todays news

[Trog]

Do beesuits protect from midges? In the 12 years I lived there they seemed to get through just about all defences ... I regularly had to give up fishing because of the no see 'ums.

Give up fishing because of midges???????????? Lightweight! Sometimes they're the only bites I get all day! ;)

Bee veils definitely don't protect against midges. Smoke helps, though!

[fatshark]

Lightweight ... absolutely.

Usually from loss of blood.

[The Drone Ranger]

There is no large scale growing of soft fruits in my area D R. Anything the bees come across will be in private gardens. There are a few semi commercial growers with Polly tunnels but that’s only on a very small scale. I believe that soft fruit growing is big business in Angus D R and I’m wondering if it benefits the beekeepers in your area.
A friend has bees on a farm where there are lots of raspberries in open fields
The bees are very welcome for their pollinating help and they do very well there as there is lots of other forage
A lot of soft fruit is in poly tunnels now though
Gavin is in the heart of the soft fruit growing area in Perthshire
The farmers round here are potatoes rape wheat rotation unfortunately

[Feckless Drone]

There has been quite an increase in black current in Angus, though Gavin tells me this is an early crop so good for early spring build up.
Also, noted a short article in "The Courier" about bumble bees being imported and bringing in with them parasites. Anyone read the details? Its turning out to be a great year in my garden for bumble bees but I do wonder which of them are imports to help pollination in the poly-tunnels of the Carse.

[The Drone Ranger]

They also have a plethora of queen cells.

I need to decide what to do for a) urgent swarm management and b) to add storage space for nectar


If any of those queen cells is sealed then it's likely a swarm has already left
Problem is if there are still lots of bees when the first virgin hatches she may leave with half whats left
A possible course of action is look for the queen in the hive
Look for sealed cells
What you don't want are queen cells that will hatch days apart otherwise you can lose a cast (more than one sometimes)
choose two open ones at the same stage of development and remove the rest
If there are sealed and ready to hatch cells they will be brown at the tip and a gentle test will often tear the papery end of the cell
If a virgin does emerge this way don't touch her remove the other cells and close up the hive till she is mated and laying about about 3 weeks

[gavin]

Yes, blackcurrant flowers about the same time as dandelion. Some current varieties are later than old varieties which reduces the risk of frost damage. Come down to Mennies every few Fridays and Rex can tell you all about it!

http://www.blackcurrantfoundation.co.uk/varieties.html

Unlike rasps I don't think that it ever gives a honey crop due to its early flowering, but you never know.

Catch that story about a paper on the diseases in imported bumble bee colonies here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23347867

I've no doubt that this is a real risk, but is there any evidence of sub-optimal bumble bee populations in areas where they are imported? Has anyone looked at the disease load in wild bumble bee nests, both in areas that import them and areas that don't? I think that you need that sort of study to provide balance - but I'm very much in favour of reducing imports and bringing in measures to bolster natural populations of bumble bees, including in soft fruit areas.

[biggus]

Thanks Fatshark for the Demaree suggestion. I think I will try that if they are Q+.

Unless advised against, those store combs that are brood free will go into the super for ripening and be replaced by empty foundation in the brood.

Drone Ranger, thanks also. You suggest that I select Q cells for retention that are open... this is because it is easier to judge and match their age compared with two Q cells that are closed, thus avoiding further casts, I think?

I am exploring the benefits of a one box for all things system i.e. no shallow supers, just standard national (poly) boxes for both brood and super. I know weight lifting will be an issue, but I like using cellotex to fill in extra volume and just swap bits of that for new foundation whenever the bees need more space.

This was working well until I got overtaken by the rate at which stores grow once the conditions inside and outside the hive converge.. now I am playing catchup.

I used to be able to sit next to the hive in its shed and admire the view of workers streaming out of the hive through a gap in the overhanging tree canopy while reading or working on my laptop. Now they won't tolerate me within 15 feet if I stay too long :(

This has been my best colony, so the new queen will have a lot to live up to.

[madasafish]

There has been quite an increase in black current in Angus, though Gavin tells me this is an early crop so good for early spring build up.
Also, noted a short article in "The Courier" about bumble bees being imported and bringing in with them parasites. Anyone read the details? Its turning out to be a great year in my garden for bumble bees but I do wonder which of them are imports to help pollination in the poly-tunnels of the Carse.

A great year for bumbles here: some 400miles south. And other beekeepers in our Association report the same.
There is no arable farming or large scale poly tunnel farming within a 5 mile radius of our house.

Lots and LOTS of tree bumbles - mainly in bird boxes and quite aggressive. A recent French invader. http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=content/bombus-hypnorum-mapping-project

[Hoomin_erra]

Just collected my first swarm ever. GO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D:D:cool:

Need a bit of info. They were an easy catch, hanging on the bottom of a hanging flower basket about 2 foot of the ground, just just gently brushed them all into a brood box. Will check on them at 6 tonight to check if they have decided to stay.

now, when i move them, does the 3 mile rule apply? Or is it different as they are in swarm mode? They were collected from a friends house about a mile from us, which is where i keep my bees.

[chris]

If I take a swarm on a tree on my apiary,even assuming it came from one of my hives, I put the hive in place at the apiary and that's it. The bees seem to know they've moved next door.If I catch a swarm in a bait hive, I close it up at nightfall, when everyone is inside, and then first thing in the morning move it to its new site; even if it's only a short distance away. I've never lost a swarm. Maybe a few bees have gone off, but I never count them all. Some people put a bit of QE to cover the entrance to keep the queen in until the bees have settled, but I never do that.

A first swarm is a great sensation.

[fatshark]

Move them as near or far as you want ... the 3 mile rule is suspended for a day or two with swarms. As Chris suggests, don't move them until they're all back in the box - probably late evening. Don't feed them for 3 days, give them undrawn foundation, then feed them syrup.

Well done.

[The Drone Ranger]

Good luck with them Biggus
have a look at what a Snelgrove board does when you get a chance
Next season it might be worth a go :)

[Feckless Drone]

Inspected a bait hive in the garden last night; I thought a swarm had moved in last Friday and sure enough a cast has taken up residence. Bees more uniform in appearance than mine, and I guess someone in West end of Dundee has been raising carnies. Lovely laying pattern so put in polynuc and started to feed last night. Despite only small colony I could not spot the Q. Will move them out of town and try to build up. This might make up for the split I made 4 weeks ago from a Q I wanted to raise from, that seems to have failed.

[The Drone Ranger]

Inspected a bait hive in the garden last night; I thought a swarm had moved in last Friday and sure enough a cast has taken up residence. Bees more uniform in appearance than mine, and I guess someone in West end of Dundee has been raising carnies. Lovely laying pattern so put in polynuc and started to feed last night. Despite only small colony I could not spot the Q. Will move them out of town and try to build up. This might make up for the split I made 4 weeks ago from a Q I wanted to raise from, that seems to have failed.
FD I thought you were making your splits over a Snelgrove this year ?

[Feckless Drone]

DR - yes, the Snelgrove splits are fine, but I got greedy and kept an extra Q-cell back and set it up in a poly-nuc. Although I say the splits are fine, and they are now they took over 4 weeks from emergence for the Qs to start laying. Is this a theme this year?

[The Drone Ranger]

DR - yes, the Snelgrove splits are fine, but I got greedy and kept an extra Q-cell back and set it up in a poly-nuc. Although I say the splits are fine, and they are now they took over 4 weeks from emergence for the Qs to start laying. Is this a theme this year?
I think it is (with me anyway)
Good thing about the board is if the queen disappears on a mating flight or is duff
You can just raise some larva with brood bees from below the board to get a second chance
You need to watch for swarming from the bottom after about 4 weeks so its a nuisance if the new queen is slow to lay

[drumgerry]

Received a little box of comb with eggs from Margie in Gairloch today . Into a queenless broodless apidea they went straightaway. Grafting from them if/when (fingers crossed) they hatch. They were posted yesterday so not too long in a hot postal van. But it's an exciting experiment and we'll learn something even if it doesn't work.

[brothermoo]

Christened my red posca pen today! Lovely galtee daughter virgin hatched out of a cell I placed in my nuc that had a dud queen.

Only thing is there are some carnie drones left in the hive as a legacy of the previous queen. Hopefully she avoids these and has good mating on her flight :)
__________________
sent via tapatalk

[Jon]

That one could be laying already as I have a load from the same batch started laying.
I have 5 which emerged on 7 July had eggs on the 15th and I just checked 3 on my allotment which emerged on 12 July and they have eggs as well.
They do tend to fly and mate more quickly from Apideas.

[fatshark]

Just back from checking mine, which also all emerged on the 7th ... all laying ;-) These are destined for banking and then making up nucs for overwintering (slight delay due to a lack of painting of the poly nucs). This good weather is excellent news for queen rearing. My third lot of grafts went on today.

[marion.orca]

Quick question - I read on a social networking site, a post from a well known field centre - not far from Inverness [ we all know the one ] that a swarm had been found from their hive, caught and hived. The reason for the swarm was stated as being due to the hot weather. This is not something I have heard of before, so is there any evidence that bees will swarm if it is too hot, or is it just down to the well known reasons - given that some of them are still behind due to the cold spring ?

[gavin]

An experienced local beekeeper was telling me that he'd had a few colonies - on different sites - disappear with the queen. He thought that it was hot weather-induced absconding.

[brothermoo]

That one could be laying already as I have a load from the same batch started laying.


Got a call this morning from my dad saying that the queen was out front of nuc and flying around intermittently. He was worried that there was something wrong. I had to tell him the good news about orientation flights and the mating that will soon take place!

__________________
sent via tapatalk

[Jon]

Orientation flights can take place early but the mating flights always seem to take place between 12.30 and about 5.30pm

[brothermoo]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/22/hu9aqe8e.jpg

__________________
sent via tapatalk

[Jon]

What time was your pic taken?
That looks like the little cluster you get with the queen when she is on her mating flight and has a mating swarm with her.

Sometimes the queen lands short and you find a little cluster like this on a fencepost or stuck in a bush somewhere.
I bet you a fiver there are eggs in there by Wednesday!

[brothermoo]

What time was your pic taken?
That looks like the little cluster you get with the queen when she is on her mating flight and has a mating swarm with her.

Sometimes the queen lands short and you find a little cluster like this on a fencepost or stuck in a bush somewhere.
I bet you a fiver there are eggs in there by Wednesday!

I was in work and my brother sent me a pic at 1pm of her and a few workers at the entrance, then about half one he sent me that pic with the cluster
I'm hoping there are eggs by wednesday, I'd pay a fiver for them!!

[Jon]

1.30pm and photographic evidence of what you often see after a mating flight.
Odds on for eggs on Wednesday.
I have rescued several little clusters like this and I always see eggs 2 days later.

That's a great picture as most beekeepers will never have seen that.

