todays news

[Feckless Drone]

Wasps seem to have disappeared now - and moved to Gavin's place.

Circular? SNHBS?

Should be a good talk at ESBA Dundee tonight. Graham Sharpe on his experiences and protocols. 7:30 in the Methodist Church Hall, Nethergate.

[gavin]

Yes, Graeme is a great speaker. See you there.

The SNHBS workshop is for members (easy to become one ... ) and is at the Aberdeen Uni Zoology Department on 18th Nov. Free for members. Come and meet the crew. See a prominent Varroa and honey bee researcher in the flesh, and some PhD students. Oh, and a genome sequencing expert from the Roslin Institute. Blether to beekeepers. Play with microscopes. Learn!

www.snhbs.scot/events-2 (http://www.snhbs.scot/events-2)

G.

[Feckless Drone]

Two points from last nights talk to ESBA by Graeme Sharpe on beekeeping practices that work for him that I noted. 1. no winter oxalic acid treatment as his use of Apivar in autumn is sufficient to control varroa. 2. use of inverted syrup as a spring (very early spring) stimulative feed to give an early build up for OSR crop.

I've not feed in late winter/early spring unless stores were very low and then I've given fondant and used OSR really to help the build up. I get a crop but admittedly could be much larger if colonies were a bit more advanced. Although I doubt I will get close to Graeme's honey yields. Difference in climate between central belt - west and northish east coast come into play - we often get chilled periods well into april/may. I don't think I would stimulate being concerned about getting to swarm control too early with regards getting Qs mated. Anyone else feed to force colonies on in Feb-March?

[madasafish]

Two points from last nights talk to ESBA by Graeme Sharpe on beekeeping practices that work for him that I noted. 1. no winter oxalic acid treatment as his use of Apivar in autumn is sufficient to control varroa. 2. use of inverted syrup as a spring (very early spring) stimulative feed to give an early build up for OSR crop.

I've not feed in late winter/early spring unless stores were very low and then I've given fondant and used OSR really to help the build up. I get a crop but admittedly could be much larger if colonies were a bit more advanced. Although I doubt I will get close to Graeme's honey yields. Difference in climate between central belt - west and northish east coast come into play - we often get chilled periods well into april/may. I don't think I would stimulate being concerned about getting to swarm control too early with regards getting Qs mated. Anyone else feed to force colonies on in Feb-March?

I did this year. Only really works with strong colonies: as far as honey yield is concerned.

[fatshark]

The need for midwinter OA treatment is surely dependent upon 3 things ... the level of infestation before autumn treatment, the timing of autumn treatment and the temperature after autumn treatment.

Apivar gets about ~95% of the mites. If the infestation level is high it suggests more will be left - mathematically speaking - than if levels were low. If treatment is early there will be a longer brood rearing period afterwards and this will be exacerbated if it's a particularly warm autumn with brooding going on late.

I've seen colonies this year with very high mite levels (not my own thankfully) and I certainly wouldn't want to risk the chance of not slaughtering those mites remaining for the sake of a few pence worth of OA (or a few pounds of Api-Bioxal :( ).

I've fed colonies thin syrup (not invert) early and pollen ... all (inevitably) very unscientific, but with the intention of bringing on colonies for queen rearing rather than honey production. Graeme made me think it was worth a try as I've largely missed exploiting the OSR since moving here due to slow buildup.

Sorry I missed you last night FD.

PS Graeme said it was only worth doing on strong colonies ...

[Feckless Drone]

PS Graeme said it was only worth doing on strong colonies ...

yes, that's right - he was selective, based on strength of the colony, about what is built up early for the OSR.

I'm a confirmed OA dribbler and since I did not do any summer or spring treatments for varroa this year I intend to lift the lids at the end of Dec. My apivar strips were removed at the weekend after 8 weeks and with loads of pollen going in to all but 1 poorly behaved hive I am hopeful that I've culled the mites in timely fashion for healthy winter bees.

I missed a trick this year - should have treated swarms for varroa as soon as I got them so should stock up on a thymol based treatment. Tempted to make and try out Randy Oliver's oxalic acid towels.

Is it me or does spring seem a long way off? Been cleaning equipment and wax and feeling morose without being out and about the bees.

[Jon]

I missed a trick this year - should have treated swarms for varroa as soon as I got them so should stock up on a thymol based treatment. Tempted to make and try out Randy Oliver's oxalic acid towels.

Oxalic trickle would do that job as well as any thymol based product. I carry a bottle around with me in the summer and if I pick up a swarm or come across a broodless colony I treat it. I also use it to treat any nucs I make up with a few frames of bees and brood and a ripe queen cell. If you get the timing right you can treat a broodless nuc 2-3 weeks after making it up.

[Feckless Drone]

I like the idea of treating the newly caught swarms and mating nucs which are brood less - but worry about potential disruption to the new Q if she has to get mated etc.

[fatshark]

I've not trickled swarms/casts with unmated Q's but have - several times - vaporised OA where either the Q is either unmated, or possibly just mated but not yet laying.

No apparent ill-effects and in all cases the Q's have gone on to either get mated or start laying.

Interestingly - at least it is to me, but I do need to get out more - swarms have a higher proportion of mites than phoretic bees in a colony. It's definitely worth treating them.

I've never treated mating nucs.

[Jon]

I treat the nucs in the first week after the queen has started to lay before any brood has been sealed.

[mbc]

The future is already here in a more persistent application of oxalic by mixing with glycerin and soaking in cellulose(cardboard) strips, it works!
https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38743

[busybeephilip]

The future is already here in a more persistent application of oxalic by mixing with glycerin and soaking in cellulose(cardboard) strips, it works!
https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38743


I thought I'd have a bash at this. It does seem to work although it is NOT an instant or rapid cure. One hive i had at the start of spring 2017 was very week covering only about 2x cricket size ball of bees and dropping loads of mites. Nothing to loose so had a bash at the towel thing, at first not much seemed to happen but the mite drop was steady, after about 4 weeks the small (~2- 3 inch diameter) brood size increased, a month later the (small) population began to rise with mites still dropping. By mid may it was covering ~3 frames with low mite drop. By late july a super was added and got about 10 lbs honey and hardly any mite drop. On seeing some success, more hives were treated with same at mid august and I am now very pleased with the results obtained. I have continuously monitored varroa floors and levels are acceptable. I definitely feel this method does work and could be applied as a "continuous" treatment given that there is no contamination of harvested honey

[mbc]

Seeing as oxalic levels in honey from colonies repeatedly treated with ox trickle (where there is a likelihood of some ingestion ) aren't elevated then I can't see an issue with the ox/gly which they're simply discarding out of the way.

[Poly Hive]

Is there not an issue here with the legality of "home made" oxalic treatments?

PH

[fatshark]

mbc ... where's the data for that? The only work I'm aware of (New Zealand?) measured OA levels in honey the spring following a winter trickle.
I'd love to see the evidence of what everyone wants to see.

[mbc]

mbc ... where's the data for that? The only work I'm aware of (New Zealand?) measured OA levels in honey the spring following a winter trickle.
I'd love to see the evidence of what everyone wants to see.

Not sure about the original data but I read it on Randy Oliver 's website,,,,,so it must be true.
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-shop-towel-updates/

[mbc]

Is there not an issue here with the legality of "home made" oxalic treatments?

PH

No one's claiming it's entirely legal, neither was trickle for a good decade while some forward thinking beekeepers were using it.
In fact, aren't most still outside the law unless they're paying over the odds for an inferior product in apibioxal?

[Poly Hive]

So everyone is lying on their records?

PH

[mbc]

So everyone is lying on their records?

PH

I couldn't possibly comment.

[madasafish]

So everyone is lying on their records?

PH

Mislaid.

[Poly Hive]

Dangerous. Ask Murray.

PH

[fatshark]

Not sure about the original data but I read it on Randy Oliver 's website,,,,,so it must be true.
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-shop-towel-updates/

I wouldn't be confident about that unless I'd seen the primary data ;) OA testing in honey isn't straightforward due to a) the methods used (there's an enzymatic kit (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/mak179?lang=en&region=GB) and Mass Spec methods) and b) the natural variation in OA content of honey (which is published). The article by Randy uses the word "substantially" which definitely needs qualifying.

Encouraging that he's applying for EPA approval ... they'd presumably ask for precisely this sort of information. It's about time it was properly measured to stop some of the vapaholics assuring that it was perfectly OK to treat when the supers are on (or prove that it is).

[steve]

We really could do with an 'official' line on treatments and their safety. Over the last couple of years, I've changed my IPM approach to include OAV but I carry this out when supers are off.
The Oxalic/Glycerine strips are an interesting concept as a 'slow release' in situ supplemental treatment and from what I've seen, the results are pretty conclusive that it definitely keeps the mite numbers down. Would be nice to get a thumbs up for this method, I'd tweak my IPM again.

[The Drone Ranger]

There's no need for amateur homebrewed oxalic treatments and in the long run they will probably do more harm than good
Long exposure at low levels is the reason that Apistan resistance developed
In general long exposure at a lower level is the least sensible approach to treating any pest be it rats or varroa
Just treat once in the Winter (or twice if you must) with oxalic acid its scientifically proven and well researched

If you need a summer treatment there are plenty available

Regards thymol treatment forget making your own brew if you have 10 or less hives just buy the legally approved api-life var or apiguard
You won't save that much money trying your own recipe and there is a possibility of harming the colony and also prosecution

Sorry to seem like a Grinch but I have an issue with people advocating 5 oxalic treatments in short order during Summer etc while that might kill varroa but its not necessary when just puting on apilife-var is perfectly adequate, just as effective, takes a tenth of the effort, is legal, approved and scientifically researched

What's wrong with beekeepers that they can't just accept the tools they have at their disposal you don't read gardening forums and find people concocting their own fungicides and chemical treatments.

If there are amateur researchers out there who want to experiment, try coming up with a chalkbrood remedy and leave varroa treatment alone that problem is already solved

Moan... Moan....moan.. .........

[Feckless Drone]

Moan... Moan....moan.. .........

Its the idle hands and devil syndrome. We are not doing beekeeping so need something to distract us. Now! a fungicide you say?

[steve]

Each to their own.

[mbc]

There's no need for amateur homebrewed oxalic treatments and in the long run they will probably do more harm than good
Long exposure at low levels is the reason that Apistan resistance developed
In general long exposure at a lower level is the least sensible approach to treating any pest be it rats or varroa
Just treat once in the Winter (or twice if you must) with oxalic acid its scientifically proven and well researched

If you need a summer treatment there are plenty available

Regards thymol treatment forget making your own brew if you have 10 or less hives just buy the legally approved api-life var or apiguard
You won't save that much money trying your own recipe and there is a possibility of harming the colony and also prosecution

Sorry to seem like a Grinch but I have an issue with people advocating 5 oxalic treatments in short order during Summer etc while that might kill varroa but its not necessary when just puting on apilife-var is perfectly adequate, just as effective, takes a tenth of the effort, is legal, approved and scientifically researched

What's wrong with beekeepers that they can't just accept the tools they have at their disposal you don't read gardening forums and find people concocting their own fungicides and chemical treatments.

If there are amateur researchers out there who want to experiment, try coming up with a chalkbrood remedy and leave varroa treatment alone that problem is already solved

Moan... Moan....moan.. .........

Meekly sitting back and waiting for the authorities to provide solutions has always worked in the past,,,,,,,,oh wait! no, that's wrong, innovation in beekeeping is almost always driven by beekeepers and the authorities lag behind and only move to change anything if they'd get egg on their face from continuing with the status quo of doing nothing.

[The Drone Ranger]

Meekly sitting back and waiting for the authorities to provide solutions has always worked in the past,,,,,,,,oh wait! no, that's wrong, innovation in beekeeping is almost always driven by beekeepers and the authorities lag behind and only move to change anything if they'd get egg on their face from continuing with the status quo of doing nothing.

Fair enough mbc but why not devote all that energy to a problem that actually needs solving, not one which already has more than enough solutions

[Pete L]

.....

According to European honey standards, honey may have up to 50 milliequivalents of free acids. If higher residues of oxalic or other acids are produced, this limit is soon exceeded, and the beekeeper risks having problems if his honey is checked by authorities. If oxalic acid is used properly, there is absolutely no risk of problems with the honey.

Determining the maximum residue level (MRL) for oxalic acid in honey

Anton Imdorf1 and Eva Rademacher2 European Working Group for Integrated Varroa Control 1 Agroscope Liebefeld-Posieux, SwissBee Research Center, CH-3003 Bern 2 Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Biologie/Neurobiologie, Königin-Luise-Strasse 28-30, DE-14159 Berlin

[fatshark]

Not sure if that's the article I'm aware of or not ... it's a summary of what was done and the conclusions, but contains no details of the OA levels or residuals.

Most of the studies I've seen - for example this one http://www.refdoc.fr/Detailnotice?cpsidt=14942975 - apply the OA one year and test for it the next.

The application of oxalic acid based solutions (Bienenwohl or a self-prepared oxalic acid solution with sugar) to control Varroa destructor resulted in no relevant changes in the oxalic acid content of honey produced the following year, compared with honey samples from untreated colonies from the same location. The range of oxalic acid content in honey was 5-68 mg/kg in oxalic acid treated and 5-65 mg/kg in untreated colonies.

