What have you done today bee-related?

[NigelP]

Like the swarm collecting box Adam. Great idea to have a queen excluder for the bees to move through.

Started varroa treatments yesterday (and today). Apitraz strips this year. From what I could see most queens have been on a brood break, only patches of sealed and very young brood present, eggs only in some colonies. I'm presuming (with no evidence) that they have now switched to making winter bees. Will let them get on with it for a couple of weeks before starting winter feeding. I don't want the brood box clogged with stores until the queens have have done their laying.
All are fairly light but have sufficient stores for the time being with the balsam providing a little income.

[AdamD]

The zinc excluder was an ebay purchase a few years ago. I bought three that were supposed to be WBC sized - but were actually Smith size instead so I couldn't use them as they were. However they have been put to good use in various ways. The excluder means that once you have the queen inside, you've got 'em and the workers will always follow.

The collection was remarkably easy this time. It's not always so.

[AdamD]

Like the swarm collecting box Adam. Great idea to have a queen excluder for the bees to move through.

Started varroa treatments yesterday (and today). Apitraz strips this year. From what I could see most queens have been on a brood break, only patches of sealed and very young brood present, eggs only in some colonies. I'm presuming (with no evidence) that they have now switched to making winter bees. Will let them get on with it for a couple of weeks before starting winter feeding. I don't want the brood box clogged with stores until the queens have have done their laying.
All are fairly light but have sufficient stores for the time being with the balsam providing a little income.

I noticed one colony the other day that had just eggs and nothing else, so the queen had been on pause for some time.

[Steve 1972]

Topped a couple of feeders up and checked the inspection boards after one week of Apitraz being in the hives..most hives have few mites dropping but one colony has covered the inspection board with what I would say over 1000 mites..this particular colony is currently broodless with no hiding places for the varroa..if this picture works and can be zoomed in you will see the scale of the Huge mites load the bees have been carrying.

Edited to add this is a big colony..

[Alfred]

Pleasing to the eye

[JoJo36]

Must have been like a heavy rucksack on the back of each and every bee??!!
Perhaps now they are dead they will be in tip-top condition for winter!!

[MarkR]

Finished extracting today - good year. The honey in the last few boxes is very jelly like, so looks like the bees have found heather. I have tried loosening it with an uncapping fork, then giving it a spin in my radial extractor with partial success. Is it worth buying some tangential screens? I can't really be bothered with the mess of scraping and pressing it.
Cheers
Mark

[MickBBKA]

I never found my tangential extractor very good for heather honey. The comb usually just ended up squeezed through the screen by the force of the weight on spinning, so I always cut and press now.

Checked on a unite today and all well and good and the queen has survived.

[NigelP]

Finally got round to making thick syrup today.
Got through 200kgs of sugar. Sump pump didn't even burp!
Also scraped clean all my queen excluders. Now that's a horrible job.
I use combination of hive tool and wire brush....if anyone knows of an easier way of doing it I'm all ears.

[Alfred]

Freeze a batch,chip off lots with a putty knife.
Stack them up in one of these

Code: Select all

https://www.amazon.co.uk/garlandproducts-60cm-Square-Tray-Black/dp/B01MU0KHUM/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=gravel+tray+500mm&qid=1631945892&qsid=262-3180309-9197842&sr=8-9&sres=B0792KLBSD%2CB01AB3Q2BG%2CB009ERWWWY%2CB000TAQTR4%2CB000TAOYTE%2CB06XQ68TKP%2CB07KR4X4LY%2CB01MU0KHUM%2CB06ZZXCG6Z%2CB00139L2FY%2CB001QJ4352%2CB00J4MKE8I%2CB07NJPHT7M%2CB007I8NR0C&srpt=PLANTER

with a dusting of soda between each one.
Top off with very hot water,let it soak for 10.
Brillo pad the rest off -quite easily.
The next one down the stack will have already had a good agitation.
Rinse out everything with hot soapy water afterwards.

It works best on slotted steel which come up like new.
There's the whole bitter dispute over which type is best but disease precautions are becoming a priority so I'm moving towards losing the few plastic ones remaining simply because this works so well.