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Today in the Apiary

686K views 4K replies 397 participants last post by  AR1 
#1 ·
I will stick this thread at the top so we can have sort of a beekeepers diary. It will be neat to look back in time, in time. Share what work you did, observations, stories about things that happened in the apiary. Musings while you have your morning coffee while watching the bees. Let's see where this goes.

I checked a new swarm that moved into some empty boxes I had stacked about 5 days ago. Saw the queen when I transferred them into a new hive with frames of foundation. They're building comb, but filling every cell with nectar/feed. No eggs. Will have to put a frame with eggs into it right away.
 
#2,416 ·
Bit of a change in the weather. Got hit by a storm last night which wasn't expected until later-on today - the site here looks pretty trashed right now: anything which wasn't firmly held down is now scattered all around.
Luckily only two hives were affected: one lost it's telescopic roof which was found in the next field; the other - a triple-5 nuc stack was lifted clean off it's stand and dumped onto the grass. It's bees are now exposed of course and can be seen clustered up together looking pretty frightened - I've thrown some covers over those boxes for the time being to keep the rain off, and will be restoring order in a couple of hours when the wind and rain have moderated a little. Could have been a whole lot worse.
LJ
 
#2,417 ·
Weather here in central Mississippi has been really wet. Temps have been from the 50s to upper 60s in the daytime and 40ish at night. Haven’t done a inspection since last fall but have been out and observed a lot of bees flying bringing in lots of pollen. My hive has a glass inner cover and I can see lots of bees but I’m also seeing lots of dead bees outside the hive mainly on nice days. So I’m thinking they are just cleaning up. This first year has been a challenge trying to learn what “not” to do so despite my best efforts I think they will survive.
 
#2,419 ·
This first year has been a challenge trying to learn what “not” to do so despite my best efforts I think they will survive.
It would appear you are off to a good start, Rigratt. In my very limited experience I have learned that it is better to do nothing than to do 'something' without a clear purpose in mind.

Best of success to you in this coming year, and I look forward to reading about how your apiary develops.

Russ
 
#2,424 ·
Cold snap again. Sounds like 20-30 degrees this week then a lot warmer starting next weekend. Had -19 F yesterday. I'm hoping a warm-up starts this week. I'd like to check feed and satisfy my curiosity. They were alive 2 weeks ago. this is always a nervous time for me. I'll feel better in a couple weeks.
Keep on buzzing!!
Jerry
 
#2,426 ·
Update Mystery: Weighed my two lowest weight hives on the 14th, two weeks after the last weight check. The weights were UP about 12 lbs. and 5 lb. There is certainly no nectar around, temperatures have been around freezing, rain, fog,mist and grey skies fro a couple of weeks with one good in the 40s cleansing day. Why? I think it is mostly absorption of water by hte hive and brood comb as well as waste storage in the bees. Maybe some due to water foraging for brood rearing. Certainly interesting - weighting and knowing what it means is not as easy as presumed. Oh, checked one hive top / inner cover as my arrangement is not traditional - dry and warm.
 
#2,428 ·
Update Mystery: Weighed my two lowest weight hives on the 14th, two weeks after the last weight check. The weights were UP about 12 lbs. and 5 lb. There is certainly no nectar around, temperatures have been around freezing, rain, fog,mist and grey skies fro a couple of weeks with one good in the 40s cleansing day. Why? I think it is mostly absorption of water by the hive and brood comb as well as waste storage in the bees. Maybe some due to water foraging for brood rearing. Certainly interesting - weighting and knowing what it means is not as easy as presumed. Oh, checked one hive top / inner cover as my arrangement is not traditional - dry and warm.
Any chance they have been flying and robbing a dead hive somewhere? That seems like a lot of weight to gain from only air/humidity.

How accurate is your scale and has it been affected by any temperature changes?
 
#2,429 ·
I have been watching them and weather barely supports nearby water foraging. The weather has not been good enough for flying any distance except one 45F day I think. It has been miserably wet - even my dog is complaining. Now it's cold, warmer, cold again but drier. I already see a drop in internal RH values after two days. The next week or so with one rain day should show a significant weight loss. I will be checking weekly and if I get a 50s day I will check th etop super. My standard brood chamber is a composed of a 2 medium and a deep with 30 frames installed. Without actually testing ( maybe I will) I think the wood content can account for a large amount water absorption. I know when I was a "kid" I drove, via a water jet pump system, 20 -35 Ft. oak pilings. I specifically waited for spring to order what I needed because spring provided "soaked" oak tree trunk that would sink and stay put. Dry ones floated like bobbers - drove me crazy one time, had to float them all until they sunk. Native white pine sucks up a lot of water.

