The Parsonage Bees

Apiary log. 10 years a beekeeper, box builder, frame shuffler, honey thief, bee pin-cushion, queen seeker. ( 📌 Lincolnshire, UK)
4 - 6 colonies.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

🐝📦🐝📦🐝📦 Club apiary
Stack equipment away for the winter.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Extracted about 60lb of honey. Stood supers overnight on top of warming cabinet to 30degC ish. Extracted OK but still high water content.
Wet supers treated with sulphur. Stacked away for winter. Somehow I've lost some drawn supers. ? Lost one to wax moth but still . ..

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Club apiary. Track too treacherous so wheel-barrowed in a few buckets of sand and gravel to fill the potholes.
Feeders off and 2.5kg lump of fondant added + foil insulation under roof.
Last of the mouseguards added.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Apivar out of Mr. Taylor's langstroths.
Clearing last 4 supers left on Jo. #badbeekeeper

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Chunky drones being hassled by the girls from Big Red.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

🐝🐝Club apiary - treat ALV and feed
Check #10. QC last week. Not repeated. Loads of brood, not enough stores.
#3 not happy. They'd glued the boxes together with propolis.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

@Longsidehoney @calluna4u I understand they are very tasty. ! 😆
Problem is they can have a fawn at any time of year.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Apivar + 3 days - total drop
Kasia - 250v ish
Kaia - 175v
Brambling - 250v ish
Linnet - 400v ish

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Varroa drop check (3 days)
. . after 3 Varromed applications, last 26th August
OS1 1
OS2 1
Jo 3
⬇️. . . treat again . . . . Apivar . . . ⬇️
Kasia 20
Kaia 32
Brambling 35
Linnet 104 !

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Apivar in.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

@BizzleBugs Did the steaming after dark but failed to keep them out of the buckets I had to leave outside.
Which reminds me, I have to take this indoors now they've gone home.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Steamed the cappings wax. Created much excitement.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

🐝🪚🪛🐝 Club apiary
Moved 3 hives from solid to mesh floors so we can check varroa drop.
Moonscape on the old solid floors.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

@BizzleBugs The product is TopBuxus Xentari, which contains Bacillus thuringiensis. A similar strain to Dipel but available in smaller quantities.
There were 2 neglected colonies that I treated, mostly over the old box. The other one was much worse and they look fine. Both on new frames.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

OS2 still worrying me. Picked the mankiest larva and . . . negative for EFB.
Varroa? They've had 3 doses of Varromed. ?

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Plus 17 days & they've at least started drawing all 10 frames. 7 frames of capped syrup. No sign of brood or even a space left empty.
Remove feeder.
So it's worked, they've drawn out a box of frames but with the queen still in the wild comb in the bottom box, that's all I can do.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Start comb change with Big Red. Against advice, too late.
7 frames of foundation between 50mm of insulation. Ashforth feeder.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

3 litres of syrup . . . GONE in 24 hours.
Given them another 3.
Moved new frames to outside and removed insulation blocks.

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Feed nucs and Big Red.
Not sure whether the nucs are getting too strong. ?

[The Parsonage Bees @BeesParsonage]

Mr Taylor's last honey crop nearly all sold.