Wednesday, February 18, 2015
First flying day
A quick note that feb 15th was a clear sunny day and all hives at Tollembeek were flying in surprising numbers. The first time this year 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
2015 State of the apiary.
Happy new Year.
Other than clearing away empty micros and the the Kielers etc no interventions were made during the intervening period. No further queens hatched
Winter only really started after christmas, with some freezing weather and a little snow. Below zero for a couple of days maybe.
Jan 11th: we'd had a big storm come through, (the turbine in Denmark had 35m/sec), the only casualty was the yellow queen; whose mini super hive with two lifts had been blown off the stand, the hive was very light, and although there were a lot of bees and food back in august, i think they starved.
Nb the Sloe tree, which had lost a main branch back in the summer under the weight of the fruit, has been blown down in the storm.
With this in mind i fed the 8 big hives yesterday, 17th january, i kg of Nectapol Forte each. I drilled a hole in the clear plastic tops and put a pack with a hole in it over the hole in the cover.
1 & 2 had 3 frames of bees
3 had died back in the autumn.
4 had been the strongest in August, but now is rather weak with only two frames of bees down in the first lift, near the food, so i removed the top lift and reduced it to only one.
5 had died in the autumn.
6,7 and 8 were remarkably strong with 3 to 4 frames of bees.
9 was strong too and 10 in the corner was apparently empty at the top but when i started drilling the hole it was suddenly full of bees come to see and defend.
There was little or no wind, only 2° in the shade, but quite ok in the sun.
The drainage channel need a little attention down the back of the bees, but the overflow for the pond was working fine. I meet the neighbour from the house on the other side of zeuningen, filip i think; his father in law lives in the last house in the bend, on the track at the back, with the tractor. He came to see if the concrete channel was free; it was - i'd cleaned out both sides of the main drain, back in the holiday.
Other than clearing away empty micros and the the Kielers etc no interventions were made during the intervening period. No further queens hatched
Winter only really started after christmas, with some freezing weather and a little snow. Below zero for a couple of days maybe.
Jan 11th: we'd had a big storm come through, (the turbine in Denmark had 35m/sec), the only casualty was the yellow queen; whose mini super hive with two lifts had been blown off the stand, the hive was very light, and although there were a lot of bees and food back in august, i think they starved.
Nb the Sloe tree, which had lost a main branch back in the summer under the weight of the fruit, has been blown down in the storm.
With this in mind i fed the 8 big hives yesterday, 17th january, i kg of Nectapol Forte each. I drilled a hole in the clear plastic tops and put a pack with a hole in it over the hole in the cover.
1 & 2 had 3 frames of bees
3 had died back in the autumn.
4 had been the strongest in August, but now is rather weak with only two frames of bees down in the first lift, near the food, so i removed the top lift and reduced it to only one.
5 had died in the autumn.
6,7 and 8 were remarkably strong with 3 to 4 frames of bees.
9 was strong too and 10 in the corner was apparently empty at the top but when i started drilling the hole it was suddenly full of bees come to see and defend.
There was little or no wind, only 2° in the shade, but quite ok in the sun.
The drainage channel need a little attention down the back of the bees, but the overflow for the pond was working fine. I meet the neighbour from the house on the other side of zeuningen, filip i think; his father in law lives in the last house in the bend, on the track at the back, with the tractor. He came to see if the concrete channel was free; it was - i'd cleaned out both sides of the main drain, back in the holiday.
Thursday, August 07, 2014
end of feeding and Api life var start.7th August.
Thursday 7th august 2014.
After brunch with Wil who is full of stories of working at STVV, i removed 7 of the 9 feeders; all empty. The two with a last drop in are 1 and 3.
Api life var strips added to all but 2, which is a Yellow daughter, so hopefully doesn't need it.
Added a lift to the mini plus Yellow Queen, still going strong, i'm going to try the in frame feeder this time.
All hives have young brood; the biggest is by far 4, the swarmy red queen, i gave them a second lift because there were a lot of bees outside the other night.
The two kielers were empty, apparently ran out of food; the queen cell in micro C had been opened or been stripped, there were still bees apparently looking after another queen cell, so i gave them some food.
Note for future; the kielers need to be kept fed.
After brunch with Wil who is full of stories of working at STVV, i removed 7 of the 9 feeders; all empty. The two with a last drop in are 1 and 3.
Api life var strips added to all but 2, which is a Yellow daughter, so hopefully doesn't need it.
Added a lift to the mini plus Yellow Queen, still going strong, i'm going to try the in frame feeder this time.
