Went as planned this afternoon. Under supered the hives which still had supers - both very strong.

The nucs appear to have been done in by wasps - frames absolutely empty no stores dead larvae or bees.

Remaining poly hive felt light so fed today rather than waiting until tomorrow - should be OK as quite distant from other hives in the apiary.

Will visit again Wednesday 09/09 weather permitting to feed remaining hives. ETA 1630hrs. ETD 1730hrs or earlier if complete.

Cliff

Plans for this week - weather permitting: Tues 08 Sep 1400hrs visit site and do any necessary manipulations prior to feeding. This will include putting the now combined nucs into a poly hive and under supering any others where this is appropriate. Later that afternoon or failing that Wed p.m feed stocks using Ambrosia Bienenfutter.

Cliff

Belay the last pipe. Rain stopped play. Visit planned for this evening is postponed. Watch this space.

Cliff

I will visit the association apiary at 1800hrs on Wednesday 19 Aug. The purpose of this visit is to put the supers from which I have extracted the honey on the relevant hives so that the bees can clean them up before I feed them for the winter in September. Providing the now combined nucs are queenright I will transfer the 10 frames into the currently empty poly nuc so that they are kept warm through the winter and to allow them to establish themselves there again prior to feeding.

Cliff

12 Aug

I put clearance boards on three colonies on Monday night and will be removing 5 supers of honey tonight (1930hrs). I am leaving one super on each of the colonies, which had been on a box and a half earlier in the season so although containing honey will also have pollen and pupa cases.

The 2 nucs have been combined and are now in a double story nuc, which I will transfer into a hive with a full sized brood box before the winter.

Once I have extracted the honey I will get the bees to clear up the frames before I feed them, which will start in early September.

Watch this space for details of any remaining visits for this season.

Cliff

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Still planning to go today at 1800hrs. As we have no candidates for the BBKA assessment we can use one or more colonies to breed some queens. Plan for today: Check nucs. Check all other hives and assess honey yield in supers prior to clearance and extraction.

Cliff

Visited and refilled the contact feeders (4pt) on the nucs on Saturday 04 Jul. Crownboards not removed but active bees seen through feedhole, Colony in poly nuc had also taken down feed from Miller type feeder and were much livelier - one frame checked fully laid up with egg.

Next visit 1800hrs on Thursday 09 Jul weather permitting - will update blog on the day before the visit.

Cliff

The hive opening on 26th went off as planned. Luckily the weather had cleared up by the evening. Jane opened up 3 of the hives giving a running commentary as she did so, leading into discussions with those attending. We left the colony with the QCs alone and the 2 nucs in which Chairman Peter and I had installed virgin queens supplied by David Williams earlier in the week. The other colonies had been light on brood frames with stores when we robbed them to make up the nucs so I went back on Saturday evening to feed them. At Jane's suggestion I have also fed the colony in the poly hive to see if that will further encourage them to develop

Watch this space for the details of the next visit. We should be able to look in on the 2 nucs by the end of next week (w.c. 06 Jul) or certainly the week after especially if the weather has been fine allowing the queens to complete their mating flights and commence laying.

Checked briefly on 18 Jun. No QCs in the supers moved above the excluders. Much sealed drone brood and some occupied QCs in Hive 1 - best left alone now until late July.

WVBKA Hive opening planned for Pembridge on 26 Jun will now be at the association apiary RV at 1900hrs.

Hopefully before then we will also have 2 nucs with new queens on site courtesy of David Williams. The embryonic queen rearing group will be doing things on site i.d.c. - watch this space.

Cliff

Next visit planned for Thursday 11 June @ 1600hrs.

For the Basic Assessment we have to have colonies in single brood boxes so I will be manipulating those on a box and a half etc in order that they comply. Also time to check on those colonies which have had QCs either for supersedure or swarming preparation to make sure they are queen right and add supers to all those without, which are now ready, in order to take advantage of the expected main honey flow in July.

Next visit planned for Thursday 11 Jun at 1600hrs - weather permitting.

Activities to include checking those colonies which have replaced their queens to ensure that they are queenright,

Manipulating hives so that they are on single brood boxes ready for BBKA Basic Assessments in July.

Making sure that all, which are sufficiently advanced, are ready to exploit the main honey flow (add supers).

Cliff

I went as planned on Bank holiday Monday. Unfortunately that plan was not showing so nobody came!

The Poly hive colony is looking very weak and we will bring it to the Healthy Bee Day on Saturday.

Supers added to others as required. No 1 colony has requeened but no new brood as yet. No 4 also in the process of supersedure.

We will move the Poly hive to Ewyas Harold on Friday night so might as well check on the others at that time.

Anyone interested I will be there at 1800hrs

Cliff

25 May 2015

Late May bank holiday weekend.

I plan to visit the apiary at 1400hrs on Bank Holiday Monday. No particular plans but there are a lot of colonies swarming at present so inspection plus swarm prevention measures are in order.

Cliff

Site visited at 1715hrs  on 07 May

Hive furthest from gate quite full. A little feisty. Some unsealed (probably supersedure) QCs seen - reduced to 2.

Poly hive still quiet but building slowly - Queen seen + brood in all stages

2nd Poly hive unoccupied.

Next cedar hive full of bees. Marked queen seen one sealed QC seen and left - note this colony periodically produced one or two QCs on a number of occasions last season but kept the old queen.

Third cedar hive on brood and a half some space left, brood in all stages - will need super at next visit.

Final cedar hive - nearest compound gate - rearranged so that it is now on a brood and a half with a super. Queen seen, brood in all stages.

Next visit planned for Saturday 16 May at 1100hrs - weather permitting. Plans to split one colony in order to expand to all six hives in occupation. Swarm control and addition of supers as required.

Cliff

The weather for Friday looks wet so I will attend this evening Thursday 07 May.  ETA 1715hrs. Simple inspection and a little reorganizing of supers and Brood boxes planned.

Cliff

2015 Season



At the last inspection the association apiary on 24 Apr 2015 had four strong colonies in Cedar National hives. One weak colony in a Poly hive and one empty Poly Hive.

This season we intend to do some queen rearing as well as carrying out normal apiary management and common manipulations.

Weather permitting I plan another visit on Thurs 07 May or Friday 08 May.

Watch this site for more information.

Cliff