What did you do in the Apiary today?

Erichalfbee said:

Varrox arrived today.
I'll take the car down to the apiary tomorrow to see how long an extension lead I need.
I'm looking forward to abandoning thymol/formic acid forever.

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Amen, Sister.

Applied Oxalic acid by sublimation on 12 of my hives and 4 of my friends' hives before the sun started to set.

Assisted the beekeeper to put low profile feed ekes on 6 hives...

Those hot bees are fierce in cold weather !!! Ms Hyde to their warm weather Dr Jekyll

derekm said:

Assisted the beekeeper to put low profile feed ekes on 6 hives...

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Bit late to still be feeding them, used up a lot of stores have they?

Hivemaker. said:

Bit late to still be feeding them, used up a lot of stores have they?

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no just insurance for later... these are just for a tiny bit of fondant. They only hold about 200gm at the most.

Quick check on the hives after the recent gales..still there

derekm said:

no just insurance for later... these are just for a tiny bit of fondant. They only hold about 200gm at the most.

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Derek isn't this like waking up a sleeping baby to put braces on it when it has a perfectly adequate belt? Do you not trust your own thermodynamics? I am having to force myself to be bothered to heft this winter and my hives are more lossy than yours.

TryingToLetThemBee said:

Do you not trust your own thermodynamics?

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200 gm at the most? It must be a Fusion technology on it`s way down to bees
(Sorry, No offence meant, just a joke for having fun )

TryingToLetThemBee said:

Derek isn't this like waking up a sleeping baby to put braces on it when it has a perfectly adequate belt? Do you not trust your own thermodynamics? I am having to force myself to be bothered to heft this winter and my hives are more lossy than yours.

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You do have a point... however, these babies are definitely not asleep

The physics is correct but I can still remember hearing many zoology and botany students cursing their experimental subjects for being so determined to ruin their projects.

Sometimes I wonder if the bees are conducting a fiendishly complex behavioural experiment on us.

After checking last week, returned to check three colonies, that I could not see any bees through clear crown boards last week. Took down, three inspection boards to put in, flash light, new Stethoscope to listen to bees.

on approaching one of the suspect hives with my new Stethoscope, I was greeted immediately by the girls, by 50 bees pouring out of the entrance, and two or three "buzzed me!", re-treated!

No need for Stethoscope! continued to check reaming hives with Stethoscope, not conclusive, and couldn't hear anything, maybe I'm deaf!

after the 50 bees went in, checked their hive, couldn't hear any bees in that!

I decided, there was no point removing the straps, roofs and insulation to check with flash light at this point, saw a few bees (1-3) coming and going from the other two suspect colonies.

So I was just going to insert inspection boards, only to find, that these inspection boards, were too large for Thornes Budget floors, I'd brought the wrong ones down from the Bee shed! (damn!).

So, what have I learned, like I tell my clients, and maybe I should take a page out of my own book, about IT issues, with the Cloud Stuff we do, BE PATIENT!

I need to go back to get the inspection boards in to count varroa drop... in the morning this week.. (and may get my bee suit on and gloves!)

instead of fleece jacket, hat and gloves!

derekm said:

…
Sometimes I wonder if the bees are conducting a fiendishly complex behavioural experiment on us.

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No, that's the hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings that we think of as "mice". *Link* (for the non-hoopy)

7 degrees and windy (F5) this afternoon - watched one of my two new AMM colonies flying a few girls. They were straight out of the box and away somewhere - dunno where, or for what purpose ...
The other AMM colony couldn't fly as it's still 'locked-up' (7 days of being 'confined to quarters' after a 30 foot move).

None of the other hives were flying today - but should be a different story on Wed/Thur as temperatures are forecast to be around 10-13 degrees.
And some weather sites are talking about another warm 'blip' just prior to Xmas. Glad I've got plenty of fondant in stock, at this rate I just might be needing it ...

LJ

I`ve checked varroa trays inserted 3 days ago. No mite drops whatsoever in all my hives. I know, varroa drops get reduced significantly during cold periods, but weather is not too bad for the last 2 days with temperatute reaching 7`C in the afternoons… I consider thymol has made a fantastic job. Nonetheless I see some faeces and 10-30 dead bees on the mesh floors just after cleaning them 3 days ago. Is it normal, or I can do anything about it eather?(thymol syrup was given in september also)

Oxalic

Sublimated all the hives. Went well apart from the Paynes hive. This sits on a nadired wooden shallow then a Paynes floor. I didn't check the distance between the top of the varrox and the bottom of the frames. End result, melted wax and scorched bottom bars.....phew! What a shock! Next time such an arrangement will be treated UNDER the OMF somehow.
Pleased to see all boxes nice and tight with only the odd wisp of vapour from under the sponge in the entrance.

Treated oxalic acid to my 5 hives

We have now some warm weather, hazels are opening. Bees are bringing lot of pollen of it, also some on dandelions, on water.. I am now worriing that brood will soon start due to that.. Too early..

Vaped my last colony (2-story nuc) through the OMF as an experiment. Seemed pretty good, but we'll see. Got distracted resuscitating a comatose bee and got stung in the opposing palm. Bother! Never mind; will keep the tolerance ticking over.

It was very warm down here this afternoon and I had a quick peek through the clear crownboard on the smaller of the colonies in the Paynes hive ... there's only 8 frames in there ... it's absolutely full of bees and no sign of clustering. No problem with stores at present - just about the same weight as it was a month ago but keeping and eye on it. All nice and warm under 100mm kingspan - the heat at the crown board was very noticeable. 20 Seconds and it was back in place.

Lifted the roof on my long hive and same situation (again, clear crown board so no disturbance) - loads of bees and hive very heavy.

Would have peeped at the other poly hive but the 100mm of Kingspan in an insulated super on top of the hive was wedged tight so left them to get on with it.

Generally, quite a few bees flying - a handful of deadbees on the landing boards but no signs of nosema. Debris on inspection boards looks very normal and daily drop of varroa is only 1 or 2 so really pleased.

Spring appears to be arriving down here on the Costa del Fareham - Catkins already out on my neighbour's hazel trees and I've got fuschias flowering in the garden. A tree surgeon friend of mine told me last week that because of the mild winter the sap is already rising in the trees so we could be in for a very early spring.

pargyle said:

because of the mild winter the sap is already rising in the trees so we could be in for a very early spring.

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That will be around May time then.

A tree surgeon friend of mine told me last week that because of the mild winter the sap is already rising in the trees so we could be in for a very early spring.

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A false start me thinks ( and probably not good).....today, winter solstice, still a week plus of December and then ...... Usually.... The coldest two months of the winter Jan & Feb.

Even with our screwed up weather plenty of time yet for some Artic blasts.