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Thread: todays news

  1. #2721
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    You taken any supers off yet Phil?
    The only ones I have removed so far are from the new apiary I set up in Tyrone.
    I should have about 200lbs from 6 colonies which is ok as those were started from 6 frame nucs in April.
    the Belfast apiaries have produced very little.
    I'll have a few supers from 4 colonies I have at the bottom of the garden.
    The suburban forage is more reliable.
    The mating apiaries will not produce a huge amount as the colonies are set up to make drones.
    Spent this morning removing queens from Apideas. Hateful work in the rain and bad light.

  2. #2722
    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    Hey Jon,

    Was planning to do just that but other things have got in the way, hard to estimate yield just at present but its well down on last years anyway need to make sure I get a big supply of syrup ready to feed after taking supers off. Most of the hives are still very strong as my swarm control without increase worked really well this year so plenty of bees eating the crop as I type! There was clear differences between my old bees and the new ones in swarming behaviour which I'll get your opinion on this evening

    Hard to predict best forage, my out apiary is surrounded by grazing land, plenty of clover (now done) and still a bit of blackberry left and loads ragwort courtesy of ards council saving money by not cutting the verges. I would have imagined that you and alan R would have got a good crop at the NT site, its odd how a few miles can make a difference maybe its height above sea level ?

    Are you api-gaurding yet ? I made a OA evaporator out of an aluminium block, standard type of design but I'm going to make a sublimox type design so that you dont have to switch on and off and wait for the thing to cool down, all the pro's in EU use them now but very expensive to buy, only a few £ to make one.

    Queen rearing was a bit of a failure, too many drone layers being produced, was talking to someone else over the weekend from Dromore who is into this and he found the same thing, most likely weather related, I'm wondering if I should try one last batch of grafting in the hope of a good september (indian summer huh..), but at the moment everything is winding down and getting plagued by wasps robbing

  3. #2723

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    Quote Originally Posted by busybeephilip View Post
    DR - over run clutch adapter
    Hi Phill
    Yes I have one on the topping mower and an adjustable friction slipper plate PTO shaft for the rotavator
    The ability to lift depends on the PTO being turning which is a pain either disconnecting the power shaft first or driving into a shed with a still rotating mower or rotavator
    If you manage to stall with a thing like the rotavator on the back it can be a real a real pain getting the shaft off the PTO (so you can lift without the rotavator turning)
    Bit impractical on some levels but I have had it 10 years so learned just to put up with it
    Later tractors you can stop the PTO and still lift the implement that must be great (and safer)
    What am I saying ?? I'll never sell it now!! Shot myself in the foot

  4. #2724
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Just keeking earlier at the rainfall for Scotland in July. Bear in mind this is % deviation from normal. The west is wetter anyway.



  5. #2725
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    The Moving Hives posts are now in a thread of their own:

    http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...7-Moving-hives

  6. #2726
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    Just keeking earlier at the rainfall for Scotland in July. Bear in mind this is % deviation from normal. The west is wetter anyway.

    Ah Ha ... that would explain why when moving bees from one of those white bits in the middle to one of those dark blue bits in the top right I was feeding fondant within 10 days ...

    ... but in fairness, they're piling something or other in now to the strong hives.

  7. #2727
    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatshark View Post
    Ah Ha ... that would explain why when moving bees from one of those white bits in the middle to one of those dark blue bits in the top right I was feeding fondant within 10 days ...

    ... but in fairness, they're piling something or other in now to the strong hives.
    Courtesy of DR's delightful taxonomy it could be from White Stuff, Pink Stuff or Blue Stuff. Maybe, at a pinch, Green Stuff or even Yellow Stuff.

  8. #2728
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Yes it was useful to have DR kick that outdated Kirk's guide to pollen loads into touch with a more comprehensive review.

  9. #2729

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    Your welcome I'm sure

    I have run out of available min nuc queens due to replacing drone layers and disappearing queens
    There are a few keilers with virgins in the pipeline
    I was queen marking at a friends apiary yesterday who has 5 hives and 2 were drone layers
    One queen was replaced by a laying one which I had spare
    The other was swarm where the queen was a drone layer messing up all the combs
    That one was just shook out in front of another hive close by
    It wasn't big to start with and had dwindled too much

    Funny season this year for queen mating and disappearing virgins

  10. #2730
    Senior Member HJBee's Avatar
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    Been a year for disappearing newly mated & laying queens too from what I hear. I lost 1 Virgin queen, but can't complain as doubled the stock. Poor honey harvest though, just enough to pay the rent and a few boxes of cut comb to offset recent bee related purchases.

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