[Adam]

From the document that Pete highlighted:- "Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finnland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Sweden joined together to finance the project, some of them with amounts quite above their proportional share of the total. Special thanks go to the French Beekeepers, who covered about 45% of the budget with money from the European Union’s Beekeeper Fund. In Italy apart from the beekeeper associations U.N.A. API also two bee science institutions made financial contributions to help the project. Although not a member of the European Union, Norway, on its own initiative, contributed a considerable amount.
Unfortunately, several countries never responded to our repeated requests for financial participation (Great Britain, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain)".
I guess that the BBKA was not well-funded at the time but you would have thought that either the BBKA, SBKA, FERA or the BFA would have helped a little bit?

I am sure that I have seen a study somewhere which indicates that the residues of OA in the hive are small quite soon after application?

[Thymallus]

Is this (http://www.apiservices.biz/en/articles/sort-by-popularity/890-spring-treatment-with-oxalic-acid-in-honeybee-colonies-as-varroa-control) the paper you are thinking of?
Spring treatment with oxalic acid in honeybee colonies as varroa control (1999)
No major differences in OA levels in honey (statistically) before or after treating, but treatment was spray or trickle, not vaping.

[lindsay s]

Hi all I’m back on the forum after quite a few months absence. Yesterday was a good day to check on the bees and give them some candy. The photos were taken about 2:30pm it was sunny, no wind and 6⁰c. As you can see some of my hives were quite active and that was before I disturbed them.
The ground at the apiary was absolutely soaking and the undersides of the hive roofs varied between damp and wet, that’s why I have an empty super between the crown board and the roof of all hives. The bees never seal most of the mesh on the crown boards (even my finer mesh) so they obviously like to vent their hives.
Weight wise all the hives seemed OK but the candy is there if they want it and I don’t worry about it being above the crown board as the bees never have any bother using it. 10 out of 10 active at the moment but it’s very early days yet and I usually have to unite colonies in the spring.

[gavin]

Looking good. And you've got trees in your apiary! Well, big bushes at least.

[lindsay s]

The trees are getting bigger every year and they are starting to shade the apiary,I can’t cut them back because it’s not my land. They do provide shelter from the southwest wind though. A new hospital is being built about 800 metres over the fence and it could be a great place for the swarms to settle this summer!!!

[Feckless Drone]

ESBA last night was a very enjoyable talk from a "stand in" Murray Macgregor - well, it started as a talk; he introduced himself and then he led a Q&A session which was perfect. Great to have him there and to get his opinions, strategies and experience. Great turn out as well.
Many lessons/tips passed on - interesting really that he uses the spring flow to build up and targets start of July for main strength and the heather crops. He mentioned that bell honey is not always the port wine color but that he's seen it much lighter -
I got a small crop in late summer that was from the moors and it tasted like bell (best honey I've had) but was much lighter in color - as Murray said - would never win as a show entry.

[Adam]

Some unmentionables had dumped loads of black bags in front of my hives at an out-apiary and I thought that they need to be moved away for safekeeping in case the flytippers came back to collect the hives. I lifted up one nuc and thought to myself 'this is so light they will be dead'. However the bees were alive and well just under the crownboard and now have some fondant on. I left two double brood hives as I couldn't manage them by myself. A job for later, once my back has recovered as it went twang lifting one of the hives down to the ground at the new apiary site. :(

[gavin]

Things that go twang can be a nightmare for beekeepers (fly-tipping *never* happens in Scotland of course ;) ). I'm currently dealing with a leg that went twang weeks ago then repeated it on Friday. At least cold-season injuries give us time to recover before things get hectic.

[fatshark]

Bees flying strongly yesterday once the sun got onto the hives. It was still cold and they weren't out for long, but it was good to see.

2908

In another apiary I checked today quite a few were light and needed a kilogram or two of fondant. Even in full sun it was only about 4C and they "weren't amused" ... perhaps the best they could be described as would be grudgingly grateful.

Snowdrops out in force but the willow has a bit to go yet.

[madasafish]

Things that go twang can be a nightmare for beekeepers (fly-tipping *never* happens in Scotland of course ;) ). I'm currently dealing with a leg that went twang weeks ago then repeated it on Friday. At least cold-season injuries give us time to recover before things get hectic.

I used to suffer from sciatica - first time I cried like a child... I now do yoga exercises for my back 5 days a week- 20 mins/day..And no longer suffer from sciatica. But it has taken a year to achieve that. (Beekeeping for the past three years was often done in considerable pain and painkillers appear to not work well on back issues)

[mbc]

I used to suffer from sciatica - first time I cried like a child... I now do yoga exercises for my back 5 days a week- 20 mins/day..And no longer suffer from sciatica. But it has taken a year to achieve that. (Beekeeping for the past three years was often done in considerable pain and painkillers appear to not work well on back issues)

Snap with the sciatica, I slipped a disk a year ago last October and have been doing physio ever since. I'm looking at a kaptarlift to take some of the strain but cant seem to divert enough funds to invest in one at the moment, bloody children keep eating and growing our of clothes.

[Thymallus]

I can recommend them, they make lifting hives a breeze. My only regret was not affording the electric one, apart from being even more easy to use it has a wider wheel base making it more stable on rough ground. But minor point really.

[gavin]

Two summers ago I had the agony of sciatica, back and hip right down the leg to the foot. Walking sticks, two-hourly alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen didn't help much, awful it was. I refuse to take cocodemol after previous experience, the constipation was worse than the pain. Tears were shed. It took about 6 months to depart. The lovely Mhairi recommended the McKenzie book which did help.

https://www.worldofbooks.com/treat-your-own-back-by-robin-mckenzie-gor002822168.html

There are times when I suspect back strain coming on, perhaps bending over doing inspections, and then I do the arch backwards stance, even while inspecting frames. It may be an odd sight but usually no-one is watching. Worst times are heavy lifting when I'm out of practice. A few tips that help me:

- watch your posture when sitting
- watch your posture while driving (tuck the small of your back forwards, use traffic lights/roundabouts as reminders)
- use a padded thing in the small of your back (rolled up old fleece for me when I'm driving)
- all the usual straight-back, bent knee lifts wherever possible
- do that arching back when you feel a strain coming on

I try to minimise apiaries with pallets as hive stands. Something a bit higher is much kinder on the back. Usually three pillars each of two concrete blocks, bottom one flat, upper on its side. Then two 2.4m lengths of 4x2 timber to take three hives. Treated timber slows any rotting and keeps the slugs off. You need to ensure they are level and as nothing is stuck together they are easily disassembled and shifted.

Minimise the number of Demarees, a top brood box full of stores is a killer.

As I don't have a Kaptarlift (yet!), I put an empty brood box on my sack barrow so that I just swivel to shift hives or boxes off the stand and off the sack barrow into the truck. Can't afford an army of sturdy East European and Australasian gentlemen and women.

Interesting comments on the Kaptarlift. I can see I'll have to start saving.

[mbc]

I have most of my hives on pallets and inspect them kneeling which is quite kind on the back, I have knee pads from the builders merchants to stop my knees getting damp or sore.
McKenzie exercises are at the core of the physiotherapy exercises I do with some back strengthening sets thrown in two or three times a week when I remember. A slipped disk and sciatica ate an absolute bugger and once you've been there you don't want to go back.

[Adam]

the constipation was worse than the pain. .

.

Too much information Gavin!

[Adam]

My 'twang' moment was when I lifted a double brood box from the back of a pick-up and down to the floor. Lifting was OK. Lowering was not.

I find that pallets rot too easily or bend dangerously when the hive gets heavy in summer, so colonies at my out-apiary are on paving slabs with a house brick under the 4 corners of each hive to lift them off by a few inches. Maybe not quite enough ventillation as I would like, but at least they are off damp ground.
Kneeling works well with the right hive - I recall seeing a beesuit with built-in knee-pads but not sure where.

[chris]

I recall seeing a beesuit with built-in knee-pads but not sure where.

Mine has them at the knees :o though the legs are too long so they act as shin pads.

This is a cheaper d.i.y. model, though the hive boxes need strong 'strip' handles for the supports

http://apiculturegatineau.fr/photo_9.html

[prakel]

I've mentioned before that I 'did' my back several years ago and, as a result, took to beekeeping on my knees wherever the site allows; a useful tip gleaned from Steve Taber's writings. I was probably lucky because my other life long hobby has encouraged me to do a lot of flexibility AND mobility work.

Another good source of assistance is the Feldenkrais Method if you can find a local teacher.

[Adam]

Went to check some nucs with fondant on before the cold weather fully gets here. The nucs are at the office in Gt Yarmouth and only a short distance from open marshes to the North. Noticed a ventillation hole in the back of one nuc I had sorta forgotten about so gaffa taped it up to stop the draught. It is already bitterly cold outside though with wind coming off the N Sea. Roll on Spring!

[Bridget]

Today I’m doing association accounts for the AGM. Could someone remind me to do Quarterly reconciliations [emoji51]. Oh and get everyone to pay by bank transfer or cheque. Bloomin cash reconciliation doing my head in


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[fatshark]

I should imagine a nice bracing walk would clear your head if it all gets a bit too much ;)

A balmy -3C here in comparison to the temperatures you've got at the moment ... unless you're doing the accounts in Spain ;)

[madasafish]

Today I’m doing association accounts for the AGM. Could someone remind me to do Quarterly reconciliations [emoji51]. Oh and get everyone to pay by bank transfer or cheque. Bloomin cash reconciliation doing my head in


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Our Association requires members to pay by DD. Those that do not are given 2 weeks to pay by cheque. If they fail to pay, they lose membership and have to pay an extra £5 to rejoin...

[Bridget]

I should imagine a nice bracing walk would clear your head if it all gets a bit too much ;)

A balmy -3C here in comparison to the temperatures you've got at the moment ... unless you're doing the accounts in Spain ;)

Not in Spain but Highlands have relatively good weather at present - a few inches of snow, some sun breaking through, cold but not damp. Ideal winter conditions and yes I did have a nice walk to clear the head, thanks


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[Bridget]

Our Association requires members to pay by DD. Those that do not are given 2 weeks to pay by cheque. If they fail to pay, they lose membership and have to pay an extra £5 to rejoin...

Ooh, harsh! Everyone pays but it’s usually in dribs and drabs, AGM, first apiary meet etc. Hadn’t thought of DD but I will now.


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[fatshark]

As a habitual offender I have to say that DD often saves me the embarrassment of paying my fees in mid-July.

More people skiing than walking in the village today.

[Adam]

Yesterday - son saw snowmen built in the central reservation of a dual carriageway near Norwich as drivers were queued up for so long in the snow they got bored and had a play. That was before the wind came today.

[greengumbo]

No wind today and some nice sunshine. Went for a stroll to look at a few of my hives at lunchtime and all very busy bringing in Crocus and Snowdrop pollen. Great to see after the last week of poor weather.

[Adam]

it was a bright sunny day this Monday so the (10) colonies at the office car park were flying well and did what bees do after being inside for a few days. They have been at work temporarily due to fears of theft at the other apiary site. First thing I heard on Tuesday morning were complaints about the orange spots on everyone's cars! I have now prepared stands for them at a new safe location so they will be moved in the next few days.

[lindsay s]

I know the owners of a furniture shop. I think it’s a pretty good swap for one jar of honey. Handy for quick inspections on its own or mixed with hessian for when I’m spending longer with the bees.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Yes, they are, Lindsay. My neighbour is a chicken farmer, and he used those rolls to make pens when 'tipping in' chicks - that's when new one-day old chicks arrived in the sheds. I got more off-cuts than I could use or even store. He is now becoming an egg farmer and changing the sheds to become free-range sheds for hens. I don't know whether he'll use those rolls of corrugated cardboard again.
Kitta

[fatshark]

But think of the egg boxes Kitta ... they're great in a smoker.

[busybeephilip]

Egg boxes do the job but you get a lot of tar build up in the smoker, my answer is hessian , i use a local bagmaker offcuts

it would be nice to get a natural material that would also kill mites

[Thymallus]

it would be nice to get a natural material that would also kill mites
Could always try dried Rhubarb leaves.....:)

[RDMW]

Today I learnt to dissect a bee to check for tracheal mites. With the aid of utube (thanks Stuart’s beekeeping basics chanel) and my low power binocular microscope I could readily see the trachea. Luckily I could not see any mites or tracheal scarring


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[RDMW]

I have started using very dry very rotten crumbly wood. Current batch is from a decaying oak. It lights with a capful of alcohol poured in the top ignited with a match. Burns slow and cool [emoji106]


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[madasafish]

I have started using very dry very rotten crumbly wood. Current batch is from a decaying oak. It lights with a capful of alcohol poured in the top ignited with a match. Burns slow and cool [emoji106]


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I use Birch wood - crumbly from 5 years or so as timbers for a compost bin.

B&M natural firelighters (fine wood turning covered in wax) are ideal smoker lighters. Cut in half they light with one match and burn steadily.

I have an insert in my smoker from Rauchboy http://www.rauchboy.net/epages/17848997.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17848997/Categories/Category2

Larger one fits perfectly although my smoker is a £13 cheapy from ebay. Add a handle of steel wire, remove from smoker, load up with wood shavings (petshop) and set alight underneath with self igniting blowlamp (Wickes) - or use firelighters - or both (my solution).

