In complete contrast to most I seem to be having a great year for honey!
I think the mild winter in my location resulted in larger colonies coming out of winter giving them a bit of a head start. When the OSR came into flower most of my colonies were already filling their Brood boxes and over...
I've had the same experience.
I live in the same area and have collected 3 swarms so far in the area. 1 in East Tilbury, 1 in West Tilbury and 1 in Chadwell St. Mary. None from my own hives though........yet!;)
Nope definitely not 40 L!!
The roof side I removed literally crumbled in my hand too. On the underside was propolis city where they had plugged so many cracks and holes! I think it was the wax and propolis that was holding that side of the roof together! Lol
Fingers crossed they stay put.....
Hi dn,
I managed to get most of the comb into the frames intact cutting just where they attached to the roof of the bird box. As a result only a little of the stores were disturbed. It was mainly just where my fingers held it to support whilst adding the elastic bands. Also the entrance they...
Hi kazmcc,
Welcome back by the way :)
Each of the brood frames also has a good amount of stores in a triangular arc at the top too so I figured as they still have most of what they started with that they'll be ok for now. I'll check in a week or so to see how they're getting on as they'll use...
So finally got round to doing the cut out......
You can see the divide down the middle separating the bee occupied section and the old birds nest on the other side.
they were nicely packed inside their half using all the available space and although you cant see it from these pics there were a...
I made a small batch a couple of weeks ago using a really creamy textured seed and a small amount of summer honey from last august. The seed was very fine (no gritty bits at all) and was set to the consistency of really thick cream or whisked egg whites. So firm enough to stay on the spoon when...
My new site for this year is alongside a railway line. The hives are 15-20m max from the lines and they've not shown any sign of problems so far. In fact the bees at this site are out performing the bees at my other site (honey wise).
I extracted 100lb of spring honey from the 2 hives at the new site near the osr. But only 30lb from the other 2 production hives at the other site. The full colonies at the new site currently have 3 or 4 supers on and are filling approx 1 super a week at the mo.
The other site is doing almost...
Haha .... I know what you mean!
I've gone from 6 to 12 colonies this year collecting swarms and with bait hives etc and Ive got another cut out in the pipeline too. No doubt I'll still say yes to the next swarm call even though I'm down to my last 2 spare full size hives!
For me its the...
Haha i know :)
And even better the colony swarmed from a feral colony that lives in the chimney. That colony has been there for years apparently and will be staying put.
So I have agreed with the home owner to place a bait hive out nearby for future swarms.
I must have pleased some beekeeping god somewhere as I had another bit of good fortune yesterday.
On Sunday evening at 6pm I was called to collect a swarm which was on Someones shed. I arrived 10 mins later to see the tail end of the swarm entering the air brick of the house and into the cavity...