Everything finally done and dusted for this year except of course the oxalic acid treatment.. 27 Colonies are looking good for the winter, one spare queen in a two framer being kept warm over another colony. I could have had over 100kg honey in retrospect - if I had harvested the balsam - maybe next year, time to ponder next years plan... I fancy selling of everything but 5 colonies and trying to get back up to over twenty going into next winter. Dont have so much time for selling honey with my new job.... Whats anyone elses plans?
I now have 15 nucs with new queens and still have 15 spare queens. I have about 18 full colonies Hopeful of another 100k to 150k of honey in a couple of weeks. Started another load of grafts in the past couple of days as well.
55kg for the year. oh well. Will overwinter 25 colonies unless another one begs for an artificial swarm.. Nevermind 2012 a beekeeping (honey harvest) year to forget here in Germany.
So just hit the low end of my target for colonies. Raised 45 queens before the starter refused to do anything further the colonies on scales are going backward just now - so I'll be harvesting soon as the first himalyan blasam is starting to flower - I'll be lucky if I get 80Kg from the colonies... What a difference two weeks makes
It surprises me that your spring weather pattern this year was just the same as ours. We're back into a wet spell again, but there has generally been the odd good day between the period of rain to allow them to top up the stores at least.b
My targets are not that different from yours. Hope to overwinter 15 colonies and maybe 10 nucs. I got about 60k honey, mainly sycamore, at the start of June. July is the main honey month here weather permitting. Clover, bramble, lime, balsam, Rosebay willowherb. 14 queens mated so far in apideas.
The list of targets were: 25-30 Colonies for overwintering (with marked queens ) replace all underperforming queens raise 30-50 queens 150kg honey
Calum: interesting concept using the bee shelters. I've heard of bee keepers on the mainland using "bee houses". I'm going to give it a try with maybe 3-4 hives per shelter. I'll send some pic's later in the year. Alan
Nice touch. Every Beekeeper should have at least one of these (a home for solitary wasps!
You've been busy looking for sources! S'pose that they do tend to fly far, so why not high too ..... on the other hand it is the workers who decide on a new home. Is it possible that Roger made the leap to anecdotal statement and that your dad overheard the speculation at the Cock in Gormanston? Someone who will probably read this has told me that feral swarms are flighty and tend to abscond if not treated carefully, but I didn't know of a link with the status of the queen.
I found this - also anecdotal - from an article by Roger Patterson of West Sussex Beekeepers. http://www.wgbka.org.uk/WGBKAdocs/De...warms%20V2.pdf In my experience swarms with virgin queens can behave differently than those with fertile queens. They can often settle at a much greater height, and are more likely to abscond.
I was a bit surprised by that comment (the one about high-flying virgins) It may be an old wives tale but I have seen a few decide to settle 50' up. I'll see if I can dig out a reference as I have to admit that statement was based on a comment from the old man and he never lets the facts get in the way of a bold statement. I couldn't possibly comment on Gavin's girth.
I was a bit surprised by that comment (the one about high-flying virgins), thinking that those bees that were high up (trees, chimneys) might seek a similar setting - not that the state of the queen affects flying height. Could be though. > Coming back to Gavin's comment Can't take the credit. Its was Jon's (and I'm not sure how he feels at being confused with an overweight Scotsman!).
"The first warm day will see a mass of swarms ". That's a comforting thought! Coming back to Gavin's comment about virgins sometimes flying higher, I wonder if it is because they are lighter that a mature specimin, or if the wings are perfect. The only virgin queen I caught was 2 feet off the ground on a single branch and one shake and all the bees dropped into the box with a satisfying thump.
It is giving temperatures this week of maximum 10-12c, sleet over higher ground. Of course the big colonies are probably making queen cells even as we speak. The first warm day will see a mass of swarms as the cold weather is keeping the queen at home even though queen cells may already be sealed.
Hi Jon, it must be very chilly where you are! I have heard of another five in our area over the weekend... We had about 2 weeks of bad weather after a good dandelion pear and apple crop - so during the bad weather idle hands have been doing the devils work! This week will see more... A beekeeper here took this week of work especially to have the time for catching swarms..
Virgin queens have a habit of settling 50 feet up at the top of a skinny tree. I think the prime swarms tend to settle lower. We don't even have drones flying here yet so I would be surprised to see a swarm.
Just as predicted. Lovely day on Friday with the ladies collecting plenty of pollen. On Saturday 10-18cm of snow. So it went from photo 1 to photo 2. Very pretty, but it puts a brake on the developement. Food stores shrinking fast, but plenty of young bees in the hives.
Originally Posted by gavin Great set of pictures Calum. I'm not aware of anyone in Scotland using bee houses, but there must be someone somewhere using them as they seem such a good idea. Do you know what kind of bee you have? I seem to remember that Carnica are popular in Germany. It wouldn't surprise me if our losses in Scotland were particularly high this winter as the summer was so poor, queens didn't mate well, and colonies went into autumn with too few young bees and too little stores. Hi Gavin, bee houses can be really great - they offer protection from the elements, and you can secure your gear. But they can be limiting too (space, immobile) or just cramped dark places to work in. They offer good protection from the weather for bees and beekeeper! In the area I am in Carnica are very popular. Other bees in the area are discouraged to minimise interbreeding as alot of beekeepers don't go to the breeding areas. These breeding areas are up in the mountains where queens and bees (but absolutely no drones) can be sent. High quality drones are supplied especially for mating so that the 'strain' stay pure. There are places like this all over the alps and on some islands in the north sea. I guess you have this situation on Colonsay and appreciate how very important these areas are to keep pure stocks of black bees. I wonder which other Scottish Islands have the same potenial. I thought that would be a good project for the crofting commision to support (EU rare breeds protection too). When I asked the crofting commision they said the were not interested and don't regard beekeeping as a crofting activity. Our summer was not great either (but being as wet as it was the clover gave good honey), I was lucky adding nine colonies to the eight I had already. Although my experience went against the grain of what happened lcally. In the main though through feeding early in August the bees had pleanty of time to gather plenty of pollen. The lightest colony was 14kg and the heaviest 28kg at the end of September:-you can see from the pictures most of my colonies sit on two magazines through the winter on 18 frames ('Zander' size). Today for the third day in a row the bees were out collecting pollen (yellow so willow or crocus I guess) and lots of water.
Great set of pictures Calum. I'm not aware of anyone in Scotland using bee houses, but there must be someone somewhere using them as they seem such a good idea. Do you know what kind of bee you have? I seem to remember that Carnica are popular in Germany. It wouldn't surprise me if our losses in Scotland were particularly high this winter as the summer was so poor, queens didn't mate well, and colonies went into autumn with too few young bees and too little stores.
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