Never have any problems even in howling gales - not that I do much beekeeping in gales..

Life is too short to worry about lighting smokers or what to burn.

( I also use: pine cones- lots locally, dead oak, thyme stalks - for a nice smell)

[wee willy]

I use Birch wood - crumbly from 5 years or so as timbers for a compost bin.

B&M natural firelighters (fine wood turning covered in wax) are ideal smoker lighters. Cut in half they light with one match and burn steadily.

I have an insert in my smoker from Rauchboy http://www.rauchboy.net/epages/17848997.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/17848997/Categories/Category2

Larger one fits perfectly although my smoker is a £13 cheapy from ebay. Add a handle of steel wire, remove from smoker, load up with wood shavings (petshop) and set alight underneath with self igniting blowlamp (Wickes) - or use firelighters - or both (my solution).

Never have any problems even in howling gales - not that I do much beekeeping in gales..

Life is too short to worry about lighting smokers or what to burn.

( I also use: pine cones- lots locally, dead oak, thyme stalks - for a nice smell)

Untreated cat litter Smokes all day !
Remember to properly extinguish [emoji15]
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180319/adff5b93d86cf34001e4241a933658c4.jpg


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[Adam]

Had the opportunity to check my stocks this weekend. It's fair to say that they are smaller than I would expect to see at the end of March. One old queen left in a hive 'to see if she would survive' died leaving a small handfull of bees. I probably should have 'dealt' with her last October and used the bees to strengthen another colony. Another colony had a DLQ which I had feared as supercedure was attempted very late. Queen squished and that has now been combined with a nuc that was beside it. One small nuc has just one patch of brood about 100mm across - if the Beast from the East had gone on for much longer I suspect the small colonies would not have survived.
I have received a number of calls from local beekeepers who have lost colonies over winter so I suspect that winter losses will be greater than usual this year.
I guess too early for you guys North of me to inspect?

[fatshark]

No inspections yet (or likely ... Brrrr) but I've still got the 15 or so I entered the winter with, going by foraging activity in the warmest part of the day and 'evidence' of brood rearing on the Varroa trays. Mite levels appear reassuringly low, though perhaps they're all busy feasting on the first pupae of the season :( It's been the sort of winter I like - distinctly cool, with frosts on a high proportion of mornings since mid-November, going by the number of times I've had to scrape the car windscreen before work. More importantly, it's the sort of winter I think is better for the bees.

[greengumbo]

No inspections yet (or likely ... Brrrr) but I've still got the 15 or so I entered the winter with, going by foraging activity in the warmest part of the day and 'evidence' of brood rearing on the Varroa trays. Mite levels appear reassuringly low, though perhaps they're all busy feasting on the first pupae of the season :( It's been the sort of winter I like - distinctly cool, with frosts on a high proportion of mornings since mid-November, going by the number of times I've had to scrape the car windscreen before work. More importantly, it's the sort of winter I think is better for the bees.

One month on from this post. Pause rewind play repeat.

Snow on the ground here today.

[fatshark]

Lost two due to dud queens - one old 'un just stopped, another that looks like a late (unmated) supercedure.
Moving colonies yesterday and got cold, wet and miserable.
Snow on the low hills above the house and cancelled my Nairn trip tonight because of the forecast.
On a more positive note, mite levels still look low.

Could we please have Spring now?

[lindsay s]

Checked the hives on Monday and all bar one have used up their candy. More than half are alarmingly light and I think it’s just me that’s keeping them going. More candy has been made up and is going on in double rations the morn. The temperature dropped to 0c in the snow showers at midday and only 5c in the sun, it’s still far to cold for even a peep under the crown boards. The flowering currant isn’t out and not one dandelion is in sight, everything is late here this year. The last few years have been below average for beekeeping up here and every spring I hope surely this year will be better than the last?
Is too early to write off 2018? :(

[fatshark]

Flowering currant ... Ha! There's been some flowering in St Andrews for ages. I have a photo from the 15th of March, but it had been out for days before that. I think it's a hopeless predictor of suitable weather for inspections.

2914

We have -5oC predicted for tonight. I'm moving more bees tomorrow if my apiary isn't underwater from the rain we've had in the last 36 hours. I expect to get cold, wet and miserable again.

[steve]

Checked the hives on Monday and all bar one have used up their candy. More than half are alarmingly light and I think it’s just me that’s keeping them going. More candy has been made up and is going on in double rations the morn. The temperature dropped to 0c in the snow showers at midday and only 5c in the sun, it’s still far to cold for even a peep under the crown boards. The flowering currant isn’t out and not one dandelion is in sight, everything is late here this year. The last few years have been below average for beekeeping up here and every spring I hope surely this year will be better than the last?
Is too early to write off 2018? :(

Don't be that pessimistic yet, I didn't open a hive until May Bank holiday in 2013.

[Thymallus]

The temperature dropped to 0c in the snow showers at midday and only 5c in the sun, it’s still far to cold for even a peep under the crown boards.(
Bu Eck lad, you are making North Yorkshire sound proper tropical. Our daffs are nearly out...

[prakel]

2915

Just another week to go if the weather holds in the sunny south.

But in the meantime

2916

[Adam]

The weather here has been pleasant in the last few days but cool and colonies are behind where they should be. A slow and late start to the season, so stocks will possibly be smaller than in most years although they should make up by August! A farmer told me he is a month behind where he should be and the pollinator strip he has agreed to plant will be the last thing to be put down :( So even that will be late flowering!
I have almost lost count of the number of beekeepers who have been ringing round looking for overwintered nucs - and many beekeepers will not want to wait until June for them with proper British 2018 queens.

[madasafish]

The weather here has been pleasant in the last few days but cool and colonies are behind where they should be. A slow and late start to the season, so stocks will possibly be smaller than in most years although they should make up by August! A farmer told me he is a month behind where he should be and the pollinator strip he has agreed to plant will be the last thing to be put down :( So even that will be late flowering!
I have almost lost count of the number of beekeepers who have been ringing round looking for overwintered nucs - and many beekeepers will not want to wait until June for them with proper British 2018 queens.

I managed to overwinter 3 queens in min mating nucs (lost one)...Pity I lost 2 off 5 frame nucs (out of 4).. Main hives all OK..mainly on 7-8 frames bees and v active on good days. (pollen patties for bad).

[lindsay s]

Although I have kept bees for many years I always feel apprehensive before carrying out my first proper inspection of the beekeeping year. Sunday was none different, what was I going to find and more worryingly what if the colonies were queenless, drone layers or dying out. I can’t rush out and source more bees up here because we’re still varroa free and people are waiting for bees. So I just had to bite the bullet and get on with it.
Early in the afternoon when the weather was sunny but with a cold easterly breeze I managed to do five hives before the fog rolled in and it got too cold. Their floors were cleaned and mouldy and poor combs were removed from the hives. I always try to work the poor combs to the edge of the hives at the end of the of the previous summer. The brood inspections were very brief and I found that all five colonies had laying queens with open and sealed brood, but unfortunately only on two frames and some of the patches were small.
Most of the hives will be getting small but regular quantities of syrup for the next few weeks to keep them ticking over. Another six hives to go, hopefully by next weekend. The way things are up here at the moment there could be some serious uniting taking place if things don’t improve by mid May.
P.S. This is the type of beekeeping I like talking about so I’ll leave the scientific stuff :confused: to the rest of you.

[prakel]

Nice walk by the seaside

2918

[fatshark]

OSR here is only about 10" high at best, and some appears to have been really hammered by beetles/bad weather

[prakel]

OSR here is only about 10" high at best, and some appears to have been really hammered by beetles/bad weather

Must admit, the bees aren't as strong as normal for this time of year... Mind the osr on this particular holding is three weeks behind last year according to the farm records so it probably balances out.

[Bridget]

I think that here in the Highlands we are only about a week behind last year, though the snowdrops were later. I have a photo of snow taken on the 25th April last year where I can see some bushes nearly in leaf and some drooping daffs. IMO I think that the advantage of being near the mountains means that we do get some good spells of “alpine” weather during the winter when the bees get a chance to fly in the sun and my bees will fly at 4 degrees if it’s sunny. Anyway, all 4 hives through the winter and collecting large amounts of pollen from a neighbours Salix Alba Argentea, the first tree out around here. Even the pathetic swarm that seemed to be dwindling going into winter has 2 lines of what Fatshark calls broken biscuits, though it’s still only just 4 frames of bees at present. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180419/2e435b6d6346a533e6b349e6159989e2.jpg photo taken last Friday, you can see the bees against the blue sky.


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[fatshark]

Anyone any idea what they're on in deepest Fife? I opened boxes near the coast today and they all had winter stores and a trace of new nectar, but lashings of pollen. In contrast, inland the brood boxes are filling fast with nectar. One strong box was nearly full and on ~6-7 frames of brood. This was atypical; most were weaker, some much weaker. No appreciable different between the poly and cedar boxes .

[gavin]

Anyone any idea what they're on in deepest Fife? I opened boxes near the coast today and they all had winter stores and a trace of new nectar, but lashings of pollen. In contrast, inland the brood boxes are filling fast with nectar. One strong box was nearly full and on ~6-7 frames of brood. This was atypical; most were weaker, some much weaker. No appreciable different between the poly and cedar boxes .

I had a flow from my strongest colonies two years ago at a site a mile or so away from your inland one and recovered some honey. Pretty sure it was willow. They're certainly hitting the willow where they can with large amounts of pollen in the comb. Sallow/goat willow signs are like OSR: yellow on the face and big gobs on the legs, sometimes an all-over covering of the stuff too. This year (for me anyway) these strong colonies are less frequent so I'll be happy if they just build well on it.

Have a look at the waggles dances. Are they pointing in the direction of my site, or perhaps in the other direction where there are also likely to be large areas of willow around the wet areas?

[Thymallus]

Last year I harvested my first few supers of honey from some very strong colonies on the 27th of this month. Came across the bucket the other day which reminded me that I've not yet analysed the pollen, must look and see if it is willow.

[Adam]

I now have OSR flowering close-by. In fact I have never had it within 2 km before this year, so I am interested to see what happens. However colonies are generally smaller this year so I am not sure how much honey I will be able to harvest.

[lindsay s]

Earlier today I had my first phone call of the year saying “ help l’ve got bees in my house and l don’t know what to do”. After a quick visit to the house I discovered a Queen bumblebee was trying to nest in wall insulation which was uncovered during building work. Advice was given and l left. Then when I got home I decided enough is enough, no more bee phone calls. Over the years without charge I’ve climbed ladders, crawled around in very tight roof spaces and stuck my head in all sorts of strange places just to find bumbles or wasps. Even though the home occupiers were convinced they were honey bees. I’ve phoned the council and told them to take my name of their list, because 95% of the calls I get don’t involve honey bees and they just want to pass the buck. I’m also unavailable throughout the day.
Am I being terribly MEAN? :mad:

[madasafish]

Earlier today I had my first phone call of the year saying “ help l’ve got bees in my house and l don’t know what to do”. After a quick visit to the house I discovered a Queen bumblebee was trying to nest in wall insulation which was uncovered during building work. Advice was given and l left. Then when I got home I decided enough is enough, no more bee phone calls. Over the years without charge I’ve climbed ladders, crawled around in very tight roof spaces and stuck my head in all sorts of strange places just to find bumbles or wasps. Even though the home occupiers were convinced they were honey bees. I’ve phoned the council and told them to take my name of their list, because 95% of the calls I get don’t involve honey bees and they just want to pass the buck. I’m also unavailable throughout the day.
Am I being terribly MEAN? :mad:


I have done the same this year for the same reasons

[alancooper]

In West Fermanagh, willow is abundant - very early and much pollen gives colonies a great start. I have read that willow can also give nectar but have been sceptical of this. However, this year and in a late spring, I have strong hives and a lot of what seems to be fresh capped and uncapped honey, at a time when very little except willow is flowering.

[Adam]

Earlier today I had my first phone call of the year saying “ help l’ve got bees in my house and l don’t know what to do”. After a quick visit to the house I discovered a Queen bumblebee was trying to nest in wall insulation which was uncovered during building work. Advice was given and l left. Then when I got home I decided enough is enough, no more bee phone calls. Over the years without charge I’ve climbed ladders, crawled around in very tight roof spaces and stuck my head in all sorts of strange places just to find bumbles or wasps. Even though the home occupiers were convinced they were honey bees. I’ve phoned the council and told them to take my name of their list, because 95% of the calls I get don’t involve honey bees and they just want to pass the buck. I’m also unavailable throughout the day.
Am I being terribly MEAN? :mad:

I had a mad woman call me (not mad as in annoyed but mad as in barking) this weekend asking me to identify a bee of some type over the 'phone.
So it's started for me too.
In general people seem to read my website, ignore the advice and then STILL call. Callers demand bumblebees are removed sometimes and some say that bees are 'swarming around a bird box' when there's 1/2 dozen bees flying around in the evening.
One told me that snipped off all the flowers in her garden so she didn't get a bee in there at all in case one of the children got stung. Other swear blind that they have honeybees in a bird box and they are Bombus Hypnorum - the tree bumblebee every time. Well, every time but one. Last year there actually was a swarm that entered a bird box. It was a box for a Little Owl so much bigger that the usual tit box we have in our gardens. I didn't believe it until I saw a photo.
I guess patience is a virtue!

