BBKA Forum

It’s a very good point.

I always enjoy the what to do in the apiary this month type articles but they often fail to recognise geographic variation and understandably being written in advance, often work to typical seasonal calendars which are just not being reflected in practice. It’s not easy..

Which begs an an obvious question.
If authors are unaware of the obvious regional climatic differences in the UK and it's affects on the timings of treatment etc why aren't they being brought to task about their ignorance??

Chrisbarlow wrote: ↑

23 Oct 2018, 19:34

Paras wrote: ↑

23 Oct 2018, 12:51

I have only been hefting the hives on weekly basis, this is to just to ensure that they have enough stores.

Plenty of pollen being brought in at present, It appears they are storing up for next year.

that sounds like good advice Para. I have not been down to any of my colonies today but at the weekend they were all bringing in pollen. An impressive amount of activity at the moment.

I have my colonies in my garden so there is no additional effort to heft them while I am in the garden. I am very lucky that the bees are very calm in general, I can inspect the hive at times without a smoker.

thats my idea of perfect, watching colonies flying from the kitchen window.

Yep mine in the garden to, you can learn so much about bees by just watching. They have been out flying and bringing in the last pollen until the last few days. Glass quilts now on with an eke of insulation above to stop condensation on the glass. I have OMF out on BH hives but may try partially blocking off the OMF on single BB to reduce updrafts.

I have never tried a glass quilt but certainly wondered about them.

How do get on with it and does it actually stay clear enough to see what is occurring?

Took the trip to my furthest apiary to remove Apivar strips.
All hefted well. One will need re-queening. A late supercedure has produced an F2 Buckfast queen...not a good combination...vicious even in 9C.

Can't comment on glass quilts, but have poly-carbonate clear sheets on my Paynes hives. Despite the wax and propolis build up they are perfectly adequate for seeing what is going on beneath.

How do you clean the polycarbonate without scratching Nigel? Or is a plastic scraper and soda mix enough?

I use my hive tool to scrape anything off. It's not perfect clarity but is clear enough. I can quickly whip the lid off and see what they are up for most of the winter. Thinking of getting some perspex discs made to fit the "holes" in the ableo poly crown boards so I can see whats happening in those hive.s.

NigelP wrote: ↑

27 Oct 2018, 12:12

I use my hive tool to scrape anything off. It's not perfect clarity but is clear enough. I can quickly whip the lid off and see what they are up for most of the winter. Thinking of getting some perspex discs made to fit the "holes" in the ableo poly crown boards so I can see whats happening in those hive.s.

Oh that's a good idea!
I think we have some perspex left. Am hoping it's not all been used in my new shed's windows.