271 on:** August 03, 2022, 12:38:10 pm »

Quote from: AustinB on August 03, 2022, 08:07:43 am

Put down new 4x4 posts on CMU blocks to get 9 colonies higher off the ground, have a skunk that has been paying me a visit. Did some weed whacking and got things cleaned up.

How do you know it's a skunk, Austin?

Michael Bush · « **Reply #272 on:** August 03, 2022, 02:14:23 pm »

An acquaintance has a colony that was from a tree that blew down and had bees in it for decades. It survived the winter in the tree trunk that was cut off and set back upright and then a cutout in the spring. It was good a week ago and I went out to graft from them. It was half slimed. We had to take half the combs out and compress them down to one box and gave them three frames of capped brood with bees. Hopefully they will recover... Disappointing. The bees have not been very interested in raising queens this year.

AustinB · « **Reply #273 on:** August 03, 2022, 11:20:56 pm »

Quote

How do you know it's a skunk, Austin?

I have a trail camera set up. There are lots of skunks in our area unfortunately.

AustinB · « **Reply #274 on:** August 03, 2022, 11:27:53 pm »

Went out to mow the backside of the bee yard today and found a swarm about 12? up in a walnut tree. Gently scooping bees into a box with old brood comb revealed one queen who ran down between frames before I could grab her. A moment later I spotted another on the limb, picked her up and caged her. I believe it?s a swarm from a colony up in my neighbors big sycamore. Perfect I?ll make a split with the second queen.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #275 on:** August 04, 2022, 02:55:59 pm »

Austin it's rewarding finding multiple queens in a swarm Congratulations on your find!

Phillip

Bill Murray · « **Reply #276 on:** August 06, 2022, 09:07:26 am »

well, this was yesterday. Drank beer and worked on new boxes.

The15thMember · « **Reply #277 on:** August 06, 2022, 04:54:42 pm »

I was able to inspect two hives before it started to rain. The one was a late split, and it doesn't have anywhere near enough food for the winter, so I started feeding them syrup today, since we are in a dearth and our fall flow is not usually very strong. I also took some drawn blanks from the other hive I inspected to give to them, so they won't have to draw as much comb. Both hives also had very low mite counts in their sugar rolls, which was reassuring for this time of year.

Lesgold · « **Reply #278 on:** August 07, 2022, 05:15:37 am »

Extracted the last of the honey. Can finally say that the season has finished. A month off now until the new season starts. Looking forward to a break from beekeeping for a few weeks.

NigelP · « **Reply #279 on:** August 07, 2022, 01:22:54 pm »

Installed a couple of very expensive Buckfast queens into 2 nucs a few days ago in my garden apiary. Both accepted, but came home tonight to find both nucs being badly robbed. Closed up and moved to an isolated area with no other hives around.
This is my future queen raising stock...so all fingers etc crossed we get them through.