[GRIZZLY]

Just sitting here twiddling my thumbs at this minute. waiting for my 6 week movement ban to be lifted. Just to rub salt into the wound , Thornes just sent me my cut-comb containers. Misery - as I can't take advantage of the best clover bloom for years, Just have to make do with comb honey when I can get my equipment into my out apiaries.

[The Drone Ranger]

Aha! on another thread I have just been mumbling about cut comb and sections etc
Have you tried any of those section things square or round
Sorry about your standstill --its lashing rain half the time anyway
I can't tell you how amazed I am someone can spot 1 dodgy cell in a hive heaving with bees
I have just been fishing a virgin queen out of a queen raiser (hair roller)
Needless to say no smoke 2 stings on finger filling apidea and my guitar lesson at 7.00pm hey ho!

[Bumble]

I'm hoping there are eggs by wednesday, I'd pay a fiver for them!!

A fiver an egg? I've got some spare - wanna buy some :cool:

[gavin]

If it was Uriah Heep songs you were playing would a few fat fingers make any difference?! ;)

But no, I've never tried sections. Cut comb a few years ago was enough of an innovation. Everyone says sections are near impossible and I believe them.

[The Drone Ranger]

Lol! don't know about Heap
Stray's "After the Storm with this weather"
1724

I don't want to buy anything that just sits around never used
With all the DIY expertise I bet someone on here has made their own section crate probably out of Correx
I'm making frames for the Apideas from Jons instructions today

[Jon]

Everyone says sections are near impossible and I believe them.

You need to time it with a humongous nectar flow and even then they probably only fill out about a dozen of the 21 sections properly.
I have a couple of crates in the shed and I don't even bother trying any more.
Cut comb seems to have replaced sections for those who want a piece of honeycomb.

[Bridget]

Checked out hives - and to think I was so happy this time last week. First the apidea - I think I have a drone laying queen but I could be over anxious as its only been a week. . Here is a photo1725
And another1726
I welcome comments on this and the next.
I did an AS on the 1st June. The colony with the queen cell looks like this
1727

And the colony with the queen looks like this1728

That looks to me like laying workers though I have no previous experience. What does anyone think?
Thanks

[Jon]

The apidea frame looks odd but there is some worker brood.
Maybe give it a week and make sure it has a frame of nicely drawn worker comb for the queen to lay in.
The other two look like laying workers or possibly drone laying queen although the scattered pattern is more like laying workers.

[Bridget]

Edit post above : did AS on 1st July. Not June

[fatshark]

Yep, laying workers in the big frame. Are there multiple eggs in cells? If its a DLQ I'd expect single eggs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

[drumgerry]

I might have said that the last photo was a Drone laying queen rather than laying workers as the brood pattern seems central and relatively organised but without seeing it up close difficult to tell. What are you seeing egg-wise Bridget? And have you been into this hive since you carried out the artificial swarm? If so what did you see then?

A Drone layer will be much easier to deal with than laying workers.

[Bridget]

Yep, laying workers in the big frame. Are there multiple eggs in cells? If its a DLQ I'd expect single eggs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

I didn't know about multiple eggs in cells I will look. The big frames are from two different hives so laying workers in both then😁

[Bridget]

I might have said that the last photo was a Drone laying queen rather than laying workers as the brood pattern seems central and relatively organised but without seeing it up close difficult to tell. What are you seeing egg-wise Bridget? And have you been into this hive since you carried out the artificial swarm? If so what did you see then?

A Drone layer will be much easier to deal with than laying workers.

I was in that hive a week ago and saw eggs and brood. I did not see a queen. I need to go back and see if there is a queen. Colony very quiet and well behaved.

[fatshark]

Hi drumgerry
If it's a DLQ in the last one she's not laying a particularly good pattern. Perhaps possible if the intervening cells are full of nectar.

What do the other frames look like? If there's no real semblance of a central cluster - on and between frames - my money's on laying workers.

Sorry to bring bad news Bridget. And two at once ...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

[The Drone Ranger]

For the Apidea
Have you got other queen cells nearly ready Bridget
If so I would just start again with wax new bees and Q/C
Plenty young bees this time of year

[drumgerry]

Like you say Fatshark. Not a great brood pattern. But I have seen the like with DLQs before. There has been a massive flow on up here so it's quite possible the missing cells are filled with nectar. Again impossible to say without seeing it.

[Jon]

I agree with Gerry. A DLQ often produces a scattered pattern not as perfect as some of the text books would have you believe.
The multiple eggs would be the clincher as fatshark says.

[Bridget]

Last week the brood box was full of honey, now I would say most of those cells in the photos are empty. Am I clutching at straws if I think they may have just moved the honey up? In truth I think I am.

[The Drone Ranger]

I didn't know about multiple eggs in cells I will look. The big frames are from two different hives so laying workers in both then
Well if the split was on 1st July one of the hives had a queen so its unlikely that one would have laying workers
The other half had a Q/C and even if that died now its 20 days or so later its unlikely you have laying workers
So the good news is that you might be ok to replace the queens pronto
If there are several eggs per cell when you check thats bad and not easy to fix laying workers

[Bridget]

There has been as Drumgerry says a massive flow. I added a brood box to another hive a week ago and 4 frames are full of capped honey! I think that's quite good for the highlands.
Unfotunatly the only spare queen I have is in the apidea and not looking that promising.

[Jon]

The apidea is the best of a bad lot. Sometimes a new queen starts off laying some drone and then settles herself. Are all 3 frames in the apidea like this? If so that is a bad sign. there are photos of laying worker cells on the apidea management thread (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/showthread.php?568-apidea-management-and-grafting-photos&highlight=apidea+management) I started.

[Bridget]

Jon
Two frames are like that and the other is full of stores. She did get mated and lay v quickly so might give her some time to settle.

[The Drone Ranger]

Are your bees hybrids Bridget or are you trying for AMM
They look nice and black
What you need is a queen in both hives even if they are drone layers because that stops laying workers

[Jon]

Putting in a frame of open brood also delays laying workers.

[fatshark]

Discovered my Ben Harden setup was queenless ... she was definitely there when I arranged the box. They'd definitely not swarmed - the Q was clipped and the box remained packed with bees. Perhaps I'd damaged her during the inspection? I knocked off the QCs and used one of the grafted sealed cells from the cell bar.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

[Jon]

Interesting contrast (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/observations/belfast#?tab=map&map=Rainfall&locId=350347&zoom=6&lon=-4.00&lat=56.00&fcTime=1374954300) in the weather between N.I. and Scotland today

[drumgerry]

Yep - peeing down here in Speyside. Hope it's not set in for the week as the forecast seems to suggest.

[gavin]

The heather could do with freshening up shortly before the bees descend on it. And if it has to be a Sunday when the heavens open, it may as well be the Sunday I have no transport. In between bee-mobiles at the moment.

[Bridget]

This time last year there were commercial hives on the heather near here. Spoke to local farmers and they reckon a combination of the long drought and east wind during the winter did for the older/taller heather that was not protected by snow.

[Bridget]

I agree with Gerry. A DLQ often produces a scattered pattern not as perfect as some of the text books would have you believe.
The multiple eggs would be the clincher as fatshark says.

So I went back to check both hives yesterday. Taking in to consideration the query re the scattered pattern I can confirm there were no multiple eggs. also both hives were full of eggs and larvae all over the place with either polished cells or cells full of honey around them. So I am thinking the comment regarding brood box full of honey and only random cells free for new eggs may apply. Both hives very quiet and calm. Could have tried the gloves off trick. Could not see the Queens but there was definite signs of a small amount of larvae in the super of one of the hives.
So I'm hanging fire for present but how do I deal wit the brood in the super scenario. Very little activity in that super at present while the brood box builds up after the AS. could not see the queen in the super so either I'm blind or the QE is damaged or I do indeed have workers laying.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fatshark]

Interesting experience today with strong winds, thunder, lightning and - at times - heavy rain. For reasons I'll not bother recounting I had reason to go into three hives in the middle of a thunderstorm. The only thing that bothered them was the rain ... if I waited for a drier period they were pretty calm. Certainly not as placid as on a balmy summer day, but in no way threatening or unpleasant to handle. The most striking sight was the massive return of foragers in the minutes before the heavens opened, with the sky darkening and fork lightning all around. Amazing.

[Jon]

The most striking sight was the massive return of foragers in the minutes before the heavens opened, with the sky darkening and fork lightning all around. Amazing.

I saw the same thing today. Amazing how many foragers must be out there as thousands seemed to return in just a few minutes.
Got stung to buggery taking a queen from an apidea this evening and have a very fat finger.

never a good soundtrack when you hear the rumble of thunder as you work with bees.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Bridget
you could take the Q/Exc out for the moment till you find her
She must be up there to lay eggs
It's early days for laying workers I hope

[fatshark]

The single eggs strongly suggests a DLQ to me (assuming all the brood are still drones). Any sign of worker brood on those frames Bridget? As suggested I suspect the brood pattern is due to cells being filled with nectar. Were there any polished cells located centrally? Sometimes these can be just a few dozen cells.

Larvae in the supers just adds to the confusion. Sometimes you get a few immediately above the brood nest (if strong usually) and I suspect this is due to eggs being moved. If they're more widespread I'd be worrying about laying workers. Or a dwarf queen ...

I usually deal with brood in the supers by scraping it out and letting them rebuild the comb. I might be tempted to replace the QE with a clearer board for one day, scrape out the brood and then replace the QE and super(s). Of course, they might not leave the supers if there's brood to look after, in which case shake them all out into brood box instead.

Keep us informed of developments ...

[fatshark]

I saw the same thing today. Amazing how many foragers must be out there as thousands seemed to return in just a few minutes.
Got stung to buggery taking a queen from an apidea this evening and have a very fat finger.

never a good soundtrack when you hear the rumble of thunder as you work with bees.

I was more than a little apprehensive when I started ... inevitably the hives were bursting with bees and were an impressive sight. After the first one, with thunder all around and no trouble, I started to feel a bit more confident. I baled out when the rain soaked through the back of my bee suit, but returned to the hive once it had changed to drizzle.

You need some medicine to take the pain away ...

[Jon]

I am already drinking it

[fatshark]

Actually yesterdays news ...

Mini-nucs examined for mated queens = 8
Absconders = 1
Queens marked = 7
Queens sold = 1
Queens banked = 6
QC's recovered from Ben Harden system = 7
QC's that weren't 'cos they'd emerged = 4
Trips home to get vanilla essence = 1
Virgin queens introduced to mini-nucs = 4
Cells introduced into mini-nucs = 3
Teaching apiary evening visits = 1

And it was 32 degrees centigrade here yesterday so ...

Beers consumed in the evening = several

Which meant that ...

Number of mini-nucs (with virgins) left with QE in place = 2 (D'oh!)