[greengumbo]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/27/eu-agrees-total-ban-on-bee-harming-pesticides

Interesting development but not surprising.

[fatshark]

Yep ... I got asked to comment on that earlier today for the Science Media Centre. I didn't. I suspect things might change after Brexit.
I looked at a field of OSR a week ago and it was absolutely wrecked by something that had nibbled back all the leaves and growing buds. It didn't look like it would be much use for my bees.

Actually, thinking about it, it won't be ... it's 5 miles from the apiary ;)

[fatshark]

And todays news is ... it's bloomin' cold. Bees flying really well in the heat of the midday sun (10C) and probably still hammering the remaining willow, but by 3pm they'd all gone home.

I built a new hive stand and my Travis Perkins receipt told me the breeze blocks I purchased weighed 159kg ... useful ;)

[prakel]

I built a new hive stand and my Travis Perkins receipt told me the breeze blocks I purchased weighed 159kg ... useful ;)

You must get some serious crops up there :)

[Adam]

Could you use the blocks for the building of a Zest hive maybe?

it will be interesting to see by how much (or whether) pollinators increase once the ban has taken full effect.

[Paul_]

it will be interesting to see by how much (or whether) pollinators increase once the ban has taken full effect.

I have a niggling suspicion that pesticides is a minor cause in the decline of pollinators compared to the destruction of the plants they feed on.

[Adam]

Inspected a few nucs last night. All low on stores despite there being lots of forage around and OSR nearby. The weather has been rubbish again! :(

[Thymallus]

I have a niggling suspicion that pesticides is a minor cause in the decline of pollinators compared to the destruction of the plants they feed on.

I say this tongue in cheek, but "THE wasp EX-spurt" on't'other forum reckons one wasp nest devours 5 metric tons of insects per year. Easy to see why there is a decline in insects.
How they fit that much biomass through a nest the size of a football leaves one boggling at the tardis like properties of wasp nests.
:rolleyes::cool:

[RDMW]

May I ask for some advice? I have overwintered three strong colonies on double brood. All are building up well. Last year I encountered problems with swarm control and have made demaree boards over the winter to use this year. My question is “how do you demaree with double brood”. Do you end up with a tower of boxes - floor new brood body with new comb/ flying bees and queen/QE/super/demaree board and then the two original brood bodies with brood and nurse bees? If so seems very unwieldy.
Thanks for advice


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[RDMW]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180502/134b277cc6f3991a4e7f94c78430e0b9.jpg we encountered this poor bee in a local hive this week. Other bees all seemed ok. Is this just a result of brood cooling or DWV or something else??


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[busybeephilip]

Managed to kill 6 queens (wasps) today in the garden with a soapy water spray, thats a good lot of wasps less in the autumn attacking my hives

[busybeephilip]

Typical DWV more than likely due to varroa

[RDMW]

Typical DWV more than likely due to varroa

That’s what I thought but interestingly the varroa drop was O in 48 hours after 2 x oxalic acid treatments over the winter.


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[busybeephilip]

Two treatments close together could be a problem, its possible to overdose and poison the bees esp if you are using a home made dribbling recipe and get it wrong. Usually a failure to control varroa results in a small number of bees in the spring eventually dieing off during Feb/Mar/April the tell tale signs on post mortom is patches of sealed brood with the cappings torn to show the heads dead immature bees and some chalk brood like symptoms and a small dead cluster of bees

OA treatment is not an instant kill, better using a polymer plastic type strip to monitor for varroa for 24-48 hour monitoring where the effect of the chemical is much quicker

Also, dont forget that if there is any open brood in the hive the varroa will be "trapped" in the brood and escape the OA tratment

[Feckless Drone]

My question is “how do you demaree with double brood”.
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I suggest old Q downstairs, QX, super, upstairs the brood. Take it form there. You don't need to add another brood box but will need a super.

[Mellifera Crofter]

...how do you demaree with double brood ... seems very unwieldy.


...Is this just a result of brood cooling or DWV or something else??

Yes, that's a photo of a bee with DWV, RDMW. You can sometimes see bees with DWV even though the colony is free of varroa. You could do a sugar roll test to see if your colony has varroa, or how bad it is. This is a good video explaining how to do it. (https://youtu.be/OE457iSYXM4)

As for performing a Demaree on a colony on double brood - yes, I agree, the hive can become huge and difficult to manage. Sometimes you can reduce the frames from the two top boxes by moving the broodless frames into the queen's new box at the bottom. That may help to reduce the frames sufficiently so that you have only one box at the top - not two. I've done that - whether that's good practice or not, I don't know.

Kitta

[fatshark]

Could you just rearrange the frames in the two boxes separated by a split board and then re-unite? Obviously this wouldn't then be Demareed ... so perhaps not what you're after.

Or buy a stepladder ;)

[Adam]

Double brood colonies usually have a couple of supers on them so there is quite a bit to lug about. I generally find that by the time I move up to 12 frames of brood in the top box of a Demaree, there's not too many for down below - and enough of a change to stop the swarming instinct as the top brood box above the supers has the nurse bees which move up to go with the brood. As Kitta suggests, you could possibly donate a frame or two of brood to elsewhere.... If you are assuming that you will get queencells in the top box as the brood is a good distance from the queen and her pheromone is reduced, then you could potentially make up a nuc with a couple of frames of brood and some shaken in bees. Once you have a sealed queencell from the top box of the Demaree, you could pop that frame into the nuc after removing the queencells in the nuc, and then allow the queen to mate.

I use a Demaree for queen-right queen-raising. Once the colony has had a go at raising it's own queencells in the top box, I remove them and then insert some grafts from a favoured queen and a frame of pollen into the top brood box. A little syrup (1/2 pint/day) for 5 days as an insurance against bad weather and a poor flow and you have sealed queencells. (Delicate at this stage btw).

here's one from June last year.
2919

[RDMW]

Double brood colonies usually have a couple of supers on them so there is quite a bit to lug about. I generally find that by the time I move up to 12 frames of brood in the top box of a Demaree, there's not too many for down below - and enough of a change to stop the swarming instinct as the top brood box above the supers has the nurse bees which move up to go with the brood. As Kitta suggests, you could possibly donate a frame or two of brood to elsewhere.... If you are assuming that you will get queencells in the top box as the brood is a good distance from the queen and her pheromone is reduced, then you could potentially make up a nuc with a couple of frames of brood and some shaken in bees. Once you have a sealed queencell from the top box of the Demaree, you could pop that frame into the nuc after removing the queencells in the nuc, and then allow the queen to mate.

I use a Demaree for queen-right queen-raising. Once the colony has had a go at raising it's own queencells in the top box, I remove them and then insert some grafts from a favoured queen and a frame of pollen into the top brood box. A little syrup (1/2 pint/day) for 5 days as an insurance against bad weather and a poor flow and you have sealed queencells. (Delicate at this stage btw).

here's one from June last year.
2919

All very helpful thank you. Whew that’s a tower of bees alright!!


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[Adam]

You can see a small cluster of bees between the top two supers. I had forgotten about this... the white painted one was a second hand unit that was given to me and had some rot in the corner so bees found their way in and out. I am not sure if the box was painted that then caused the rot as the wood couldn't breathe or if it was a bit grotty and someone painted it to tidy it up.

[RDMW]

My homemade solar wax extractor performing well in the sunshine! A steeper angle improved effectiveness very much. Lovely clean creamy yellow wax with a gorgeous smell. Chuffed to bits [emoji3]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180528/7b4e66897791a66e3b5d96e5776b688f.jpg


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[fatshark]

Got a reasonable swarm in a bait hive yesterday at 3pm. I couldn't leave it where it is so was up at the apiary at 7am to stuff the entrance and move them elsewhere. It's was cool and cloudy and there was no entrance activity. I put another bait hive in the same spot ...

On checking the apiary this evening there was quite a lot of entrance activity and pollen clearly going in. However, on further checking, it wasn't another swarm that had moved in - the box had a few dozen bees in at most - so these must have been stragglers that stayed out overnight and then returned to find the original colony gone. About 25% of the bees are carrying pollen.

I know bees stay out overnight sometimes. However, I was surprised so many did when the colony had only relocated to the spot a few hours before the end of the previous day.

[Jambo]

Various good bee plants in my garden are being ignored by my bees - this time last year they were covered. Main ones being caenothus and fuschia, the latter I know is a bit awkward for bees. Confirmation that there are plenty of better offerings elsewhere? Plenty of willowherb around, which is covered in bees. Maybe yields better in the warmth.

Also - is it me or are the wasps into their sugar feeding phase much earlier than normal this year?

[Adam]

Ceanothus usually gets a few bees on it in my garden. Blakcberry is still flowering at the moment although I expect that it will finish soon. Just starting to extract it - the top 2 supers have a clearer board under them. 2951

[Jambo]

Yes same here - busy on blackberries too. I also have newly made up nucs which are largely ignoring the feeder.

[lindsay s]

Wake up and smell the CLOVER!!!
That’s what the bees at my Summer apiary are doing at the moment. The clover has reached its peak and I can’t remember the last time it was this good. It’s my main honey crop here. The fields are full of sown white and there’s plenty of wild about as well, my bees are working both. While I was checking hives at 7 pm tonight the bees were still piling in and most of the spare cells in the brood combs were full of nectar. After the silage is cut we can sometimes get a good second growth. I hoping the weather holds for a few more weeks and if I get a couple of supers per hive I’ll be absolutely delighted (this is Orkney l’m writing about not the balmy south).

[Bridget]

We've had tremendous clover this year in the highlands. It's gone on and on. Do you mean if it's cut it will bloom again? I stopped my husband from cutting it so the bees could have it. Maybe I should have got him to cut it in sections.


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[Jambo]

Do you mean if it's cut it will bloom again? I stopped my husband from cutting it so the bees could have it. Maybe I should have got him to cut it in sections.


It does Bridget yes. A hay field next to me was full of flowering clover, cut on 24 June, white again by 10 July - and probably better in fact since the grass is now shorter.

Doing it in sections would be ideal if you don't mind the faff.

[Bridget]

It does Bridget yes. A hay field next to me was full of flowering clover, cut on 24 June, white again by 10 July - and probably better in fact since the grass is now shorter.

Doing it in sections would be ideal if you don't mind the faff.

[emoji106]


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[fatshark]

I stopped my husband from cutting it so the bees could have it. Maybe I should have got him to cut it in sections.


It sounds to me like Bridget has the 'faff' component of cutting in sections completely sorted ;)

[Jambo]

Outsourced :)

Do we often get decent lime flows in Scotland? I was walking around a National
Trust property yesterday morning and several huge limes were buzzing, air smelt fantastic too. It was just under 20 degC, still, overcast and very humid, which I think I read somewhere is ideal.

[gavin]

Do we often get decent lime flows in Scotland?

They are more reliable in the west but even there not a heavy cropper. I have one site in Perthshire with lots of lime trees and get a super off the strongest hives in most years. This year it has been poor with just a couple of half supers but the bees brought in a pile of light honey instead, probably mostly clover. Elsewhere I see smaller amounts and probably should follow Murray's advice to run for the hills instead, at least to sites with bell heather. I had a small site in the middle of Dundee for a few years which is surrounded by lime trees and only ever saw small corners of lime honey.

It is a remarkable honey though.

[Thymallus]

It is a remarkable honey though.

Have 1/2 dozen very mature lime trees about 200 yards from my garden apiary. Never got a lime crop from them ever. A bit of research has shown that the nectar is produced in the mornings and is exposed to the air and simply evaporates unless you get really humid conditions, which in late June/July is very rare here..especially this summer! Yet the trees are alive with bumbles, wasps, hover flies and the like all day, you can hear them from 100 yards away. I think it's aphid honey dew they are probably attracted to, not the nectar which has long since evaporated. Strangely I never see my bees there, presumably they are on richer/easier nectar sources.
I did get excited when I found I had transparent light green honey....but no characteristic minty taste and pollen analysis showed, as suspected, field bean pollen + many others. I found a single lime pollen in the whole sample.

One year...one year..it will be right.

[Jambo]

:) I did spot at least one honey bee on the trees yesterday - I believe our own GreenGumbo has hives in the vicinity so maybe he has got lucky!

[Feckless Drone]

Thinking about how to describe that feeling when opening up the bait hive to see what happened to the decent sized swarm, that is definitely not mine, of very mild mannered bees that arrived at the end of June, to see that they have drawn out and laid 6 frames worth in a beautiful pattern, then you find the Q who looks gorgeous and even better now with a red dot on her. So, now to a full brood box. The word may be "deserving". Makes up for time spent with the Tayside public discussing what to do and not do with bumble bees, trying to keep track of calls from the public about swarms that have disappeared, and then there are the bees in the attic of cottage up in the hills that I said I'll look at.

As an aside - I looked into the water driven fruit press for getting heather honey last year. It looks excellent but I would want to test it first before making up my mind.

[greengumbo]

:) I did spot at least one honey bee on the trees yesterday - I believe our own GreenGumbo has hives in the vicinity so maybe he has got lucky!

We'll see ;)

Was it haddo or pitmedden Jambo ? I'm checking them this week. Loads of honey from my sites but I think it may just be the boom of clover !

Haddo sometimes gets a bit of lime but not a supers worth a la Gavin.

