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Thread: todays news

  1. #3391
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    Preseli heather looking good and has flowed freely at times, my site on the beacons has been something else and has been packing in honey at a barely believable rate, every time I've popped up with more boxes I've sat and had a smoke under a steady stream of bees working hard and have thanked my lucky stars, wonderful to see bees getting stuck into a proper flow after another awkward season here with very intermittent light flows since the sycamore went over.
    Looking at averaging over 60lb on the Brecon beacon bees, may not sound much to you heather gurus up there but it smashes my previous best of just under 40lb a hive, just wish my crystal ball had let me know so as I could have prepped the lot for the trip.

  2. #3392

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    Definitely not a guru of any kind - and glad to hear about your good season down there.

  3. #3393

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    I've just been checking the forecast for next week and after some heavy rain Saturday and Sunday, the rest of the week looks like very light winds and low 20's temps. It may be wishful thinking but I'll be taking another round of supers with me on Monday. The higher and slightly wooded of my 2 sites seemed to be at its peak last weekend, so I was thinking of bringing them home around the 15th.

  4. #3394

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    Quote Originally Posted by SDM View Post
    I've just been checking the forecast for next week and after some heavy rain Saturday and Sunday, the rest of the week looks like very light winds and low 20's temps. It may be wishful thinking but I'll be taking another round of supers with me on Monday. The higher and slightly wooded of my 2 sites seemed to be at its peak last weekend, so I was thinking of bringing them home around the 15th.

    2015 was a freak season, quite unprecedented in its lateness. It is NOT normal for the bees to need new supers up the hive much after say 22nd August. Having said that in some of our places we were still adding boxes up until last weekend. We expect most of the last boxes to come back empty or to be used up as 'borrow boxes' at stripping time.

    By now most bees, particularly in wooden hives, have gone from fill in up mode to fill in down, backfilling as the brood hatches out. Still reasonable nectar where the heather still has life in it, but it is now mostly going in lower down. Young queens in poly hives with good bee power still adding up top. (Speyside will see this for themselves on Sunday, weather permitting.) Some hives are VERY heavy down the hive, and second deeps in particular are just stuffed almost everywhere.

    We start boarding on Wednesday next week as the full teams are back the following Monday, so some places getting boarded early so the guys do not come home empty at night.

    Its a good season. Deeside a little above average, west Perthshire a tad better than that, and in Speyside its a bumper year. (estimates prior to extracting are 115, 130, 170 % of normal respectively, taken over all locations, there are ups and downs everywhere)


    ps....'borrow boxes' before anyone asks, are deeps (of foundation at first) we use to take out the heaviest and oldest combs from the nest, to put in the fresh foundation that gets drawn in September and early October with the winter feeding. We use extracted combs for this after the comb drawing window (which varies by location and hive type) has passed.
    Last edited by Calluna4u; 02-09-2016 at 09:03 AM.

  5. #3395
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mellifera Crofter View Post
    You can buy your tickets online, and then print them (that wasn't terribly obvious - but I got there in the end).
    Kitta
    I'm glad to hear you are going Kitta as you may be the only person I know the face of! Look out for me



    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  6. #3396
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    I certainly will, Bridget. It will be nice to see you again.
    Kitta

  7. #3397
    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    Millions of bees dead after treatment for Zika virus !
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_...lines/37269745

  8. #3398

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    Thanks to all who turned out on an uncertain day weatherwise yesterday, and endured a thorough 'drooking' at the first place, at yesterdays heather visit near Newtonmore/Kingussie. Very polite group, good standard of questions, and the after even hospitality was excellent. I was warned it would only be a small group. In the end it was anything but, a very good turnout. I hope you all enjoyed it.....after drying out.

  9. #3399
    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calluna4u View Post
    Thanks to all who turned out on an uncertain day weatherwise yesterday, and endured a thorough 'drooking' at the first place, at yesterdays heather visit near Newtonmore/Kingussie. Very polite group, good standard of questions, and the after even hospitality was excellent. I was warned it would only be a small group. In the end it was anything but, a very good turnout. I hope you all enjoyed it.....after drying out.
    Everyone was fascinated by your hives (especially the weight of the frames!") and the most interesting show and tell. I think everyone will have been into their hives today. Fraser came back to tell me he could see exactly what you meant by the bees filling down, perfect example in one hive which has two brood boxes and no QE.
    Lots of people mentioned the useful tips which they felt were important as they came from someone working with bees, day in day out. The group also commented how open, you were, and that was much appreciated.
    Many many thanks, great afternoon despite the rain. Hope you both got back ok.



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  10. #3400

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    Nice photo! I did not notice anyone up the bank at the back taking pics. Permission was asked of course, so not a problem of any kind. You managed to get a shot that does not show my 'natural counterbalance'....useful for 'sumoing' heavy boxes onto Unimogs.

    John from Dumfriesshire enjoyed his day too...he got home ok and has been on the phone full of ideas himself.

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