Won't be corrected until this evening :o

[Jon]

The don't take the first orientation flight until day 4 or 5 anyway so no harm done.

[Bridget]

Wow windy here. Just had to rush out and double up the blocks on top of the hives.

[brothermoo]

Moved a swarm from a chimney to the out-apiary this morning..
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/uzepu5yv.jpg
http: took me 2 days to get the remnants up thru porter bee escapes (in handy correx) into the nuc before shifting.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/ubupuqam.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/pymy8a5y.jpg
___________________________________
sent from my smartphone.. although it doesn't filter my not-so-smart comments

[The Drone Ranger]

Pretty amazing pics brothermoo
I am impressed that takes some courage
The advice I got when they went down our much lower chimney was to hang a drawn comb down in the chimney on string
The idea is the queen wants to get laying so she moves onto the comb and you pull the string up with her on the comb
How did you get the queen in the box ?
the bees will follow where she goes next
You could have put a satellite dish up there at the same time :)

[brothermoo]

I took the cowl out and shook the bees into the nuc box, had a wee 'shufty' and saw her on the comb. From then it was fairly straight forward.. well as straight forward as working in a roof in a bee smock can be :)

___________________________________
sent from my smartphone.. although it doesn't filter my not-so-smart comments

[Jon]

No better man for the job!

[Trog]

Pretty amazing pics brothermoo
I am impressed that takes some courage
The advice I got when they went down our much lower chimney was to hang a drawn comb down in the chimney on string
The idea is the queen wants to get laying so she moves onto the comb and you pull the string up with her on the comb
How did you get the queen in the box ?
the bees will follow where she goes next
You could have put a satellite dish up there at the same time :)

Comb on a string? What a brilliant idea. I'll file that away for future reference.

[gavin]

Heather flit underway. The Ford Focus Estate - sitting outside - now has .....

- seven Swienties, one of them double brood
- eight Paynes poly nucs, two stacked in the front passenger seat
- seven Apideas

And whenever I can crawl out of my pit in the morning they'll be on their way to Glen Clova.

Thanks for your help, Bill!

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Beefever]

Really? You can sqeeeeeze all that in your car? Where do you sit?

[greengumbo]

Heather flit underway. The Ford Focus Estate - sitting outside - now has .....

- seven Swienties, one of them double brood
- eight Paynes poly nucs, two stacked in the front passenger seat
- seven Apideas

And whenever I can crawl out of my pit in the morning they'll be on their way to Glen Clova.

Thanks for your help, Bill!

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

I dont think my suzuki alto could fit an apidea in never mind the rest ;) Good luck with the move.

[gavin]

Fifteen hives and seven Apideas in a Ford Focus Estate after 7 this morning.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1750&d=1375873620

Unpacked up the glen this morning.

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1751&d=1375873622

Stowaway making a break for it!

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1752&d=1375873620


It was a bit of a squeeze and we couldn't have got another bee in (or beekeeper to help).

Surprisingly - apart from a few bees clinging to the outside of the ventilation screens of the Apideas, I don't think one bee escaped on the journey. Last year I forgot to nail down the mesh panels that sit in the floor of the Swienties :o

Funny that - the pics seem to have disappeared. And they're back again.

[Bumble]

Do you expect a decent crop this year?

[gavin]

I always expect a decent crop :).

However none of these colonies is really strong - just two more or less filling their first brood box. Past experience says we'll get something of a crop if it is a good year, but nothing if it is average or poor. I'll be happy if the boxes come home bursting with bees, stuffed with winter stores, and with our 7 virgins mated to something other than Italian imports!

These are the association's bees - usually posted under my pseudonym ESBA Apiarist. Tonight six of my own (in wooden Nationals) will be heading for a more westerly glen. They're a bit stronger so I'm more optimistic about them.

PS Beefever - I just sat in the drivers seat ;)

[Trog]

My bees are busy moving themselves around! Swarm and ?mating swarm yesterday, prime swarm today. For a very good reason, bees have not been checked since 24 July and I suspect even the ones we a/s have been at it again as it's that sort of summer! Just going out to make some more b/f up to house the latest swarm. So much for taking things easy; the bees have other ideas for me!

[GRIZZLY]

AFB aside, I have had one of my best honey crops for years. The clover is still going full belt so I'm hoping to get a few more supers off the bees away from my home apiary which is still under the stand still order until the end of this month. It would be lovely to be able to pack some bees off to the heather. Still hopefully there's always next year.

[Ruary]

AFB aside, I have had one of my best honey crops for years.. I love the throw away comment about AFB.

Ah! the power of positive thinking.

[gavin]

The second phase of the move to the hills - my bees - went very well on Wed night. This time I didn't lift a box - all the lifting was done by Bill and Helen, thanks! A fine pair of intelligent, keen, nice, and in one case slightly feisty (or even determined) beekeeping stars of the future. Six wooden Nationals with one or two empty supers are now sitting behind a wall on a heather moor in Glen Isla and I'm looking forward to filling that box of new style Thorne cut comb boxes in time for the Dundee Flower Show.

Then yesterday I was honoured to spend half the day with a very distinguished guest ....

:) fatshark! :)

We went to Glen Clova and moved three nucs up to full sized boxes, and got very wet in the process. Lovely, gentle, calm bees - even the ones thoroughly impregnated by Italian drones. But their hybrid workers will be young house bees yet .....

[gavin]

Also ... the seven Apideas moved to Glen Clova included five newly stocked (they were let out in the glen), and two that had been sitting for a while with virgins getting older but no eggs. Yesterday one of them had some fresh eggs (so was probably mated in the import-infested Carse of Gowrie) and the other didn't (so might yet mate with a better class of drone). FS spotted the virgin in the latter, a rather depleted mating nuc from a failed earlier attempt.

There was a lot of drone activity around the mating nucs. I think that they realised where they may be made welcome.

[Jon]

I wouldn't move an apidea with a virgin in it Gav, unless she was just emerged and had not yet taken an orientation flight.
Let me know if any of these mate as I am curious to see if they reorientate again and successfully mate.

[gavin]

Sure. There is only one that has prob orientated, then been moved but is not yet mated. One seems to have mated before the move, and five new ones from Sunday were locked in to keep them from the attentions of flippin' ligustica drones.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[The Drone Ranger]

End of the day Gavin its either get the right mating or none because otherwise you will be going backwards
Worth taking a chance
I have two drone layers from the last batch who were expected to mate in the recent rainy spell (between heatwaves Grrr)
No use to you I'm afraid probably 50% carniolan (butta no speaka Italian yeta) That will come later :)

[Jon]

Virgins in apideas are back to 14+ days to mate as opposed to 8 days in the July heatwave.
For native bee breeders the theory is that native drones are active for longer in the season than yer foreign imports so there should be good matings late season as there will be more AMM drones in the mix.
No idea if this is true other than I have had some of my queens mate well in September in previous years. Just anecdotal observation rather than hard fact.

[The Drone Ranger]

Virgins in apideas are back to 14+ days to mate as opposed to 8 days in the July heatwave.
For native bee breeders the theory is that native drones are active for longer in the season than yer foreign imports so there should be good matings late season as there will be more AMM drones in the mix.
No idea if this is true other than I have had some of my queens mate well in September in previous years. Just anecdotal observation rather than hard fact.

I think that is fairly true certainly of the Italian bees they won't be fielding drones late in the season they might be there but not flying much
Carniolans will be out in any cold weather same as the natives but most of the pure Carniolans are in the hands of business beekeepers
There might be a case for not trying to get matings at the heather as there are lots of commercial hives up there
If I had a site away from heather that's where I think the best chance for late mating might be
Round my way there are so many admixture bees that it won't make much difference, but for some people it's a possibility
The idea of saturating an area with drones of the right type of is not something I would rely on as they are found up to 60Km from their birthplace
Possibly late in the season they will be less likely to be so far flung

[gavin]

What happens with drones that have found a new home in a different colony - are they kept on? I could imagine that many drones are left behind in the lowlands when the colonies head for the hills.

As far as I know the bee farmers don't use the glen. The heather has receded up the hillsides so maybe its not that attractive. However I do know my two beekeeping neighbours up there and their bees are not so far from the type we're trying to breed.

[The Drone Ranger]

What happens with drones that have found a new home in a different colony - are they kept on? I could imagine that many drones are left behind in the lowlands when the colonies head for the hills.

As far as I know the bee farmers don't use the glen. The heather has receded up the hillsides so maybe its not that attractive. However I do know my two beekeeping neighbours up there and their bees are not so far from the type we're trying to breed.

That's good news then Gavin you might be able to get some good matings
Best of luck up there
Next year the Italians will be gone
It's not economic to feed them enough to overwinter

[Bridget]

No news for two days. Beekeeper collapse syndrome or web site down?

[wee willy]

Maybe there are some lurkers such as I :D
WW


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[gavin]

Beekeeper off on holiday syndrome here. Saw a honeybee in Gairloch this afternoon, not far from the Old Inn where the 'Bees and Beer' Wester Ross group meet once a month. Not this week unfortunately.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[The Drone Ranger]

No news for two days. Beekeeper collapse syndrome or web site down?
It is quiet :)

Today moved 3 nucs into full boxes
took out a drone laying queen and put in one from the mating nucs using a butler cage
Elsewhere I have a queen in a cupkit cassette she has laid in the cells will let her out tomorrow
The last attempt was a few days ago
I let her out as soon as eggs appeared and the bees removed them all and stated filling the cells with honey

Took a hive to my friends Mike and Gail who are newbies this is their first hive
Although the car journey was half an hour and I had driven them over a bumpy field before, they still arrived in good temper
The queen will be a hybrid but she was very light compared to the bees that makes her very easy to find (she is marked red anyway)

On arrival we positioned the hive in a nice spot sheltered by two hedges and in sun most of the day
I was cautious but needn't have been We opened the hive after 20 mins and they saw open and capped brood young larva end eggs
Gail was pleased with herself when she spotted the queen
She is easy to spot but it was a confidence booster
We discussed varroa and the plan is Apilife var followed by Winter treatment by trickle (oxalic)

They are both keen and I hope they made it to the Thornes sale but I haven't checked yet
I was able to give them a bee jacket + a hive tool and my retired small smoker which has been superseded
That meant both of them were able to handle the frames and inspect the bees larva etc

The bees were given a small contact feeder of sugar syrup, Mike and Gail will replenish this another twice as the bees were light on stores and need to re-orient themselves

The benefit of getting bees later is that the swarming season is past and they can concentrate on things like control of varroa winter feeding etc

Since there was no charge I hope they value their bees and hive -- I'm sure they will
I will be keeping an eye on them next season but not interfering all the time just when needed or asked

They have a good spot so hopefully they will get some honey next year and be off to a flying start

[lindsay s]

Bit of a mixed picture up here at the moment, yesterday I was removing empty supers off the hives at my main apiary.:( They were put on to give my colonies extra room when a flow was on but now the bees are showing no intentions of filling them. I’ve now consolidated all of my part filled frames and they will be left on for a couple weeks yet and hopefully the bees will finish them off. Meanwhile at the temporary site that I’m using for the summer two colonies that I split for nucs have still managed to fill five supers between them.
The weather has been a lot better than last years but when the forecaster on the local radio says “it will be 17⁰c here today which is a little bit above average for the time of year” you can see what the Orkney bees have to put up with. I wish we could get a summer like Jon’s had in Northern Ireland this year.
All of the queens that hatched from our grafting trial are now mated and laying and I’m sure some of our members will have another go at queen rearing next year.

[Jon]

Hi lindsay. We had a great July and it was brilliant for queen mating but I don't think I am going to have a brilliant honey harvest.
Others I know locally will be getting much more honey than me this year.

[beejazz]

:confused::mad: My beautiful brown stripey queen escaped today as I was attempting to put her into a cage. Why am I too hesitant and fumble it when picking up queens? Because she wriggles and I don't want to squash her is the answer!

[Jon]

Use the plastic pipe. I have put dozen and dozens into cages using this and not had one fly off yet.

[The Drone Ranger]

:confused::mad: My beautiful brown stripey queen escaped today as I was attempting to put her into a cage. Why am I too hesitant and fumble it when picking up queens? Because she wriggles and I don't want to squash her is the answer!
She won't have gone far sometimes you will find a little group of bees will join her and you might spot them
If you pick them up ,by the wings is best ,even one wing
I use the Pooter pipe thing as well, it is the safest because you can retreat indoors and get the queen in a cage there
Don't worry too much we have all lost queens at some time or another and she might be back in there now :)

[beejazz]

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement guys, I hope to find her back home when I visit the apairy this evening. If not and she's gone, well I'll be more careful next time, and I have a queenless nuc to think what to do with! (Shake the bees off the combs and return them to the hives they came from, then put a sheet of newspaper over the topbars with an empty super on top, then tip the bees in?)

[fatshark]

Then yesterday I was honoured to spend half the day with a very distinguished guest ....

:) fatshark! :)

We went to Glen Clova and moved three nucs up to full sized boxes, and got very wet in the process. Lovely, gentle, calm bees - even the ones thoroughly impregnated by Italian drones. But their hybrid workers will be young house bees yet .....

Au contraire ... It was I who was honoured.

It might have been a bit damp but it was exceptionally bonny. A beautiful spot.

[fatshark]

A quick peek in a few boxes having returned from all points North ...

Mixed fortunes with the mini-nucs. 6/7 that received mature QCs or virgins on the 1st now have poor quality emergency cells which - from their contents - appear to have been sealed about yesterday :( All were setup in the same way and have mated 2-3 queens already this season. Those that received cells were checked on the day of emergence to ensure all was OK. All are in the same locations I've had lots of mating success with this season. The one thing obviously different is the parentage of the cells/virgins ... I wonder if they didn't like something about the stock?

Actually, that's not mixed fortunes, it's near abject failure. The 7th had a queen in but she was scampering about like a virgin. Ho hum.

Better news on my converted 3 frame MB poly-Langstroths ... I split a colony four ways and added mated queens to each and all are laying nicely. I'll post pics of the conversion in due course.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Beejazz

If you want to combine them with a hive just put all the frames in a spare broodbox then sit it over newspaper on a queenright colony
You are in the south though so you could put some young brood into the nuc and they will start queen cells
There is time to get that new queen mated and laying before the end of the season
If there is plenty bees and brood in your nuc at the moment it might be worth a go

[beejazz]

Hi DR, luckily the queen found her way home to the apidea, I caged her and put her into the nuc tonight.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi DR, luckily the queen found her way home to the apidea, I caged her and put her into the nuc tonight.
Hey that's great news your back on track again :)

[lindsay s]

I was helping Sue our association secretary with her bees today. It was a nice day and the bees were good to handle. Some of her hives had four supers on so we had lots heavy boxes to separate from the main brood chambers and we were also moving brood frames between two colonies. At one stage we had two hives and seven supers exposed to the rest of the apiary but we just carried on with what we were doing. We should have been paying more attention! The sight and smell of all those full supers lying around was too much for the rest of the apiary and we had started a robbing frenzy which we never noticed until we started putting everything back together. Every hive was at it and on a scale which I’d never seen before. Drastic measures were called for so Sue got her garden sprayer out (it’s only used for watering) and it was only after the robbers had several soakings that things started to calm down. I thought it was a bit too early for robbing on this scale so yet another lesson learned.

[beejazz]

Lindsay, the same thing happened to me, although luckily the bees were trying to rob themselves. I took two stickies off the hive thinking the bees had finished cleaning them up, then had a quick check in the brood box. I had intended removing the two cleaned up supers but it was impossible, just too many bees following and I couldn't get them off the combs. Ended up putting them back on the hive. Fortunately I only have the one hive on that site, I can just imagine the chaos if i had done that with a number of hives close by. Next time I will go armed with lots of crownboards, with feeder holes closed off!

[greengumbo]

Good weather this week, apparently !

Had a look in a nuc I made a while back that I requeened with a local AMM and was delighted to see jet black bees all over the combs with only a handful of the original yellower ones remaining. Lovely brood pattern and honey / pollen stored below the brood nest. They are on 6 lang frames in a good poly nuc so will prob just treat for varroa now and then feed september and leave them in there to overwinter. My two grafted AMM queens have hatched and one is looking fat so fingers crossed for brood / eggs next time I check - delighted at that. Home bodged keiler seems to have done the trick so far !

[Bridget]

Today took drastic action on hives with no eggs or larvae and despite several searches no queen found. According to Mr Ted Hooper you should put a QE between base and brood box, shake out all bees in front of hive, replace cleared frames and low and behold in about 1/2 hr all bees will have returned to the hive and you will find the queen below the QE. It was carnage - the other hives started robbing a nuc, the other hives were robbing the frames I had taken off, the bees puddled in heaps in the grass and quite a few didn't make it. After the famous half an hour I went out and smoked them all and encouraged a few in. Closed up the nuc. 4 hours later checked under the QE and loads of bees, many dead, some looking as thou they had panicked to get through the QE. Still no queen to be seen. Had another hive in similar quandary but will have to find some other way. For those shouting test frame of brood .....I know but very little brood in this apiary. I think we are heading for disaster 🔫

[Jon]

If you cut a square inch of small larvae from any comb and insert it in the hive you want to check that is more than enough for a test frame.
bees are in total robbing mode at the moment so you need to be careful.

[Bridget]

If you cut a square inch of small larvae from any comb and insert it in the hive you want to check that is more than enough for a test frame.
bees are in total robbing mode at the moment so you need to be careful.

The only hive with any larvae is (possibly) the one with a newly introduced queen Jon and I really don't want to disturb her. It might be the only hive left in a couple of weeks.

[Jon]

If she is out and laying you could have a wee bit of comb out in 2 minutes with little or no disturbance.

[Bridget]

I could try. If I take (cut) a small amount out how do i suspend it inthe hive? gaffer tape to another frame?

[fatshark]

I'd mash the 'recipient' comb down a bit and hold it in place with 3-4 toothpicks broken in half. The bees will propilise everything up in very short order.

If you're a dab hand with grafting you can quickly (3 minutes) take a few larvae and put them into cell cups stuck (Araldite/Gorilla glue) onto a pointed sliver of Coke tin ... you can then stick these into the face of the comb in the queenless hive. There's a post on this trick on Beekeepingforum but I can't find it for the moment. I've used it. The sliver of coke tin is like a long thin triangle, perhaps 2cm x 1cm. Stick the jenter-type cell cup at the fat end, graft into it, stick it in the frame.

Here speaks the voice of experience ... punch a crude hole with a bradawl through the bit you're going to stick the cell cup to. It provides a bit of 'grip' for the glue to work with.

[Black Comb]

I cut 2" squares out as per Jon and cut a 2" sqaure hole in the upper middle of the receiving comb. It stays in and does the job.

[Jon]

I could try. If I take (cut) a small amount out how do i suspend it inthe hive? gaffer tape to another frame?

Cut a hole the same shape in a comb and insert it.

[gavin]

Why not just lay a piece horizontally in the gap at the top bars between some middle frames? There is a method for raising lots of queen cells that uses a frame of eggs/larvae laid horizontally so it should work with a test piece. Top tip from the queue for the ferry at Stornoway.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Adam]

Today took drastic action on hives with no eggs or larvae and despite several searches no queen found. According to Mr Ted Hooper you should put a QE between base and brood box, shake out all bees in front of hive, replace cleared frames and low and behold in about 1/2 hr all bees will have returned to the hive and you will find the queen below the QE. It was carnage - the other hives started robbing a nuc, the other hives were robbing the frames I had taken off, the bees puddled in heaps in the grass and quite a few didn't make it. After the famous half an hour I went out and smoked them all and encouraged a few in. Closed up the nuc. 4 hours later checked under the QE and loads of bees, many dead, some looking as thou they had panicked to get through the QE. Still no queen to be seen. Had another hive in similar quandary but will have to find some other way. For those shouting test frame of brood .....I know but very little brood in this apiary. I think we are heading for disaster 🔫

I've used the method so described and it works. But I HAVEN'T done it at this time of year. I do hate this time of year! Plenty bees but little forage.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Today took drastic action on hives with no eggs or larvae ... shake out all bees in front of hive, ... It was carnage ...


I've used the method so described and it works. But I HAVEN'T done it at this time of year. I do hate this time of year! Plenty bees but little forage.

That sounds terrible, Bridget. Might it have been less harrowing if one had brushed all the bees into an empty broodbox and then added the queen excluder and original brood box on top of that, rather than shaking them all out onto the ground? Kitta

[Bridget]

Sounds sensible Kitta. I was trying to do the best and had the whole process for both hives and the introduction of new queens carefully mapped out but abandoned the rest. Will try again tomorrow but the longer it gets left the smaller the colonies are getting and I worry about getting them through the winter.
Adam we have lots of heather much of it still to blossom.

[gavin]

Just passing a mile or so from Bridget admiring the heather in the pouring rain .... not driving now obviously.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Bridget]

Just passing a mile or so from Bridget admiring the heather in the pouring rain .... not driving now obviously.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk
Train? Pity you weren't passing in daylight and bright sunshine - you could have given me the benefit of your knowledge! Had to put the heating on tonight for the first time for several months.

[fatshark]

Train?

You must be joking.

Gavin has a chauffeur.

[gavin]

I did indeed. We swapped roles after the Aviemore pit-stop.