[Jambo]

We'll see ;)

Was it haddo or pitmedden Jambo ? I'm checking them this week. Loads of honey from my sites but I think it may just be the boom of clover !

Haddo sometimes gets a bit of lime but not a supers worth a la Gavin.

It was Haddo - I'd be interested to know how you get on for my own education, the noise was mad. Good luck!

[greengumbo]

It was Haddo - I'd be interested to know how you get on for my own education, the noise was mad. Good luck!

Oh nice. I'll drive past tonight on the way home and have a look / listen.

[gavin]

I had thought that the lime was over here for this year but, clearing supers at a site in N Fife last night, found some yellow-green stuff which I had to taste. It isn't minty but definitely like citrus lime (no relation). Gather a few bunches of flowers and make a tea with boiling water (5 mins steeping) and you'll get the idea. Feckless drone also reports it is still in flower in parts of Dundee.

There is oodles of Japanese knotweed there which I hope might give me a crop some year. Not in flower yet, but all the best colonies are on their way to the hills tonight. Nearly done with the heather shift.

Been waiting in for a delivery that (doh!) hasn't even been dispatched yet! Oh well, beekeeping in the evening is definitely the way to go, these days anyway. Someone is about to lose a Buckfast swarm (best thing for them!). Some bees are sniffing about the empty boxes at the back of the house and some have diverted in here, smelling bee stuff in here too.

[Jambo]

I had thought that the lime was over here for this year but, clearing supers at a site in N Fife last night, found some yellow-green stuff which I had to taste. It isn't minty but definitely like citrus lime (no relation). Gather a few bunches of flowers and make a tea with boiling water (5 mins steeping) and you'll get the idea. Feckless drone also reports it is still in flower in parts of Dundee.


Interesting, it is very much still in flower around Aberdeenshire. Thanks for your earlier reply btw.


There is oodles of Japanese knotweed there which I hope might give me a crop some year.

AMMs foraging on a non-native invasive plant!?

[Calluna4u]

I had thought that the lime was over here for this year but, clearing supers at a site in N Fife last night, found some yellow-green stuff which I had to taste. It isn't minty but definitely like citrus lime (no relation). Gather a few bunches of flowers and make a tea with boiling water (5 mins steeping) and you'll get the idea. Feckless drone also reports it is still in flower in parts of Dundee.

There is oodles of Japanese knotweed there which I hope might give me a crop some year. Not in flower yet, but all the best colonies are on their way to the hills tonight. Nearly done with the heather shift.

Been waiting in for a delivery that (doh!) hasn't even been dispatched yet! Oh well, beekeeping in the evening is definitely the way to go, these days anyway. Someone is about to lose a Buckfast swarm (best thing for them!). Some bees are sniffing about the empty boxes at the back of the house and some have diverted in here, smelling bee stuff in here too.

Wont be mines Gavin...all ours are away from your area.

There is the new bee farm started up based not far from you that have a few hundred Buckfast hives however.............have seen some of them. If you think them losing their bees is the best thing you don't want honey...I have seen some of these and they are doing sensationally. One set are on their THIRD Dadant DEEP (ABOVE the broodnest..so four high) on the bell/ling in Glenshee already! 2 full Dadant deeps? That's some crop! and they are piling it in. Must confess to envious looks. They may just be some of the best outsourced stock I have seen in a long time.

[gavin]

I came home to a kitchen full of the wee devils. Not exactly full, but quite a few. They were on a raiding party rather than a swarming attempt. *Very* glad the weather has broken as I think I'll have to close the windows for a while. Are they really that close?

Another bee farm in the crowded territory that we use just seems .... well, not right. I have a hard enough time finding decent sites as it is away from the existing bee farmers.

Any chance you'd get envious of this near Amm stock?! The first time I've had to use a box to stand on to get supers on and off. OK, not all are like this but many have been really strong this year.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/images/Ammish18.jpg

[gavin]

What's that word?

Thinking about how to describe that feeling when opening up the bait hive to see what happened to the decent sized swarm .....

In my part of Scotland it would have been two words: 'Yah beauty!!'.

I think I now have the last Buckfast out of the house. When setting off yesterday I discovered the main reason for all the bee interest. I'd forgotten that I'd left a brood box with honey in the truck and the side windows open. Must have been about half a super's worth of bees distributed along the Carse as I stopped repeatedly to let more out. Leaving the house unguarded, they turned their attention indoors. Suspect I'll be looking out for netting and gaffer tape to get though this last extraction in the house before transferring to a new honey house.

Cracking lightning show last night - and a remarkable transition from bone dry to torrential downpour just as I pulled off the road with foam closures and hive tool beside me. Maybe I'll get them locked in and away tonight instead. That monster colony might have cleared its supers by then too. There are so many bees in there - and brood too - that I expect it will rebuild to a decent stack on the ling too. Especially with the ground now dampened to some extent.

About 10 mm of rain in Dundee last night (http://www.dundeeweather.org.uk/new/Bootstrap/) but as much of it came down in a short space of time it felt like a lot more.

G.

PS the continuously updated SEPA site for rainfall (http://apps.sepa.org.uk/rainfall) is currently showing 31.4 mm for Gella Bridge in Glen Clova (not that I have bees in that particular glen) so that should help the forage up there.

[gavin]

AMMs foraging on a non-native invasive plant!?

I know. They have just no shame. Himalayan balsam, Japanese knotweed, sometimes giant hogweed, certainly sycamore, coneflower (taking over parts of the Tay), just about anything in a garden or sown by a farmer. Scold them as I might they *still* proceed with their unethical foraging choices. What can a man do?!

Anyone who thinks that beekeeping is some environmentally friendly activity that benefits the environment needs their ..... oops, sorry, shouldn't go there! But bumble bees are just as bad, aren't they?

[fatshark]

Thinking about how to describe that feeling when opening up the bait hive to see what happened to the decent sized swarm, that is definitely not mine, of very mild mannered bees that arrived at the end of June, to see that they have drawn out and laid 6 frames worth in a beautiful pattern, then you find the Q who looks gorgeous and even better now with a red dot on her.

Whatever the word is it's the antonym of the feeling you get when you're set up to extract 20+ full supers on a wet weekend and you realise you've run out of honey buckets and Thorne's of Newburgh closed an hour ago.

D'oh!

[Thymallus]

The first time I've had to use a box to stand on to get supers on and off. OK, not all are like this but many have been really strong this year.



It's got so bad this year I keep a step ladder permanently in the apiary. I'm afraid these are not Amm's.

http://acornpreserves.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/stepladder.jpg

[Jambo]

I know. They have just no shame.

:D

In other news I'm positive I saw drones kicked out this weekend. Murray reporting same on the other place... A bit early isn't it?

I'm still surrounded by hay fields (cut) which are white with clover, so am I wrong to be hopeful some more might come in this week as the weather improves again? In fields that haven't been cut the clover is now turning brown.

[The Drone Ranger]

probably got home late after an afternoon down the next door hive and found their suitcases on the doorstep

Sent from my LIFETAB_S1034X using Tapatalk

[Jambo]

Flew past who knows how many fields on the way home and didn't even bother their abdomens to pick up some pollen.

[fatshark]

Feels like it's all over in my part of Fife ... nothing much coming in and no HB in range for a late boost. Supers off and honey extracted so they're welcome to whatever else they can find.

[Thymallus]

Similar. Gone from super a week to frame a week although they have found the balsam....which round us is very early (like everything) this season. Taking as many to the heather as I can...fingers crossed it yields. Ling on Western North York moors is just coming into bloom. Might start making up 2:1 Sugar solution just in case.

[Adam]

July has come to a halt as regard t honeyflow for me. However still lots of bees in the hives nowhere for them to play out. This is the time of year where the advice of not to spill syrup or leave honey-covered thing around the apiary as it might induce robbing, is very valid.

[fatshark]

And a helluva lot of wasps this season ...

[lindsay s]

Most of my supers will be on for another two weeks yet because I work single broods and the bees need the room. I’ve been consolidating the honey by removing undrawn and empty frames from the supers before the bees finish it off. With the queens cutting back on laying most of what’s coming in is now getting stored downstairs. It can be a bit of a gamble leaving the supers on very strong colonies at this time because if the weather breaks it can soon disappear. I once went to remove honey from a hive in late August only to find it had gone. :mad: While I was checking bees today I noticed a definite change in their mood, they’re much more defensive so it’s time for entrance blocks. Everything has changed a lot in the last week. On the plus side l now have seven nucs with laying queens :) some of them will be over wintered and the rest united with poor colonies.

[Adam]

Your point about bees needing the room is valid; I am removing some of the supers from each hive so they maintain some space in addition to the brood boxes and will then go around later to take the rest off. I might leave an extracted super on some for the time being until the colony reduces in size. Although I want to treat for varroa as soon as I possibly can.
There doesn't seem to be any real forage, however, I looked at some nucs yesterday and they have plenty of liquid stores so they are getting a little something.

[lindsay s]

I might leave an extracted super on some for the time being until the colony reduces in size. Although I want to treat for varroa as soon as I possibly can.
I store my supers wet sealed up in bin bags, the smell of the fermented honey draws the bees into the supers in the spring. I don’t have to deal with varroa yet but with a large increase in the number of people wanting to keep bees up here it’s only a matter of time!

[Thymallus]

Although I want to treat for varroa as soon as I possibly can.

A real North South divide coming into play here....and I'm in the middle :)
Just taken the last of my hives onto the North Yorks moors heather today...will be bringing them back mid Sept and then treating for varroa.....be good if I lived where Lindsay did...no treatments necessary and I presume (visit on my to do list) heather?

[lindsay s]

The heather here doesn’t bloom on the same scale as the mainland and varies a lot from year to year. Our cool weather also has an effect on the yield. My mentor once managed to get a few supers of heather honey in very good late summer, I gave him a hand at the time. I don’t know of any beekeepers here who work it for a crop. A few of us might get a little bit if our hives are nearby. I’m nowhere near any heather and personally I can’t stand the taste of it.

[fatshark]

Extracting all finished. It's been a dry summer and some of the honey has a very low water content.
Nothing over 18% and some as low as 14-15%. The latter - despite working in a warm room with the supers at about 30oC - came out like treacle.

Delicious treacle :)

[wee willy]

Extracting all finished. It's been a dry summer and some of the honey has a very low water content.
Nothing over 18% and some as low as 14-15%. The latter - despite working in a warm room with the supers at about 30oC - came out like treacle.

Delicious treacle :)

Likewise [emoji3]
No osr around these parts but very rapid granulation!
It’s been so hot and dry that the bees have been able to exploit lots of early spring flowers , loads of which are rapid granulating types !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Thymallus]

Interesting. For the first time ever I managed a spring crop with no OSR. I just checked and the buckets are just starting to crystallize, so a slow setter in my books. The hives I took to the rape...all set within 7 days of harvesting.
Looks like another frustrating session with the microscope trying to identify pollen's to see what they were collecting from...
I wonder why your spring honey was a fast setter?

[fatshark]

I have two apiaries, one with easy access to OSR the other with none in range (to my knowledge). The early June extracted honey from the former is starting to granulate, but more slowly than previous years I think. As Thymallus suggests, I suspect the bees had access to other nectar this Spring and the usual high-glucose OSR nectar is 'diluted' with something else that has slowed granulation.

Why is runny honey much easier to sell that soft-set?

[wee willy]

I have two apiaries, one with easy access to OSR the other with none in range (to my knowledge). The early June extracted honey from the former is starting to granulate, but more slowly than previous years I think. As Thymallus suggests, I suspect the bees had access to other nectar this Spring and the usual high-glucose OSR nectar is 'diluted' with something else that has slowed granulation.

Why is runny honey much easier to sell that soft-set?

My problem !
I harvested some lightning fast setting honey .
Buttery coloured when set !
No body wants it
My wife set up a ( taste ) set , people were surprised !:
Some thought it was going off!
They soon realised what they were missing [emoji3]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Jambo]

Likewise [emoji3]
No osr around these parts but very rapid granulation!
It’s been so hot and dry that the bees have been able to exploit lots of early spring flowers , loads of which are rapid granulating types !



Interesting. For the first time ever I managed a spring crop with no OSR. I just checked and the buckets are just starting to crystallize, so a slow setter in my books. The hives I took to the rape...all set within 7 days of harvesting.
Looks like another frustrating session with the microscope trying to identify pollen's to see what they were collecting from...
I wonder why your spring honey was a fast setter?

Mine got a load of dandelion (I think) this year. Managed to isolate a couple of frames of it and it set within a week or two. It is almost clear and it stinks! There is more mixed in with sycamore and chestnut I think which is darker and still isn't granulating, this is a delicious honey, if a bit strong.

In other news I think I'll be putting on clearer boards tonight and extracting anything that is left over the weekend.

[greengumbo]

Mine got a load of dandelion (I think) this year. Managed to isolate a couple of frames of it and it set within a week or two. It is almost clear and it stinks! There is more mixed in with sycamore and chestnut I think which is darker and still isn't granulating, this is a delicious honey, if a bit strong.

In other news I think I'll be putting on clearer boards tonight and extracting anything that is left over the weekend.

Good luck clearing the honey :)

I'm going to see what became of that lime flow on monday. There were full to bursting supers to extract at the site so fingers crossed.

[Thymallus]

Why is runny honey much easier to sell that soft-set?

