October 2020 Apiary Diary

[jamesc 4,758]

Love is..... getting a jump at lunchtime

[nikki watts 890]

@Trevor Gillbanks,   @Alistair  you we’re both right. 
I checked the cell builder today and found old queen and a lovely big young one too.

@Maggie James gave me some great advise and my next graft was 8/20.  

Edited October 6 by nikki watts

[mischief 139]

Whoop whoop, Dan did my official AFB inspections and both past beautifully.

Rua does still have some mite issues, disappointing, but to be honest, they didnt look all that bad inside of the hive, well to me anyway....and thankfully no where near the amount of swarm cells or proper QC's like last year.

 

Tahi looks like its about to take off rocket ride style, so this week will be seeing me setting up frames to checker board-this time of year so they can have all the drone brood they like which will get moved out over to the honey side.

 

I've got my instructions for the next little while and cant wait to see how this year pans out.

[nikki watts 890]

I took a mum and 3 girls beekeeping today. They’re keen to get hives but wanted some experience and advise. 
This little one was amasing. They started out in a full suit but by the end of the day all three sisters had their heads in every hive without any gloves, hood or suit. 
Tasman and her sisters were so relaxed around the bees, they didn’t get one sting between the three of them. She probably ate close to her body weight in honey, sugar crystals and syrup. We all had a fab day. 

[john berry 5,583]

Most of my hives were pretty good today but I found one weak hive that was obviously a partial drone layer.

Luckily I spotted her running across the comb so it was a quick whack with the hive tool. Next thing I see her running away so I whacked it properly. Unfortunately I got the drone layer the first time and the nice young replacement Queen on the second hit. Sometimes when you have been beekeeping as long as I have your body reacts before your brain can kick into gear.

[Alastair 8,565]

Exactly John, that is actually a real useful post. 

 

I still have the painful memory of killing the nice young supersedure, then finding the drone layer walking around, since that experience that still causes me pain to think about, I always investigate thoroughly and if I cannot figure out who is who I just leave things as they are.

 

Mostly drone layers are dodery old things and it's obvious, but they can also look pretty good sometimes, fool anyone.

[john berry 5,583]

I worked an apiary today that was quite a bit weaker than I thought they would be ,  the brood was patchy which is a sign of pollen shortage. There were also very few adult bees in the hives. Apiarys 2 km away were really booming but this one was just a little bit close to the mountains and the wind.I killed one queen that was showing signs of becoming a drone layer. It was also a stroppy carniolan cross hives so I was quite happy to get rid of her.

[jamesc 4,758]

Busy day on the bees yesterday with cells going out on a grey and dull day with a cold wind .... but perfect for pulling off splits in the early afternoon ..... destined to grow over the summer and provide a couple of hundred replacements for next year to cover dead and duds.

You gotta love those stroppy carniolans ..... coming out to greet you on a chilly day before you've even made the introductions with a puff of smoke in the front door.

 

 

 

 

[jamesc 4,758]

New snow and a frosty morning.

The soothing hum of the bee  as cells go out.

Bee fever is a strange thing....

[yesbut 6,184]

What are you actually doing opening them all up ?

[jamesc 4,758]

Popping cells in them ..... splits.

 

It's quite good swarm control too..... !

[Alastair 8,565]

How is it swarm control? Please describe your method.

[jamesc 4,758]

Big sigh.... we took the sti g out if the hives.... removed four frames of brood and a box of bees, leaving the queen and four frsmes of brood  and drift bees to build up again before they contemplated raising swarm cells.

The conundrum being that as migratory bee keepers we need everything two high when they go onto the truck. We could have put a third box on... but it just makes yer arm sockets stretch when loading the truck.... and of course.... a four frame single at this stage of the game will still make us 80kg of honey by christmas

[jamesc 4,758]

The Stig in action.

[Maru Hoani 639]

Went to do my first shift of the season last light to one of my sticky sites on the hiab truck, got to the wintering site and huh the hiabs not working? Had a play with everything and found one of the wires to the PTO wasnt connected underneath so I cut the wire with the hive tool and re joined it by melting the wire with a lighter then it was making a noise, had a look underneath and the hydraulic hose was gushing out, had a look underneath and it was rubbing against the driveshaft and had burst, on the way home it leaked out the whole way.

Anyway when I got the chassis blasted and rust protected the shop must have taken the hose tie off to get to the chassis a bit better and never put it back on, now I got heavy rain on monday and most probly wont get in, thankfully I got plan B, the 4x4 fork lift and the ute.