Spotted that posh train, the old fashioned one in dark red, and made note to self: must hire that for our next jolly north.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Jimbo]

Can recommend the afternoon tea with scones on that train as it steams it's way to Glenboggle

[gavin]

As long as the crockery is posh-label stuff. ;)

On our Wester Ross - Lewisian expedition the bell heather and ling heather were in profusion, side-by-side. It seems that the overlap in flowering is greater than in the east. Must help provide continuous late forage from some time in July until September.

Our B&B host on Lewis near the Callanish Stone Circle (highly recommended, B&B (http://www.9callanish.co.uk/) and stones) mentioned a nearby beekeeper. Can't be easy keeping bees thriving in that sort of terrain. Stornoway itself is a different matter - one street could have been suburbia anywhere given the healthy growth of trees and other garden plants.

OK, its a warm humid day in Tayside and the bees in the hills are overdue a visit ....

G.

[biggus]

Saw a worker bee beating up a drone on the front of one my hives on this bright, warm afternoon in southern England with plenty of balsam coming in.

Is it really that time already? I wonder if day length determines the time for drone evictions, rather than food scarcity or temperature, for example.

[Bridget]

Bee inspector came today - and didn't have much to say really except I could try to unite two hives or maybe all three of them before its gets too autumnal. So he found no queens, no queen in the apidea, no brood, no eggs, no larvae and he reckons I did have drone laying laying queens after all. ( We didn't inspect the new queen added 2 days ago just checked she was out of her cage) So much as I thought all along really. The nuc has been dumped after the robbing so it look likes I will may be back to square zero in no time at all. I will certainly be supporting Drumgerry in his queen rearing programme next spring.

Only one good thing - doesn't look like I have varroa (as he picked over the corpses in the dumped nuc) so excellent news for a beeless apiary then.:rolleyes:

[GRIZZLY]

Our bee inspector called today for a look at my bees. Hooray !! He has declared them to be free of disease so normal beekeeping can resume. I've just got to wait for the official release of the apiary from the stand-still order.The bees looked to be in very good shape with all colonies being queen right . Bursting with bees and all with significant brood nests.Still more flower honey to remove from some of them. Lots of honey stored in the brood boxes which should reduce my winter feed bill. Honey flow is now pretty well over causing some of the bees to become tetchy and defensive,
Our association is moving forward at last, we have secured an ass'n apiary site where we can do some neuc rearing next year plus arrange for our beginner members to get some hands on experience. Need to get our hands on some black bees so we can do a bit of queen rearing etc.

[gavin]

Need to get our hands on some black bees so we can do a bit of queen rearing etc.

Well, the Amm swap-shop via SBAi started this year, so come May 2014 I hope that we can do more.

[gavin]

So he found no queens, no queen in the apidea, no brood, no eggs, no larvae and he reckons I did have drone laying laying queens after all. ( We didn't inspect the new queen added 2 days ago just checked she was out of her cage)

Chin up Bridget! Was that new queen a mated, laying one? If that one is no good we'll need to have a whip-round of some kind.

G.

[Blackcavebees]

Well, the Amm swap-shop via SBAi started this year, so come May 2014 I hope that we can do more.

Sounds good, maybe we can revisit the plantation of Ulster

[greengumbo]

Took my first honey crop ever last night :)

I was consolidating a 2 brood lang into a single brood box and have had the QE in for about a month. Reckon I got 8 deep langs at least half capped with no nectar dripping out the rest when I shook it. Just need to try find an extractor now !

On another note I have noticed all the hives other than this monster are short on stores (no its not been robbing the others.....I think!). I think the sunny weather has tricked me into thinking there must be plenty forage about. So I have stuck some feed on. How much do you lot feed this time of year ? Am I right in thinking its not quite time to fill the hive with food for winter ?

[gavin]

Always a good feeling, especially that first crop!

I met a beekeeper in Inverurie who did his winter feeding just after he took his crop off in July. Even then, in my inexperienced years, I didn't think it right. You still need winter bees raised at this time of year so if the brood nests are small, feed to stimulate them. Jon's warnings about the risk of robbing and wasps apply, so do it in the quiet of an evening and keep entrances small.

Don't rule out robbing giving you the big difference between hives - it can be happening quietly.

September and into October is the usual time for winter feeding, so if they've been raising a decent amount of brood you could do it now. Sometimes winter feed (light or heavy) is converted into bees, generally a good thing except that you will need to feed more.

[Jon]

If you have a couple of frames well filled with stores in the brood box that is all you need as it would see them through a week or two of poor weather.
The problem is when people feed and fill 8 or 9 brood frames with stores leaving the queen with a very restricted laying space.
At this time of year that would be a disaster, but feeding three or four kilos of syrup or fondant would do no harm.

I remember seeing a presentation by Peter Edwards and he feeds a block of fondant split longways, sitting inside an eke, in October.

Some good advice (http://www.stratfordbeekeepers.org.uk/PENotes/Fondant.htm) on his website

[Bridget]

Chin up Bridget! Was that new queen a mated, laying one? If that one is no good we'll need to have a whip-round of some kind.

G.
The new Queen was mated and I checked her yesterday to see if she had been accepted by the colony and all well. She is one of Drone Rangers ladies. Still thought it a little early to look for eggs and larvae as she was only introduced on Wednesday last week.
I have another small colony into which I have put a test frame which has resulted in nothing. Saw only a very few larvae and a very few - in 10's not 100's - emerging brood. If there is a lurking queen in there (she was marked but not seen since 7th July) I need her out so I can combine with Droney's queen. I don't want to do that shake out I did with the other hive last week but I might have a go and do something less dramatic very soon - like tomorrow.
BTW they found AFB in Struy Inverness-shire.

[Mellifera Crofter]

... I have another small colony into which I have put a test frame which has resulted in nothing. Saw only a very few larvae and a very few - in 10's not 100's - emerging brood. ...

So there is a queen (unless a hive can be perverse and ignore an offer of rescue). Could the marked queen have been superseded without you noticing? My instinct is to let them be. Maybe give them a little bit of syrup and see if that gets the queen laying again.

Kitta

[fatshark]

Re. feeding ... we've had a fortnight or so with no forage and brood boxes are all a bit light. Almost all my queens stopped laying as well. They've now restarted with enthusiasm (and the balsam is coming in) and so I can consider adding Apiguard (which will stop them again, probably). I do what Peter Edwards does, but a little earlier ... a single 12.5 kg block of fondant on top of the QE in a poly (preferably) super. They've usually used it all by late October. It's by far the easiest way to feed them up for the winter, no litres of Ambrosia/syrup to make up/buy/spill, no special feeders. Simples. I've not noticed any less vigour in colonies kept this way and have good overwintering results. There is also much less robbing in my opinion.

[Bridget]

So there is a queen (unless a hive can be perverse and ignore an offer of rescue). Could the marked queen have been superseded without you noticing? My instinct is to let them be. Maybe give them a little bit of syrup and see if that gets the queen laying again.

Kitta

There may well be a queen and a superceded one at that but despite about 8 inspections to find her over 2 months, with friends, family and with the bee inspector, she has not been found. She lays sporadically in ones and twos. The brood box is crammed with stores, so much so I replaced some with a drawn fame to give her room to lay so I don't think feeding syrup will help. My gut tells me she has had her chance, I've been very patient and I shall try your version of a shake out Kitta and then combine with the new queen.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Mellifera Crofter]

Quite a few of my queens have almost stopped laying, Bridget. The idea of the syrup (and only a little bit like a tiny jar-full) is to give them the idea that there is a flow on. The stored honey does not do that. So I've been told, and it seems to work at times. Give her one more chance.

As for finding a queen, I've had a 2011 queen that I only found and marked this year - and I know it is the same 2011 queen because there hadn't been a break in the laying at any stage.
Kitta

[Jon]

I know it is the same 2011 queen because there hadn't been a break in the laying at any stage.

There should be no break in laying with a supersedure situation either so the queen could be younger.
I have a 2010 queen which was superseded and I found both queens laying at the same time.
I still have the old one which I rescued to a nuc and they have superseded her again and there is a virgin queen in the nuc with her at the moment.

[Mellifera Crofter]

There should be no break in laying with a supersedure situation either so the queen could be younger.

Oh, yes, of course ... And I might have overlooked a queen cell despite having been very careful. Oh well - she's marked white now so if it happens again I'll know.
Kitta

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Kitta
Some of my queens can be tricky to find
I struggle if they are identical in colour to the bees.
Some seem a bit nippier than others and scuttle off before you can spot them
Sometimes you spot them and just take your eyes off them for a second only to find they have disappeared
I know you are thinking "should have gone to Spec savers" and that is part of it I suppose :)
Do you find their wings look a bit worn when they are a few years old ?

[Mellifera Crofter]

Hi Kitta
... Do you find their wings look a bit worn when they are a few years old ?

I'll have a look - maybe that will tell me if my 'old' queen is, or is not, old.
Kitta

[gavin]

Cool wind out there, bees beating me back from taking off a heather super yesterday (the other colonies were kinder), thinking of bringing them home ..... the Dundee show to prepare for this weekend .... seems like autumn?!

[GRIZZLY]

Much honey Gavin?. My bees got the all clear last monday and made up for the delay by finding me 65 pounds of very light honey - I recon its Willow herb - good for our ass'ns own honeyshow.

[The Drone Ranger]

Cool wind out there, bees beating me back from taking off a heather super yesterday (the other colonies were kinder), thinking of bringing them home ..... the Dundee show to prepare for this weekend .... seems like autumn?!
Weather is supposed to improve during the week

[Bridget]

Heather here very poor. Certainly not the good bloom we got last year.1789
I need to go out and take a photo of this years now.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[gavin]

John, I probably have around 60lbs of heather and have had about 30lbs of lime-clover mix, much of both types as cut comb. Also raised 6 queen-right nucs (sold, donated, started a new apiary), restocked one of my empties, lost some swarms :( and had many more splits fail in the early summer cool weather (had around 8 splits that eventually failed so were fused with queen-right ones to generate full colonies for the heather). Not so bad, but if I'd kept my colonies strong I would have had an excellent honey yield.

Bridget, the heather here was promising early on, and those on bell heather have harvested a reasonable amount. The early part of the ling heather season was good, but the later part of the season hasn't yielded anything. When I was up yesterday I was surprised to see so much of it browned. It looks like it was hit by frost. It isn't quite over yet here, there are still flower buds waiting to open.

G.

[Bumble]

Heather here very poor.

Same down here. Some blooms seem to be dying rather than opening.

[The Drone Ranger]

You have had a petty good season then Gavin :)

[Bridget]

Same down here. Some blooms seem to be dying rather than opening.