I think most customers associate runny honey as "honey". Honey out of the comb is always shown in advertisements etc in a liquid form and many of the younger generation have never heard of soft set and need a bit of educating. The light white colour appears strange to them, many ask me what it is.
However, once they have tried a few samples and taken a jar or two ...many are hooked for life.
But, despite my giving it the big sell...runny still nearly always outsells my soft set....
Apart from in August, when many of the Yorkshire country shows are on. All the visitors have to drive across the now resplendent bluey/pink moors and all they want is heather honey. It couldn't be better advertised.
Clearer boards are on the first supers of this years heather honey harvest and it's Danby show on Wednesday...going to be a close run thing....

[lindsay s]

I’ve often heard people say that newspapers are getting smaller. This was confirmed to me last night while I was uniting two colonies. One sheet of the local rag wasn’t even big enough to cover the brood box!;)

[Jambo]

Good luck clearing the honey :)

I'm going to see what became of that lime flow on monday. There were full to bursting supers to extract at the site so fingers crossed.

Thanks - some of it is still looking a bit wet which is a surprise.

I hope I haven't got you unnecessarily excited about a lime bonanza, but if you get lucky put me down for a couple of jars please!

[Jambo]

Surprising amount of pale yellow pollen getting piled in at 8:30 this morning, the only things I can see flowering in any quantity are RBWH (nearly over and wrong pollen colour) and redshank... Never heard the latter being discussed as a good bee plant but could it be? A few acres of turnips about which are completely overrun with it!

[Mellifera Crofter]

Last week's news: I know mother and daughter are often found in the same hive, but I was surprised at the length of time one of my mother-daughter teams have been together now.

Around mid-May I saw a new queen in the hive, and no sign of the mother. By mid-June I marked her red. I assumed she was mated as there were eggs in the hive, and I still didn't see the mother. I saw the red queen once more, and then for the whole of July I didn't see a queen at all - but there were always eggs.

The beginning of this month I saw yet another new queen - unmarked - in the super (no queen excluder), and found the mother still happily living downstairs in the brood box, and no red queen. During my inspection I moved the new queen into the brood box and assumed the mother will have vanished by my next visit - but she's still there! The young queen is back in the super and the mother is below.

So, since mid-May the mother and a daughter have been living together - three months! Is that usual? (Out of interest - the mother is one of the queens that survived floating down the Deveron in January 2016.)

Kitta

[Jambo]

Interesting stuff Kita. I'll also be interested in the responses you get.

I was doing some quick inspections, treatment and feeding on Wednesday morning before heading off on holiday. Found one colony completely broodless and relatively grumpy.

They also hadn't bothered going through the hole in the crownboard to clean up some wet supers I had given them the day before. Not sure of the significance of this but the other three colonies I had given the same to had cleaned them completely, so thought it was interesting.

I was going to the airport in a couple of hours and away for two weeks so had no time for a test frame, I think it's a bit late for mating and I didn't want to come back to laying workers, so I went to the smallest room in the house to retrieve the air freshener and embarked on a C4U-style unite.

Had a look an hour later and there were quite a few bees crawling on the ground but it didn't look like complete carnage. On reflection, when I saw Murray doing this at the heather I think it was generally two colonies with laying queens that were being united so I suppose the main risk is that my broodless hive had a virgin running around in it, she challenges my lovely, gentle, and very prolific 2018 laying queen to some fisticuffs, wins, and then fails to mate and I now have two knackered colonies in one. Time will tell!

[Adam]

Kitta, I guess the red marked queen failed to mate or had something wrong with her so she never got as far as bumping off her mum. It DOES seem a long time for two queens, however it would appear that your bees clearly know what they are trying to achieve. As a 2015 queen, your queen doesn't have too long to go perhaps; mine don't get past their third year - I tried to overwinter three 2015 queens over the past winter - all in nucs. One died during the winter and the colony didn't survive the Beast from the East. The second was superceded quite early in the season. Thankfully the weather was OK for mating. The third lasted another couple of months after several supercedure events where I stole the queencells. Finally I saw the daughter out one day with Mum still present. I thought that the next day I would retire her to a mini-nuc as she was still laying well albeit a little slowly, but she had gone.

How long do queens last for you? Your season is shorter than mine so there's a good chance that your queens will go on for a bit longer than darn sarth?

[Mellifera Crofter]

You're probably right, Adam, that something might have been wrong with the red queen, and I suppose the two-storey arrangement of mother in the brood box and daughter in the super might also help to keep them living together in the same hive.

I had quite a few blue queens earlier in the season, but I think this queen is the last one. The others have all disappeared for one reason or another, and I had to kill two. (I try to avoid doing that - but sometimes it must.)

I hope you find your favourite queen still in the hive when you come back from your holidays, Jambo. Fingers crossed.

Kitta

[madasafish]

My oldest queen -a 4 year old Buckfast# - was superceded this year. Mum and daughter seen in August. Just as well as Mum was hobbling and no honey yield this year - I left one honey super on all hives as I was tired of manually extracting . Through teh clear CB today I could see LOTS more bees - a full 10 frames so hopefully they will be good next year..
# never swarmed.

[lindsay s]

The Scottish Bee Company were on Good Morning Scotland today. https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/b0bhrhk1 You’all find it at 2:43:50
I never new about them, nice website. https://scottishbeecompany.co.uk/

[fatshark]

Nice packaging on their honey as well.
Cool website but pity about that Einstein quote (http://preview.www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/einstein-bees).

2956

PS What's with the 'bee count' at the top of the page ... it's increasing. Perhaps it only records births, not deaths.

[lindsay s]

PS What's with the 'bee count' at the top of the page ... it's increasing. Perhaps it only records births, not deaths.
If the activity at the front of my hives this week is anything to go by, my drone count will soon be zero.;)

[Mellifera Crofter]

...
PS What's with the 'bee count' at the top of the page ... it's increasing. Perhaps it only records births, not deaths.

Perhaps Greengumbo can tell us!

[Jambo]

I hope you find your favourite queen still in the hive when you come back from your holidays, Jambo. Fingers crossed.

Kitta

Thanks Kitta - managed a look today and delighted to find her there and now a big hive of docile bees. Although I think I took the right action in the circumstances I'm not sure I will repeat it when I have the time for a test frame!

[Mellifera Crofter]

Great. I'm glad she survived, Jambo.

[busybeephilip]

I thinks its a counter recording the number of visits to the site, each time you reload the page it increases by one count, doubt if it started from zero :)
its also very regular - a timer? not to worried about it anyhow

the code is "span>10,165,204</span> ==$0" havent a clue what it is - just a counter of some sort

[lindsay s]

Bee thefts are still taking place even this late in the year and I feel sorry for the beekeeper involved. The press do like to dramatise bee stories and if they had said four hives instead of 60,000 bees it wouldn’t have had the same effect.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45597954

[lindsay s]

Beekeeping was featured on BBC Scotland’s Landward last night. Filmed at Newbattle Abbey College. Their dark bees were nice and gentle. You’ll find it at 09:55 on the iPlayer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0blv49n/landward-20182019-episode-15#

[prakel]

Not today, but this season at least:

296129622963

[Mellifera Crofter]

That looks alien, Prakel. Is it a moth who tried its luck in a beehive?

[prakel]

That looks alien, Prakel. Is it a moth who tried its luck in a beehive?

Yes, a Deaths-head Hawkmoth, presumably it's pheromone 'invisibility cloak' failed. Quite a fascinating find and yes, alien is a common response when people see it!

[lindsay s]

Hi all it’s a bit quiet on the forum at the moment so I’ll give you a summary of my years beekeeping here in Orkney.
Winter.
Early February the hives were active on nice calm days so l gave them candy. Later in the month we missed the Beast from the East and all it’s snow but it was very cold and dry up here at that time.
Spring.
More candy added in the first week of April. I carried out five of the first quick inspections on the 15th of the month and the rest a week later. Eleven out of eleven colonies ok but only had 2 or 3 frames with brood. In late April and early May there was an abundance of dandelions in bloom (one of the best in years) so it was a big boost to our colonies.
Summer.
Early June after a slow buildup the last of my colonies got their first supers, no sign of swarming anywhere in Orkney. End of June and the start of July all change here, very warm weather and lots of swarming up here. At a new sheltered apiary I was trying out 3 hives swarmed despite being split beforehand. Luckily they were caught and put back but drastic measures were called for so I left a queen excluder under their brood boxes for a couple of weeks till things calmed down. Bad beekeeping practice I know so I might have to try out new swarm controls next year.
Lots of bee samples from Orkney were sent off for the AMM survey but we’ve not heard anything yet. Lots of clover out in July but but the weather was very dry so we were hoping for rain to help improve the flow but it never came. In the first week of August the nectar flow stopped suddenly and the mood of my bees changed, other beekeepers here noticed the same thing as well.
Autumn.
Plenty of pollen was still coming in at the start of September and I’m over wintering 4 nucs in poly nucs for the first time so I hope all goes well. Although I averaged 45lbs of honey per producing colony that does not give the full picture. Some of my weaker colonies with old queens and in a poor area produced very little honey, but 3 colonies that had been split at my clover site still managed to produce about 65-75lbs each. Overall above average crops here this season.
Local association meetings are now taking place each month, we are still varroa free and we have lots of people who would like to start beekeeping up here. Our only problem is meeting the demand for local bees for obvious reasons.
P. S. Would anyone else like to say how their honey crop was this season?

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thank you, Lindsay. That’s a nice synopsis of the beekeeping year in the Orkneys.

I’ll try and follow your example next year, and take better notes of changing weather, month by month.

As for honey - a bumper crop, but also a lot of swarming.

Kitta

[lindsay s]

Thanks M C
I always record the weather every time I open up the hives. Up here it’s a lot more variable than on the mainland. The two things that show up most often in my notes are that the temperatures are in the low to mid teens and it’s a cool wind! The weather was very poor the year that I averaged 14lbs of honey per hive but I can’t remember when offhand.

[Adam]

Some of my weaker colonies with old queens and in a poor area produced very little honey, but 3 colonies that had been split at my clover site still managed to produce about 65-75lbs each. Overall above average crops here this season.


Something I noticed this year in particular was the fact that 2016 queens ramped up brood-rearing slowly and produced a much lower crop compared to 2017 queens. My guess is that the late spring was to blame. However the crop in general was excellent for me this year. It's a shame there is no clover to speak of around me so there's a dearth until Ivy comes to the rescue.

One swarm from 11 full-sized colonies. 800kg.

[Feckless Drone]

Recent publication in Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. on Varroa's food source. In the abstract - Via transmission electron microscopy, we observed externally digested fat body tissue in the wounds of parasitized bees. Mites in their reproductive phase were then fed a diet composed of one or both tissues. Mites fed hemolymph showed fitness metrics no different from the starved control. Mites fed fat body survived longer and produced more eggs than those fed hemolymph, suggesting that fat body is integral to their diet when feeding on brood as well.

The investigators used stains to follow the different tissue - would have been interesting to use a mass spec approach perhaps on in vitro raised mites to prove/confirm what is being taken up. Why would a parasite pass up the opportunity to acquire nutrients from both fat and hemolymph?

[greengumbo]

The investigators used stains to follow the different tissue - would have been interesting to use a mass spec approach perhaps on in vitro raised mites to prove/confirm what is being taken up. Why would a parasite pass up the opportunity to acquire nutrients from both fat and hemolymph?

Quite.

Pretty pictures though !

[prakel]

this started the day as waste wood in a skip and an offcut of mesh left from another project; add a tenon saw, set square, chisel, handful of nails, some glue and 30 minutes (so far, still needs sealing).
2970

[Mellifera Crofter]

That’s quick work, Prakel - and a good-looking feeder.

Will you just varnish the inside for sealing, or also add some silicon to the joints?

Kitta

[prakel]

That’s quick work, Prakel - and a good-looking feeder.

Will you just varnish the inside for sealing, or also add some silicon to the joints?

Kitta

Just varnish Kitta, the joints are already assembled with a good quality glue and I have (hopefully not misplaced) confidence in my work... Did a second one before 9am today so it was a worthwhile salvage.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I found this little bee on the side of one of my hives yesterday. I thought it looked as though it is suffering from DWV - or is it just an old bee with tattered wings?
Kitta
2973

[Adam]

It hardly looks like a honey bee and it doesn't look like it could fly - so it must have got there on foot?

[Mellifera Crofter]

Yes, it's not a honey bee! I don't know what it is - some sort of Andrena? I saw a large colony of these bees last summer using road drainage pipes as their nesting sites not far from my out apiary. It would be sad if they also suffer DWV.
Kitta

[Silvbee]

Looks like Andrena Scotica, a very common spring mining bee in Scotland. https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/sets/72157640800969414/


Yes, it's not a honey bee! I don't know what it is - some sort of Andrena? I saw a large colony of these bees last summer using road drainage pipes as their nesting sites not far from my out apiary. It would be sad if they also suffer DWV.
Kitta

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks for the link, Silvbee. So, it seems that this sad-looking little bee was a female.

[Feckless Drone]

Hi - not done a proper inspection yet but quick peek under the crown boards identified a few strong colonies. I want to try a Baillie comb exchange for the first time, but unsure about the timing. It seems too cold here at the moment to give them a lot of space up top or syrup.
Anyone started or thinking about this? Murray Mc gets comb drawn in the autumn and I can see the benefits of making use of the bee power at that point. But, its means feeding liquid and I put most of my colonies (certainly the ones back from the heather) under a block of fondant for winter.