The weight scale is a calibrated, spring/fish scale and mechanically adjustable for tare weights and changes to zero; 6-8" face diameter. I got tired of "convenient" digital junk. I also understand vector mechanics and correct my readings. Think I will go submerge a deep box with ten frames .
 
#2,431 ·
Opened hives today (Richmond, Va) since a few of them needed supering, and saw this on one. Reminded me of a street I lived on with lots of busy-bodies that would peek out the window curtain when anything at all was happening outside their yards. I could almost hear a thousand tiny voices saying "Hey!!, What are you doing there. You don't belong on this street". lol

Bee Beehive Wood Insect Apiary
 
#2,432 ·
If I saw that colony I would be worried it was short on stores.



Opened hives today (Richmond, Va) since a few of them needed supering, and saw this on one. Reminded me of a street I lived on with lots of busy-bodies that would peek out the window curtain when anything at all was happening outside their yards. I could almost hear a thousand tiny voices saying "Hey!!, What are you doing there. You don't belong on this street". lol

View attachment 53621
 
#2,436 ·
In New Haven, CT (USDA 6a) yesterday, numerous hives were bringing in pollen (two different colors) with the afternoon temperatures in the mid-40's. I have Crocus tomassinianus in bloom and saw bees working them. I'm not sure what else might have been a pollen source for them, but I'm glad to see them getting ready for spring.
 
#2,437 ·
40 degrees today, single digits tomorrow's forcast. So, a normal February or a bit warmer.

Checked my 4 hives and all look great, clustered up against the the sugar blocks. They were hollowed right out. I added sugar block to all of them. Expecting another month before any useful foraging.
 
#2,440 ·
"In New Haven, CT (USDA 6a) yesterday, numerous hives were bringing in pollen" -- I think I am still a month away from pollen being 60 miles East, near Narragansett Bay / Pt Judith. Long Island Sound keeps you warmer I guess. Last year I saw pollen on March 19th. I will watch and see waht happens this year. Do you have a green houses near you? I get suspicious :)
 
#2,442 ·
Surrey, B.C. Canada here, near Vancouver. 8a I think, my bees bringing first pollen of year in today. Cream colored and bright orange. Cream I think is Hazelnut and the orange might be crocus. Still have a fair bit of capped sugar syrup honey left over I'll probably take out in the next couple of weeks if it warms up more and use for swarm traps...
 
#2,446 ·
"my bees bringing first pollen of year" - I am still about a month away from natural pollen and I am in "Southern" Rhode Island. Today was the first day approaching 50F, actually 47F, so I ran a test. I put a tablespoon of UltraBee protien substitute on each of 9 entrances. Eight cleaned it up and he ninth pretty much ignored it. #9 is engaged in brood rearing right now as I see her hive warming up the others had lots of orientation flights - some really big. I think, have been developed from a nuc last Fall, she is a bit behind in schedule with a smaller cluster / work force.

The surprise was the sugar syrup I put out. It was completely ignored. Could there prefer their own reserves over warm syrup. I have not tried this in late winter before so I was really surprised. I also noted there seemed to be little water foraging going on in spite of a nice day. Comments?
 
#2,447 · (Edited)
I did the same yesterday; the hives were flying, put out the Ultra Bee pollen and they ignored it; they were flying but not far. Usually they take the whole pile down. I’m thinking it might be too old even though stored in the freezer, or they didn’t need it, which surprises me. As for your syrup, it could have been too cold to forage, or they just didn’t need it. You nicely put the pollen on their front stoop so they didn’t have to go anywhere.

I just went out now all hives flying and some taking the pollen. I think it’s the temperature, it may have read 47-50 but the air seems colder.
 
#2,448 ·
I think my eyesight is going to hell. I went through 7 of my hives today, checking stores, scraping endbars, reversing boxes, cleaning bottom screems, etc. Also went looking for queens to do a queenright split in the hopes of having some of the hives produce queen cells. Plenty of bees, brood and eggs to be seen, could not find a single queen. Finally said to heck with it and made a walk away split. About 30% of the time I end up with the queen in the split anyway. We'll see what happens.
 
#2,451 ·
" think my eyesight is going to hell." Well Jim, I think this implies you are getting old. I am told that kids who have never seen a queen can find them in minutes if you show them a pic and give a little explanation. I do not even bother looking anymore. I simply isolate the queen using QE's to one box by observing brood. Then move the box or call for help.
 
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