All I can say is that the cowberries are great and great jelly made, but that's no help to the bees. Agree that heather blooms are dying rather than opening.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Bridget]

Interesting to see that my bees have at last found the garden flowers now that the poor heather season is pretty much over. I planted mainly flowers/shrubs for bees this summer and although the large amount of bumbles have been all over them the honey bees have largely ignored them till now. I'm not displeased by that as it means that they are finding other plants/trees elsewhere and one of my initial concerns was whether they would find enough in this area. Next year I shall know to plant lots of late flowering plants.
NB I still have bees! I'm leaving them completely alone at present with their two new queens and won't touch them till I really need to. One had a new queen on the 7th August and peaking through the plastic topboard this morning reckoned there were a few young looking bees on the super so fingers crossed.

[The Drone Ranger]

young looking bees on the super
wearing nappies ??

[fatshark]

Filthy day here so ignored the bees and stocked up on fondant ... at less than £11 a box :)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/06/hyqy7u6u.jpg

[brecks]

Filthy day here so ignored the bees and stocked up on fondant ... at less than £11 a box :)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/06/hyqy7u6u.jpg

Where did you get your fondant please? Is that a 12.5kg box at £11:00?

brecks.

[fatshark]

BFP Wholesale in Tamworth ... they have a depot in Livingstone as well as a few other places. I suspect price is quantity-dependent ...
And for readers interested in feeding fondant have a look at this useful page by Peter Edwards (http://www.stratfordbeekeepers.org.uk/PENotes/Fondant.htm) of Stratford beekeepers. Feed and forget ... couldn't be simpler :)

[chris]

This afternoon, for the first time ever, I harvested some honey without using an extractor. Crush and drip. The finest honey I've ever tasted. Pancakes tonight.:D

[gavin]

The Dundee Flower and Food Festival (on again tomorrow folks! ... see the ESBA and the SBA exhibits .... ) prompted me to get going with extracting this week. Heather honey, fresh from the hills, crushed and pressed, straight into jars ..... what a fantastic aroma in the kitchen (still a bit sticky here and there), and what a fantastic taste. For me heather honey has to be top of the list, but Chris' lime honey (assuming that it is like the lime honey I sometimes get here) must be a creditable second. Yumzie ..... (where's that lip-licking smiley?).

One great thing about the Dundee show is meeting a whole string of people keen to get their names down to be 2014's beginners.

[fatshark]

Pretty much the end of the season today ... fondant on all the colonies, second Apiguard treatment on, all on single brood or brood and a half. Shipped back a car full of cleaned supers, spare broods and clearer boards. My records show the first inspection was on the 20th of April and the last one on the 5th of September ... a busy 19 weeks.

The only thing remaining is four three-frame nucs primed with QC's from my last grafting on the 28th August. These probably won't get mated, though there are still a reasonable number of drones and good weather is predicted for the end of the week ... nothing ventured, nothing gained. If nothing has happened in a fortnight they'll be united with one of the weaker colonies.

High points have been honey yield (too much of a good thing!), placid colonies headed by my own queens, honey marmalade, getting mated queens in the first half of the season (100%) and feeling I was almost in control some of the time (!). Low points have been terrible mating success in the second half of the season (<20%), chalkbrood, rather bland field bean honey, running out of equipment and - now - running out of space to store the stuff brought back from the apiaries.

Time now to think about some talks for the winter ...

[Jon]

Hi fatshark.
Queens are still flying and mating.
I have had about 15 mate in the last 10 days or so.
I have 7 apideas left with virgins so might get a couple more mated as well.
Most of my colonies still have plenty of drones.
All that is needed is a couple of warm bright days.

I haven't started feeding yet but will start within the next week.

[fatshark]

Hi Jon
My last round in mini-nucs was a complete flop ... a combination of wasp Armageddon, no nectar and a distinct drop in temperature. As a consequence I have no mini-nucs to overwinter this year - none are strong enough. This is a pity as I'd got plans to use my greenhouse again, which worked well last year. As an aside, the 28-35 days (or whatever the figure is) which you cited earlier this year for moving queens to hives has worked well in terms of acceptance - I've only lost one on introduction (in my own hives or those I've sold queens to), largely through my own stupidity. However, cycling them that fast prevents very strong build-up of the mini-nucs, meaning none of mine got to be double height during the season. I had intended to unite some for the season end, but the wasps are awful still and I reckon a three frame overstuffed nuc will give me a better chance if the weather is good enough for mating.
Fingers crossed ...

[greengumbo]

Droneageddon here. Poor things. First time i've watched drones getting flung out and man-handled trying to get back inside. Must have been about thirty dead on the ground outside the hives.

The bees were amazingly busy today with the sun on the hives all day. Lots of pale yellow pollen coming in. I am going to start my winter feeding probably this week as to not block up the brood nests to early as they are still raising heaps of brood.

[Jon]

Rhodes and Denney is that research about 28 days plus.
I have also introduced loads of queens this season and only lost one which I found dead in the cage for some reason.
there are a lot of wasps about but touch wood they have left my apideas alone. Avoiding syrup is a good plan. I have been taking apideas home this past couple of weeks and have about 18 at the bottom of the garden. I need a few of these for requeening nucs for beginners and others are already spoken for but I still hope to have 8 or so to try and overwinter.

[fatshark]

Droneageddon here. Poor things. First time i've watched drones getting flung out and man-handled trying to get back inside. Must have been about thirty dead on the ground ...

Ha! Droneaggedon ... your description takes me back to my days as a student ;)

[GRIZZLY]

Pal of mine reports that his bees throw out his drones onto a heap on the floor where they are mopped up by a visiting hedgehog overnight. Same hedgehog also hoovers up any wax bits left lying on the ground. Swallows are taking some of my bees from the himalayan balsom as they forage. I don't think I'm losing a significant number tho'.

[fatshark]

The sun is out, it's warm and the forecast is utter pants. I've got my fingers crossed that my queens get out and mate this afternoon ... this might be their last chance.


--
fatshark

[wee willy]

Wet and windy here so took myself off to Aldi's and picked up a 7 litre Hot Water Urn stainless steel, water gauge , concealed element.3years guarantee . Looks good . Handy addition to honey house :)
Under £30 !
WW


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free (http://tapatalk.com/m/)

[mbc]

I've just bought an ashvac from aldi's which hopefully will save the hoover when I sweep the chimney, its that time of year, time to light the rayburn.

[wee willy]

Bought one last week, I use it to pick up sawdust from saw, sanding and various wood working tools which normally requires the vacuum cleaner filter and dust container emptying/ cleaning regularly !
Most modern kit has outlets for use with dust extraction equipment, this fits the bill, cheaply!
WW



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free (http://tapatalk.com/m/)

[Trog]

Just checked the apiary - nothing roofless but I bet the girls are feeling the cold. Really wintumnal today.

[The Drone Ranger]

Bought one last week, I use it to pick up sawdust from saw, sanding and various wood working tools which normally requires the vacuum cleaner filter and dust container emptying/ cleaning regularly !
Most modern kit has outlets for use with dust extraction equipment, this fits the bill, cheaply!
WW



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free (http://tapatalk.com/m/)

would it be any good on blood there's always some about when I start up the woodworking gear

[mbc]

would it be any good on blood there's always some about when I start up the woodworking gear

Isnt that what overalls are for ?

[gavin]

Haven't been to Aldi for a while (more of a Lidl man) but it was Poundstretcher I was in this weekend for their 75p/kg Tate and Lyle. I'll be back within days for another trolley load.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Adam]

Booker has been doing 2 x 25 kg bags for £35.
With little forage near my apiaries, it's going down pretty quickly.

[Jimbo]

Farmfoods 2x1kg sugar for £1.50

[Neils]

Know I've been a bit quiet for a while, here's why.

I think we've bought a house!

Still a little short of having either exchanged bits of paper, gone white faced at the sheer amount of debt that we've taken on or, actually, moved anything from where we are to where we want to be, but I think it's happening.

Gavin's had the details inflicted on him, but the long and short of it, from a beekeeping point of view, is the acre or so of land that the house comes with.

I have two apiaries in mind. One for queen raising, the other for general honey production.

[prakel]

Excellent news Neils, still local to Bristol?

[Jon]

Congrats Neil. Sounds like it could be a 12 colony and 100 Apidea garden.

[gavin]

I think that he could stick 12 houses on the plot, never mind beehives. Good on ya lad, nice to see you taking the plunge.

[Neils]

Excellent news Neils, still local to Bristol?

I think technically I'll be slightly more south of Aberdeen but still very close to Bristol :D


Congrats Neil. Sounds like it could be a 12 colony and 100 Apidea garden.
that's not the half of it. I think we need to talk again.


I think that he could stick 12 houses on the plot, never mind beehives. Good on ya lad, nice to see you taking the plunge.
I'm buying the bloody field so some other twonk cant build houses on it. :D and if only it was big enough to put 12 houses on it.
I do need to talk to Gerry though as the Mrs is starting to go Alpaca crazy despite my insisntence that beehives and a couple of harris hawks will more than take up the space.

[The Drone Ranger]

Chickens ?1808

[fatshark]

DR, do you know what Harris hawks eat?


--
fatshark

[The Drone Ranger]

DR, do you know what Harris hawks eat?


--
fatshark

Good grief , it's eggs isn't it , how did I miss that :)

[prakel]

For those who use them, Paynes have an end of season sale on their poly nationals and nuc boxes at present.

[The Drone Ranger]

For those who use them, Paynes have an end of season sale on their poly nationals and nuc boxes at present.

thanks for the tip :)
I usually miss out on the sales

[gavin]

For those who use them, Paynes have an end of season sale on their poly nationals and nuc boxes at present. Surely you mean P**n*s?! There are only two items listed on the 'Sale' page but the poly boxes are reduced on their usual page - eg poly nucs (National) to £25 or £30 with the eke from £29.50/£39.50. I'd be up for sharing an order if anyone local wants any. http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/nuc-mating-hives/

[gavin]

thanks for the tip :)
I usually miss out on the sales

That'll be your normal winter shutdown/long holiday in the Bahamas to blame then?!

[prakel]

Surely you mean P**n*s?!

IF you say so :) But it'll still be OK to write Dadant, Swienty and Mann Lake I assume or will you be installing a more efficient filter?

[gavin]

IF you say so :) But it'll still be OK to write Dadant, Swienty and Mann Lake I assume or will you be installing a more efficient filter?

I ... I ..... no! Bee nice to other fora (except perhaps Biobees) (oh, and maybe the folk that brought down the last BBKA forum), that's my motto.

G.

[greengumbo]

First hard frost of the year this morning. Some ice on top of one hive where water had gathered but had a peek at the feeders and they were busy gulping it down with a few making forays outside. They seem to have found something in flower as plenty pollen coming back....greeny yellow ? When it was 23'C on saturday they were going gangbusters. Heaps of orientation flights and shooting off across the fields toward something.

Still 5 frames brood on the biggest hive but plenty stores as well.

