todays news

[fatshark]

Split two nucs off a strong double brood colony that appeared to be thinking about swarming … queen plus stores and a frame of brood into one nuc, large charged QC plus stores and a frame of brood into another, leaving a final fat charged QC in the box. The colony had a clipped Q and a single sealed QC which I knocked down. I was surprised they hadn't done a runner but suspect it's because the weather is still pretty cool.

Set up my bait hives. I'm filling them with foundationless frames this year to encourage them to build comb properly from the outset. What could possibly go wrong

Rather cool day but the bees were working the OSR hard. I did my first grafting of the season as many of the hives have had drones in for a week or so now. I just did it sitting out in the open … if the take isn't good enough I'll have another go tomorrow morning in the shelter of the passenger seat of the car.

[drumgerry]

Ooooo grafting already! Now you're giving me itchy fingers! Probably a bit early for me in Speyside though!

[fatshark]

Probably a bit early here … it was bl**dy cold. However, the view from the apiary is looking good

140419-039.jpg

[Jon]

I hope to get grafting soon. I have a colony with 10 frames of mostly sealed brood which I can set up as a queenright cell raiser shortly.
I don't have drones flying yet but they should be out and about by the middle of May which means I could start grafting from the 1st of the month.

[brothermoo]

Took the kids to see the bees today and they loved it. BIAS and the whole top box is near enough broodnest, they had even drawn out Thee largest cells I have ever seen for drones in the outermost frame which the queen has laid up (where they haven't put all the nectar coming in) no queen cells but a few unused cups so I will check again in a few days to see if there's any more interest in them.

___________________________________
brothermoo.wordpress.com

[nemphlar]

Managed to get through them today for the first time this year, astonished at how far on they are. 2 of them are full and have drones which I hadn't seen out, the other 5 are well forward.
3 out of 4, 5 frame nucs half full of brood, only a 2nd year drone layer in a nuc to spoil the day.
Certainly the best start to a year since varroa arrived, from the comments on here seems to be the norm, a mixture of soft winter and low varroa loading perhaps

[fatshark]

I did my first grafting of the season as many of the hives have had drones in for a week or so now. I just did it sitting out in the open … if the take isn't good enough I'll have another go tomorrow morning in the shelter of the passenger seat of the car.

Take was very poor … so I repeated it this afternoon, in the passenger seat of the car to avoid the squally rain. The bees were beautifully calm which suggests I've done something right in my previous queen selection If this lot don't work I'll wait until May … any dates between now and then mean they'll be emerging when I have unavoidable commitments.

[Jon]

I find The first round or two is always tricky with very few starts.
But it is nice even to have half a dozen cells to get started with.

[Little_John]

Bl##dy freezing here in the Lincolnshire Fens - strong north-easterly wind coming in off the North Sea with nothing in the way to stop it ...
But - the girls were still flying today - they're a lot tougher than I am. Spent the day in the shed making more of my six-and-a-half-frame NUCs.
BTW - does anyone on here use a Morris Board ? This'll be my second season using one. Bl##dy clever bit of kit.

[HJBee]

Great day today, 3 hours of brilliant bee keeping, 1st thorough hive inspection of the year, 2 hives complete with queens (clipped & marked). Eggs, larvae, sealed brood, pollen & nectar coming in, supers on. The girls behaved impeccably!