Author Topic: What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today? (Read 186172 times)

FloridaGardener · « **Reply #280 on:** August 07, 2022, 02:29:14 pm »

Argh, sorry about your troubles Nigel. I also have troubles with nucs being robbed in summer dearth. I found the only way to stop them from being devastated as "forage" by larger hives, is to:

Keep them as large as possible by putting swapping a weak frame from the nuc with a frame of capped brood and/or nurse bees from a larger hive. Pack the box. Or build it up to 7 frames with 3 unbuilt/empties (not drawn comb to guard).

Set the entrance one bee wide and use a robbing screen. Keep a congested entrance. It's not like the bees in that nuc are going anywhere in a hurry during the dearth. Most should be tending brood if you are feeding.
Feed inside an upper rim but do not spill - and no additives in 1:1 except zinc/vitamin C / wisp of salt which helps them brood up.
https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/een.12375
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eea.12342

Smoke up REALLY well before checking them. Mask their alarm pheremone. I've been checking nucs early evening, because there's less time before nosy neighbors should be in their own hives. If a hubub starts when I inspect, I close up keep a hose handy to spray down the crowd.

AustinB · « **Reply #281 on:** August 08, 2022, 07:27:15 am »

Quote from: Ben Framed on August 04, 2022, 02:55:59 pm

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

Phillip, thanks! It's always fun to find more than one.

Pulled all the summer honey supers yesterday and started spinning them out. Going to pull a few splits off my big colonies this week. Will be time to feed soon.

Brian MCquilkin · « **Reply #282 on:** August 08, 2022, 01:19:01 pm »

Pulling suppers and doing mite treatments

NigelP · « **Reply #283 on:** August 08, 2022, 02:33:19 pm »

Quote from: FloridaGardener on August 07, 2022, 02:29:14 pm

Argh, sorry about your troubles Nigel. I also have troubles with nucs being robbed in summer dearth. I found the only way to stop them from being devastated as "forage" by larger hives, is to:

Thanks for the sympathy..these are $250 queens bred for their genetics in isolated mating sations....so can't afford to loose them.
Solution was obvious.....moved all hives from my back yard onto the heather moors (pictures to follow in few days, the moors are looking spectacular).
Brought nucs back to yard, then moved hives....the nucs have now picked up all the hives flying bees and are well sorted.

I'm happy to pay that money for decent bees in the UK as our local mongrel bees are close to useless. Their average yield is around 25lbs per annum. These super bees bring me in around 120lbs plus per hive....which creates its own problems....

.30WCF · « **Reply #284 on:** August 08, 2022, 10:35:00 pm »

?Mongrel bees? I like it.

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AustinB · « **Reply #285 on:** August 12, 2022, 12:03:10 pm »

Marking queens and transferring jam packed nucs into 10 frame boxes today

The15thMember · « **Reply #286 on:** August 12, 2022, 06:57:19 pm »

I inspected 4 hives today, which is more than I usually do, but we are going to be busy tomorrow, and the weather was finally nice today. The one hive was extremely challenging to work, and I accidentally dragged some angry workers with me down into the driveway when I left the apiary for a lunch break, and they terrorized some of my sisters.

That same hive also had a frame of drones going, which is really weird for this time of year. I put my last frames of honey above my escape board to pull tomorrow morning. I'm on pace to have a similar harvest to last year. I also found an interesting mushroom in the apiary today, which looked like a tall reddish finger and was attracting flies to it. I looked it up and learned it is called the elegant stinkhorn.

.30WCF · « **Reply #287 on:** August 12, 2022, 09:29:08 pm »

Quote from: The15thMember on August 12, 2022, 06:57:19 pm

I inspected 4 hives today, which is more than I usually do, but we are going to be busy tomorrow, and the weather was finally nice today. The one hive was extremely challenging to work, and I accidentally dragged some angry workers with me down into the driveway when I left the apiary for a lunch break, and they terrorized some of my sisters. That same hive also had a frame of drones going, which is really weird for this time of year. I put my last frames of honey above my escape board to pull tomorrow morning. I'm on pace to have a similar harvest to last year. I also found an interesting mushroom in the apiary today, which looked like a tall reddish finger and was attracting flies to it. I looked it up and learned it is called the elegant stinkhorn.

It has been nice here in NC the last couple days.

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BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #288 on:** August 16, 2022, 05:07:29 am »

Helped a new beekeeper hive 2 swarms, from her hive, into hive boxes. The first one was small, about one frame of bees worth. Showed her that she had a virgin queen. The second one, we cut the tree and bent it down to get the swarm. Found the queen twice and both times she flew from my hand before I could close my it. Finally got her in the box and they all moved in. Took her over to the original hive and had her listen to the queens piping. She and her son and daughter in law will take that hive apart tomorrow and collect the queens and put one back in to stop the swarming.
Jim Altmiller

Bob Wilson · « **Reply #289 on:** August 21, 2022, 02:36:56 pm »

What did I do? Nothin'.
And my bees didn't do much either.

Oldbeavo · « **Reply #290 on:** August 22, 2022, 06:09:02 am »

We took all our hive mats off our bees today. They winter and go to almond with a hive mat on top of the QX as a single brood box and super
Our first bees will be out of almonds in 8-10 days time and with the hive mats they would smother transporting.
Bees are in good condition and will need to be split in early September for swarm control.

Bill Murray · « **Reply #291 on:** August 22, 2022, 09:48:57 pm »

Well I got some queens hatched for fall NUCS, Now to see if any can get mated. I had 2 out of 3 mate up here at the house. Maybe the 3rd. waiting on Marley to check it this weekend.

I was gone last week with a family issue, witch meant I didnt get all the cells separated out. So I did another round today.

The15thMember · « **Reply #292 on:** August 27, 2022, 04:41:50 pm »

Did my last pre-treatment sugar roll today. This queen has been evading me for weeks, and I finally saw her. I'll probably try to treat with OAV next week.

AustinB · « **Reply #293 on:** August 30, 2022, 10:32:32 am »

Marked another couple queens yesterday. Had a 4 frame nuc from earlier in the year that was overflowing with bees. A week ago I moved them to another location and pulled a split off one of my really big colonies and put it back in their place. They are booming and have some nice looking QCs. Been feeding some younger nucs but they are hardly touching it. There is a lot of fresh nectar coming in here and still lots of drones.

The15thMember · « **Reply #294 on:** September 09, 2022, 07:06:32 pm »

I didn't have much time this afternoon, but since it's going to rain tomorrow, I figured I better knock out a couple inspections while the sun is shining. I found one colony that needed to be condensed down from 3 boxes to 2 and may need a little feeding. I also found I had accidentally left my triangle escape board on this colony from the last honey harvest. Thankfully it was just under the lid and the bees aren't drawing now, so no harm no foul.

I also saw a European hornet roaming around near the compost pile.

Brian MCquilkin · « **Reply #295 on:** September 11, 2022, 04:42:27 pm »

mite treatments OAV

The15thMember · « **Reply #296 on:** September 17, 2022, 06:21:46 pm »

I was chased out of the apiary by an angry hive for the first time today, and I also hurt my back lifting a box, two things that were probably inevitable at some point, and both on the same day. I have a hive that has been getting testier and testier as the fall is coming on. They were due for an inspection today, so I opened them up. It was hairy right from the get-go, lots of flying bees, and they were not very responsive to my smoking. Then I tried to lift a box that I thought I had cracked well enough, but I hadn't. The box wasn't very heavy, but I just wasn't prepared for it to resist me as much as it did, and something popped in my back. It hurt in this dull, internal way, and I felt like I couldn't move.

I tend to get light-headed, and I felt a wave come over me, so I took my water bottle and went and sat down away from the hives for a minute until I didn't feel like I was going to pass out anymore. I had left the hive open of course, and by the time I got back up to the apiary there were a LOT of bees in the air. I managed to get one box inspected, but I was having to move so gingerly because of my back that I couldn't do anything efficiently, and there were hundreds of bees in the air, pinging off my veil and biting and stinging the wrists of my suit, and I realized this was not going to work.

I was worried about lifting the boxes to get the hive back together, and I thought about getting my sister, who was up in the woods cutting branches for her goats, to help me, but I realized this situation would only worsen in the time it would take her to get suited up, and no one but me was going to be able to do this without getting stung like crazy. So, being careful of my back, but not of killing bees, I got the hive back together, and then walked through the underbrush to try and get the bees off my suit enough to get my stuff out of the apiary. Then I walked around in front of the garage until the all the bees got off my suit and I could safely undress. I somehow didn't take any stings to my actual body, but my suit probably took 30. I went and told my sister to stay away from the apiary, then went inside and took a hot shower, which made my back feel a little better.

I left the frames in the one box all separated, and I need to get this hive inspected and down to three boxes for beetle control, so early next week my sister and I will try and tackle them again. She can lift the boxes for me, since she is stronger than I am and not injured, and she can also take my notes for me while I work so I can be in and out of the hive as quickly as possible. I'll wash my suit tomorrow to get all the venom and stings out of it.

So there you have it: my first ever total mess of a beekeeping day. I'm surprised it took me 5 years to have a disaster. I knew I'd have to have one at some point, and today just happened to be the day.

Ben Framed · « **Reply #297 on:** September 18, 2022, 02:05:23 am »

Goodness Reagan, you had a tough bee day for sure. I have experienced both scenarios you are describing. For the back, I laid on a hard surface, drew my knees to my chest with the aid of my hands grasp to my knees and pulled inward while rolling on (or rocking on) my spine 'if you will'. Worked for me.

The grouchy behavior of your bees may be because of a death in your area? Do you have plenty of nectar coming in, or are you feeding your bees at the present time? If not that may be a part of your answer. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Phillip

The15thMember · « **Reply #298 on:** September 18, 2022, 12:58:21 pm »

Quote from: Ben Framed on September 18, 2022, 02:05:23 am

Goodness Reagan, you had a tough bee day for sure. I have experienced both scenarios you are describing. For the back, I laid on a hard surface, drew my knees to my chest with the aid of my hands grasp to my knees and pulled inward while rolling on (or rocking on) my spine 'if you will'. Worked for me.

The grouchy behavior of your bees may be because of a death in your area? Do you have plenty of nectar coming in, or are you feeding your bees at the present time? If not that may be a part of your answer. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Phillip

Thanks, Phillip. We don't have much nectar coming in, only pollen. I just finished my OAV treatments and this hive was very irritated every time I treated, so it could be that that has made them a little more sensitive, and they'll settle down once I leave them alone for a few weeks.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #299 on:** September 19, 2022, 08:20:53 am »

If you need to walk away fairly quickly it's still best to throw a cover on the open hive and another on any boxes you have stacked off of the hive.