Heather weather

[greengumbo]

Morning all.

Quite a few commercial guys have started to migrate hives to the heather over the past few weeks. Being pretty inexperienced I take my cue from them What are your plans this year ?

I am going to move a handful this weekend and scout out my main sites for flowering Bell but i'm in two minds as I have an unbelievable flow of clover at the moment with supers emptied off OSR now full again.

Some season so far ! Queen matings excellent as well. Too many hives now !

[fatshark]

I'm apparently moving some hives to Aberdeenshire tomorrow

[Adam]

No heather for me. I saw a huge Lime tree absolutely humming with bees this weekend. And blackberry is out so colonies are busy. And I will be away for a week so I am not sure what I will find when I get back!

[mbc]

Morning all.

Quite a few commercial guys have started to migrate hives to the heather over the past few weeks. Being pretty inexperienced I take my cue from them What are your plans this year ?

I am going to move a handful this weekend and scout out my main sites for flowering Bell but i'm in two minds as I have an unbelievable flow of clover at the moment with supers emptied off OSR now full again.

Some season so far ! Queen matings excellent as well. Too many hives now !

One of the many unwritten rules is not to move bees off a flow, bloody awkward to move heavy hives for one thing and swamping bees with fresh nectar being jiggled about in transit can't be good either.

[Calluna4u]

One of the many unwritten rules is not to move bees off a flow, bloody awkward to move heavy hives for one thing and swamping bees with fresh nectar being jiggled about in transit can't be good either.

It can be lethal. Freshly drawn comb on foundation in hot weather....deadly to move. Only bees we are moving right now are those we can effectively screen.

[Bridget]

Morning all.

Quite a few commercial guys have started to migrate hives to the heather over the past few weeks. Being pretty inexperienced I take my cue from them What are your plans this year ?

I am going to move a handful this weekend and scout out my main sites for flowering Bell but i'm in two minds as I have an unbelievable flow of clover at the moment with supers emptied off OSR now full again.

Some season so far ! Queen matings excellent as well. Too many hives now !

Some bell out here but ling not looking that great . dry and some of it browner than is normal for this time of year. Reckon it needs rain.


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[Jambo]

Deeside bell was looking nice and purple driving back to Aberdeen-ish from Murray's on Saturday.

[Thymallus]

but ling not looking that great . dry and some of it browner than is normal for this time of year. Reckon it needs rain.

Worried about it ourselves for the North Yorks moors. We have previously had 2 great seasons....damp wet June/July. Rain dances being organised.
But currently the bees are on fire, never seen so much honey being piled in...but then we have everything out at once, including Rose Bay Willow herb, which in this region is an August flower....Suspect when this flow ends that will be it.

[mbc]

But currently the bees are on fire, never seen so much honey being piled in...but then we have everything out at once,

Same, I'm exhausted from evening's of extracting to cycle through batches of supers to keep some space on the hives, I'm even considering plonking a load of old empty brood boxes consigned to be burnt back on the hives and dealing with the wild comb later, I'm not complaining when the weight of work is from a glut of honey.

[Jambo]

Camped overnight close to Glenshee, the bell looks great and the ling still looks green unlike a lot of the grass! A spit of rain this morning but nothing that would make a difference.

Exchanged waves with Murray or one of his crews with a load of Smiths close to Braemar while taking down our tent this morning, so he's on the move!