What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

[The15thMember]

If you need to walk away fairly quickly it's still best to throw a cover on the open hive and another on any boxes you have stacked off of the hive.

I will definitely do that in the future when something like this happens.  That surely contributed to how upset they were when I returned. 

[The15thMember]

Well, we got it done, although it was hairy again!  My sister came with me today, as I mentioned, to try and inspect this hive, and when I lifted the lid off we had a bunch of bees rush out at us.  My sister got stung on the arm almost right away.  She was a wearing pair of coveralls, and they were just too thin to protect her enough from angry bees, so I had her go down to the garage and put on a long-sleeved shirt I had in there and my leather gloves so she'd be better protected.  Once she was re-suited up, I had her remove the boxes while keeping them covered with my robbing cloths to try to minimize the flying bees, and I had her stack the boxes squarely so there wouldn't be gaps for the bees to get out of the boxes I wasn't working.  I quick centered the frames in the bottom box, and then rapidly inspected the second one, stopping halfway to smoke myself and let the bees calm down a little bit.  There were SO MANY bees in the air, and I did get a sting on my side and a second glancing one on the neck which I only found later.  My sister sat a little ways away, and I called out the contents of the frames for her to note down as I went, and then called her over whenever I needed a box replaced on the hive.  I didn't bother inspecting the fully capped super, and I put the top box over the triangle escape board.  I'll have to suit up tomorrow to remove it, which is a pain; I usually just throw on a veil for that job, but not with these girls!  Then I'll give them a good three weeks without bothering them, and hopefully they'll be more manageable by then.       

[Ben Framed]

No fun when they are in a mood. Did you try the 'Jim Altmiller method' of smoking the bees?

Phillip

[The15thMember]

No fun when they are in a mood. Did you try the 'Jim Altmiller method' of smoking the bees?

Phillip

I actually always use the Altmiller method. My timing could have been a little off today though.  My watch died recently, and I haven?t gotten around to trying to fix it yet, and I forgot about needing a watch today until it was too late. Next time I check in on them, hopefully I?ll have it fixed and if not, I?ll borrow one from someone.

[TheHoneyPump]

Picked up hives eaten by bear.
Went back later and confronted bear in person. 

[The15thMember]

Picked up hives eaten by bear.
Went back later and confronted bear in person.

What!!    How did I miss this post?!  What happened then??!!

[BeeMaster2]

Same question. I also missed this post.
Jim Altmiller

[Bill Murray]

Made up fall nucs off of 3 frame double screened bottom board (I dont call them splits, I call them cut outs, because thats what I do cut out 3 frames and let them raise a Queen), started feeding hives that were not in areas where goldenrod was flowering.

[G3farms]

Did the second round of apiguard. I like to do 25 mg two times a week apart and then do 50 mg for two weeks. Seems like the SHB do not like the apiguard. Not sure where they went to, but sure don't see as many as last week.

Did the first round last week and was surprised to find two shallow supers with capped comb honey, Just about sold it all out already.

[Lesgold]

We?ve had a week of wet and windy weather and four more days of rain to follow. Haven?t had any of the hives swarm on me this spring but there are times when the beekeeper can?t do much to prevent it. I reckon the first sunny day will have bees abandoning their old homes and I won?t be able to anything to stop it. I will slosh through the mud a bit later and get down to the shed and make up a few swarm boxes.

[TheHoneyPump]

Picked up hives eaten by bear.
Went back later and confronted bear in person.

What!!    How did I miss this post?!  What happened then??!!

We came to an agreement that the bear would never ever return.

[BeeMaster2]

Picked up hives eaten by bear.
Went back later and confronted bear in person.

What!!    How did I miss this post?!  What happened then??!!

We came to an agreement that the bear would never ever return.

🤣🤣🤣

[Bob Wilson]

HoneyPump... i would have paid money to see that conversation between you and the bear.

[Bob Wilson]

It seems one of the hives put off a small September swarm yesterday. I caught the tail end of it, but couldn't find where they went. I wonder if they came out and went back in again, however, just in case, I baited a few nucs and added empty comb into them. I would be willing to experiment to see if I could nurse the one year old queen's swarm through the winter. We shall see.

[Ben Framed]

HoneyPump... i would have paid money to see that conversation between you and the bear.

So would I !
However, I would bet Mr HoneyPump did not spend much time in 'debate' with Mr Bear       lol...

[G3farms]

Cleaned out a deadout. This was a very late season cut out that just did not make it. Lots of cut out wax for the solar wax melter and three good brood frames for the freezer.

[The15thMember]

I spent all afternoon listening to podcasts while cleaning frames and organizing my winter stacks of equipment.

[Bill Murray]

Well actually this was yesterday. Cleaned out my chest freezer of frames, scraped the ones un-salvageable and rendered the junk. Got a nice 5 lb chunk for rewaxing frames.

[cao]

Finished dipping the last of my empty frames in hot water to clean old wax off them.  I have done about 100 boxes full of frames this summer.  They will be scraped and redone this winter to get ready for next spring.  After my continuing issue with SHBs and going from near 100 hives down to 48 at present, I have alot of extra equipment that will get a face lift this winter.  My wax supply has filled over 4 5-gallon buckets of blocks plus at least another bucket's worth already made into candles.

[paus]

Looked at two cutouts to do later and retrieved a swarm trap that has been in the original location since April,  full 10 frame deep HEAVY  I hated to move them but they were in a Ladies back yard and she is planning a party next week end.  I have done this 4 years in a row.