What did you do in the Apiary today?

Global cooling effecting everyone and worse to come

Helped a friend at his apiaries today. Last colony we checked was one that I introduced a queen to last year. Last couple of frames and there she was .....
Hang on a minute, where are her wings?
She definitely had wings last year but there she was, both gone. Has anyone else seen this? I remember seeing a pic of a wingless queen but never heard of one losing it's wings. Everything else was fine, BIAS and thriving colony.
I suppose the bright side is she can't swarm.

Swarm said:

Has anyone else seen this? I remember seeing a pic of a wingless queen but never heard of one losing it's wings.

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Yes, Steve... have seen queens with no wings, but they have all been very old queens, had one once that was just over five years old, no wings and no back legs either, one leg I accidentally cut off while clipping her in her second year, the other dropped off in her fifth year.

Clearers hadn’t worked well overnight but hope we get there as the temperature goes up today. Possible that the brood boxes are too full for them to move down.


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colinc said:

Clearers hadn’t worked well overnight but hope we get there as the temperature goes up today. Possible that the brood boxes are too full for them to move down.


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Or you have brood in The supers!
E

colinc said:

Clearers hadn’t worked well overnight but hope we get there as the temperature goes up today. Possible that the brood boxes are too full for them to move down.


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Someone I know used the Rhombus clearers (which I recommended .. and work superbly) but put the boards in upside down ... and wondered why the supers had not cleared ! Not suggesting that this is in your case .. just reminded me of someone's embarrassment when I went round to assist !

What sort of clearing device are you using ? .. if it's Porter bee escapes they have a habit of sticking either shut or open, they need to be adjusted carefully if they are to work .. either will leave bees in the supers. Rombus clearers are so much better than Porter escapes.

You would be lucky if a porter escape cleared a super overnight.

Triangle boards and they are in right.


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colinc said:

Triangle boards and they are in right.


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If there is no brood layed up in the super(s) put another super beneath the one(s) you want to clear with the clearer board above it .. it's unlikely to be a space issue but more space above the brood box and below the filled super will assist them to clear down if it is.

I've always used the Rhombus clearers - rarely takes more than a few hours to clear the supers although I tend to put them on in the middle of the day and by evening they have emptied .. I take the supers off in the dusk when the bees have stopped flying as less interest from the bees.

linoleum bonypart said:

Global cooling effecting everyone and worse to come

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That's because the greenies prayers and sacrifices of the elderly on the altar of expensive energy have been heard by the sun god

Yesterday performed Pagden on bottom half of vertical split that had open QCs and gave them wet extracted supers back. Split has some supers with foundation to give them something to draw out.

The bottom of the split was wall to wall brood - and was packed with bees. The top part was surprisingly not that full given it should have the bees from all the brood frames that went up there. I wonder if they swarmed on the queen that should have now hatched (but had left them only 1 QC), or if the bees had sussed out where the old queen had gone to...

I'll see if I land up with a laying queen in the top or not, but actually wouldn't be a disaster if not as the latest split should raise one now.

Made up some fresh frames as had report of a swarm making its way through friends' garden, but don't think it had settled - did ask them to let me know...

23 jars filled from extracted honey!

Ooops..
Not today, few days ago..

Gilberdyke John said:

That's because the greenies prayers and sacrifices of the elderly on the altar of expensive energy have been heard by the sun god

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I'm not sure that clearly understand this piece of English humour but the weather is getting warm and pleasant as it must be in May.
Today I checked the rest of the hives, added suppers, foundations etc. The scent of fresh nectar has appeared in the apiary after almost the week of rains when bees collected only water.
Also walked to the ponds where many guys can spend a whole day and catch nothing. Some apple and pear trees are still blooming. Dandelions and other herbs too. The best time of a year.

Goran said:

Ooops..
Not today, few days ago..

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Anyone else see the shape of a sheep's head covered in bees?
Poor thing must have ran straight through from behind

Usual busy Sunday - morning at the teaching apiary. Had to call in the shops on the way bach for SWMBO and I bumped into my best friend - Son of Mrs T owner of the Garn Cottage apiary who died last month, Looks like the bees have had a reprieve as the cottage may be staying in family hands.
I had a call when I was at the association apiary - fellow chapel deacon who had bee issues in the old shed in the garden, seems he had been cutting the ivy back from the walls and disturbed a bumble colony tucked up in an old bird nest, the colony had fallen to the ground and the bird nest was trashed so did my best by transferring bits of nest and the colony into a large flower pot and tucked it in the nearby hedge.
Then to carreg apiary, arrived just as a swarm buzzed in and settled on the front of one of the hives!! it ended up twice the size of what is in the picture, five attempts at getting them into a nuc with no success and suspected the queen had tucked herself inside a corner of the roof as the bees seemed to be latched there, roof removed, cluster shaken into the nuc and within minutes the bees had trooped in and are now settled in a corner of the apiary

Collected two swarms, both apparently from the same feral nest. The owners know all about a really big nest in the wooden walls of their barn. The nest seems to have two or three entrances, which makes me think it's actually three colonies side by side. Anyway, one colony in the low hanging branches of a tree, the other on the crest of a tin roof 20 feet up. Both hived quickly, looking forward to seeing how they get on.

At lunch 1pm , call about swarm on allotment. Arrived 1.30pm swarm gone. Removed multiple QCs.
At Association Apiary - uninspected two weeks due to weather - similar story. Removed lots of QCs from swarmed hives. Took one out , said to beginners "this is close to emerging" . Placed in paper towel in pocket. 30 mins later when walking down road with beginners, too paper out to show them QCs.. and there was emerged queen.. Safely in mating nuc at home Sunday night.

Can I give up this "hobby" now as I am exhausted?

Similar story yesterday. 10min after arriving at the apiary the unmistaken noise of a swarm. Was from one of my single Brood hive. Was just about to inspect them and knew this one is a potential to swarm. Half hour later the swarm was safely in a converted Paynes nuc (8 frame). Then opened the hive and sure enough swarm cells in there (10-12). Closed them up and came inside for a coffee to plan what to do. After coffee opened the hive again, to find one of the cells has hatched (classic hinged tip), so unsure if the other cells are viable. Left it as is (VQ in there, not seen though) + one capped cell.
So they were probably ready and just waited for nice weather... first queen emerged about an hour after the swarm left.

Removed over 20 (!) QCs from a lady's hive which was producing casts at the rate of two per day...luckily landing on a 1 meter high fence.
Original prime swarm? long gone...

Collected a second prime swarm from a hive I lent to a neighbour. First swarm went next door to their neighbours (who they despise). I collected that lot, and re-queened with a spare queen I had to save time. Today I found the new queen on the neighbour’s hedge. Triffik.

Regardless of what my friends want, I have to move them elsewhere.