[prakel]

I ... I ..... no! Bee nice to other fora (except perhaps Biobees) (oh, and maybe the folk that brought down the last BBKA forum), that's my motto.

G.

I'm (edit: almost) always nice, just very (easily) misunderstood... I've even started using smiley faces on occasion to try and reduce the amount of stress that my posts cause certain people!!

[Jon]

Surely you mean P**n*s?! There are only two items listed on the 'Sale' page but the poly boxes are reduced on their usual page - eg poly nucs (National) to £25 or £30 with the eke from £29.50/£39.50. I'd be up for sharing an order if anyone local wants any. http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/nuc-mating-hives/

The poly box and eke cost £20.50 if you buy 30 or more

[prakel]

Apologies for low quality photos, I didn't have a decent camera with me today.

A few photos of an old queen (who'd been held in a mating nuc for most of the summer for grafting from):

herded from hive; briefly 'rescued' by me just to make sure that she was who I assumed her to be, and a couple of supercedure cells.1821 1822 1823 1824 1825

The old queen was missing one and a half legs.

Colony now united to another.

[prakel]

Or, maybe, she just jumped ship. Will never know for sure. When the clump of bees first caught my eye they seemed quite placid towards her but this soon changed.

[Jon]

Interesting pics. You were fortunate to come across that.
I think that supersedure happens like that much more often then the 'perfect' supersedure where you get old and new laying together for a while. I actually saw two queens laying together (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/entry.php?648-Supersedure) for the first time this summer.
In my experience the old queen has often disappeared before the new one has even emerged from her cell.

[prakel]

You were fortunate to come across that.

Definitely, was only by chance that I went to that site today to drop some kit off. I reckon that you're right about it possibly being a very common way for old queens to end up, just wish I'd got there that little bit earlier to have been able to see how she left the hive. She's on the side wall at the left of the photo, the entrance is at the right hand side of the picture, partially obscured by grass with a few bees milling around it.

[gavin]

The leg amputations - any idea when that happened?

And in that last photo, is that a worker in the act of carrying a pollen load into a cell? Obviously it must happen, it is just that I've never seen it.

[prakel]

The leg amputations - any idea when that happened?

And in that last photo, is that a worker in the act of carrying a pollen load into a cell? Obviously it must happen, it is just that I've never seen it.

Last time I looked in that box was a couple of weeks ago and she still definitely had all of her legs at the time.

Interestingly I have another queen (coincidently a sister from the same graft batch as this one) who's had a crippled leg since late July, I had planned to replace her but somehow never got around to it. I checked her hive (just to tick all the boxes) today and she's still going strong.

I think that it's just a part of the cell in the last photo but must admit that it's hard to tell, I can't believe that I actually thought about taking a decent camera but put it away on the grounds that there wouldn't be anything to photograph, when I left this morning I had no intention of opening any hives at all.

[Jon]

Prakel.
Did you see the gammy leg thread (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/showthread.php?631-It-s-me-gammy-leg) from a couple of years ago.

[prakel]

Thanks for that link, some good reading there. (I could type out the relevant Manley passage later today if you like).

My queens mentioned here are both (just) over a couple of years old so the damage is relatively late in life. The one which is still going strong is suffering from a dud right back leg which actually matches your queens. Coincidence? The one which I found outside of the hive had totally lost her front left and half of her middle left. Thinking about it now, I'm pretty sure that that was purposely inflicted damage and I have to assume that at least some of the amputation was done after she'd managed to walk around the outside of the hive, a distance I'd estimate as roughly ten or eleven inches. Just seems a long way to walk in that condition but I've no real way of knowing for sure.

[The Drone Ranger]

Slightly off the immediate topic but-
In the old thread I mentioned about picking up a small swarm or cast with a gammy leg queen
I held on to that in a nucleus hive, because the queen looked like a possible useful addition to the gene pool
What actually happened was the little colony dragged it's feet :) through the year, didn't make progress, and then collapsed when wasps attacked in the Autumn
Beekeeping sometimes brings us up against the harsh reality of "Survival of the Fittest"
It's not nice but any Queen issues it's probably best to forget sentiment and replace her right away
Goodness knows how many lame ducks I have nursed only to see them die out anyway.

[Jon]

Hi DR
I would tend to agree, but a failing colony is not always the fault of the queen.
Last winter was a disaster here and many of us had really tiny survivor colonies in April, often just a frame or so of bees with a queen.
A view put forward was that a lot of queens had mated poorly in the summer of 2012 which had relentless rain.
Anyway, I rescued a couple of these queens to apideas in April and kept them alive in the apideas until June.
They would have dwindled and died otherwise due to lack of bees and insulation.
I then used the queens to make up new nucs mid June and introduced them via introduction cages in the normal fashion.
The nucs built up to full colonies by July and the queens laid really well. Both of these colonies look great at the moment and should overwinter fine.

Sometimes the problem is nosema, or manky comb or too many mites or in this case, not enough bees.
In the case of a gammy leg I would agree that the queen has no future, although I remember one of mine laid quite well for a while.

[prakel]

Yeah I'd agree with the above too and no doubt will find a young drone layer in place of the remaining 'gammy' queen come the spring. Those rather odd events last January which I posted somewhere else on this forum showed me that they are able and willing to raise perfectly healthy looking virgins as late/early as January*.

She should have been replaced back at the start of August but it's been a difficult year for me and I've been stretched a little too far at times to get everything done when it should have been -there was also a bit of a wrong assumption on my part that they'd replace her themselves before the season got too old. Anyway, it's well established that I suffer BBD.

*I could kill her now and unite but I'm going to let things run their natural course as there's still plenty of brood in the combs.

[Jon]

Whenever I hear someone state 'the bees know best' I sometimes ask them why would they make supersedure cells in October then.
January is even worse.
They clearly don't always know best and often take decisions which would inevitably lead to colony suicide without beekeeper intervention.

The other 'bees know best' statement which bugs me is that they won't take sugar syrup unless they need it.
Of course they will, and will fill all 11 frames in the brood box if offered the free lunch.

Why would a queenless, broodless colony kill a laying queen offered in a cage. Seems daft but they often do just that.

[GRIZZLY]

Busy making equipment today. I've got 20 crown boards,2 Cloake boards , 5 swarm boards and 10 boards fitted with lozenge bee escapes under construction. I'm fed up having to scrabble about looking for gear so I'm providing myself with dedicated equipment. Also making hive stands etc. for the ass'n apiary. I shall manufacture wax foundation from my wax store and put a load of frames together ( wired but less wax ) to try to be better prepared for next season. If next year is a repeat of this, examination of the colonies was late and then everything happens in a rush. Our tonne of feed syrup is down to about a third and we'll be looking to bulk purchase 12.5kg blocks of fondant for next year. I'm also bulk buying honey jars at the honey show , It takes time but our membership is waking up to the fact that bulk purchasing saves a considerable amount of expense - especially on transport costs.

[prakel]

Just been looking at some of the gear currently selling on ebay ...solid topped frame feeders and follower boards with Hoffman spacers. Do people really buy this stuff?

[GRIZZLY]

Still making kit today, got 20 roofs on the go. The old finger jointer is getting red hot cutting160 sets of fingers. I am using standard national roofs on my plastic Swienty hives over the winter with 50mm foam board between the roof and the brood box. I think the swienty roofs are a bit scanty with minimal overlap so can blow off in one of our famous gales - alright in the summer tho'. I've just had an email from Gill at Thornes - I see they are offering THIRD quality hive bits with a note that they might need a repair or some other work. I shudder to imagine what they could be like - fit for the fire perhaps?. Surely they're not that desperate for sales !. I would be ashamed to offer this standard of equipment for sale.

[greengumbo]

Just back from Spain where the bees were plentiful and the flow was still on full speed. Trees alive with "native black" Catalonian bees - plus ca change !

Bought some lovely orange blossom honey and a jar of alpine thyme honey. Great stuff. Houses in the town of el perello were decorated with wee hexagonal tiles and while there I visited the regional beefarmer cooperative and this touristy place - http://www.melmuria.com/

Got back home and was pleasantly surprised that my bees were out and about as well and bringing in lots of ivy pollen :)

[mbc]

I've just had an email from Gill at Thornes - I see they are offering THIRD quality hive bits with a note that they might need a repair or some other work. I shudder to imagine what they could be like - fit for the fire perhaps?. Surely they're not that desperate for sales !. I would be ashamed to offer this standard of equipment for sale.

Isnt it a fair enough offer ?
It could be exactly what a keen but skint beekeeper is looking for, with a bit of time on their hands I can imagine it being quite enjoyable to make good some cheap kit in the spirit of 'make do and mend'( says myself, rapidly typing "fawns" into my browser !).
Its worth next to nothing as firewood, but could give many years of service given a bit of patching up.

[GRIZZLY]

The thing is mbc I like my bee gear to be maintained in as perfect a condition as possible. As you are probably aware - I make or made the majority of my own equipment having just retired from a self employed bespoke furniture/cabinet making business. With the profit Thornes are making on their products , I consider their attitude penny pinching. I know they are only charging pennies for their scrapbox items but it doesn't change my opinion.

[Feckless Drone]

Two strong colonies and two much weaker nucs now prepared for winter, loaded down with rocks/bricks. Watching bees working ivy yesterday and noticed activity about 60 feet up a leylandii. Sure there is a swarm settled in there. DR - how long is your ladder? Alternative is to chop down the leylandii - I am tempted.
I'm going to have to try to get up there and have a look. Why leylandii when there are so many inviting chimneys and garages around tayside?

[gavin]

I'm going to have to try to get up there and have a look.

Now then, I might argue with that statement FD! The other option is to tell yourself the colony is unlikely to survive the winter where it is, or once transferred to a box. A hopeless case. Daft bees too if they've swarmed fairly recently.

[The Drone Ranger]

Two strong colonies and two much weaker nucs now prepared for winter, loaded down with rocks/bricks. Watching bees working ivy yesterday and noticed activity about 60 feet up a leylandii. Sure there is a swarm settled in there. DR - how long is your ladder? Alternative is to chop down the leylandii - I am tempted.
I'm going to have to try to get up there and have a look. Why leylandii when there are so many inviting chimneys and garages around tayside?

60 ft FD that's too high
you might tempt them with a box and some comb a bit lower down say 10ft
if you can get them moving with a catpult and a flour bomb you might see which hive they go back to

[Trog]

Maybe they're not a recent swarm but have been there since the summer?

A leylandii that big is probably climbable - ladder for the first bit then branches (my better half does that with the huge blue spruces every Christmas to cut a top as a Christmas tree).

[gavin]

Near FD's home base there was a report of a full colony absconding earlier this summer. Could be that one. If you really really really want to have a look, I'll help hold the ladder - but I'll be trying up the last minute to talk you out of it!

