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Thread: todays news

  1. #3921
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Great. I'm glad she survived, Jambo.

  2. #3922
    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    I thinks its a counter recording the number of visits to the site, each time you reload the page it increases by one count, doubt if it started from zero
    its also very regular - a timer? not to worried about it anyhow

    the code is "span>10,165,204</span> ==$0" havent a clue what it is - just a counter of some sort
    Last edited by busybeephilip; 09-09-2018 at 06:08 PM.

  3. #3923
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    Bee thefts are still taking place even this late in the year and I feel sorry for the beekeeper involved. The press do like to dramatise bee stories and if they had said four hives instead of 60,000 bees it wouldn’t have had the same effect.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...tland-45597954
    Last edited by lindsay s; 22-09-2018 at 08:30 AM.

  4. #3924
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    Beekeeping was featured on BBC Scotland’s Landward last night. Filmed at Newbattle Abbey College. Their dark bees were nice and gentle. You’ll find it at 09:55 on the iPlayer.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...19-episode-15#

  5. #3925
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Not today, but this season at least:

    SAM_5308 (3).JPGSAM_5307 (2).jpgSAM_5308 (2).jpg

  6. #3926
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    That looks alien, Prakel. Is it a moth who tried its luck in a beehive?

  7. #3927
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mellifera Crofter View Post
    That looks alien, Prakel. Is it a moth who tried its luck in a beehive?
    Yes, a Deaths-head Hawkmoth, presumably it's pheromone 'invisibility cloak' failed. Quite a fascinating find and yes, alien is a common response when people see it!

  8. #3928
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    Hi all it’s a bit quiet on the forum at the moment so I’ll give you a summary of my years beekeeping here in Orkney.
    Winter.
    Early February the hives were active on nice calm days so l gave them candy. Later in the month we missed the Beast from the East and all it’s snow but it was very cold and dry up here at that time.
    Spring.
    More candy added in the first week of April. I carried out five of the first quick inspections on the 15th of the month and the rest a week later. Eleven out of eleven colonies ok but only had 2 or 3 frames with brood. In late April and early May there was an abundance of dandelions in bloom (one of the best in years) so it was a big boost to our colonies.
    Summer.
    Early June after a slow buildup the last of my colonies got their first supers, no sign of swarming anywhere in Orkney. End of June and the start of July all change here, very warm weather and lots of swarming up here. At a new sheltered apiary I was trying out 3 hives swarmed despite being split beforehand. Luckily they were caught and put back but drastic measures were called for so I left a queen excluder under their brood boxes for a couple of weeks till things calmed down. Bad beekeeping practice I know so I might have to try out new swarm controls next year.
    Lots of bee samples from Orkney were sent off for the AMM survey but we’ve not heard anything yet. Lots of clover out in July but but the weather was very dry so we were hoping for rain to help improve the flow but it never came. In the first week of August the nectar flow stopped suddenly and the mood of my bees changed, other beekeepers here noticed the same thing as well.
    Autumn.
    Plenty of pollen was still coming in at the start of September and I’m over wintering 4 nucs in poly nucs for the first time so I hope all goes well. Although I averaged 45lbs of honey per producing colony that does not give the full picture. Some of my weaker colonies with old queens and in a poor area produced very little honey, but 3 colonies that had been split at my clover site still managed to produce about 65-75lbs each. Overall above average crops here this season.
    Local association meetings are now taking place each month, we are still varroa free and we have lots of people who would like to start beekeeping up here. Our only problem is meeting the demand for local bees for obvious reasons.
    P. S. Would anyone else like to say how their honey crop was this season?
    Last edited by lindsay s; 06-12-2018 at 05:16 AM.

  9. #3929
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Thank you, Lindsay. That’s a nice synopsis of the beekeeping year in the Orkneys.

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

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

    Kitta

  10. #3930
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    Thanks M C
    I always record the weather every time I open up the hives. Up here it’s a lot more variable than on the mainland. The two things that show up most often in my notes are that the temperatures are in the low to mid teens and it’s a cool wind! The weather was very poor the year that I averaged 14lbs of honey per hive but I can’t remember when offhand.

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