Author Topic: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today? (Read 70603 times)

NigelP · « **Reply #120 on:** March 25, 2022, 05:51:59 am »

First decent spring weather in the UK. It got above 10C!
Carried out first inspections of the year and so far all is looking good. All hives examined have laying queens and lots of pollen and stores. Gave them all a nice clean floor, although most had cleared away their winter dead bees. The only one nuc that didn't make it was the bees I had rescued from a fallen tree, they were queenless. So threw out and they have now amalgamated with the hive next door.

Oldbeavo · « **Reply #121 on:** March 25, 2022, 08:39:49 am »

Bob
A frame of open brood will stick them for sure but if i don't have access to one then as long as they have some honey in a frame in the box you put them in, then i will just leave them locked in for a few days. Most of the time they get the idea.
If they are a big swarm that i don't want to lock up then as soon as i open the hive i turn the garden sprinkler on them till dark. They won't leave if they think its raining outside. Usually by the next day they are OK.

Bob Wilson · « **Reply #122 on:** March 26, 2022, 10:08:38 pm »

Thanks for the brood reminder for keeping the swarm hived. I will do that next time.
Regardless, they took to the box the second time I shook them in.

.30WCF · « **Reply #123 on:** April 02, 2022, 10:24:21 pm »

Had a couple hives with capped queen cells today. Found the queen in one and she was completely shrunken down. I tore down all but two cells and tried to pick up the queen. She flew off and hovered around me for a good 30 seconds checking me out. She finally landed on the hive stand, then she got the flat side of the hive tool. Not sure how that will work out, but they can?t swarm if they don?t have a queen. Fingers crossed.

Did it again to the second hive that was ready to swarm.

Pushed the queens down in three of the bigger hives and added queen excluders to clear the brood in preparation for the honey flow.

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BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #124 on:** April 03, 2022, 05:48:57 am »

30,
Did you leave a queen cell in that hive or are you try to make it queen less for the honey flow?
It sounds like that was a virgin queen. If the queen cells were capped, it probably was.
Jim Altmiller

.30WCF · « **Reply #125 on:** April 03, 2022, 10:42:59 am »

The one that flew around me and was so small was a very recognizable, dark colored queen with white paint on her back. She was from a late summer split last year. Both queens I smashed were marked.
I knocked down about 15 capped cells. I left 2 in the first hive, and one in the second hive.

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The15thMember · « **Reply #126 on:** April 03, 2022, 05:58:04 pm »

My smallest hive, Queen Malore's, finally got their 3rd medium yesterday. They were low on stores, and their babies looked a little hungry even, so I gave them some drawn frames with honey left over from last year. Queen Persephone's hive has a queen cup built and so does Ravenna's, and both of them have a lot of drones on the way, so I'll be really checking for queen cells next week. Also, Queen Ravenna's sugar roll came back 0 again, and that was out of 900 bees! (The bees were very pourable yesterday.)

TheHoneyPump · « **Reply #127 on:** April 03, 2022, 06:30:53 pm »

Early drone factory.
Single deep box with drone laying queen and her colony placed with an upper entrance above a queen excluder on top of a big double deep queenrite colony.
Why? The drone layer has genetics I want to continue propagating, I need drones for upcoming queen rearing operation, and it is practically impossible to get a normal hive to make drones when still have below zero temperatures and a snowy landscape.
The colony below will push up nurse bees and resources to the drone brood above. The drones will be able to get out of the upper entrance when they mature.
Eventually the queen-rite hive should kill the drone layer queen above. (Or I will). In the meantime she may get 3 to 7 frames of drones made, before the hive cuts them back. This could be a welcomed head start on mataung some queens in May.
Not my goto method, though it does work well when presented the condition and it is recognized as a potential opportunity rather than a loss.

The15thMember · « **Reply #128 on:** April 03, 2022, 06:58:59 pm »

Quote from: TheHoneyPump on April 03, 2022, 06:30:53 pm

Early drone factory.
Single deep box with drone laying queen and her colony placed with an upper entrance above a queen excluder on top of a big double deep queenrite colony.
Why? The drone layer has genetics I want to continue propagating, I need drones for upcoming queen rearing operation, and it is practically impossible to get a normal hive to make drones when still have below zero temperatures and a snowy landscape.
The colony below will push up nurse bees and resources to the drone brood above. The drones will be able to get out of the upper entrance when they mature.
Eventually the queen-rite hive should kill the drone layer queen above. (Or I will). In the meantime she may get 3 to 7 frames of drones made, before the hive cuts them back. This could be a welcomed head start on mataung some queens in May.
Not my goto method, though it does work well when presented the condition and it is recognized as a potential opportunity rather than a loss.