[Feckless Drone]

Near FD's home base there was a report of a full colony absconding earlier this summer. Could be that one. If you really really really want to have a look, I'll help hold the ladder - but I'll be trying up the last minute to talk you out of it!

Hi - I don't think this is a recent swarm, and the branches up high are so close together it would be difficult to climb through with any kind of veil on. I am going to let them go - they are unlikely even to survive today's weather. But lesson is - might keep my bait hive out longer next year.

[greengumbo]

Heavy frost again this morning.

Question - I've not dummied down one colony in an old WBC. I've cut out kingspan to the correct dimensions ready to go but since its struggled to get over 4'C last few days I'm reluctant to go in. Its not forecast to get much above 7 or 8 for the next week or two. If I am quick is it okay to go in / remove the 4 frames to the side of the brood nest, whack in the kingspan and retreat ? Ditto for removing an ashforth feeder from another hive and replacing with an insulated eke for fondant later on.

[Jon]

Colder the better as the bees will be in a tight cluster.
You should be done in a couple of minutes.

[Rosie]

I'm with Jon. I wouldn't hesitate to open mine for that but not all colonies are the same. If you have a big loose Italian cluster the bees could be all over the shop. I think I would do it fairly early in the day though so the bees can adjust to the new conditions before evening.

[Jon]

I moved a couple of nucs housed in light correx boxes into Polyboxes last week.
A minute to lift out frames from one box to the other does them no harm.
Reading some posts, especially on biobees, you would think opening a box for a few seconds chills all the brood and kills it.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Might it help to work over a large roof or a sheet? It's just that if the bees fall off, they often can't fly back into the hive - they just stay there. If they fall in the roof or onto a sheet then you can just brush them back in.
Kitta

[The Drone Ranger]

The thing is mbc I like my bee gear to be maintained in as perfect a condition as possible. As you are probably aware - I make or made the majority of my own equipment having just retired from a self employed bespoke furniture/cabinet making business. With the profit Thornes are making on their products , I consider their attitude penny pinching. I know they are only charging pennies for their scrapbox items but it doesn't change my opinion.

£34 for a Snelgrove board is a a bit steep ,and by fitting rings into the doors they stick out you can't store the thing under the hive roof

[greengumbo]

Sun was out yesterday and so were a few hardy ivy collectors even though it barely got about 8'C. Dummied down the hive that needed it only to find they have actually drawn and filled 2 of the 4 frames I thought to remove over the past month. Stuffed some cellotex in there anyway and got a nice insulated roof on with room for fondant later on. Finally took the ashforths of the other 2 and got them nice and cosy for winter. They were both loosely clustered over about 6 lang frames and so fingers crossed something gets through this winter in decent nick.

Bulbs starting to pop up over the garden already.

Does anyone grow late flowering chrysanths by the way ? Mine never flowered and I'm guessing they wont be hardy enough outside ?

[Jon]

11c today. Bees very active with lots of ivy pollen coming in.

[The Drone Ranger]

Much the same here it's still 10.3C at the moment
I've been cleaning off the varroa floor inserts ready for mite counts
This year though I have about half of the bees on solid floors

[greengumbo]

Bees extremely active on Saturday about 11am. The sun was right on the hives and they were going ballistic. Great to see ! One note of concern was a single drone that was doing orientation flights. I've been warned this could be a bad sign ?

[Jon]

I've been warned this could be a bad sign ?

I have read that too and it's alleged that it could be a sign of a failing queen or a colony with an unmated queen.
I am not sure there is any truth in that as I have had the odd colony overwinter with a few drones right through to spring.

[beejazz]

I have one also, a hive with a couple of drones still flying, this year's queen, from brood half of AS. She mated/laid very quickly so I'd thought she would be OK, wondering now maybe not. Although Michael Palmer who is posting on the BKF has put up some pictures of his hives in the USA in winter snow and shows a drone entering a top entrance. Perhaps it is not that unusual?

[greengumbo]

I have one also, a hive with a couple of drones still flying, this year's queen, from brood half of AS. She mated/laid very quickly so I'd thought she would be OK, wondering now maybe not. Although Michael Palmer who is posting on the BKF has put up some pictures of his hives in the USA in winter snow and shows a drone entering a top entrance. Perhaps it is not that unusual?

Did you see the post further down with the Serbian hives covered in snow ? That is a proper snowfall !

[beejazz]

Goran's post? that's deep snow!

[fatshark]

Microclimate or different bees ...?

5-6 centigrade here today and no more for the best part of the day. I checked about a dozen hives all within 3 miles of here. Most have heavily insulated Perspex crown boards. On those that I checked most were tightly clustered immediately under the Perspex, clearly the warmest part of the hive. A couple were in slightly looser clusters, but still effectively shut down. One was pretty busy - considering the temperature - with bees leaving and arriving every 30 seconds or so. No obvious pollen from late ivy. This hive is one of three, all about the same strength, all have queens of the same age (and same mother).

No idea why ... it'll be interesting to see if it continues to be more active through the winter, or if it indicates some sort of malaise and doesn't make it.

As you can tell, it's been a quiet time in bee world ;)

[The Drone Ranger]

As you can tell, it's been a quiet time in bee world ;)

I was feeling the same so I have decided to do another stacked bar graph of the varroa drop through the winter
Only half the hives are on varroa floors with sealed trays though, the rest are on solid floors
So it will be a bit more limited

[Jon]

Lots of pollen coming in today. 9c and bees are quite active.

[Calum]

Lots of pollen coming in today. 9c and bees are quite active.

Wow,
luckily here its about -3°C so the bees are sitting tight and getting ready for their oxalic treatment...
While I drink mulled mead and reflect on a year where I missed every target I set myself:

from 8 -> 30 colonies I managed 26, then the wasps and bees destroyed 5 of them
raise 50 mated queens -> managed only 40
200 kg honey -> managed only 140 (thanks to melisatrose - (but I have 100 frames of feed for next year)


I might have to set more realistic targets for next year... from 4-> 15 colonies, 50 mated queens, and 80kg honey methinks

[Jon]

Apidea activity half an hour ago


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q1rn_RC104

[Jon]

Ivy pollen and a white pollen coming into the nuc.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNqbdwftaw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUue8V6a4fIYZX7rf9Pn1qLw

[mbc]

Why the queen excluder over the entrance ?

[Jon]

I put it over a couple of days ago as a makeshift mouseguard. Didn't expect such activity!

[susbees]

Why the queen excluder over the entrance ?

The small ones like that are awful pollen strippers...especially of big ivy baskets. Been there, done that....and felt the guilt ;)

[GRIZZLY]

Not so much as a peep from my bees for the last few days. It's been quite cold plus the wind chill factor makes quite a chill in the air. Our Ass'n held its first honey show on Monday with Peter and Christine Matthews doing joint judgeing in front of our membership and explaining what they were looking for and what their findings were. As most of our membership have never entered a honey show and were therefore "beginners" the standard that Peter found was quite high and his commentary of great interest and benefit for the future. We're now looking forward to next years show.

[GRIZZLY]

All the colonies flying today in the sunshine. We're benefitting from the slightly warmer weather today.Didn't see any pollen tho' , although the Ivy still seems to be in flower.

[GRIZZLY]

Managed to get round the bees and dose them with this years oxalic acid. Will be interesting to check mite drops. As we're off "down south" for Christmas and New Year I've added extra bricks to the hive roofs in case we get another horrendous blow.
Happy Christmas to everyone.

[fatshark]

Happy Christmas everyone, particularly those struggling with this weather …

1939

… a carefully posed photo (no, really). The mug on the left contains cold tea and Marmite for the mead I've been making today. Also racked - for the second time - the stuff I made this time last year. Hmmm … nice and clear but a bit insipid. Probably not a shoe in for the 2014 honey show ;)

Penultimate beekeeping job of the day was to take delivery of 5 boxes of jars - now tucked away until I bottle some soft set honey in the New Year.

The final job is to crack open one of those bottles of Waggle Dance :p

Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

[The Drone Ranger]

We don't have any waggle dance here so Sauvignon blanc is on the menu :)

[greengumbo]

Happy new year all !

Glorious sun today in the north and there were a few bees shooting off east out of the hives. Oxalic done and clusters looking in good shape. Fondant on all of them.

Garden in an advanced state as well but I expect an almighty late winter will ruin all of this optimism soon !

[beejazz]

Happy new year! I don't know what my bees are up to, but I visited a large garden centre today and saw loads of bees on the hellebores there, a very heartening sight. Wimbledon Asso. has an apiary nearby, so must have been their bees, collecting pollen.

[nemphlar]

No bees out but confused primroses in flower

[greengumbo]

Well a few hardy girls out today as well. Sunny but cold. Had a pleasant surprise on a walk through a local woodland after a tip from a mate. Found about 10 - 15 old smith hives in various states of disrepair and without bees.....I guess about 10 - 20 years since last used by a beekeeper, no varroa boards but some poly sheets under roofs and as dummy frames. Some are totally rotten unfortunately. I have contacted the land owner and can have them if I want so I have the torch ready and a stock of virkon and will assess how many can be cleaned and recovered. A wee project for the coming year. Also stumbled across a hill covered in heather nearby which is generally unheard of in our area so all in all a good day !

[fatshark]

Good find GG … a semi-commercial guy here moved away and left a load of colonies dotted around the place. Some were in a terrible state - toppled over, roofs blown off. To my surprise some still had bees in. I hate to think what they were riddled with so reported them to a friend who operates in the same area. Many were only suitable for firewood (after drying!). I hope you manage to recover something useful.

Treated with OA today in an apiary with catkins on the willows (I think … not good on plants/trees). Colonies were much stronger than I'd expected, with one - on a single brood - with bees in all 10 seams. However, this is a little misleading as I use a thickly insulated crownboard and the bees tend to 'cluster' in a pancake underneath it.

Also treated a friends colony that went into the winter as a weak nuc in a National brood box … at the last inspection we replaced 7 frames with two insulated Harden 'fat dummies' as a sort of last resort. It looked as strong as it went into the winter. I suspect many of the colonies we're treating have not yet had a brood less period (at least here in the balmy South).

Not sure how many people have seen the recommendation from the LASI group in Sussex to inspect and destroy brood before OA treatment (covered here (http://adventuresinbeeland.com/2013/12/07/the-great-facebook-oxalic-acid-controversy/), but the original needs a Facebook account which I'm too old and uncool to have). This isn't something I'm prepared to do. However, with strong colonies now and brood possibly present, it suggests a close eye might need to be kept early in the season. I have one I'm likely to do a shook swarm on if the Varroa/DWV situation doesn't improve.

I'm teaching Varroa treatment on our beginners course in a few weeks … I took some videos of the treatment to show how quick and easy it is. I was pleased to note that the bees behaved impeccably … helped by the temperature which was hovering around 3 degree ;)