Phew! Get hot enough doing inspections in a standard bee jacket and boiler suit without adding waterproof to the mix! Bees were out on cotoneaster yesterday, near enough to dash home during the frequent downpours, but have they brought in enough to ward off starvation? They were OK when we last looked, a few days ago, but they built up so fast in April, ready for the apple blossom (which was mostly wasted in the rain), that I'm a little anxious about them.
Well that big grey cloud has been raining heavily on us since 11am today. We went out to move the last hive to it's new site. This time it went without a hitch but got soaked to the bone in the process- the bees were still insisting on flying but thankfully not down my wellies. At the next inspection (if the big grey cloud decides to move) I'll be taking some frames full of stores down with me just in case.
The wind has really picked up here in the past hour- certainly stronger than that forecast, which I'm hoping won't be a problem.
Ya big softie Jimbo! Like Ems and Trog I was out beekeeping in the rain. The beekeeping I did today was rather more than I usually do, with just a soggy jacket and veil. It was interesting seeing the reaction of different colonies to having the lid popped - one I knew was tetchy was positively vicious, though starting with heavy bombardment on the hands then bees in the face before offering the odd sting. They followed me for ages afterwards, and despite their Amm look they will be getting requeened when I can. A small overwinter survivor (Italian-looking) is building up now (5-frames) and went straight for me when I lifted the lid, no pussy-footing about with the thumping on the hands of the dark bees that warn me off. Another candidate for requeening. On the other hand the dark bees at the association apiary were fairly tolerant of being search for ripe queen cells.
I filled 4 Apideas today for the apiary (first-time experiment) and gave them queen cells from that nice colony. Both of my double-brood colonies had queen cells. One is now split into a bottom box with the queen and no queen cells, super, and a top box with vertical dividers and a special floor to make three compartments, each with queen cells. There may be a blog later. The other was split in the standard artificial swarm manner with the old queen on the old site with the flying bees in a spare box. Tomorrow I will deal with the queenless double brood with queen cells. I like the colony so may split it into a few nucs.
So much more fun than sitting in a room all day going through SBA Executive business.
G.
Forgot to say that in the space of a week all three of my bigger colonies have gone over to queen cell raising, just about on cue for a third week in May swarm (but I've thwarted that now). I knew before I arrived at the apiary. I stopped for a chat with the nearest neighbour and he told me that they had two honeybees die on their kitchen window-sill during the last few days, a sure sign of bees house-hunting.
Last edited by gavin; 21-05-2011 at 10:19 PM.
Sorry to disappoint you but I wasn't beekeeping today. I try and avoid opening them up in the rain, though quite a few were flying, despite the rain. I think the reaction of your two colonies was perfectly reasonable; there was thunder forecast for here and no doubt a feel of it around even in Perth. How do they behave on a lovely sunny day?
Tomorrow's task for me will be to batten down the hives - a double-brick storm is forecast for Monday
...and Monday is the night out queen rearing group meets. That will be 3 Mondays in a row we have been confined indoors.Originally Posted by Trog
a double-brick storm is forecast for Monday
I think I will have to bring along the laptop and the scanner and run through some of the steps in Morphometry as there will be no chance of getting outdoors.
I have 11 Apideas set out, each one with a virgin queen so I will have to put a brick on top of each one.
Perfect opportunity for grafting 60 cells.Forgot to say that in the space of a week all three of my bigger colonies have gone over to queen cell raising,
I remove the queen with a couple of frames to a nuc, wait 6 days, remove all cells and then introduce a frame of grafts from the best queen available.
I did this last Tuesday and got 21 cells started which will be going into Apideas of association members next Saturday.
The rain was so heavy I thought it might have been the end of the world like that American preacher was predicting. Anyway still here and the weather is improving today so the plan is to get the hives opened up
I think it was earthquakes rather than rain predicted. I thought earlier this morning that it might be a good day for checking colonies (though the only reason would be to check level of stores this time) ... until the downpour 15 minutes ago! Hope the cotoneaster bees made it back/took shelter in time. Sort of smash-and-grab foraging they're doing at the moment, but all credit to them, they're flying in almost anything!
Smash and grab foraging - like it! Bees seem to watch the clouds. You can see them scurrying home when there is a big cloud coming. Often I see the rush of bees at the entrance before I notice the cloud coming.
That's two great phrases in 24 hours. A two-brick storm!
The latter owes not a little to Sherlock Holmes, both the old version, where I gather there was such a thing as a two-pipe problem, and the new BBC one, 'a two-patch problem'.
Weather not great here today, no rain, but lots of wind so I only had a look at two colonies that I wanted a better I idea of what they're up to.
The swarm is progressing nicely, now covering 5 frames of brood. I had to swap the brood box out as the Thornes second I bought over winter turned out to be too narrow at one end. The frames fit, just, but then they're wedged tight.
They'd be doing better but I nicked two frames of brood to go into the other hives.
As I suspected might happen, it looks like the queen in the supersedure hive is going to be superseded again, there was a queen cell in place. but she's still there and laying so I've removed it for now to buy some time while the swarm expands a bit more, then I'll look to try and requeen her. As this colony is only across three frames I've also transferred them into one of my lovely new Nucs to hopefully make life a little bit easier for them rather than them rattling around in a big 14x12 brood box. That and I also just wanted to try out one of the Nuc Boxes.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks