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

[.30WCF]

Yesterday I stained the rest of my new equipment, and I almost got done building the frames.  Once I've got the frames built, I should be good to go with boxes for the next several years.  At least, that's what I think, we'll see if the bees agree. 

It was very hot and humid today, but I did go through my 3 little colonies, all of which needed another box, which I was glad to see.  My smoker just wouldn't stay lit today, which was kind of infuriating at times, but better today than when I'm going through the brood nest of a big 7-box hive.   

Looks nice. Did you use an oil or just stain for color?


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[The15thMember]

Thanks.  The lighter color is Australian Timber Oil, leftover from staining our barn, and the darker color is a water-based stain, leftover from our picnic table.   

[jtcmedic]

Finished up 30 deeps and supers today, now I got to paint

[The15thMember]

Now you GET to paint.    That's a tall stack of boxes right there! 

[jtcmedic]

Now you GET to paint.    That's a tall stack of boxes right there!

Now I got to get motivated to paint.

[Ben Framed]

Wow it is and there are more in the background. JTC and Bill are taking their beekeeping to a higher level!  Keep up the good work guys!

Phillip

[BeeMaster2]

I don?t know if you ever painted large number of boxes, when I do it, I stack them, on a plywood board as high as I can reach to paint and paint them all at once. It goes real quick. If you have one of those quart size electric sprayers it goes even faster.
Jim Altmiller

[jtcmedic]

I don?t know if you ever painted large number of boxes, when I do it, I stack them, on a plywood board as high as I can reach to paint and paint them all at once. It goes real quick. If you have one of those quart size electric sprayers it goes even faster.
Jim Altmiller

I?ve used that method in the past , paint sprayer broke, May just get another.

[Terri Yaki]

I checked on my swarm hive and my nuc split this morning before it got hot. Almost all of the brood in the nuc has hatched but I am not seeing any signs of a queen. They did remove the queen cell that was opened up last week in its entirety. It's been two weeks since I made the split. The bees were very calm and didn't even need to be smoked. From what you are all telling me, I should give it at least one more week before I do anything. Any further advice?

My swarm hive has an issue or two with frames and comb. for some reason, they're not putting anything into some of the old come that I gave them but it is on the outer edge of the box so that may be why. Another thing they have done is they have built the wax and honey stores out further in one frame because the one next to it is empty and they don't seem to want to build on that frame. They have plenty of empty frames to build out yet so I did not add another box. I have been feeding because they are still building comb, should I continue feeding or stop? They are guzzling it and I am not going to use any of this for honey.

[The15thMember]

I checked on my swarm hive and my nuc split this morning before it got hot. Almost all of the brood in the nuc has hatched but I am not seeing any signs of a queen. They did remove the queen cell that was opened up last week in its entirety. It's been two weeks since I made the split. The bees were very calm and didn't even need to be smoked. From what you are all telling me, I should give it at least one more week before I do anything. Any further advice?

If there was no brood at all, I'd give it one more week.  If there is still no brood next week, I'd either give them a frame of eggs or recombine them. 

My swarm hive has an issue or two with frames and comb. for some reason, they're not putting anything into some of the old come that I gave them but it is on the outer edge of the box so that may be why. Another thing they have done is they have built the wax and honey stores out further in one frame because the one next to it is empty and they don't seem to want to build on that frame. They have plenty of empty frames to build out yet so I did not add another box. I have been feeding because they are still building comb, should I continue feeding or stop? They are guzzling it and I am not going to use any of this for honey.

Bees that are being fed will usually build comb, since it simulates a flow.  Is your other colony drawing wax?  Is nectar coming in?  If there is a flow on, there is really no need to feed.  The other question is, which I realize as a first-year beekeeper you are ill-equipped to answer, when are you expecting your last flow of the year?  We've just crossed the solstice, so the bees will now be looking toward winter and begin to slowly contract the brood nest.  If they aren't really big enough yet, you may want to keep feeding them so they continue to grow, or at least so they don't shrink the brood nest so rapidly.  Because the colonies are likely at their maximum population size right now.   

Just as an example, in my climate, I overwinter my colonies in 2 mediums, which ideally are packed full of honey and bees.  Right now I have one colony that really struggled in the spring for various reasons, and they only just got their second box this week.  That colony is not going to be large enough to winter successfully, since they are basically as big as they are going to get right now, so I'm going to combine them with another colony before winter.  I have another colony that just got their 3rd box, so they are right on the line.  If I think they look strong enough population-wise, I'll donate them some honey from a big colony and let them winter by themselves.  If there aren't enough bees though, I'll either put them above a big colony that can help to warm them, or combine them with another colony. 

So the point I'm making, which again is difficult to assess in your first season, is where are they in relation to where they need to be?  If they aren't there, go ahead and keep feeding.  If they are, then no need to make them draw out of season.  Am I making sense?   

[Terri Yaki]

Yes, it makes sense to me but I was looking to hear what more experienced keepers thought. Thanks.

[Caashenb]

I had done some spot checks and decided to start pulling some honey this weekend. Pull five deep supers that were perfect but then started finding to many full but uncapped frames so I stopped and will give them some more time.

There are still a good bit of wild flowers around the bee yard and flowering trees but things are drying up pretty fast now so not much longer.

[Terri Yaki]

This morning I did my swarm hive and my main hive. All looks pretty good but there were a few empty frames that they weren't building up so I swapped them out for some that I waxed up previously. My main hive seems to be filling the bottom brood box with pollen and nectar and the top brood box is doing well with all stages of brood. I did spot the queen and there were two empty supersedure cells. I wasn't sure whether to remove them or not so I left nature alone for this round. The bottom super is filling up and while there are some bees in the top super, not much is happening up there. Both hives looked to have decent pollen supplies.

[NigelP]

started finding to many full but uncapped frames so I stopped and will give them some more time.

Might be worth investing in a honey refractometer. I often find full uncapped frames that are well within legal water limits. If often happens in the UK when there is a strong flow on and good weather. (rare this year ) I think the bees simply have not got, or won't spend the time to cap it over in these conditions.

[Caashenb]

yeah I was thinking about getting one this is the first year I have had to question the curring.

[Terri Yaki]

Just observed a little today. Two of my hives are bringing in pollen but hive #1 is only bringing in a little. I'm guessing that that means it's out there and one hive is not in need as much as the other two.

We had a hot, dry spell for a week or more but last night we got some rain. Not a soaker but a little more than just a passing thunderstorm. How does such a situation affect pollen and nectar?

[jtcmedic]

started finding to many full but uncapped frames so I stopped and will give them some more time.

Might be worth investing in a honey refractometer. I often find full uncapped frames that are well within legal water limits. If often happens in the UK when there is a strong flow on and good weather. (rare this year ) I think the bees simply have not got, or won't spend the time to cap it over in these conditions.

I agree check with a refractometer and see if it?s ready to pull, my girls stop capping with the flow end, No reason to waste the energy.

[The15thMember]

We had a hot, dry spell for a week or more but last night we got some rain. Not a soaker but a little more than just a passing thunderstorm. How does such a situation affect pollen and nectar?

It depends on the plant.  Rain can help plants produce more nectar since they'll have a surplus of water, but it can also temporarily wash pollen and nectar out of flowers that are very open and upturned.  But if it wasn't a deep rain, it may not affect anything that much. 

[jtcmedic]

Now you GET to paint.    That's a tall stack of boxes right there!

painted all the deeps and super with a great exterior paint from Lowe?s on the mark down shelf 5 gallons for 50.00 marked down from 299.09 . Covered great 30deeps and 30 supers

[The15thMember]

NICE!