What did you do in the Apiary today?

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Stood and viewed .

Wish I had the time!!

Chons da

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies
 
Watched the entrances today as I vaped the hives. The sun came out and the bee traffic was great to see.
One entrance today .....
 

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I have had them for a few years now and i never get tired or bored from staring at the entrance.. it gives me a rough idea how the colony is doing and what they are foraging on..;)

I also stood and viewed the hives today as well as hefting and i noticed one double brood colony still has drones flying in and out on this nice sunny day..i also noticed in my other apiary that the bees are back onto the balsam again as well as the ivy...
 
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Decided to clean up all the frames from this years supers and treat with Certan. Having sprayed the frames I placed them on the patio to quickly dry. Patio well over 100 yards from hives, which are at this time of year in a shaded and cooler part of the garden. I then took my dogs for a 40 minute walk, by which time the sun had broken through and it was nice and warm on my patio. Yes you have guessed it, on my return frames covered in bees and needed some persuasion to leave as I tried to pack away over 200 frames. When will I learn!! At least I know all my colonies are doing well!!


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Tidying up outside the perimeter fence, my next door neighbour informed me he had had the pest controllers out to kill off three european hornets nests and two wasp nests. This has been done by white powder being sprayed into the nests. Should I be concerned for my bees?
 
Tidying up outside the perimeter fence, my next door neighbour informed me he had had the pest controllers out to kill off three european hornets nests and two wasp nests. This has been done by white powder being sprayed into the nests. Should I be concerned for my bees?

My guess is he used Ficam D/ Bendiocarb which can stay active for 14 days..it has a quick knock down rate so i doubt a bee would make it back to the colony if it managed to come into contact with it...the best thing to do for peace of mind (if it has not all ready been done) is remove the hornet nests and bin them... i sprayed a wasp nest with Ficam W in the ground last year 15 yards from my hives and then filled it in..the bees where fine.
 
Wasp nests in my garden will get the treatment when they start to show and interest in the hives and have never had problems, theres no reason for bees to show any interst in the nest so no issues.....bright warm sunny day here and the ivy is covered in bees;)
 
Wasp nests in my garden will get the treatment when they start to show and interest in the hives and have never had problems, theres no reason for bees to show any interst in the nest so no issues.....bright warm sunny day here and the ivy is covered in bees;)

Thanks for that Millet and Ian. Mine were very busy yday and will be today too thanks to nice weather. My hives reeked of ivy yday, so am I to assume that they are still collecting ivy nectar, are fanning off already unripe nectar or uncapping existing stores?
 
21st october and its 21 degrees.... Bees going mad on the ivy again today, lovely smell from the hives.... got the kingspan into all 4 roofs and strapped them down to the hives for the winter.... Then sat in the garden with a cold beer, Weather is mad....
 
21st october and its 21 degrees.... Bees going mad on the ivy again today, lovely smell from the hives.... got the kingspan into all 4 roofs and strapped them down to the hives for the winter.... Then sat in the garden with a cold beer, Weather is mad....

Apart from the beer and kingspan the same here...definitely mad weather which the nuc in my mothers garden is taking full advantage of..
 
Checked my little cut out it’s taken in 2 buckets of feed. They’ve filled and repaired 2 frames with brood that was saved and have layed up a little on another drawn frame that was added. 2 outside frames now full of syrup and ivy pollen being stored. I will hold off anymore feed whilst this good weather continues in the hope the queen may lay up a little extra
 
Removed the Apivar strips, no varroa on inspection boards, had a quick look down frames, they are now drawing out the outside of the end fames so a full 12x14 hive, put the strap on then went for a walk, found 8 large areas of ivy full of busy bees within 200mtrs, on the way back noticed that quite a few of the neighbours have large clumps of Salvia 'Hot Lips' with lots of bees so looks like they have found plenty for winter stores.
 
Feeders off all the out apiaries, all strapped down and left to their own devices until the new year.

8 liters of feed to go in 20 colonies... wish I had bought more of the English feeders!

Then the Sublimox.... when does it stop ... need to book with Quantas before I go mad!
 
8 liters of feed to go in 20 colonies... wish I had bought more of the English feeders!

Get them from Thornes via fleabay - good price for twenty and they'll probably be with you by Wednesday at the latest, free of postage (got mine within 40 hours of ordering)
 
8 liters of feed to go in 20 colonies... wish I had bought more of the English feeders!

Then the Sublimox.... when does it stop ... need to book with Quantas before I go mad!

Just get yourself some big buckets, my local tile shop does cheap 10l buckets with lids. The same buckets that ready mixed addesive comes in for a few quid and my local butcher gets his sauces in 2.5l and 5l buckets. Maybe i am just tight:)
 

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