What's flowering: Queensland

[max2]

You can't juts think about Varroa all day..

I went and checked all the hives again at my favourit yard - nice, sunny, warm day.

All seems Ok. The bees are pretty busy and I could not see anything unusual.

Some honey coming in - the Iron bark, I think.
One hive had about 50 SHB - all lining up for me to squash them.

It is mid winter here...there is brood, plenty of eggs, actice queens. Bees never cluster here.
WE never have a brood break. I don't think we will get a frost this winter.

[max2]

We had a perfect day to day - 24C in the shade - mid winter!!

More rain on the wasy and no frosts so far.
The Cobblers Pegs are flowering  and the bees are busy.
I have also seen Tallowood and Floded Gum budding.

[max2]

12 months ago we had hives which were honey bound and we  took honey off.

A different situation right now. Some hives are struggling

The temperatures are starting to lift and soon trees which are budding now will be flowering.
Spring can't be far off.

[Bee North]

Interesting Max

Very different up here.

I just took honey off all my hives. A lot of flooded gum are
 still in flower , they have been all winter!

I'm going to have to do splits soon...lots of drones and brood.

[NigelP]

We had a perfect day to day - 24C in the shade - mid winter!!

Summer in the UK 24C is considered a heatwave.....

[The15thMember]

We had a perfect day to day - 24C in the shade - mid winter!!

Summer in the UK 24C is considered a heatwave.....

Wow, really?!  I always forget that the UK is so far north.  For us 24C/75F is a mild temperature, depending on the humidity.  We have highs around that in spring and fall.  Hot for us would be around 32C/90F or higher in the summer.   

[max2]

26C predicted for Friday. Perfect winter weather as far as I'm concerned. I was born in Switzerland and left 50 plus years ago for good reason. I had enough cold weather.

Our Summers are actually not VERY hot but often humid. 40C, like part of the UK experienced recently, is very rare here.
I'm located a bit inland and higher up in a valley.

[The15thMember]

26C predicted for Friday. Perfect winter weather as far as I'm concerned. I was born in Switzerland and left 50 plus years ago for good reason. I had enough cold weather.

Our Summers are actually not VERY hot but often humid. 40C, like part of the UK experienced recently, is very rare here.
I'm located a bit inland and higher up in a valley.

Oh us too.  We are always fighting with mold.  We've had 85-90% humidity for the past couple of weeks. 

[max2]

Mould is not a big issue but in winter I have quite a lot of condensation.
I put a spacer under the lid to give the hive a little more breeding space.
I run 10 frames to the super ( always have) and the end bars swell and this makes removing them difficult.

This winter has been bad with condensation -worse then winters past.

[The15thMember]

Mould is not a big issue but in winter I have quite a lot of condensation.
I put a spacer under the lid to give the hive a little more breeding space.
I run 10 frames to the super ( always have) and the end bars swell and this makes removing them difficult.

This winter has been bad with condensation -worse then winters past.

I use moisture quilts in the winter to help with moisture control.  I made myself some out of some shallows I had lying around, and in my climate I doubt I'd ever try to winter without them. 

[max2]

Moisture quilts. Not something we have been using here.

I would need quite a few. Any hints?

https://www.honeybeesuite.com/how-to-make-a-moisture-quilt-for-a-langstroth-hive/

[The15thMember]

Moisture quilts. Not something we have been using here.

I would need quite a few. Any hints?

https://www.honeybeesuite.com/how-to-make-a-moisture-quilt-for-a-langstroth-hive/

I got the idea from Rusty's site originally, and I was going to direct you to her.  I ended up doing something a little bit different from her since I couldn't find any ekes, and I had some shallows laying around I wasn't using.  I took #8 hardware cloth (which I just now realize you guys don't have ) and instead of putting it on the bottom like Rusty does, I put it halfway up in the shallow.  This essentially made a eke-sized space in the top, which I line with gauze or tulle (like wedding veil material) to keep the dust from the chips from falling down on the bees, and then I fill the top with pine shavings.  I drilled four ventilation holes in the upper half of the shallow, using a countersink bit, above the hardware cloth, and covered the holes with hardware cloth to keep critters out.  The lower half of the shallow then leaves me room to add sugar balls over the winter if the bees need emergency food.  I've been extremely happy with them.  Depending on the weather and the particular hive, I usually need to change the shavings out a time or two over the winter because they get all soggy.

   

[max2]

I check on some of my hives over the last two days.

Of course we are all on the look-out for Varroa and hope that we don't find any. So far all good here.

