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  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #11889  by NigelP
 02 Sep 2021, 08:16
If laying strips on top make sure there is sufficient bee space above frames for bees to be able to walk over the strips.
 #11890  by JoJo36
 02 Sep 2021, 12:43
Good point Nigel and mine are dangling at the moment so I may change position and give them a scratch before positioning them on top which would be fine as I have empty supers on top for the feeders!
 #11897  by Steve 1972
 05 Sep 2021, 15:01
Apitraz on five remaing colonies and all got there first lot of sugar syrup..two of which where desperate for feeding which certainly shocked me..however while feeding I failed to notice one of the syrup bottles had a small hole in it from when it fell out of the car..I now have a patch of syrup soaked into the ground among four colonies which are now robbing each other in a massive frenzie..all I could think of doing is reducing the tunnel entrances and hope they calm down..
 #11898  by NigelP
 05 Sep 2021, 19:19
Probably just a frenzy ....doubt robbing is going on unless you can see bees fighting on their landing boards.
It may look like mayhem but is usually just bees trying to find a close by nectar source...they get quite excited.
 #11900  by Alfred
 06 Sep 2021, 12:14
When will the ivy wake up for goodness sake!!!
Ive been holding back feeding waiting for it as there's going to be shedloads and its obviously better than homebrew
 #11903  by AdamD
 06 Sep 2021, 13:25
Most colonies are now full-enough with stores for winter. I have one supercedure queen in a small hive that I hope will mate this week. Otherwise it will be a combining job with another colony.

One nuc with a summer 2021 queen is a bit 'lively' so I might combine that with another if I do another check and they are the same - or maybe put the supercedure queen in there if she comes good.

A double brood colony was fairly full (without any feeding) and a final check of the marked 2019 queen was that there was just two frames of eggs and no other brood. She must have stopped egg-laying to allow the colony to reduce in size for winter.
 #11904  by NigelP
 06 Sep 2021, 17:31
Wow Adam, not even added varroa treatments yet! Hopefully by end of week.
Hives all back from the moors, still some pink left in the heather but little nectar being produced this end of the moors.

Been extracting heather honey all day ..just another dozen supers to go and that will be my last extraction of the year. Wasp zapper is working overtime. Not sure how the little buggers get into my extracting room, but they eventually drove me out. I shall let the zapper do it's magic overnight and fresh start in the morning.
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