So that's me out again tonight

[jamesc 4,758]

1 hour ago, Maru Hoani said:

Went to do my first shift of the season last light to one of my sticky sites on the hiab truck, got to the wintering site and huh the hiabs not working? Had a play with everything and found one of the wires to the PTO wasnt connected underneath so I cut the wire with the hive tool and re joined it by melting the wire with a lighter then it was making a noise, had a look underneath and the hydraulic hose was gushing out, had a look underneath and it was rubbing against the driveshaft and had burst, on the way home it leaked out the whole way.

Anyway when I got the chassis blasted and rust protected the shop must have taken the hose tie off to get to the chassis a bit better and never put it back on, now I got heavy rain on monday and most probly wont get in, thankfully I got plan B, the 4x4 fork lift and the ute.

So that's me out again tonight

Baptise the forklft eh .... pictures please

[BRB 76]

Pulled strips out today, and the hives a booming. My strongest one nearly has a fully capped box. Had to put its 3rd super on, this time its un-drawn. As the Eucalyptus has just started to flower once the weather improves they'll be all over that. Found a couple of swarm cells so swapped boxes, moved frames around, put a few blanks in the brood hopefully that'll keep them busy for a week or so.

My other couple are doing pretty good, not as good. one has 2 supers and the other has one. It doesn't help that I took nucs out of them in Feb.

 

This season I've definitely realised that knowing your area and what flowers when makes a big difference. This year I've been putting boxes on before they are needed. And strips in early as I know that I get all my honey before Christmas.
Other years i was always reacting.

 

Now I just have to keep them in the box, last year with a lot of management ie moving frames up, and putting blanks in the brood every week for a month kept my strongest hive  where it was meant to be. I suspect I won't have that much luck this year.

[Gino de Graaf 1,008]

4 hours ago, Maru Hoani said:

Went to do my first shift of the season last light to one of my sticky sites on the hiab truck, got to the wintering site and huh the hiabs not working? Had a play with everything and found one of the wires to the PTO wasnt connected underneath so I cut the wire with the hive tool and re joined it by melting the wire with a lighter then it was making a noise, had a look underneath and the hydraulic hose was gushing out, had a look underneath and it was rubbing against the driveshaft and had burst, on the way home it leaked out the whole way.

Anyway when I got the chassis blasted and rust protected the shop must have taken the hose tie off to get to the chassis a bit better and never put it back on, now I got heavy rain on monday and most probly wont get in, thankfully I got plan B, the 4x4 fork lift and the ute.

So that's me out again tonight

What's the hiab? A PML? 

 

[Maru Hoani 639]

1 minute ago, Gino de Graaf said:

What's the hiab? A PML? 

 

Yep a PML 250 I think

[Maru Hoani 639]

2 hours ago, jamesc said:

Baptise the forklft eh .... pictures please

Just gotta finish wiring the red lights now, ended up getting home 4am and still recovering. Should be ready for shifting by 5:30

[jamesc 4,758]

4 hours ago, Maru Hoani said:

Just gotta finish wiring the red lights now, ended up getting home 4am and still recovering. Should be ready for shifting by 5:30

No rush ....eh

[Stoney 1,566]

8 hours ago, Maru Hoani said:

Went to do my first shift of the season last light to one of my sticky sites on the hiab truck, got to the wintering site and huh the hiabs not working? 

I really miss those seat of your pants commercial shifting missions to the back of beyond.. sleeping In or under the truck, breakdowns, blowouts, crane issues, livestock, washouts... these days it’s a much more relaxed affair.. 

I can remember one pick up trip up country to one of our furtherest and roughest sites, Only just got them out following some rain on the clay track, bounced and bashed the truck back off the hill country farm and drove SH1 for an hour before stopping to water the roadside.. got the shock of my life to see the Palfinger crane remote sitting on the very edge of the deck behind the last row of hives as I checked the load.. gave me goosebumps. 

[jamesc 4,758]

3 minutes ago, Stoney said:

I really miss those seat of your pants commercial shifting missions to the back of beyond.. sleeping In or under the truck, breakdowns, blowouts, crane issues, livestock, washouts... these days it’s a much more relaxed affair.. 

I can remember one pick up trip up country to one of our furtherest and roughest sites, Only just got them out following some rain on the clay track, bounced and bashed the truck back off the hill country farm and drove SH1 for an hour before stopping to water the roadside.. got the shock of my life to see the Palfinger crane remote sitting on the very edge of the deck behind the last row of hives as I checked the load.. gave me goosebumps. 

Haha.... thought u were gonna tell the story of the flatty out back.... I liked that one!

[Maru Hoani 639]

Just about loaded up and the machine died, tried to start it and it was flat which leads me to the alternator. Hopefully she's stil under warranty, only my second time using it too.

 

 

[BRB 76]

12 minutes ago, Maru Hoani said:

Just about loaded up and the machine died, tried to start it and it was flat which leads me to the alternator. Hopefully she's stil under warranty, only my second time using it too.

 

 

Your not having much luck at the moment are you?