There is a little honey coming in - not much.

There is lots of brood at all stages and the queens are busy. I tend to think that  bees know best and I hope that this increasing population will be needed for a flow not far off.

No drones. No drone cells.

Very little pollen and i wonder if I should feed them some supplement?

Far too many SHB. We had no really cold nights here all winter and the soil is moist. I'm worried that we will have a SHB explosion when the weather warms up.

Some of my SHB traps were full of beetles - they do work.

In both yards I lost one hive  - so far.

[max2]

Moisture quilts. Not something we have been using here.

I would need quite a few. Any hints?

https://www.honeybeesuite.com/how-to-make-a-moisture-quilt-for-a-langstroth-hive/

I got the idea from Rusty's site originally, and I was going to direct you to her.  I ended up doing something a little bit different from her since I couldn't find any ekes, and I had some shallows laying around I wasn't using.  I took #8 hardware cloth (which I just now realize you guys don't have ) and instead of putting it on the bottom like Rusty does, I put it halfway up in the shallow.  This essentially made a eke-sized space in the top, which I line with gauze or tulle (like wedding veil material) to keep the dust from the chips from falling down on the bees, and then I fill the top with pine shavings.  I drilled four ventilation holes in the upper half of the shallow, using a countersink bit, above the hardware cloth, and covered the holes with hardware cloth to keep critters out.  The lower half of the shallow then leaves me room to add sugar balls over the winter if the bees need emergency food.  I've been extremely happy with them.  Depending on the weather and the particular hive, I usually need to change the shavings out a time or two over the winter because they get all soggy.

 I tried something a little diferent.
I lifted the lid about 5mm ( 1/5 inch) with a stick to let more moisture out.
In the few hives i did this, there was defintely a lot less moisture.

I have checked all the hives now  and in one hive the moisture had destroid the end of the top bars - it went to mush and i had to replace the frames.
I do think that we had a rather extreme winter - lots of rain and never realy cold/dry.
I will help a friend with his bees on Sunday ( weather permitting) and it will be interesting to see how his hives have gone.

[max2]

We took a little honey off today. Not much - only a few frames in some hives. A lot of work for little return.
Perfect day - nice and warm.

These are my nuc hives.

I have an issue with lifting heavy gear and most of the hives I use to make splits only have 1/2 honey supers. I can just handle these .

I would think that we are just at the very beginning of our Spring flow ( it is officially still winter but trees don't seem to care) - the Blue Gum is flowering in parts - a magnificent show.
The farmer who lives past my hives tells me that the first White Clover is flowering - give it another 14 days.

 A little more to go tomorrow

[max2]

20. August

- First flowers on Clover.
- Blue Gum flowering
- First flowers on Paulownia

Spring is in the air.

Got a Workshop planned for next saturday - should be good if the weather is sunny

[max2]

I have a workshop planed for this Saturday and checked hive to see which ones I should open.
The number of SHB is a real concern.

I can't remember seeing so many.
Last seson when i offered a workshop I had a probelem finding any SHB - now they are everywher. No slimeouts so far but this will get worse with warmer weather on the way.
I did see the first drones - but no drone brood.

A little honey comming in - not much.
What does it all mean?

A later start to the season then we usually experience?

[max2]

my son is up for the weekend and we decided to mark some queens to make it easier to find them when the time for splits arrives.

I never bothered before but often finding the queen takes more time then the rest of the split.

I think we opened 8 hives and found 7 queens.

You can't pick up a queen with heavy duty gloves. Surgical gloves are OK or bare hands.

Yes, you probably will get a few stings. I did - good for the arthritic hands.

I was amazed by the strength of all the hives - lots of capped brood and brood at all stages.

Lots of bees, not too many SHB.

These are all queens with Jo Horner genetics.

There is some honey coming in but they have not moved much into the honey super.
One hive is pretty well honey bound but very little honey in the upper box.

We did see some drones and an increasing number of drone cells.

No Queen cells - no swarming signs as yet. Warmer areas must be getting close.

The Clover is coming on and so is the Blue Gum. Some rain is on the way - again.

enjoy your bees

max

[max2]

It has been a busy day here for the bees:
_ Deep Yellow Wood is flowering, Tallowwood, Blur Gum..Clover.

Also the Brazilian Cherry is covered in Blossoms and so is the Jaboticaba. Interesting, I have seen few bees on these this time. maybe the rest is better value for them. i have to check.

[max2]

The Jaboticabas are out today and the bees are loving it