todays news

[Neils]

I might get a pot or two of honey yet.

The swarm looks like it's going to be the colony to beat. Fabulous bees. I know they're only over 5 frames but in the context of Roger (Patterson)'s Queen workshop last weekend they're a no brainer. If I was an idiot I'd inspect without a suit let alone a smoker, if they live through winter they're everything I'd like to see from bees from a personal point of view. I 'd like to see some sign of VSH too, but maybe you can't have everything.

The other two colonies are getting on. One now has a new queen that we marked today. The other doesn't. We ran a virgin queen in a few weeks back and she's obviously not worked out. there are two fat queen cells on a donor frame from the swarm colony. If I'm honest I should combine this with one of the others, but another queen from that swarm is too good an opportunity to pass up.

The other colony also has a queen. This was the one that swarmed before I did the first inspection. We couldn't find her, but they're still mean and I'm glad they're not on the allotment. If things were slightly different I'd requeen this hive tomorrow.

I took my mentee around again today and thankfully this time we got to do some "standard" beekeeping compared to last time. Fair play to her, I've not managed to put her off yet and after 3 swarms collected so far we've promised her the next one.

All things considered it's capped off a good week. I'm not going to get to get much honey this year but I've learned a huge amount.

[Jimbo]

With all the recent bee thefts its good to know my bees are in good hands and being protected 24hr a day. I thought I would go up early this morning (8.00am) to stick a sugar bag on a 5 frame nuc I made up this week as I was worried that the nuc would starve with all this recent bad weather. The job only took a few minutes but just as I closed up the nuc I was met by a very large dog and two MOD police handlers. Having an apairy located on MOD property does have it's advantages

[Trog]

What? More bee thefts? Apart from Dundee, where else?

[gavin]

Wales and Hampshire most recently I believe. Two summers back, 11 hives in West Lothian belonging to a local commercial beekeeper.

[Calum]

Just reached the highpoint of my aparist adventures so far. 3 of my colonies have been selected to be part of the 8 that will supply the regions (West Allgäu) mating site with drones.
The regular breeders had very high losses so they cast about for good alternatives.
The guy from the agricultural ministry gave me a rating of 3.5 (agressive) 3 (steadfast) and 3.5 (broodfill) at an open stand bad weather. Scale was 4 good-1 bad. I had nothing to do good bees though... selling colonies at a premium price will be much easier though.

downside two of my 2011 colonies swarmed yesterday afternoon (three swarms). I only caught 2 of them.
such is life.

[EmsE]

I'm moving my hives to a new apiary site and thought that it would be a good idea to do one of them last night at 6.30 as it was raining.....as it had been all day. I was really surprised when, after sealing the entrance up, some bees began to return to the hive to find they couldn't get in. It wasn't due to any escaping as I filled the entrance with foam as I managed that before they realize. Needless to say they weren't happy to find their home being carried away. Points to note: A small number of bees still venture out in the rain & they can sting through denim.

[gavin]

Ahh ... one of the down-sides of having Amm, that they forage in typical Scottish weather (not that they sting through denim!).

[gavin]

The guy from the agricultural ministry gave me a rating of 3.5 (agressive) 3 (steadfast) ......

I wonder how the guys from our ministry would rate me?!

Seriously though, well done. This illustrates very well the differing attitudes to beekeeping in different EU member states. It would be wonderful if our officials got involved with breeding and selection. As it is, that is down to a small number of enthusiasts, most of whom are too busy on other things to spend the time required to get it right.

[gavin]

I'm moving my hives to a new apiary site ....

Trouble? Looking ahead? Most of us must start with the bees in the garden then graduate to keeping them where they will not annoy the family or the neighbours. My neighbours are never out of their garden in the summer months, save for a couple of hours on Sunday morning, so stress-free beekeeping was getting hard.

And my news of the day? Stopped off at the association apiary on the way home to spend an hour and a half painting some more polystyrene boxes, nucs and full Nationals. Having bought some Denrosa/Swienty poly Nationals at the weekend I tried assembling a brood box. Heaven! You just push the sides together and knock them into place with the heel of your hand. The painting may take a while but the assembly is trivial.

[EmsE]

... Having bought some Denrosa/Swienty poly Nationals at the weekend I tried assembling a brood box. Heaven! You just push the sides together and knock them into place with the heel of your hand. The painting may take a while but the assembly is trivial.

Wow, that sounds like my kind of self-assembly hive. Are they compatible to mix with the wooden boxes?

Reason for the move? Neighbours & space really. I need to be able to visit the bees whenever it suits me, trying to juggle work, kids, weather & husbands fishing is quite difficult, so now they're going to the middle of nowhere it should hopefully be less of a worry. Also, where I was before didn't have the scope for me to build the number of colonies. Sad to go though.