There has been a lot of bee activity at the bait hive this morning. When I first looked for the swarm up in the tree I thought it was gone but then I spotted it later but it seemed like maybe it was smaller. The branch wasn't bent down as much. Seems sorta like the bee swarm didn't have a plan or maybe they had found a migratory hive that was empty and it moved overnight. They're 50 feet, 15 meters, up in a tree so not much I can do about that.

This bee is really enjoying a pollen chunk another bee dropped at the entrance. I'll be working on my hive boxes this weekend. Possibly expanding the current hive and setting up the new one. The nucleus colony arrives Sunday.

Have a great evening everyone!

All those drones, the traffic jam... Swarmed. I heard the dreaded sound when I stepped outside.

Some up in the tree, can't really tell how big of cluster but it's not small. I think a lot of those bearded bees went back in and then I scooped them up into the entrance and they seemed to have gone back in the hive. The swarm is too high up in the tree to do anything about. My swarm catcher socks weren't worth I guess.

The bees today. Very busy, pollen coming in, and the West hive having a traffic jam caused by a bunch of drones on the landing board.

I haven't seen any activity at the bait hive and the bees at the other empty hives seem to be off target and taking a break.

Saw at least four species of bees hanging on these little purple flowers in just a couple minutes’ time.

I'd stop for a rest too if I was carrying that much pollen.

Does anyone need some concentrated pollen? There is a small pile under the our hive.

Every time I think I'm getting the hang of this, they throw me another curveball.

#Beekeeping
#Amateur

It's honey harvesting time on this perfect Autumn day in Lutruwita. We took the super off and added an entrance reducer for Winter; leaving two full brood boxes and plenty of honey for the bees. This batch tastes fantastic!
#Beekeeping #FlowHive

My bees are producing young which is a good sign that they are thriving! I'm very happy to see several frames of brood in there now. A lot of it capped. There are a lot of uncapped eggs and larvae too. I have a picture of the queen, Bee Arthur, she is circled in blue.

The solid yellow caps on the 1st picture are brood or bees about to hatch. They have a fair amount of honey and pollen spread around too.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Besides getting both hives through the winter in year two, my proudest accomplishment is that I no longer use #beekeeping gloves, just regular rubber gloves. And this is the second time I have inspected both hives with no stings.

Next is the suit. But face protection is forever.

Today I put the hives on two proper hive stands. Both of these are full of bees and bringing in lots of early pollen.

We had a bad winter, so we're down to two. I'll split at least one of these and then we'll catch some wild swarms.

Bees bringing in the pollen on Saturday morning. I estimate between 100-120 bees per minute with pollen. That could be over 1.5 grams of pollen per minute or 500 grams in 6 hours. More than a pound of pollen and they work hours than that. That's based on them only carrying 15mg of pollen but I read they can carry 30mg.

I'm letting my new nucleus hive get accustomed to their new location while it warms up a bit more outside. I saw a #bee waggle-dancing right on the front of the hive for another one. This is how bees tell one another where resources are. This one is really excited because she found a nectar source nearby, perhaps one of my various maple trees. #beekeeping

Just saw a queen bee hatching whilst I was doing an inspection. Fortunately, it was in a hive that seemed to be missing a working Queen.
Also, caught a swarm. Anyone in the Wiltshire area want some free bees? #freebees #beekeeping

Bestes Flugwetter und jede Menge Obstbäume blühen. Inkl. der Speierling bei uns um Garten. Überall summt und brummt es.

https://loops.video/v/7Om1ikp1Ag

Este é o lagar da cera de Sagallos (Manzanal de Arriba, Zamora). Certamente esta infraestrutura é un importante exemplo de patrimonio apícola cereiro #patrimonio #apicultura #beekeeping #cera #lagardecera #historiaagraria #historiaeconomica

[New post] More on swarms — capturing them, moving them and their memory — and absconding, including some Citizen Science to try to work out why they abscond.
https://theapiarist.org/the-memory-of-swarms-2/
#beekeeping #citizenscience