All hives have young brood; the biggest is by far 4, the swarmy red queen, i gave them a second lift because there were a lot of bees outside the other night.
The two kielers were empty, apparently ran out of food; the queen cell in micro C had been opened or been stripped, there were still bees apparently looking after another queen cell, so i gave them some food.
Note for future; the kielers need to be kept fed.
Sunday, August 03, 2014
25th to 29th July; Honey and feeding.
Friday 25th put on three bee filters on hives 2, 3 and 9.
Three lifts reduced to two with air pressure to blow off the stragglers and off to Oma' to spin on Sunday 27th. Also put bee filters on the second set of two hives, 4 and 10 and the one at Oma's, 11, which was doing quite well with its new unmarked queen. I only have three bee filters.
First round of spinning generated about 10kgs.
Monday evening clipped no 3 hive with the tractor and mower and upset a bunch of bees, one of which stung me on the lower lip;
Tuesday 29th, after finishing two days of sewer repairs, took off the (heavy) honey lifts from 4 and 10, and installed feeders on all but 5 which is empty. most hives got 14kgs.
Had to combine no 8 and large wooden super, because 8 had not kept its Q. Used the water spray method and removed the Wooden hive.
On arriving at Oma's at 2100, i put my suit back on but forgot to put the hood up; starting to remove the honey lift produced a wave of angry bees, this time stinging above my eye, my hand and back of my neck.
Not much Overboelare honey, 4 kgs? but lots more from 4 & 10, where there were 5 fully double side capped frames of honey. Total about 20kgs so 30kg in total.
Seems to be a Qcell in Micro C; we'll see.
Three lifts reduced to two with air pressure to blow off the stragglers and off to Oma' to spin on Sunday 27th. Also put bee filters on the second set of two hives, 4 and 10 and the one at Oma's, 11, which was doing quite well with its new unmarked queen. I only have three bee filters.
First round of spinning generated about 10kgs.
Monday evening clipped no 3 hive with the tractor and mower and upset a bunch of bees, one of which stung me on the lower lip;
Tuesday 29th, after finishing two days of sewer repairs, took off the (heavy) honey lifts from 4 and 10, and installed feeders on all but 5 which is empty. most hives got 14kgs.
Had to combine no 8 and large wooden super, because 8 had not kept its Q. Used the water spray method and removed the Wooden hive.
On arriving at Oma's at 2100, i put my suit back on but forgot to put the hood up; starting to remove the honey lift produced a wave of angry bees, this time stinging above my eye, my hand and back of my neck.
Not much Overboelare honey, 4 kgs? but lots more from 4 & 10, where there were 5 fully double side capped frames of honey. Total about 20kgs so 30kg in total.
Seems to be a Qcell in Micro C; we'll see.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
July 5 to 10
The weather turns and it rains solidly for nearly a whole week, by thursday 11th , the first dryish day, the rain total is 54.6mm!
Taking advantage of the dry spell i looked at the remaining minis; G & J Buckfasts had empty hives, but both without food!? my fault.... so the buckfast tally is 3 from 5, not so bad.
B,F,A had given their queens to the new splits.
Remaining are K Buckfast Q, marked OK
D a red Q marked ok
H a Carnica Q marked dark green ok
C a Carnica Q marked dark green ok
I & E both Carnica Qs, still have bees but no sign of Qs
Kieler 1 was empty a Carnica Q, some days ago
Kieler 2 with a Yellow Q had been marked light green some week or so ago
Kieler 3 is laying eggs, even closed brood, but inside the food area, so i had to do some re housing, and fix the closed comb onto new topbars, new food in the food area and a couple of wet matches to stop the queen getting back in there.NQS
Mini +1, has the old yellow Q still laying away!
Mini+ 2 is empty, a Carnica Q.
Mini+ 3 has a few bees, NQS
Mini+4 has two good frames of bees, but NQS
The wooden small super is laying ok a Red Q from the top lift Q pulling, seen but not marked, but fed.
The No1 hive which has the green queen from the Green folding hive is laying ok, so introducing with water works too. This is actually a Red Q made after the original red swarm.
Taking advantage of the dry spell i looked at the remaining minis; G & J Buckfasts had empty hives, but both without food!? my fault.... so the buckfast tally is 3 from 5, not so bad.
B,F,A had given their queens to the new splits.
Remaining are K Buckfast Q, marked OK
D a red Q marked ok
H a Carnica Q marked dark green ok
C a Carnica Q marked dark green ok
I & E both Carnica Qs, still have bees but no sign of Qs
Kieler 1 was empty a Carnica Q, some days ago
Kieler 2 with a Yellow Q had been marked light green some week or so ago
Kieler 3 is laying eggs, even closed brood, but inside the food area, so i had to do some re housing, and fix the closed comb onto new topbars, new food in the food area and a couple of wet matches to stop the queen getting back in there.NQS
Mini +1, has the old yellow Q still laying away!
