Blog Comments

  1. HensandBees's Avatar
    Must be the correct colours, don't forget just location. just south of Aberdeen,
    went to Newcastle on Saturday the fields turned bright yellow between arriving and leaving the convention.....
  2. Jon's Avatar
    Good to see you have a few apideas ready as well.
  3. Neils's Avatar
    No paint on te poly hives.

    Don't get much OSR in the city, but the allotments are turning green and the flowers are starting to make an appearance.

    It looks better in the photos because you can't see that none of the boxes are actually square or that I had to sand the sidewalks to make the frames fit.
  4. gavin's Avatar
    Is that Saltire Blue and White you are using there?

    Very neat and tidy anyway. Puts me to shame. Supers? Are these the things you're supposed to get ready in plenty of time for the OSR coming into flower? Ooops .... our fields have a yellow tint and the odd plant with flowers out.
  5. Neils's Avatar
    Agree with Gavin, especially about hefting the hives, if they're hard to lift (or feel "nailed to the stand") then they should have enough food. I've given my hives fondant, normally much later than this, every year on the basis that I was told with fondant that they'll only use fondant if they need it hence better safe than sorry.
  6. marion.orca's Avatar
    Thanks for that advice Gavin. I think we have a better [ slightly ] forecast for next week, so I will head out to check them over and put some fondant on if I think they need it.
  7. gavin's Avatar
    Not at all a silly question, and indeed no question in beekeeping from a relative beginner is silly anyway. If you fed them well (a few gallons?) then they should have been heavy with stores. OK, they will have used some of them, but it is unlikely that they have eaten them all already. Best have a quick peek under the crown board on a reasonable day. If the bees are all at the tops of the frames then they may be short of food. Even then, if the adjoining frames are full of stores all may be well but at this time of year it is a sign that they will need fed. If they are lower down with stores above them, they're fine for now. If they are on seemingly empty frames with empty frames around them, stick some food over their heads (fondant or even soaked perforated bags of sugar).

    Weaker clusters find it harder to get to more distant stores. Any cluster will be starting to ramp up brood production in a month or so, and that is when their need for food increases.

    Try lifting the hive from the back, tipping it up slightly. If you are gentle you will not disturb them. If the weight doesn't mean much to you now it will after you have a peek in, and later as they get lighter you will notice the difference. After a while that experience will be very useful.
  8. marion.orca's Avatar
    This maybe a silly question and I think I even may have touched upon it before. Should I have a fondant block on to see the bees through the winter ? They were well fed in the autumn and took as much 2:1 syrup as they wanted before I insulated the roof and " closed up " for the winter. It's my first winter with a hive so I may have been over cautious in my winter preparations - brood box and stand ratchet strapped together and the whole lot ratchet strapped to 2 metal stakes hammered into the ground. But, given the weather we've had - I'm glad I did all that, as they have remained exactly as I left them in November - thank goodness !
  9. Jon's Avatar
    The mild autumn this year has left a lot of colonies light as the bees were rearing brood right through November.
    I'll be treating with Oxalic within a fortnight and will top up with fondant if necessary at that point.
  10. The Drone Ranger's Avatar
    Hi Nellie a Canadian clearer board (thornes) put on in afternoon and within a few hours (not longer) you can take off the super
  11. Jon's Avatar
    I concur with most of that.
    Leaving 2 queen cells has got to be a contender for the worst possible piece of beekeeping advice. A swarm is almost guaranteed in my opinion.

    I have found myself worrying more about nosema than varroa, as varroa is easily controlled if you are not delusional about lack of mites.
    I posted earlier in the year about one of my bka members who did not treat 'as he had no mites' and he lost 27/28 colonies last winter.
    Apiguard (Thymol) and Oxalic does the job for me. I have hardly seen a mite all summer but neither of these treatments is too aggressive in my opinion. I am into the second fortnight of Apiguard on most of my colonies and will be finished up by mid September.

    PS. Porter escapes work for me.
  12. Jon's Avatar
    Given that Gavin has just posted another clip from Life of Brian, it has reminded me of the Wabble of wowdy webels which put me in mind of the old Planxty classic. Waggle Taggle Gypsy.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cru06twiVfc&feature=fvst
  13. gavin's Avatar
    Superb report Nellie, many thanks. Do tell us what you find out from watching your bees dance - mine forage over a surprisingly large area. Marrying their maps of where the bees go with the habitat and plants found there will be fascinating so I'll look forward to seeing more from Sussex.
  14. Neils's Avatar
    Don't worry, it is. That was way worse than the nature reserve colony and I've already marked that one for a new queen as soon as I can. That swarm has one chance to demonstrate it was me being stupid then it's had it.
  15. Jon's Avatar
    I got 20 stings in a small area of my right wrist filling apideas last week which was neither big nor clever.
    That's the most I have been stung for years.
    Unless there are mitigating circumstances I would mark that queen for culling.
    Imagine what it would be like if it grows to double brood.
  16. Neils's Avatar
    Nope. Once I got my breath back it dawned on me that we'd marked the queen in there a week or so ago, I'm not sure I saw her for sure as I didn't get through all the frames, the first one I held up deifinitely had Brood in all stages but I never got through all three of them before I bottled it and closed them up again.

    Thinking about it, we inspected and marked the queen a week ago without too much trouble, maybe these were just particular peeved about the weather but I'm glad they were only across three frames. I got stung on that one inspection more than from all my other colonies combined throughout the season so far!
  17. Jon's Avatar
    Has it got brood? Could it have been a cast with a virgin queen which subsequently got lost on a mating flight?
    Updated 02-06-2011 at 08:18 PM by Jon
  18. EmsE's Avatar
    Well done Nellie. I looked went through the syllabus the other week and thought I'd leave it to another day- so many unpronounceable words & timings to find out / remember. Anyone know when the results tend to come out in Scotland?
  19. Jon's Avatar
    Well done anyway.
    You are hereby nominated to answer all the difficult questions on the forum.
  20. Neils's Avatar
    Jon, by the time I was on the last section this time around I was desperate to try and gain as many marks as I could as I wasn't convinced that I'd remembered enough to pass the flipping thing. I completely blanked on stuff that I knew like the varroa lifecycle, I just couldn't remember timings for the life of me.

    Thanks Hens
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