BBKA Forum

making up frames. lots of em.

Brought all supers into garage to sort out and fill the empty heather ones with new foundation.
Not my favourite job.

Unexpectedly not working due to wider family issue, had a couple of hours to clear up previously steamed boxes of brood frames and tidy up and respace supers stores after extraction.

Mysteriously found a super with Hoffman spaced frames - where the heck did they appear from??

I share my earth floor bee shed with a badger sett (no, really) which has obviously been excavating over winter and anything on the floor has disappeared under piles of soil. Slightly annoying but quite funny too. I know some people suggest badgers can knock over hives etc but I have never had an issue with them and we get on fine.

Nothing, it was snowing, still had our fantastic Mod3 study group. Still flapping about the exam in 2 weeks though

Cheers, Mick

Weve had snow in Leeds this morning but only for 10minutes, dont panic, its now blue skies and sunny

Was on the Wye today - had torrential rain, hail storms, big winds and calm sunny spell followed by sleet on way home.
Not even a tug to show for it, but was in my floatation suit and kept warm and dry, so enjoyed it anyway.

Moved a couple of hives yesterday so hope neither tried any orientation flights in this mad changeable weather, unsettled hardly covers it. Mick's words regarding winter were ringing in my ears today (or maybe it was the hail on my jacket hood!).

checking apiaries to see what has blown over and then righting it. A few empty nucs boxes had blown over and that was about it.

Checked my hives and was surprised that some were still flying and bringing back loads of pollen even though we have winds of up to 22mph and gusts of 40! Good on em

Same here and even windier here on the coast, but as long as it was warm and sunny enough they were out. The penalty for any bees getting it wrong was to be swept out to sea. Hopefully I didn't lose too many.

Calmer today and interesting to see the change over the day. Morning brought out lots of foraging bees but comparatively few returning carry any pollen so they are probably mostly water carriers as I doubt there is much nectar. Just after midday the new bees come out for mass orientation flights. Later in the day things quieten down and almost all the returning bees are bringing in pollen to feed the hungry brood.

Hive weights still dropping fast but the rate of fall has slowed just a bit as all those larvae must weigh quite a lot. The weight loss usually levelled out by the end of March down south but could be later here.

Checked over five hives in two apiaries that I am now looking after for an unwell friend. 3 out of the five very light indeed. will need syrup urgently..