Mini+ 2 is empty, a Carnica Q.
Mini+ 3 has a few bees, NQS
Mini+4 has two good frames of bees, but NQS
The wooden small super is laying ok a Red Q from the top lift Q pulling, seen but not marked, but fed.
The No1 hive which has the green queen from the Green folding hive is laying ok, so introducing with water works too. This is actually a Red Q made after the original red swarm.
July begins with hot weather; July 1-4
On thursday the three new hives were put into position, to the left of the red Q from the back, with the yellow hive brown roof on the right between the mini plus shelf and the old aflegger with a red Qcell.
Splits were taken from the new green Q in the brussels swarm, the red Q and Etiennes swarm.
A combi of two foundation frames, four honey frames and five brood frames were split off and replaced with foundation. Etienne's swarm only had a couple of duits norm frames in it the rest are the simplex frames with the wood and metal castellation, so i had to shake five frames in to the new hive with just foundation and one frame of honey and brood.
The order is Green, Red, Etienne, in terms of where the bees come from.
These become 5,6 & 8 hives in the numeric order of the big hives with 10 here in Tollembeek and 1 in Overboelare with oma.
5 gets a Buckfast Q from micro A, introduced with smoke only after 2 days without
6 has a yellow Q from micro B, introduced just with smoke.
8 has a Carnica Q from micro F, introduced with a sugar ended cage.
Splits were taken from the new green Q in the brussels swarm, the red Q and Etiennes swarm.
A combi of two foundation frames, four honey frames and five brood frames were split off and replaced with foundation. Etienne's swarm only had a couple of duits norm frames in it the rest are the simplex frames with the wood and metal castellation, so i had to shake five frames in to the new hive with just foundation and one frame of honey and brood.
The order is Green, Red, Etienne, in terms of where the bees come from.
These become 5,6 & 8 hives in the numeric order of the big hives with 10 here in Tollembeek and 1 in Overboelare with oma.
5 gets a Buckfast Q from micro A, introduced with smoke only after 2 days without
6 has a yellow Q from micro B, introduced just with smoke.
8 has a Carnica Q from micro F, introduced with a sugar ended cage.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
the week and weekend of 28-29th june
The hive used for pulling the 9/10 , the old yellow Q, had lost their virgin, so the green - poorly marked - Q from the green folding hive was put in with bees on the folding frame, after spraying with water.
The red queen next door is weakening, only sporadic brood not many bees needs to be replaced , but QNS!.
Left side of the folding hive has a bunch of bees in the food side, maybe they have a Q in there, but no bees on the frame, so took it for wax melting.
Right side took the red QV from the empty kieler with the folding fame from the corner hive with bees, but maybe left the door open?
Green Q from the folding frame, put into the old brussels swarm, is the star of the show, full of bees, full of brood, five frames solid, perfect pattern.
Red swarm Q also going strong, half finished Q cells two frames taken out and swapped for the drone laid frames from the single one time aflegger. closed for 24 hrs. need to check next we they are still quite swarmy.
The yellow queen in a super is laying well, all other supers have bunches of bees, no sign of laying.
Kielers have the same problem, where are the bees? hopefully out foraging but no sign of laying.
Corner hive with new Q is laying well, first four frames are full of brood nice pattern.
Q marked light green.
In the little hives J,G,A,K and B Q's marked with light green, means that four out of five queens from Ghislain are laying!
Drone frames removed from the three hives and put into wax melter.
Sunday; cleaned and waxed three lifts ready for splits for the new queens. Three hives are possible two brown bases and tops in the garage, one yellow base and lift with a brown top in the bee house.
The red queen next door is weakening, only sporadic brood not many bees needs to be replaced , but QNS!.
Left side of the folding hive has a bunch of bees in the food side, maybe they have a Q in there, but no bees on the frame, so took it for wax melting.
Right side took the red QV from the empty kieler with the folding fame from the corner hive with bees, but maybe left the door open?
Green Q from the folding frame, put into the old brussels swarm, is the star of the show, full of bees, full of brood, five frames solid, perfect pattern.
Red swarm Q also going strong, half finished Q cells two frames taken out and swapped for the drone laid frames from the single one time aflegger. closed for 24 hrs. need to check next we they are still quite swarmy.
The yellow queen in a super is laying well, all other supers have bunches of bees, no sign of laying.
