Keep the sub handy. I have had to feed it mid April before. Spring is the worst part of the year here. Today is 35mph north east winds, driving rain all day, minus 2c forecast tonight just bloody awful. 'SUPPOSED' to be better from tomorrow but weather people couldn't forecast crap in a toilet bowl after curry night.
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Talking of spices,I got a bag of spiulina to try -might not be too late after all.
Set up all the apideas ready for the off.
The cheapo ones certainly need some fettling to work as properly as the genuine article.
Hopefully be doing some ethnic cleansing as part of the four year plan.
The cheapo ones certainly need some fettling to work as properly as the genuine article.
Hopefully be doing some ethnic cleansing as part of the four year plan.
OMG... Its warm and no wind 
So inspections are GO !
So inspections are GO !Inspected all the hives yesterday...shook out the two Queenless nucs and put the nadired supers over a Queen excluder as the bees are working on the OSR..my 4yr old Queen is still laying like a train and I had a first with one 2yr old Queen colony..on going through the brood box that was rammed with brood in all stages I could not find the marked clipped Queen..so I went through the nadired super only to find a big fat unmarked unclipped Queen..the old Queen was in there when I last looked in so I can only assume she was superceded late on in the year and the virgin was succesfully mated...I clipped and marked her which is the earliest I have ever had to do it..
Quick mid week visual check-in one colony still insisting to cluster under the mesh.
Changed the floor but they returned within minutes.
May have to move the hive if it's any further drain on resources.
Did the hairdryer trick on some old foundation recently
Within a fortnight the
brood has all been drawn,the unwired super mostly done and the wired super has been completely ignored.
Pity I can't remember where that one came from but it was definitely worth trying to salvage the other batches.
Changed the floor but they returned within minutes.
May have to move the hive if it's any further drain on resources.
Did the hairdryer trick on some old foundation recently
Within a fortnight the
brood has all been drawn,the unwired super mostly done and the wired super has been completely ignored.
Pity I can't remember where that one came from but it was definitely worth trying to salvage the other batches.
First swarm of the season (IN APRIL!!!) and a weird one. I was going to add extra supers to some colonies at an out apiary and arrived to find a large cluster of bees in the grass (clipped queens do this). I wasn't expecting this at all as I'd only inspected them 4 days ago. Rechecked every hive found q's in half of the hives and lots of eggs in all the others....only one had a couple of charged queen cells and even that was full of eggs, nothing capped over in any hive.
Guess all will become clear over the next few days. Funny thing is they are all last years queen which in general rarely swarm in their first full year....But that's bees for you!
Swarm was gradually migrating into a nuc I placed on the ground next to them.
Last thing I need at the moment is more hives.....
Guess all will become clear over the next few days. Funny thing is they are all last years queen which in general rarely swarm in their first full year....But that's bees for you!
Swarm was gradually migrating into a nuc I placed on the ground next to them.
Last thing I need at the moment is more hives.....
I've never had a swarm in April - until today. What's going on?
However the swarm was from a 6 frame nuc that was over-full - someone was supposed to pick it up a few days ago. Like your example Nigel, the queen was on the grass with a cluster of bees around her although the swarm was in the air as I arrived at the apiary and they settled on some brambles. The queen is now hived with her sisters and I'll decide what to do at the weekend. However before I found her, I checked the five full-sized hives for queens/queencells first. At least they are OK. The nuc she swarmed from had one sealed queencell and one open.
With warm weather and OSR flowering - the fields have just gone solid yellow - there's a lot for the bees to pack into the hives.
However the swarm was from a 6 frame nuc that was over-full - someone was supposed to pick it up a few days ago. Like your example Nigel, the queen was on the grass with a cluster of bees around her although the swarm was in the air as I arrived at the apiary and they settled on some brambles. The queen is now hived with her sisters and I'll decide what to do at the weekend. However before I found her, I checked the five full-sized hives for queens/queencells first. At least they are OK. The nuc she swarmed from had one sealed queencell and one open.
With warm weather and OSR flowering - the fields have just gone solid yellow - there's a lot for the bees to pack into the hives.
May your bees read the same books as you do.
Went back to my inland apiary as I forgot to take queen excluders last week and pleasantly surprised to find 4 colonies with a full super each after 4 days although not capped yet and no OSR there.
In my local area the colonies are very big but despite huge seas of OSR and billions of dandelions they are not touching any of it. Temps have dropped massively over the weekend, frost last night and its gonna happen tonight as well and only highs of 11/12c forecast for the next 2 weeks with the East winds of death from the sea. I know OSR requires warmth to create nectar but do dandelions require it to be quite warm as well ? I have never seen so many but walking amongst them there isn't a single pollinator to be seen and bees returning with pollen are not bringing it in.
Taking 5 more colonies inland on Saturday.
Also got chance to change out the rotting outer frames from my Abelo poly hives today.
In my local area the colonies are very big but despite huge seas of OSR and billions of dandelions they are not touching any of it. Temps have dropped massively over the weekend, frost last night and its gonna happen tonight as well and only highs of 11/12c forecast for the next 2 weeks with the East winds of death from the sea. I know OSR requires warmth to create nectar but do dandelions require it to be quite warm as well ? I have never seen so many but walking amongst them there isn't a single pollinator to be seen and bees returning with pollen are not bringing it in.
Taking 5 more colonies inland on Saturday.Also got chance to change out the rotting outer frames from my Abelo poly hives today.
Had in the back of my mind there would be trouble when I woke yesterday morning.
Had to AS five hives - really early for this area and they've not been particularly quick off the mark this year either- despite a fairly benevolent winter.
The double brood colonies were amongst them too.
Halfway through the last one, number six got impatient and started without me,needing extracting from a hedge six yards away.
What do you do -keep going with the inspections or collect them quick in case they make a run for it?
Need new specs if I'm going to keep missing cells.
The other boxes have yet to decide.
I spent the winter making plenty of kit in advance but I'm beginning to scrape the barrel already.
Worst case scenario is I would have to actually buy some
Had to AS five hives - really early for this area and they've not been particularly quick off the mark this year either- despite a fairly benevolent winter.
The double brood colonies were amongst them too.
Halfway through the last one, number six got impatient and started without me,needing extracting from a hedge six yards away.
What do you do -keep going with the inspections or collect them quick in case they make a run for it?
Need new specs if I'm going to keep missing cells.
The other boxes have yet to decide.
I spent the winter making plenty of kit in advance but I'm beginning to scrape the barrel already.
Worst case scenario is I would have to actually buy some