Wow! That's genius! Amazing the sorts of creative approaches the beekeeper needs to take in a harsh climate like yours.

Bob Wilson · « **Reply #129 on:** April 03, 2022, 09:31:50 pm »

1. I checked all the nucs I made up in March. Every one has produced a queen from the QCs, they have all mated, and are laying well.
2. I thought I was seeing that beautiful, busy, airial dance of bees around the hives yesterday, finally indicating the beginning of our nectar flow, but they slowed down again today. There is still no new comb being built when I checked them this week (today).

Brian MCquilkin · « **Reply #130 on:** April 04, 2022, 01:52:02 am »

added 2 gals syrup to all colonies today.

The15thMember · « **Reply #131 on:** April 04, 2022, 11:05:49 am »

Quote from: Bob Wilson on April 03, 2022, 09:31:50 pm

2. I thought I was seeing that beautiful, busy, airial dance of bees around the hives yesterday, finally indicating the beginning of our nectar flow, but they slowed down again today. There is still no new comb being built when I checked them this week (today).

Our nectar flow has been slow to come in too, probably due to a late cold snap we just had that killed all the blossoms on the flowering trees. I only have very slow comb building right now.

Oldbeavo · « **Reply #132 on:** April 07, 2022, 06:03:27 am »

On the other side of the world and down the bottom we are preparing for winter. Today we put bee escapes/clearer boards under the supers.
The hive will be left as a full depth brood box, QX and an Ideal of honey to support them over winter. We normally winter with a full depth super with 5 frames of honey.
So we are trying the ideals to pack them down into a smaller space.

.30WCF · « **Reply #133 on:** April 11, 2022, 02:20:32 am »

Caught a swarm in my swarm tree.

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BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #134 on:** April 11, 2022, 06:41:47 am »

Quote from: Oldbeavo on April 07, 2022, 06:03:27 am

On the other side of the world and down the bottom we are preparing for winter. Today we put bee escapes/clearer boards under the supers.
The hive will be left as a full depth brood box, QX and an Ideal of honey to support them over winter. We normally winter with a full depth super with 5 frames of honey.
So we are trying the ideals to pack them down into a smaller space.

Why are you putting a qx under the super? If the bees have to move up into the super, they will have to leave the queen behind to freeze and die. We never leave a qx on during the winter.

Jim Altmiller

NigelP · « **Reply #135 on:** April 11, 2022, 07:43:29 am »

Spring has finally arrived in the North of England, Blossom everywhere and bees working the willow pollen hard. No nectar at the moment as been far too cold. Hopefully warming up a bit now.

.30WCF · « **Reply #136 on:** April 11, 2022, 06:31:50 pm »

Not what did I do today, but what am I fixin to do.
Bee tree strikes again with a decent size swarm.

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The15thMember · « **Reply #137 on:** April 11, 2022, 08:00:37 pm »

Quote from: .30WCF on April 11, 2022, 06:31:50 pm

Not what did I do today, but what am I fixin to do.
Bee tree strikes again with a decent size swarm.

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I've got to do some maintenance on my swarm tree. A vine has taken over a section of it and it was a pain to deal with last year. I kept saying over the winter I should clean up around it, and now here it is April and I still haven't done it.

Queen Ravenna the Usurper's hive is starting to really think about swarming. No active queen cells yet, but 8 cups built and they are starting to backfill the brood nest. I'll split them the next time I inspect them. All my hives are low on stores for this time of year. We keep having cold snaps that set the flowers back. If the weather wasn't going to be nice for the foreseeable future, I'd have to give them all some food.

.30WCF · « **Reply #138 on:** April 11, 2022, 08:51:44 pm »

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Lesgold · « **Reply #139 on:** April 12, 2022, 01:52:09 am »

Looks like my winter beekeeping is just about to start.

The bees are bringing in a lot of pollen which means the queens are getting excited. Time to make an inspection before this flow starts.