What have you done today bee-related?

[Cable_Fairy]

Did a full inspection on both hives, the WBC was fine with lots of brood / lava, although I could not find eggs! However did see the Queen.
The National on the other hand I am afraid to say that there was a lot of "water" inside the hive and the rear frame has rust on the wired foundation and the dummy board was covered in mould. I have had a glass quilt on all winter and think that this has stopped airflow through the hive. The bees look alright, with lots of "brood" and there is plenty of food still on the under super.

A hive with insulated roof and a mesh floor - in my experience - should not be wet as you describe. How is your hive configured?

Chris, I have been under supered, Brood Box, feeding fondant on the top bars and a glass quilt with the insulated roof on the top.

[NigelP]

In my experience when you get that amount of "damp" it's not caused by bees but by rain ingress through the entrance (or elsewhere).
I have a hive stand that is ....shall we be polite and say it's not quite level. Whenever we get rain from the SW my Abelo insets under neath the open mesh floor fill up with water....or my Paynes inserts come out very damp.

[Chrisbarlow]

moved a couple of nucs in to transpot boxes for sale.

[Cable_Fairy]

I did an inspection this afternoon and am a little worried about what I found on one frame. Last week on the frame it was full of lava, however these are now capped and they all look to be Drone Cells. Looking into the cells there appears to be eggs on the wall sides, and not on the bottom. On other frames there is normal sealed brood and lava but I could not see any eggs. I found the queen on the frame with the drone cells, I am going to open up again tomorrow and take some photo's.

[Steve (The Drone)]

Damp in the hive when using acrylic crown boards. Due to the higher thermal conductivity these boards seem to attract more condensation than woodern ones. I find that It is essential to well insulate them during the winter. Also, if the hive is not quite level then any condensation will run to the side- hopefully where the dummy board is.

[AdamD]

I did an inspection this afternoon and am a little worried about what I found on one frame. Last week on the frame it was full of lava, however these are now capped and they all look to be Drone Cells. Looking into the cells there appears to be eggs on the wall sides, and not on the bottom. On other frames there is normal sealed brood and lava but I could not see any eggs. I found the queen on the frame with the drone cells, I am going to open up again tomorrow and take some photo's.

It could be that the queen has developed into a drone layer or there is a drone laying queen in the hive as well as the female-laying queen. [Or bees have chucked out the old decent queen for a young upstart (I had that a few years' back)].
Pictures are always good. Unfortunately you have to upload them to another site and then link to those rather than uploading to this forum.

[Cable_Fairy]

I did an inspection this afternoon and am a little worried about what I found on one frame. Last week on the frame it was full of lava, however these are now capped and they all look to be Drone Cells. Looking into the cells there appears to be eggs on the wall sides, and not on the bottom. On other frames there is normal sealed brood and lava but I could not see any eggs. I found the queen on the frame with the drone cells, I am going to open up again tomorrow and take some photo's.

It could be that the queen has developed into a drone layer or there is a drone laying queen in the hive as well as the female-laying queen. [Or bees have chucked out the old decent queen for a young upstart (I had that a few years' back)].
Pictures are always good. Unfortunately you have to upload them to another site and then link to those rather than uploading to this forum.

Adam, Many thanks for your reply, last September I think I had a superceedure, at least there was a Queen cell in the middle of the frame, so perhaps the "new Queen" never got mated, and there is still two queens present.

[Chrisbarlow]

Inspected majority of colonies yesterday and they're looking good. Lots of bees and lots of stores. A flow is coming in, some had supers added, most had QE added, lots had super frames moved around.

[NigelP]

Yesterday in a cold 10C I finished my first quick inspections of the year....didn't care about it being chilly, they needed to be done.
Today (10th April) in a chilly 10C moved first hives to OSR which is already in full flower....don't know about nectar...yet.
Last year moved hives to OSR on 24th April and it was barely in flower.
Forage wise we are about a month ahead of last year but bee wise we are about the same as last year. Need another 3-4 weeks to have sufficient foragers from all these frames of sealed brood.

[MickBBKA]

I took the plunge today at my most sheltered apiary which had full sun and a balmy 10C but at least no wind. I needed to have a look as I mentioned in another thread one had lost the queen in the middle of march and had several emergency queen cells and no eggs. So not sure what to expect I was very happy to find 2 frames of eggs just starting to fall over and all the queen cells torn apart. I couldn't find the queen but the bees were lovely and calm. I guess that answers a few questions about queens mating. First time I have ever had one mate in April.
A 6 frame polly Nuc has 5 frames of capped brood and needs rehousing ASAP.
And to make me a very happy beekeeper one of my 2015 queens is still going strong with 5 frames of capped brood. She has never headed the best honey producing colony but 5 season worth of honey is not to be sniffed at

Cheers, Mick.