Sunday 14 September 2014

14th September - Autumn Varroa Treatment II

Welcome to the Petersfield & District Beekeeper's Apiary Blog for 2014. It is intended to publish here all the activities that take place in the apiary.

For security reasons please do not mention geographic or personal details when posting a comment.

General Apiary
Temperature 20C, weather sunny. Time 14:30

Along with stores status, all hives were treated with the second Apiguard application of the autumn. Apiguard purchased from Thorne's (Stockbridge) 30/8, batch number BN05L0492, expiry date 5/2017.

Hive#1
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Yellow) seen.
No Queen Cells
9 frames brood no eggs. Very little room for queen to lay so replaced 1 frame stores with empty frame from Hive#4.
2 frames stores.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers(1)
11 frames of stores.

General
Entrance reduced with fern.
Bee Temper: 9
Varroa Drop Count: Unable to read board - too dirty. Board needs replacing.

Hive#2
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells.
Brood on 4 frames in all stages.
Stores on 3 frames.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers(1)
Stores on 7 frames.

General
Bee Temper: 8
Varroa Drop Count: 80+ too many to count.

Hive#3
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells.
Brood on 6 frames in all stages.
Stores on 3 frames.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers(1)
10 frames with nectar.

General
Queen Excluder removed.
Bee Temper: 9
Varroa Drop Count: 80/14
Feeder (empty) removed.

Hive#4
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells.
Brood on 7 frames in all stages.
Stores on 2 frames.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers(1)
Stores on 10 frames.

General
Queen Excluder removed.
Bee Temper: 7
Varroa Drop Count: 180+/14

Hive#5
Brood Chamber (Brood and half)
Queen (2014 Green) not seen.
No Queen Cells.
Shallow (Upper) Box:
3 frames of brood in all stages.
Deep (Lower) Box:
3 frames of brood in all stages.
0 frames of stores.
Upper and Lower brood boxes switched.
Added eke for Apiguard.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers(0)

General
Bee Temper: 10
Varroa Drop Count: Lots
Feed in Rapid Feeder not touched yet have no stores!
Very small colony.

Hive#6
Brood Chamber (Brood and a Half)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells
Shallow Box: Brood on 7 frames in all stages.
Shallow Box: Stores on 3 frames (circa 5lbs)
Deep Box: Brood on 4 frames in all stages.
Deep Box: Stores on 3 frames.
Stores adequate.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers(1)
circa 30lbs stores.

General
Bee Temper: 9
Varroa Drop Count: Lots

Hive#7
Brood Chamber (Brood and a Half)
Queen (2014 Green) not seen.
No Queen Cells
Shallow (Lower) Box:
3 frames of brood. Bordered by pollen barrier. Moved drawn worker frame inside. Most of remainder of drawn frames drone. Need to replace with worker drawn comb.
1 frames stores.
Shallow (Upper) Box:
3 frames brood.
3 frames stores.
Total circa 10lbs stores.
No previous Apiguard treatment! Added 1st tray Apiguard and shallow eke.
No Varroa Board available.

Supers(0)

General
Bee Temper: 6
Food all taken. Replenished with 4pts Heavy Syrup. No top on feeder.
Entrance already reduced.

Hive#8
Brood Chamber (Deep)
Queen (Green 2014) not seen.
0 Queen Cells.
Brood on 6 frames no eggs.
2 frames of stores. Total circa 15lb stores.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
2nd tray of apiguard added.

Supers (1)
circa 6lb stores.

General
Bee Temper: 10
Varroa Drop Count:180/14
Entrance already reduced.
Added rapid feeder and 4pts Heavy Syrup.

Friday 5 September 2014

4th September - Autumn Feed I

Welcome to the Petersfield & District Beekeeper's Apiary Blog for 2014. It is intended to publish here all the activities that take place in the apiary.

For security reasons please do not mention geographic or personal details when posting a comment.

General Apiary
4 pints heavy syrup fed to Hive#3, 5 & 7 via rapid feeders.

Empty super added as apiguard eke for Hive#5.

Monday 1 September 2014

31st August - Autumn Varroa Treatment I

Welcome to the Petersfield & District Beekeeper's Apiary Blog for 2014. It is intended to publish here all the activities that take place in the apiary.

For security reasons please do not mention geographic or personal details when posting a comment.

General Apiary
Temperature 18C, weather sunny. Time 14:30

Along with stores status, all hives were treated with the first Apiguard application of the autumn. Apiguard purchased from Thorne's (Stockbridge) 30/8, batch number BN05L0492, expiry date 5/2017. Dried and excess supers removed.

Hive#1
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Yellow) seen.
No Queen Cells
6 frames brood in all stages.
0 frames stores.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted.

Supers(1)
11 frames of stores.

General
Dried super removed.
Entrance reduced with fern.
Bee Temper: 9

Hive#2
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells.
Brood on 4 frames in all stages.
Stores on 1 frame.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted.

Supers(2-1)
Stores on all frames.

General
Dried super removed.
2nd super removed, frames with nectar donated to hive #3.
Bee Temper: 6

Hive#3
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells.
Brood on 5 frames in all stages.
Stores on 0 frames.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted.

Supers(1)
7 frames with nectar, added 4 more from Hive #2.

General
Dried super removed.
Bee Temper: 9

Hive#4
Brood Chamber (Single Deep)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells.
Brood on 5 frames in all stages.
Stores on 0 frames.
No eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted.

Supers(1)
Stores on 8 frames.

General
Bee Temper: 7

Hive#5
Brood Chamber (Brood and half)
Queen (2014 Green) not seen.
No Queen Cells.
Shallow (Lower) Box:
? frames of brood in all stages.
Deep (Upper) Box:
4 frames of brood in all stages.
0 frames of stores.
Upper and Lower brood boxes switched.
No eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted

Supers(0)

Bee Temper: 8

Hive#6
Brood Chamber (Brood and a Half)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells
Shallow Box: Brood on 6 frames in all stages.
Shallow Box: Stores on 5 frames
Deep Box: Brood on 4 frames in all stages.
Deep Box: Stores on 3 frames.
Stores adequate.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted.

Supers(1)
circa 30lbs stores..

Bee Temper: 7

Hive#7
Brood Chamber (Brood and a Half)
Queen (2014 Green) seen.
No Queen Cells
Shallow (Lower) Box:
3 frames of brood.
1 frames stores.
Shallow (Upper) Box:
1 frame brood.
2 frames stores.
Total circa 10lbs stores.

Supers(0)

General
Bee Temper: 7
Needs feeding.

Hive#8
Brood Chamber (Deep)
Queen (Green 2014) seen.
0 Queen Cells.
Brood on 6 frames in all stages.
2 frames of stores.
Shallow box used as eke for Apiguard.
Varroa Board inserted.

Supers (1)

Bee Temper: 9

Summary
8 Stocks Queenright & marked (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8)