Went as planned this afternoon. Under supered the hives which still had supers - both very strong.

The nucs appear to have been done in by wasps - frames absolutely empty no stores dead larvae or bees.

Remaining poly hive felt light so fed today rather than waiting until tomorrow - should be OK as quite distant from other hives in the apiary.

Will visit again Wednesday 09/09 weather permitting to feed remaining hives. ETA 1630hrs. ETD 1730hrs or earlier if complete.

Cliff

Plans for this week - weather permitting: Tues 08 Sep 1400hrs visit site and do any necessary manipulations prior to feeding. This will include putting the now combined nucs into a poly hive and under supering any others where this is appropriate. Later that afternoon or failing that Wed p.m feed stocks using Ambrosia Bienenfutter.

Cliff

Belay the last pipe. Rain stopped play. Visit planned for this evening is postponed. Watch this space.

Cliff

I will visit the association apiary at 1800hrs on Wednesday 19 Aug. The purpose of this visit is to put the supers from which I have extracted the honey on the relevant hives so that the bees can clean them up before I feed them for the winter in September. Providing the now combined nucs are queenright I will transfer the 10 frames into the currently empty poly nuc so that they are kept warm through the winter and to allow them to establish themselves there again prior to feeding.

Cliff

12 Aug

I put clearance boards on three colonies on Monday night and will be removing 5 supers of honey tonight (1930hrs). I am leaving one super on each of the colonies, which had been on a box and a half earlier in the season so although containing honey will also have pollen and pupa cases.

The 2 nucs have been combined and are now in a double story nuc, which I will transfer into a hive with a full sized brood box before the winter.

Once I have extracted the honey I will get the bees to clear up the frames before I feed them, which will start in early September.

Watch this space for details of any remaining visits for this season.

Cliff

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Still planning to go today at 1800hrs. As we have no candidates for the BBKA assessment we can use one or more colonies to breed some queens. Plan for today: Check nucs. Check all other hives and assess honey yield in supers prior to clearance and extraction.

Cliff

Visited and refilled the contact feeders (4pt) on the nucs on Saturday 04 Jul. Crownboards not removed but active bees seen through feedhole, Colony in poly nuc had also taken down feed from Miller type feeder and were much livelier - one frame checked fully laid up with egg.

Next visit 1800hrs on Thursday 09 Jul weather permitting - will update blog on the day before the visit.

Cliff