Only here to update the blog a bit, I didn't really work my bees. Only thing I crossed off my to do list is cleaning out the feeder from the TO 2 2018.
I'm uploading a youtube video as we speak. Nothing special, and rather long. (1h48min if I'm not mistaken) It's a GoPro looking at the entrance of my two hives on Stand number 1. You can see (if you decide to watch the thing - good luck with that - how bees start gathering in front of the hives for orientation flights.
Weather Report:
The Weather since august 21st has become what I'd call 'normal' for our region. If you want a day by day detailed report, read on, if not, skip !22 August: Temperatures up to 25°C and as cold as 14°C at night - no rain.
23 August: Up to 23°C and as cold as 14°C at night - no rain.
24 August: Around 20°C max and 8,5°C at the coldest - showers durign the night!
25 August: Showers continuing till 4 in the morning, dry after that with up to 19°C as the warmest!
26 August: Again 19°C was the warmest, 8,5°C the coldest. Rain with pauzes from 4 p.m. till midnight.
27 August: In the morning it was still raining till 5 a.m. after that it cleared up. Again 19°C tops, warmer night with 13°C.
28 August: Mercury rising till 22°C and didn't drop below 12°C. No rain today.
29 August: Showers spread out during the day cooling the air to about 17°C max but no cooler than 10°C
30 August: Rising temperatures again reaching 22°C and 10°C as a low. Shortly after midnight it stopped raining and only a small curtain of rain fell down in the afternoon.
31 August: No rain; Max 21°C and around 10°C at midnight
01 September: 22°C tops and Mercury dropping to 6° around 7-8 a.m. No rain.
02 September: 24°C - 7°C - no rain.
03 September: Cooler again with 21°C at its peak and 10°C on the other side. No rain.
Today 04 September: 21°C and 10°C - No Rain. (see yesterday?)
Hive Report:
Stand number 1:
Simplex Nuc: Activity near the hive seems good, the number of visiting wasps has dropped. As for pollen being brought in I can see White, green-ish and orange colours.PC 1 2018: The 6-framer is still in place, I haven't opened it up, but I'm sure that all bees have worked their way into other hives in the neighbourhood. Any activity here is due to robbing. (both bees and wasps) I shall no longer mention the PC 1 2018. I do hope to catch a swarm next year to shake into this hive.
SS 1 2018: I've reduced the feeding. I took the boxes appart to remove the newspaper, but it was all cleaned up IN the hive. The rest got stuck in between or on the top bars of the frames. The bees were not in a good mood (I got 3 stings in the belly - yeah, my shirt lifted as I stooped over to put the top box down) I decided to put the boxes back together, newspaper leftovers and all and try again later.
Stand number 2:
TO 2 2018: I removed the feeder and haven't put it back yet. There were some bees in the feeder as I removed it, shook them off with no problems. Not a single wasps to see (anywhere in the stand). As it was late in the evening there wasn't much activity going on, but there was a steady drip of returning bees and some foragers took off to go about their business. Not going to open up this hive till next spring.SD 1 2018: Comparable activity here as with the TO 2 2018 - even though this hive is only fitted with 6 frames (where the TO 2 2018 has 20 in 2 supers). I hope they get through winter ok.
TO 1 2018: This nuc is still packed with bees. If there is one hive I expect to swarm first after winter, this'll be the one.
To do list:
- Get some video footage up on youtube.
- keep feeding till I run out of sugar.
- Plan for next season.
I have been looking up some information on queen rearing, and I might go with the poor man's method! (The Hopkins Methode) But I'm not sure yet. So no promisses. I do hope to film some more for you guys!
