Inspections

Posting relating to having a rummage around inside the hive.

  1. It's good to be back.

    After 6 months of watching the cabin fever set in across the various forums where some exploded more frequently and spectacularly than others over the winter it's great to finally get out and up to my elbows in bees again. I've missed you ladies.

    Despite the weather inevitably turning yesterday compared to all of last week, I opted to carry out a quick inspection of the two colonies on the allotment apiary. One in a 14x12 the other in a Double National.

    The plan was ...

    Updated 27-03-2011 at 12:03 PM by Neils

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    Inspections
  2. Sorting out the second attempt to swarm.

    They're playing with me I tell you, I can hear them sniggering when I pack up to leave.

    The brood half (national) of my artificial swarm has a nice, new laying queen. Very new, there was maybe half a frame of eggs when I took a look this afternoon to pilfer a couple of frames of stores for the new Nuc as I'd managed to scrounge a spare Nuc box. Opening up the difference in temperament was immediately noticeable, so while I was in there I thought I'd confirm that what I thought was ...
    Tags: inspection, swarm
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    Inspections
  3. The Crash Course in Beekeeping.

    I think I've finally managed to get my basic assessment sorted out on the second attempt. The first attempt had to be abandoned when it turned out the colony we were inspecting had EFB! I'm glad I spotted a problem but had to be honest after the event and admit that if it were my own hive I probably wouldn't have called the bee inspector at that point. Fortunately my assessor is also an SBI so the problem was spotted immediately. It has made me re-think how I approach inspections and what I'm ...

    Updated 26-05-2010 at 01:00 PM by Neils

    Tags: efb, inspections
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    Inspections
  4. Open Sesame!

    A busy weekend all round. On Saturday I took a trip to what I hope is going to be my new apiary on a nature reserve. As they're holding regular work days at the moment to keep things under control I've been lending a hand too and one of the tasks this time around was to clear an area behind some brambles off the main path to make room for some beehives so it seemed rude to leave something being done for my benefit for everyone else to sort out.

    We cleared an area that is far bigger ...
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    Inspections