[fatshark]

Hi FD ... when I was down South I did Bailey comb changes but later in the season (even there). You really need the warmth for drawing loads of new comb. I'm not thinking about it, but if I was it would be in 2-3 weeks at least.

My strongest colonies have a few drones in them already. These are on double brood in the shed. I've done no inspections yet but it is a few drones, not a drone laying queen!

[Feckless Drone]

Bailey I see, as in the drink! I'm going to have to be patient here but have to try it. I am determined to have lots of high quality drawn comb when making splits and I do wonder if there is an element of stimulative feeding (also something I've not done). My sites tend not to see much nectar coming in till at least middle of May so I'll probably have monster colonies perfectly timed for the June gap. Oh the joys!

[fatshark]

The NBU leaflet (Replacing Old Brood Comb) that covers Bailey changes states from March "This system is ideal for replacing all the combs at once and is best performed in early spring often, with clement weather, March is suitable, but remember to keep feeding so the bees can build comb."

Looking out at the rather dreich weather this morning I suspect you'd be better waiting a bit ;)

[lindsay s]

Here’s a couple of links for the Bailey comb change for anyone who’s not sure about it. I’ll plead guilty to not replacing all of my brood combs on a three yearly cycle ( NBU leaflet) and I bet most of you reading this will be the same. Many years ago I carried out the Bailey comb change when converting some of my hives from B S frames to 14x12. I didn’t know the term for what I was doing at the time but I managed to figure it out for myself. It took a lot of feeding and effort from the bees due to our cool weather but it worked out OK. I think I did it in late May. I thought new comb in cleaned hives would get rid of my pesky chalkbrood once and for all but alas it was back within a couple of years☹️. The 14x12 hives didn’t work out for me so I’m now back on B S Smiths (that can be a different post).
I can see the point of having nice new comb for splits F D especially if you’re selling them. The link to the video is good for beginners but remember they are in Norfolk!
http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=1074
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm_UBm4HEn4#

[Adam]

The NBU leaflet (Replacing Old Brood Comb) that covers Bailey changes states from March "This system is ideal for replacing all the combs at once and is best performed in early spring often, with clement weather, March is suitable, but remember to keep feeding so the bees can build comb."

Looking out at the rather dreich weather this morning I suspect you'd be better waiting a bit ;)

The NBU leaflet is probably based on somewhere in 'middle England' rather than some parts of the UK; you may need to wait a while before doing a bailey comb exchange north of the border.

[fatshark]

Checked a dozen or so colonies today in balmy Fife ... the strong ones were packed and they were busy drawing lots of brace comb up into the upturned curry trays I gave top up fondant in. There are drones in the strongest colonies as well.

Might not be too long to wait ... though North of the Tay there may still be permafrost of course ;)

[Feckless Drone]

Well - at my apiary up at 200 m above sea level we do have a forecast of frost overnight. And down "souff" folk are putting supers on. A quick peek yesterday in one colony, and lifting crown boards and hefting others suggests enough stores but fondant mostly gone, and drone brood but not yet any flying. I must write 1000 lines "I will be patient". Do they still get lines at school?

[madasafish]

Well - at my apiary up at 200 m above sea level we do have a forecast of frost overnight. And down "souff" folk are putting supers on. A quick peek yesterday in one colony, and lifting crown boards and hefting others suggests enough stores but fondant mostly gone, and drone brood but not yet any flying. I must write 1000 lines "I will be patient". Do they still get lines at school?

Only of coke.......

[RDMW]

I really like Stewart’s videos from the Norfolk Honey Company. Very clear and well presented -warts and all!


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[greengumbo]

Big blizzards coming through Methlick area this morning. Crazy weather for May.

[Jambo]

Indeed - blizzards and 90% OSR must be a rare combo!?

[fatshark]

Go West young man ... fabulous day on Ardnamurchan with nearly unbroken sunshine and the first cuckoo of the season :)

[lindsay s]

Posts about double brood, second supers, splits and swarms has me thinking I must be living on a different planet! Last week my best colonies had five frames of brood which is pretty good for this time of year. 5-8c in the middle of the day here and the latest forecast predicts it’s to be cold and windy till the middle of next week. There’s a lot of open brood in the hives now and I’m worried about the bees being able to keep it warm. So last night as a precaution I gave seven hives a feed of light syrup and I’m hoping that the extra energy will help the bees to maintain their colony temperature. The last thing I want is a lot chalkbrood which is common here when the colonies are under stress. Also I’ve got a poly nuc bursting with bees and brood that should have gone into a beginners full sized hive by now. But it’s too cold to be drawing out foundation so the bees will just have to stay put for now.☹️☹️☹️
P S. I’m sick to Fatshark, with jealousy about how well your bees are doing 😝😝😝

[Feckless Drone]

Just to update anyone interested - 3 colonies set up to initiate Bailey comb change, strong (9 combs worth of brood, and actually not really in need of any new comb!), medium (6 combs brood), weak (5 frames brood, less bees, pretty scabby comb, lots of chalkbrood). All colonies in poly nationals.
Within 1 week, after 4 consecutive nights of being given 1 kg sugars worth of syrup, the strong colony has drawn out every cell on 10 frames and Q has laid up at least two of them. She also went back down to the bottom box and laid down there as well. Feeding stopped.
The same treatment given to the medium strength colony - 8 frames drawn out well, the ends left. The weak colony - have not taken down the feed and refused to come up to the new box. So, mixed performance.
Now the weather has turned cool again. I expected too much from the weak colony - in every sense lagging behind the other two.
The strong colonies have been left as a double brood system and should bring in a crop of honey if the sycamore yields well. I'll keep them as double brood until I need to split.
I am won over by getting alot of lovely new comb and keen now to try this in the autumn as wel, as C4U advocates, when there is beepower to exploit.

I need to do something with the weak colony - I have a spare Q but I am thinking about a shook swarm and then re-queening (the replacement Q had to be moved out of the garden so need to wait till her flying bees are done).

Now in a panic, just assessed equipment and realize I don't have enough for whats to come. End of last week there were huge loads of pollen coming in and quite a bit of nectar. OSR around Tayside looks to be at its peak.

[Jambo]

Thanks for sharing FD - as a newcomer I'm still short on drawn comb so keen on info like this. I think one of the reasons C4U advocates doing it in the autumn is less/no drone brood. Did your lot make a lot of drone brood this time?

I had a go at the autumn method last year with reasonable results.

Also spent a lot of yesterday staring at piles of equipment still flat that I was supposed to build up over the winter...

[Feckless Drone]

Hi - no issues re drone cells, just a couple of small patches. In the past I've put a shallow frame and the bees put a large mass of, exclusively, drone brood on the bottom bar which I then remove. Nothing like that on these new frames.

[Feckless Drone]

I've a colony that just has not come on as others have and its on grotty comb with more chalkbrood than I've seen before. Action required - so shook swarmed for the first time and jeez its harsh! Hopefully they will take down the feed, tonight the varroa treatment starts then will requeen shortly. My notes from last year commented on noticeable chalkbrood in this colony and I hoped a good summer had just dealt with it. I have been too tolerant of this disease - DR up near Forfar, has been posted missing in action I think, has been strong advocate of dealing with this disease - good advice.

Lovely smell and sound around the strong hives last night, and like most of you the swarm control has started - one Q has made good her escape.

[Feckless Drone]

I'm still short on drawn comb ...

I used the recent inspections to remove frames on the outside of strong colonies and insert foundation 2 or 3 frames in - even splitting the brood in a couple. The warmth predicted for this week, and incoming nectar seemed like the time to get more new comb.

[Adam]

My guess is that the chalkbrood will resume after shook swarm. Queen replacement is probably the answer and it has worked for me. (And I transferred a CB queen to another colony a few years back and the CB transferred with her).

[RDMW]

Swarm season here in the north-west highlands of Scotland kicked off on the 28th of April with all four of my colonies making active swarm preparations. Thus far I have managed to avoid any swarming with a mixture of splits, transferring the old queen to a nucleus hive and Demaree. The demaree worked well but I had to grub out a lot of cells from the top box. At least I have managed to hang on to my bees but I have two bait hives set up just in case. We had a very mild February followed by a cold March and a very warm second half of April.
The challenge now is to amalgamate and get a decent colony to take to the lime.


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[lindsay s]

Excellent weather here this week and I’m on holiday, so I’ve spent plenty of time with bees. I’ve supplied three beginners with colonies that were overwintered in poly nuc’s. The last was moved into a Smith hive on Sunday at a very exposed location and I’m hoping they’ll be ok.
I was helping Sue (our secretary) with her bees on Monday, she was marking queens and adding first supers. Most of my colonies are still drawing out new foundation in their brood boxes and three were given their first super. Seven queens have been marked this season and they came through it unscathed, it’s a job I hate doing because I’m heavy handed. It’s usually mid June before swarming starts up here and it reaches its peak about the start of July, so I’ve got time yet to get my nucs ready for splits.
Finally me and Sue did a recording at my apiary for radio Orkney today. We were speaking about Orkney’s dark bees and because they are varroa free we stressed the importance of not bringing in bees from the south. The recording went well but when we were packing up the reporter got stung on the lug as he was removing his veil.☹️ I hope the jar of honey he got is some consolation.

[fatshark]

Post a link to the recording when it's broadcast ... hopefully with the expletives at the very end redacted ;)

Down here in the balmy South I hived my first swarm on the 30th of April. Colonies are generally very strong and the OSR is in full-swing. Most boxes have been split or Demareed already, perhaps too early in some cases as there was a coldish period earlier in the month and it's still not consistently warm for queen mating.

A few colonies are a bit slow and I'll have to decide whether to persevere with them or unite with strong colonies the in the next 2-3 weeks. With splits and nucs being moved up to full hives I've already got too many boxes to inspect ...

The west coast has had better weather than the east (at least the bits I've seen - but I've mainly been stuck in an office :( ). I've still yet to see a honey bee in our part of Ardnamurchan and the bait hive sits there looking expectant. The bait hive in my garden in Fife has had some interest but that waned after I did some swarm prevention at my local apiary ;)

They'll be back!

[Feckless Drone]

Yes, would be interested to hear this interview Lindsay.
I have similar situation to FS, but a week of two behind. Some but not all colonies making swarm preparations, and splits underway using a mix of nucleus method with old Q and Snelgrove boards. All 2018 Qs still laying well. I've run out of supers! and I need them yesterday. Some OSR coming in, sycamore is yielding really well this year and hawthorn pollen piling in. Seems strange but I've only really done two proper inspections and will have to harvest in the next week - 10 days. Big lesson this year has been Bailey comb exchange (colonies now working two supers) and shook swarm (4 nice frames and eggs) but long way to go - this is one of those colonies that should have been dealt with before now - the new comb, and once united with a 2019 Q might make something good for the heather.

Can see lots of the commercial setups around OSR fields in Angus; more so than last year I think.

[Neils]

I have bees again!

Two local nucs, inspected as we transferred to my boxes, queens seen, brood in all stages. Bees nice and calm on the frames and a fellow land rover enthusiast to boot.

[RDMW]

I had an interesting thing happen. I made up a nuc at the end of April and it developed a nice Queen cell which hatched fine. We had a spell of lovely weather just right for mating.
Then I noticed a large number of bees clustering under the nuc (it is a Payne’s polynuc with a mesh section in the floor) initially I wondered if they had reared two queens and were about to swarm. But the cluster persisted for several days during which I did not have time to deal with it. I wondered if the nuc was very congested. A few days ago I went through the nuc. No eggs. Lots of bees inside the nuc but not overcrowded. I transferred the frames into a National hive and brushed the cluster off the bottom of the nuc into the hive. Since then the bees have all stayed in the hive and flown as usual
Is it possible that the queen flew and mated and on return missed the entrance and ended up on the outside of the mesh floor and then workers clustered round her??



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[Jambo]

A hectic start to the season for me so far! Took seven hives into winter, one queen turned into a drone layer leaving me with six.

Of those six, five of them have already made swarm preps which I've tried to deal with by removing the queens into nucs. Four of those five were 2018 queens... I think I was late to super them as I hadn't appreciated how far on they were in early April. Trouble is it has got cold again so I am unsure how well queen matings will be going and I have had to open hives up in far from ideal conditions to knock down QCs. Only one hive needing 7 day inspections now though which is nice, and fingers crossed I'll have a good bunch of vigorous queens for my first trip to the heather!

I'd like to boost the main colonies (in process of raising new queens) with frames of brood from my nucs - can anyone confirm at what point in the cycle of raising a new queen they will no longer try to draw QCs on said frames of brood? Should an emerged virgin be enough, or better to wait for signs of laying?

PS - Fatshark's latest blog post (https://theapiarist.org/keeping-track/) has a great idea for keeping track of colonies and queens. I have taken it a step further and found some coloured discs on ebay (item no. 282431167115) which can be bought in the five standard queen marking colours, so have got myself a set of green and red ones which should get me going!

