What did you do in the Apiary today?

Took a mid week day off, such an agreeable employer I have (me) !

Spent it removing 8 brimming supers and extracting them. Even swarms I caught in June have produced full supers...amazing really.
Still more to go....and I hope Peteinwilts has a strong right arm as he has more hives than me.....unless he wants to borrow my electric extractor.....a godsend this year..

All supers will go back on....the weather is still good, and there is plenty of yielding forage.

Happy days

S

Finished bottling the July harvest. (Had to, had run out of equipment!.)

100lb of lovely yellow honey. Beautiful fruity flavour (a bit like black-currants).

I think the girls are brewing up at least another 100lb for later in the season. Yum!

Just been through almost all my hives. Things are definitely slowing down on the flow front. All hives very well behaved not a single sting in more than two hours. Weather lovely.

Did a unite, marked and clipped two queens, and spent ages basically just looking at superframes full of honey.

Pretty awesome for an unexpected morning off.

Spotted and marked two more laying q‘s so 5 out of 6 colonies now have 2014 q‘s. One of them looked v small, brood pattern looks fine but will be keeping an eye on it.

A 14*12 frame, wall to wall with capped brood and few gaps is a great sight.

Destroyed Asian Hornet nest in an empty hive.

Chris

Removed another 2 very full supers from this bad boy...that makes 4 so far this year and another 2 to come





Below is a pic of one of the frames-I can't figure out how to post pics properly on here so you need to right click to open in new tab




This is turning into a classic year!

Well, not actually today ... it was a few days ago but been struggling to get everything installed on my newer laptop and get the photos off my camera so ...

Home made super.
Nice clear crownboard on my poly hive and
The super installed on top of the hive ... not the most elegant looking installation but it works.
The lump of foil covered kingspan was because I had run out of super frames - situation now remedied.

Inspected mating nucs.

One with polished cells
One with eggs.

OK so far..

Went to combine 2 very small colonies, as suspected one was Q- got everything ready - hunted down a newspaper, did what was to be the final 'hunt the queen' and there she was! I removed 2 brood frames of honey, and left them new foundation to play with.

I was hoping to reduce colony numbers, and retrieve some of my kit!

Meandered up to the hives to marvel quietly when it occurred to me that one hive seemed to have bees taking off from behind the hive. I then spent the next 10 minutes on the floor behind the hive watching in disbelief as they squeezed through the varroa mesh floor!

Repaired camera, somehow for some time..
But won't post much, cause now have to move on other things ( not beekeeping), that's life. I learned some things here, improved my "tarzan english" a bit and hopefully weren't annoying too much..

I wish You all buckets full of honey

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Good luck with what ever you do.

Chris

Goran said:

Repaired camera, somehow for some time..
But won't post much, cause now have to move on other things ( not beekeeping), that's life. I learned some things here, improved my "tarzan english" a bit and hopefully weren't annoying too much..

I wish You all buckets full of honey

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. He who dares wins though. Your next venture will hopefully be more successful. How long were you doing it for? I am still paying for a business that lost me lots of money five years ago.

Had a peep at last weeks swarm, not huge as it turns out ,Queen has started laying (just) .Bees very well behaved . Decided not to feed them as they've been busy bucketing in nectar and the hive contains a couple of frames of capped honey anyway!
VM


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Goran said:

Repaired camera, somehow for some time..

But won't post much, cause now have to move on other things ( not beekeeping), that's life. I learned some things here, improved my "tarzan english" a bit and hopefully weren't annoying too much..



I wish You all buckets full of honey



"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Click to expand...

This is sudden . Sorry to see you go , you've been an asset to this community!
Your English is far superior than some on here whose first language is English
Please if you have access to the internet , drop by , let us know how life is treating you !
Ciao VM John.


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Goran said:

Repaired camera, somehow for some time..
But won't post much, cause now have to move on other things ( not beekeeping), that's life. I learned some things here, improved my "tarzan english" a bit and hopefully weren't annoying too much..

I wish You all buckets full of honey

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Click to expand...

Best of luck Goran ... always entertaining and an interesting insight into beekeeping in a very beautiful and different part of the world .. even if bees don't feature in your future drop by and let us know how you are getting one. Best of luck with whatever comes next. Phil

Goran said:

Repaired camera, somehow for some time..
But won't post much, cause now have to move on other things ( not beekeeping), that's life. I learned some things here, improved my "tarzan english" a bit and hopefully weren't annoying too much..

I wish You all buckets full of honey

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Click to expand...

Sorry your leaving us, you had such interesting posts and always a pleasure to read. I hope your new adventure will bring you good luck and prosperity
PS what's the plant called in the forth photo

lebouche said:

Sorry to hear that. He who dares wins though. Your next venture will hopefully be more successful. How long were you doing it for? I am still paying for a business that lost me lots of money five years ago.

Click to expand...

Don't worry, I am not in minus with my bees, on the contrary. But not enough for decent living ( this season all forages were devastated by catastrophic weather and failed hard..) . So have to go to more lucrative job.
Will reduce in spring most likely ( will bring them in top form and sell). But long time, who knows. Usually the plans don't turn the same in real life..

Thanks for wishes, wish you best luck in beekeeping.

Thanks Chris and enjoy the crane migrations.

Mr G what can I say? A true blow to the forum and the chatroom. I wish you well buddy keep safe, keep well and maybe we'll meet again someday.

Hachi

REDWOOD said:

Sorry your leaving us, you had such interesting posts and always a pleasure to read. I hope your new adventure will bring you good luck and prosperity
PS what's the plant called in the forth photo

Click to expand...

Lotus corniculatus - Bird's-foot Trefoil

Thanks Redwood, Phil and Hachi. I will drop in occasionally. Also wish You all the best.