are you sure its September..?

the roar from most of the hives
audible from 3 metres is remarkable even for May.... A quick doublecheck at the calendar says September,,, i thought it was September but you know its good to check

I have a chewing sound from mine, sounds like a wasp chewing wood for its nest, but checked and cannot find any thing any ideas never heard this before,my hive is humming like mad as well.

Yep defiantly September, probably something to do with a mini ice age in the middle of global warming with over active ley lines.

Barely seen the sun in this recent 'heatwave'.

My nucs (cold way) make a funny noise form time to time at the moment; for all the world like a bee flying full speed into the back wall. I have no idea how they are doing that.

Humming like an air conditioner and stinking of Ivy.
I've put on an empty drawn super under one box as the brood is stuffed with stores.

yeogi75 said:

I have a chewing sound from mine, sounds like a wasp chewing wood for its nest, but checked and cannot find any thing any ideas never heard this before,my hive is humming like mad as well.

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Snap!!
I haven't looked in but did a varroa count, Apilife on, and there is fine debris at the front of the board, just behind the entrance. I'm sure they are chewing up their Paynes box.

TryingToLetThemBee said:

My nucs (cold way) make a funny noise form time to time at the moment; for all the world like a bee flying full speed into the back wall. I have no idea how they are doing that.

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They are dancing on the floor.

yeogi75 said:

I have a chewing sound from mine, sounds like a wasp chewing wood for its nest, but checked and cannot find any thing any ideas never heard this before,my hive is humming like mad as well.

Click to expand...

Yeh my hive is also making the same chewing sound has been for a week or two, not sure what it is either but the girls seem happy.

very smelly hive a sweet sickly smell but i haven't looked at the others yet that's a job for tomorrow

Yep, I am sure Derek, it's the bees that are confused brooding like spring build up. There will be no lack of winter bees for me this year going into winter, and at this rate I will not have to feed much either. Amazing how different the winter preps of the bees turn out to be year on year. Very interesting to see, but makes planning on their behalf a bit pointless. Glad I am not sitting on a mass of sugar stores as an example!

derekm said:

the roar from most of the hives
audible from 3 metres is remarkable even for May.... A quick doublecheck at the calendar says September,,, i thought it was September but you know its good to check

Click to expand...

Now you've gone and done it right and proper. Successfully confirmed Sod's Law, you have. My bees were enjoying a wondrous Indian summer until 4pm yesterday when the skies opened and i guess we have had more than an inch of rain overnight. Forecast is cloud and lower temps over the next week. If you hadn't posted just think what my bees would still be enjoying......

all my apiaries are within 15miles of each other.the ones with good access to balsam have filled a super each in the last couple of weeks and the broods are full too.the others i am having to feed apart from the double broods.i keep a close eye this time of year because after the thymol treatment i find the queens pick up again and stores are used.i have had to give late feed the last couple of years as heavy brood boxes become a bit light late in the season.the ivy is just flowering around my apiaries so hopefully the weather will be on my side.

I checked most of my hives 1 week ago and they varied from 8 frames of brood still to a few that were down to 4 frames of brood!

Those of double brood had a fair amount of stores in the top BB and those on single brood will get a 2nd BB on top full of stores.

The single hive in my back garden (isolation apiary for swarms) seems so busy still collecting HB and the ivy hasn't started flowering yet! Seeing how active it is, I'm loathed to move the hive to my out apiaries at the moment!

Its rained in the last 24 hours, its dull and only 15C and the bees are still going hell for leather.

I think the rain will encourage nectar production. The ground here is absolutely solid and we had an hour of rain yesterday. OK the sedums are washed out for now but you can hear the trees full of ivy metres away and the balsam has picked its heads up.

I had one of mine swarm today! Checked through and found 9 frames of brood and not an inch of space. They'd actually started to build extensions off the bottom of the frames towards the OMF!

Hi Jimmys Mum,
Pulled a few frames in my largest hive today. After your post I wish I had done a full inspection!

YorkshireBees said:

I checked most of my hives 1 week ago and they varied from 8 frames of brood still to a few that were down to 4 frames of brood!

Those of double brood had a fair amount of stores in the top BB and those on single brood will get a 2nd BB on top full of stores.

The single hive in my back garden (isolation apiary for swarms) seems so busy still collecting HB and the ivy hasn't started flowering yet! Seeing how active it is, I'm loathed to move the hive to my out apiaries at the moment!

Click to expand...

I have just checked that hive with a view to adding a feeder on which contains the last set of cappings from my final extraction. As soon as I managed to prise the crown board off I knew there was no point in adding the feeder. They are packing it in and probably running short of space so I will add a super below to relieve the situation.

Well looks like mine swarmed. Came back from holiday last week with them all hanging outside, added a super for more space.There were eggs in there. Checked today and it was it was loaded with cells.
Its gonna be close to the wire for her getting mated but gonna leave them and see. Worst case I merge a bit later.

Wow swarming so late !

Now I am worrying about couple mine ... To get all trendy and prove I have learnt something ( ok I was advised to ) am gonna git Nadiring !!

<DARKLY>Won't be the last</DARKLY>