[Feckless Drone]

I made up a nuc at the end of April and it developed a nice Queen cell which hatched fine. We had a spell of lovely weather just right for mating.
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April/early May in Ullapool seems early to expect good mating. Do you think there were enough mature drones available? Has that worked before? My limited experience is that the bees seem pretty good at guiding a new Q back to the comb or the Q's have learned where they need to be. The only time I find bees under the boxes is when a clipped Q fails to get too far. My first Qs of 2019 are only due to fly around now (and the forecast is not good).

[RDMW]

Hello. I was hoping for mating mid to late May. We had a very mild February and April and there were lots of mature drones in early May. It has been an unusually mild spring although the last few days have been cold and wet. Time will tell if eggs appear!!


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[Adam]

I had an interesting thing happen. I made up a nuc at the end of April and it developed a nice Queen cell which hatched fine. We had a spell of lovely weather just right for mating.
Then I noticed a large number of bees clustering under the nuc (it is a Payne’s polynuc with a mesh section in the floor) initially I wondered if they had reared two queens and were about to swarm. But the cluster persisted for several days during which I did not have time to deal with it. I wondered if the nuc was very congested. A few days ago I went through the nuc. No eggs. Lots of bees inside the nuc but not overcrowded. I transferred the frames into a National hive and brushed the cluster off the bottom of the nuc into the hive. Since then the bees have all stayed in the hive and flown as usual
Is it possible that the queen flew and mated and on return missed the entrance and ended up on the outside of the mesh floor and then workers clustered round her??



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Anything is possible with bees!

[Adam]

I have bees again!

Two local nucs, inspected as we transferred to my boxes, queens seen, brood in all stages. Bees nice and calm on the frames and a fellow land rover enthusiast to boot.

Excellent Stuff!

[Neils]

We're getting there.

My one allowance to fiddling this year is to compare 14x12 with [double brood] nationals. So to that end I've basically shook swarmed one of the nucs, with a single frame of brood, into a 14x12 Nuc with a mix of comb and foundation and a good feed. All the rest of the brood is now in the other nuc which is on a single brood national and a super frame for drone. Going to give that a week or so to really get going and then add a Super in the first instance, a second brood box can likely wait until next year I suspect. Ideally want one apiary on 14x12 and the other on Nationals and never the twain shall meet, but for now they're both on in the same place.

This weekend has been making up new hive stands and getting some paving slabs to finally sort out making the main apiary start to look half decent again.

[lindsay s]

This was recorded two weeks ago but was only broadcast today. Don’t worry I didn’t smoke the bees to death! They wanted sound effects for the radio which also included moving frames out of the hives so they could get the mike in. Unfortunately this item was heavily edited and us talking about our near native dark bees was left out. But at least we got the Varroa message across.
Press play and use the dark blue bar on the bottom of the screen to scroll to15:30
https://m.mixcloud.com/radioorkney/around-orkney-thursday-30th-may-2019/
I’m off to the bees now for first time in two weeks!!! (It’s been far to cold for opening up the hives.)
Here’s a link for photos put on their Facebook page today.
https://m.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155417790362168&type=3&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDL0igVOmcm_ITvYsITXYLMK91FKxv1 7KGNQzpQa_1mjtD7VeH1Zl23k8z6Yi8C8QaEgLGPqe8BBpQzS6 zOu_1ZeFmW6ZjR0lMuFA24QM05NR-a9Rw1nC-wUjlrSd8nEYsD6QGGerR0fj-nliF9kaw8zGs3yVTqQ1YBZG46I3un57ltGmzxrdpShdhzFdTlX ZAWw91SkKo4LbK8CFHwTLHL4jZG0tveioDh_6NQzFEbAAXtHUX 3eiCvxnI9L2Xwwxb2_-dnERqKn4jeORtVNqDrDmqsBKKp8Sqif1KsVtoDGW0kpwQF4vRo h_L8F3cl8QbsgOvFWRZefjvZV9heRf7Hp5WOFeMLWCq6P90O_k y2DryWW7_WKehlRIOhy-AfzwBwz2SHM0WheH9My3tNe-Wu_f-wQbxVsVLGEjs2tPt-e45oCCyEn3WvYqVcsUre4Q&__tn__=-UC-R

[Feckless Drone]

we got the Varroa message across.


You did! Good listen - I had not realized that Varroa have reached Caithness.

[Adam]

This was recorded two weeks ago but was only broadcast today. Don’t worry I didn’t smoke the bees to death! They wanted sound effects for the radio which also included moving frames out of the hives so they could get the mike in. Unfortunately this item was heavily edited and us talking about our near native dark bees was left out. But at least we got the Varroa message across.
Press play and use the dark blue bar on the bottom of the screen to scroll to15:30


I had a listen. It's always the case that a programmes is edited in the way you don't like too much. However it sounded good. :)

[Neils]

Having a listen now.

Picked up a swarm this evening, just trying hard to squeeze into "Swarm in May". Suspect it's a cast, but around 3 frames on 14x12 so not to be sniffed at too much just yet.

[fatshark]

Anyone know what this shrub is? The bees - of all types, bumble, honey and solitary - were hammering it yesterday.

2977

For size comparison, the big old girl in the photo is almost the size of the last joint of my thumb.

Many thanks

[RDMW]

A cotoneaster variety??



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[Mellifera Crofter]

Yes, I also thought it’s Cotoneaster. Mine isn’t flowering yet - but when it does, the bees love it - particularly the wasps.

[wee willy]

Anyone know what this shrub is? The bees - of all types, bumble, honey and solitary - were hammering it yesterday.

2977

For size comparison, the big old girl in the photo is almost the size of the last joint of my thumb.

Many thanks

One of the cotoneasters but not Horizontalis I think .


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[Feckless Drone]

I've been extracting. I've quite a few frames with decent amount of pollen present which is not really something thats been a problem before. Any suggestions about how to treat these frames?

[RDMW]

Could you put them back on the hive under the brood bodies for the bees to clean, then take them off in a couple of weeks?


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[greengumbo]

I have a hive that swarmed on Saturday morning onto the branches of a big lime tree about 30ft up and totally inaccessible without cherry picker.

I've stuck a few bait hives out nearby with attractant for scouts and they have been interested....... but the swarm is still up there and not budging after nearly 3 days now. It was awful weather on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning so I understand why they hung about.....but its glorious today and was yesterday.

Anyone seen stuck swarms like this before ?

[Feckless Drone]

I've put wet frames on top of a crown board for the bees to clean up, but I am really not sure they move pollen about once its been tucked into the comb. I can try your idea of putting underneath the brood, does work well to clean up crystallized stores or maybe at the edge of a colony and see if they use it as normal.

Re: GG: a stuck swarm. Not really seen that but how about a very long pole with a queen pheromone tablet/plastic strip stuck on the end and waved right beside them? https://www.betterbee.com/mating-nucs-and-other-queen-rearing-supplies/qp1-queen-pheromone.asp
Or ask C4U where you might get such a thing, used to keep packages of bees without a Q happy for a period of time. Or, cage an old Q and wave that up at them. I'm clearly delusional that any such thing would work but its a strange thing when a beekeeper sees or thinks about swarms.

Not sure whats worse - a swarm you can get but that will not stay put or one that stays put and you cannot get.

[fatshark]

I'd put just one bait hive close by ... don't give them a choice. Honeybee Democracy has the details but if there are equally attractive locations they might take longer to come to a decision.

What I've not seen is two successive days of glorious weather in Aberdeenshire ;)

I've tried dropping swarms like that into a box on the ground. Place a sheet under the swarm with a suitable box ready nearby (floor, lid, dark, smelly). Chuck a rope over the branch with the swarm. Check your beesuit is done up properly ;) . Give the branch a hard tug to drop the swarm onto the sheet. Pandemonium. Immediately place the box adjacent and with the entrance facing the bulk of the bees. Cross your fingers.

It's spectacular but I can't guarantee success.

PS At least you didn't start your post A friend of mine has recently lost a swarm ... ;)

[RDMW]

Green gumbo. If you give Fatsharks method a try (and I dare you to ;) please consider asking a friend to film it as it sure would be a sight worth seeing.
I’m struggling a bit with a swarm I housed in a polynuc. Lots of bees are clustered under the mesh floor. Maybe there are too many bees to fit inside but it is so darn wet and rainy that I can’t transfer them to a hive.


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[lindsay s]

I've been extracting. I've quite a few frames with decent amount of pollen present which is not really something thats been a problem before. Any suggestions about how to treat these frames?
Extracting combs!!! I’ve still got 5 hives awaiting their first super.😭
I work single brood chambers and nearly all of my first supers contain some pollen. I see it as a minor problem and after extraction in the Autumn all of my supers are stored wet in airtight bin bags. Any pollen is quickly used up by the bees when the supers go back on in the next Spring especially if the weather is poor.

[greengumbo]

I'd put just one bait hive close by ... don't give them a choice. Honeybee Democracy has the details but if there are equally attractive locations they might take longer to come to a decision.

What I've not seen is two successive days of glorious weather in Aberdeenshire ;)

I've tried dropping swarms like that into a box on the ground. Place a sheet under the swarm with a suitable box ready nearby (floor, lid, dark, smelly). Chuck a rope over the branch with the swarm. Check your beesuit is done up properly ;) . Give the branch a hard tug to drop the swarm onto the sheet. Pandemonium. Immediately place the box adjacent and with the entrance facing the bulk of the bees. Cross your fingers.

It's spectacular but I can't guarantee success.

PS At least you didn't start your post A friend of mine has recently lost a swarm ... ;)

Alas I didn't get the chance to try ! They relocated to a more accessible holly bush at head height and are now in a large nucleus box :) Need a good feed though as must have used up stores a plenty while hanging about.

[RDMW]

https://www.frasersauctionroom.co.uk/sales/266 check out this cool trailer!!


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[fatshark]

What a great find!

Not clear how much headroom there is for supers under the foldback covers.

After you've towed it back up the A835 please send us some more pictures of it ... ;)

[Neils]

Painful afternoon. Definitely a June gap kicking in and one of the hives was mean. Got more stings in 10 minutes than I’ve had in the last 5 years, this one never got in thankfully.

2978

[lindsay s]

Painful afternoon. Definitely a June gap kicking in and one of the hives was mean. Got more stings in 10 minutes than I’ve had in the last 5 years, this one never got in thankfully
Stop pleeping (Orcadian dialect for complaining) Neils. Your beekeeping is easy compared to this honey harvesting and they aren’t too fussy about how it’s eaten!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9238333/honey-hunters-stung-giant-bees-vertical-cliffs/

[Neils]

Hahaha! Pleeping, I like that one

[RDMW]

I did a spilt at the start of May from my favorite colony. Made two nucs each with a fine queen cell. Both cells hatched but now one nuc has a laying worker and the other no sign of eggs. I have put a frame of eggs into the second nuc but presumably it is queenless. Will adding eggs prevent the second nuc producing laying workers?? Thank you


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[fatshark]

Development of laying workers is slowed by a pheromone from open brood, so your developing eggs/larvae should help.

[lindsay s]

I did a spilt at the start of May from my favorite colony. Made two nucs each with a fine queen cell. Both cells hatched but now one nuc has a laying worker and the other no sign of eggs. I have put a frame of eggs into the second nuc but presumably it is queenless. Will adding eggs prevent the second nuc producing laying workers?? Thank you


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I wouldn’t give up on your queens just yet. It’s quite common to wait 5 or 6 weeks for a queen to be mated and laying here.
It might be possible that the new queen is not yet in her stride and the egg pattern will sort itself out in a few days time, because l think that has happened with me in the past. If I’m wrong about this someone put me right.
Lovely day here today after two weeks of poor weather, so l’ve united a weak colony and I’ve been moving brood frames around to strengthen a few weak hives. Not a lot of stores in the hives at the moment and three are still awaiting their first supers!

[RDMW]

Thanks for the positivity! The first nuc had cells with two eggs and eggs stuck in the side walls and drone larvae, so I fear that a lying worker is inevitable:( however the second one may be as you suggest. Fingers crossed.
Lovely day here too. Bees launching themselves into the sunshine after ten straight days of rain. Great to see


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[Neils]

I wouldn’t give up on your queens just yet. It’s quite common to wait 5 or 6 weeks for a queen to be mated and laying here.
It might be possible that the new queen is not yet in her stride and the egg pattern will sort itself out in a few days time, because l think that has happened with me in the past. If I’m wrong about this someone put me right.
Lovely day here today after two weeks of poor weather, so l’ve united a weak colony and I’ve been moving brood frames around to strengthen a few weak hives. Not a lot of stores in the hives at the moment and three are still awaiting their first supers!

I'd agree with you. 5-6 weeks not uncommon and I've also found it not entirely impossible that adding a frame of eggs/brood can sometimes be enough to 'kick start' a new queen into laying. I'd suggest that the number of times that I've shoved a frame of eggs in a colony only to find on the next inspection that the queen is in lay is beyond what you'd expect from pure chance.

Also agree that a new queen can often take a little while to settle down into a 'proper' laying pattern and that you'll often find multiple eggs in the cells, and not just at the bottom, when she first comes into a lay. My understanding is that despite multiple eggs a new queen will still basically lay in a standard pattern but laying workers is far more random, you'll find patches of eggs everywhere.

[Jambo]

Confirmed six 2019 laying queens today - must have been dashing out for quickies between downpours! Such a relief.

Lucky to have a very later field of rape still in flower, nectar was being piled in today after a few days of rain.