Kielers have the same problem, where are the bees? hopefully out foraging but no sign of laying.
Corner hive with new Q is laying well, first four frames are full of brood nice pattern.
Q marked light green.
In the little hives J,G,A,K and B Q's marked with light green, means that four out of five queens from Ghislain are laying!
Drone frames removed from the three hives and put into wax melter.
Sunday; cleaned and waxed three lifts ready for splits for the new queens. Three hives are possible two brown bases and tops in the garage, one yellow base and lift with a brown top in the bee house.
Sat 21st Longest day, Midsummer night run in Gent
This is the list of the virgin queens as of this morning:
J,G,A,D,K are the five light coloured buckfast virgins from Ghislain.
I,C,E and one mini plus right are the dark carnica virgins from Guido
H,F and two mini plusses are beige carnicas
Dirty kieler and 4 frame wooden super are yellow Q virgins that hatched as the carnica QC were starting.
In the following week the last two red Qcells came out, and went into D which was empty, and the top kieler, but with too few bees.
In B and the other kielers are two yellow Q virgins.
J,G,A,D,K are the five light coloured buckfast virgins from Ghislain.
I,C,E and one mini plus right are the dark carnica virgins from Guido
H,F and two mini plusses are beige carnicas
Dirty kieler and 4 frame wooden super are yellow Q virgins that hatched as the carnica QC were starting.
In the following week the last two red Qcells came out, and went into D which was empty, and the top kieler, but with too few bees.
In B and the other kielers are two yellow Q virgins.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Tuesday 17th June (Belgium vs Algeria, in Brasil.) to weds 18th
Christina joined the fun, the 9 Carnica cells not hatched ,but the yellow Q bees had pulled queen cells - so much for isolation for 5 days - which were hatching as we stood there. So one went into small wooden super 4 frames, together with unopened Qcells, with two frames bees and honey & pollen stores. Closed for 24 hours.
Second into a dirty Kieler, with some shaken bees made wet with new spray - 14.95€ from Aveve - closed and left on bar under ash trees. Closed for 24h.
Final Q , we were pretty sure that a third queen had hatched, we left her in the hive, hopefully she will survive, get fertilised and start laying.
Inspected the Qcells in the top of the red swarm hive, only two capped, one in the cage, and one clean one. Both cages closed.
Did i say i found the green queen, poorly marked twice cos i didn't shake the pen, she is laying in the right hand of the two folding frame chambers. I thought i had killed her with double marking etc, but she'd been in the folding frame!
sat evening i had opened the two virgins from the previous batch, they came out and circled in number.
As i collected the empty Qcell from the 7 frame wooden super, Hilde was stung by a bee. Apis granules seemed to work that evening, but the following morning very swollen and even swollen tongue on monday. Dr says extreme allergic reaction that needs Adrelin shot quickly if stung again!!
Wedsnesday morning; three virgins emerged first thing, put them into three yellow mini, minis with bees in a bucket from yellow's old hive and red daughter of Yellow. Saw red Q, she's laying ok quite a bit of young brood, but only on 4 frames, so not that many bees, perhaps stopped in the May/june gap?
Looked into the old brussels swarm hive with new green Q, QNS, brood on 5 frames, not that many bees, 7/10 expected.
Second into a dirty Kieler, with some shaken bees made wet with new spray - 14.95€ from Aveve - closed and left on bar under ash trees. Closed for 24h.
Final Q , we were pretty sure that a third queen had hatched, we left her in the hive, hopefully she will survive, get fertilised and start laying.
Inspected the Qcells in the top of the red swarm hive, only two capped, one in the cage, and one clean one. Both cages closed.
Did i say i found the green queen, poorly marked twice cos i didn't shake the pen, she is laying in the right hand of the two folding frame chambers. I thought i had killed her with double marking etc, but she'd been in the folding frame!
sat evening i had opened the two virgins from the previous batch, they came out and circled in number.
As i collected the empty Qcell from the 7 frame wooden super, Hilde was stung by a bee. Apis granules seemed to work that evening, but the following morning very swollen and even swollen tongue on monday. Dr says extreme allergic reaction that needs Adrelin shot quickly if stung again!!
Wedsnesday morning; three virgins emerged first thing, put them into three yellow mini, minis with bees in a bucket from yellow's old hive and red daughter of Yellow. Saw red Q, she's laying ok quite a bit of young brood, but only on 4 frames, so not that many bees, perhaps stopped in the May/june gap?
Looked into the old brussels swarm hive with new green Q, QNS, brood on 5 frames, not that many bees, 7/10 expected.
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