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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #11840  by JoJo36
 29 Aug 2021, 05:14
I did a shake out last year and added to them a frame of brood inc young eggs which worked as they raised a new queen!
Worth giving it a go else a waste of bees??!! :)
 #11841  by Alfred
 29 Aug 2021, 08:16
This morning tested a batch of uncapped honey that Ive been drying
Its gone from just under 20 to 17 in three days.
The difference in viscosity,colour and flavour for a few percent is incredible
So is the volume :(
Its a faff Im having to put up with because I didna have the refractory optometerscope machine at the time but educational all the same.

National super drying trolley is now on the build list
Bee equipment has a Christmas Sale on - amongst the still overpriced stuff there are some genuine absolute bargains to be had.
Despite being in my usual tight-wad mode I got some national timber ,entance discs,buckets and escapes.
 #11864  by MickBBKA
 30 Aug 2021, 16:59
Popped up the moors to check on the bees and its a bit slow. Weather has been crap according to the land owner. 2 colonies had a small pile of dead bees in front of the entrances on the ground so I imagine on the slow days they have had a go at robbing each other. Colonies were double brood but they have completely filled the top brood boxes with honey now and are only just starting to fill the supers. The heather has probably come into flower 3 weeks later than I have ever seen before which means its colder and less daylight hours for foraging. Its also going to be a mix as they were bringing in bell to start with as it was still in full flower 3 weeks ago, but they are also bringing in quite large amounts of orange and pale yellow pollen. I had a drive around and can't find anything else in flower so God knows where they are going for that ??

I made the mistake of trying to jump the gun on winter prep locally and over fed a colony and blocked the queen from laying, she just had a patch about the size of a tennis ball on one frame. So I stuck a 2nd brood box on top of it and she has filled 7 frames with eggs and larvae now. Its a difficult balance trying to get colonies ready as there is nothing coming in at some locations but still a slow but steady flow in others. I think winter will be early this year. North and East winds never stopped this summer and still never got out in the kayak fishing as its been way too rough the whole summer but at least it was warm in June and July when it mattered. Going to be some big winds and rains coming from the USA in 10 days time after their hurricane. Get those ratchet straps ready folks !!
 #11866  by NigelP
 30 Aug 2021, 18:54
Flow was early on moors this years MIck and has now just about finished. Thought we were in for a record years the way it was piling in early August, but it slowed down towards the end of the month despite reasonable foraging weather our end. I know the "curse" has affected your end with cold mizzle many days. There is still plenty of pink left in the heather but no nectar in it. Often the way with this unpredictable crop.
In a good year it will keep producing nectar well into Sept....
Extracted first batches of heather honey last week, bringing everything else back this week.
For what it's worth I never take double brood to the heather for the exact reason you've outlined....shake 'em into a single brood and make room up with supers.
Last edited by NigelP on 02 Sep 2021, 08:15, edited 1 time in total.
 #11867  by Steve 1972
 30 Aug 2021, 19:00
Checked the five nucs in my Hartlepool spot today and all is well..i vaped them two weeks ago and very very little mites have dropped on the inspection boards.all of them are in seven frame dummied down brood boxes so each got two strips of Apitraz layed across the top bars instead of stuck through the frames..(Nigel is to blame for that) :D ..i hate pulling them out of the frames once they are glued in so this way i have no chance of rolling bees OR the Queen.. ;)
 #11888  by JoJo36
 02 Sep 2021, 05:00
Alfred I hope those frames are seconds not full priced ones??!!
You'll need stress counselling for "empty wallet syndrome" soon :)
Actually I've never put the aipivar strips on top just have them dangling down and I agree they can roll the bees when taking them out whilst inspecting and then putting them back in is also a bit tricky just in case you squash queenie in the process!
It feels that autumn is on the way as its cooler now mornings but still dry hooray.......................
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