What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Curly green fingers]

Checked fondant this afternoon after I put 2kgs on each hive in the garden there munching through it slowly , I also checked inspection boards no mite on all 6 but there's more brood cappings .
The hive that is brood and two half's is covering 9 frames and you can hardly see the fondant.

I'll go to the out apiarys tomorrow fondant in hand ready.

 

[Millet]

Millet when I took hives to the Heather, on their return they were utterly broodless, and the brooding only started again under the stimulus of feeding.

PH

Oh well..i need to take my bees to the Heather moors to help with Varroa control...the list is endless these days with those little devils..

 

[oliver90owner]

I don't think my question warrants a new thread so I'll ask it here:

If you put a wax foundation sheet for a super in a frame for a brood box, will the bees draw out just the super portion or will they keep going?

It is the wrong thread, but it is simple. They build what they want. If a small colony, or early in the season, they build worker cells. But later in the season they will buid drone cells. Assuming here, you mean deep boxes - both shallows and deeps can be brood boxes.

It is simply a matter of how strong the colony is. If they need to raise drones, they will build drone cells. Small colonies are not going to swarm, so no drones raised.

 

[SDM]

It is the wrong thread, but it is simple. They build what they want. If a small colony, or early in the season, they build worker cells. But later in the season they will buid drone cells.

By "later in the season" i assume you mean pretty much from now til mid august" as "later" in the season is ideal for getting drone free frames drawn.

 

[Murox]

Didn't do a lot, in fact zero. Too dam cold at 3C and too dam windy at 50-60kmph and too much sleet/rain and wet cold stuff. I did however put together a homemade box to hold a few frames.

 

[oliver90owner]

By "later in the season" i assume you mean pretty much from now til mid august" as "later" in the season is ideal for getting drone free frames drawn.

Never assume. It is not good beekeeping and often just not good in other circumstances. If you cannot work it out from the rest of the text, I’m sorry for you.

 

[Repwoc]

Never assume. It is not good beekeeping and often just not good in other circumstances. If you cannot work it out from the rest of the text, I’m sorry for you.

Then you must be more precise with your language. "Later" than what exactly?

 

[TooBee...]

oliver90owner,
I don't believe SDM meant any harm in his Post, he was just entering into a conversation, please remember there are a lot of newbies here that lurk more than Post (the trolls scare them away) and I too (in my ignorance) was wondering what "late" typically/usually meant. Experienced beeks like you would probably know what you meant (for your area) without further explanation, but a little extra info. always helps the rest of us loads

 

[Newbeeneil]

Set up 2 new small apiaries this morning.
One is on a site where there has been a lot of building excavation and the developer has levelled an area of approx 5 acres ( including making a pond in the centre of the area.)
This area is has been seeded in the past but is very poor quality sandy and stoney soil. I think I will have a chat with the developer about seeding a wild flower meadow.

 

[Stedic]

First visit for 4 weeks. New Sentinel suit felt good although I will admit I was VERY nervous. Woodpecker mesh removed from all hives. Fondant which went on 4 weeks ago was empty in 3 hives so was topped up (2.5kg packs).

Colonies generally looked big and strong. Will monitor them closely as I suspect they will get congested very quickly once the first flow starts. Weak colony still looks a bit small but has good and is holding its own so far.

Season 3 so difficult to judge if I’m over feeding, but given my reduced visits I’d rather risk that than starvation. Forecast is pretty poor for the next week.

Nice to be back with the bees. Hopefully the nervousness will pass before long.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Didn't do a lot, in fact zero. Too dam cold at 3C and too dam windy at 50-60kmph and too much sleet/rain and wet cold stuff. I did however put together a homemade box to hold a few frames.

Home made box a nuc box murox?

 

[Newbeeneil]

Found one of my nucs had starved , it was flying on Saturday with about a quarter of a takeaway tub of fondant so when I went to top it up today I was expecting some bees but I heard nothing. On investigation the fondant was gone, no stores at all, plenty of pollen, loads of dead bees and brood on 3 of the 5 frames.
I think that they had starting raising brood so early they just ran out of stores, they had stores when I checked during the warm spell recently ...... I went round to all my other apiaries to check on them this afternoon.
One very disappointed bee keeper here Who is kicking himself.

 

[Ian123]

Got to say i checked hives today that a couple of weeks ago had still felt heavy, a good number now on the light side. Even though the recent weather down my way has been unsettled its still been on the warmer side of average with bees flying and collecting pollen on most days. Theres loads flowering around me atm giving pollen but no nectar, so dont think you will be the only 1 caught out for sure

 

[Wingy]

Garden hive flying well today lots of bees, lots of pollen and now on their 3rd 2.5Kg of fondant. Definitely found the willow as many bees coming back almost completely yellow.
2 allotment hives not as many bees flying. These hives are a little more exposed to the wind and only 6*C here today, both these have consumed less than 1/2 of their 2.5Kg bag of fondant.
So far all looking good

 

[Beefriendly]

Real mixture, most hives with thriving colonies (8-9 frames of bees) and lots of stores still left and one or two quite light and now on their 2nd 2.5kg block of fondant.
Very little flying here today in the cold.

 

[simonforeman]

Very cold here also in the wind.....odd bees out but not many

 

[Millet]

Today's mess about.

I added 2.5kg of Abelo's fondant to five colonies..it is so easy when already bagged..just slice the bag and on the top bars it goes..I also added my home made clear crown boards to save pointlessly removing the wooden ones for a quick look.
The bees where very active today bringing lots of pollen in and collecting nectar from the grape hyacinth... it's funny as it is normally Baltic here for weeks but not today..hopefully the fondant keeps them ticking over.
The picture's are of Anemone / Grape Hyacinth (Nectar) .

 

[Tom Jay]

Visited my apiary at 12noon not to do anything but to observe if there was activity on this day of glorious sunshine in the North East and yet breezy with temperatures reaching only 8c according to the local BBC weather.

Many bees dancing and resting on the warm wood of sunned fronts, but more importantly a veritable motorway of straight out and fast return foragers from all four hives going I have no idea where for pollen and nectar. Hardy little critters!

I'm thinking … a thermometer on a tree beside the hives … do others do that?

 

[Millet]

I'm thinking … a thermometer on a tree beside the hives … do others do that?

Hell no.. i have one in my car that tells me what i want where ever i travel..

 

[Newbeeneil]

I'm thinking … a thermometer on a tree beside the hives … do others do that?

I have 3 thermometers around the house:-
1. One is on my heatpump which is slightly in the sun and hence gives a high reading if the suns out but I can read it at the heating controls.
2. The second is in my CCTV camera which I can interrogate from anywhere via the phone but gives a high reading while the sun is rising as it faces east!
3. The third one is on a weather station I got on Freecycle as the LCD display only shows half of the digits of the time! The sensor is adjacent to my hives, out of the sun and facing north, so gives the most accurate reading of all 3.

As shows above, put it somewhere protected out of the sun if you want an accurate reading!!