Himmerlandske Bier v. Ivan B. Nielsen

25/06/2025

Apitherapy - or WHERE is the Queen 😉

13/06/2025

An afternoon of honey harvest on some of the breeding stock.
Nice harvest and only very little swarming despite the somewhat odd weather pattern, which in many places has triggered a lot of swarms.

Always funny to study the bees marching in after they have been blown out of the honey supers.
The blowing isn't really disturbing the bees very much, and the foragers continue to bring their loads home, even when we are harvesting the honey.

03/06/2025

First batch of queens went on two weeks of island holiday today.
The weather was nice and the bees looked happy.
Let's hope the virgins will experience some good romance during their holidays ❤️🐝☺️

01/06/2025

Think (and hope) things are starting to roll now.
Nice morning and a nice harvest of good cells.
They could have been a bit more 'waxy' but as there is almost no honey flow at the moment, we are reliant on the bucket, which isn't quite the same as what comes through the flight entrance.
Anyway, 114 in the incubator out of 132 grafted isn't that bad. Let's keep it like that 😉

27/05/2025

This morning I got really framed, and smashed in my face, how stressful the last period has been.

Yesterday I did the grafting for the next batch of queens.
I placed the tray with the grafted cells on top of the supporting colonies by the starters.
I brought the brood frame back to the breeder used.

Everything on routine.

This morning the tray with the cells was still waiting on top of the supporter. The tray half full of rain water...😳

F...ck you!!!

One days production of queens were lost.

Luckily it's a Saturday hatching, so no I don't have to bother with these in the weekend 😬

25/05/2025

🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
Today is a nice day (despite of the rain) as we are now on the way back on track.
New staff is employed and we are looking forward to work with Lukasz for the rest of the season 😊😊

Queen production and sale will run in the usual way and on the usual level, despite rumours already circulating....

Thank you for all the support and all the reposts of my post regarding assistance ❤️
We are now on safe ground again 🙂

18/05/2025

Assistance needed!
Due to a sick leave of unknown duration, I am urgently looking for a person who would like to help us through the season.
We can offer you a job in a professional queen breeding operation, with a production of queens for sale and own needs.
In general we try to help each other on all levels and where the skills of the individual person fits best.
You will get an insight in all sides of our operation and will be allowed to work independently according to your skills.
Duration of stay here can be from as soon as possible until late summer or autumn as it fits in your plans.

Please don't hesitate to contact us, if this could be interesting for you, or pass on the message to people you think might fit the position.

Feel free to share the post

Ivan

15/05/2025

The Bazaar is now open 🥂
Grafting season has started and we know what to do for the next two months - every day...

It's been a 'stormy' spring, with full speed since late March, as the weather has been continuously sunny. Not always warm, but enough to make the bees (and the beekeeper) busy.
Hopefully it won't turn into two months of rain from 1st June 🙄

I have been alone at the operation the spring, so communication has been a bit scarce and sometimes delayed. Sorry for that. Hopefully it will improve over the next week.

Have a nice season 🐝

27/04/2025

Setting up package bee colonies for the production of bees for the mating nucs.
2 colonies of 6 to 8 frames are united on top of each other.
It gives, so to say a colony with 2 engines, who can produce an awesome amount of bees, without running dead.
The system takes a little time to learn to handle, so that it doesn't end up with bees hanging in the trees. But when you have clicked it, it's a straight forward system, who runs the whole season.

24/04/2025

02/04/2025

Out taking notes on colony sizes on the breeding stock and a quick brood check on the colonies who in some way look suspicious.
Most are obviously healthy and at good speed.
A few ones are too small or sitting more scattered on the frames. These will get a check, to make sure if they are just small, but ok, or if there is something wrong.
The smaller, and scattered, one here, was actually a dronelayer, so will be replaced by a spare colony and the failed colony shook out in front of the new one.
No future in failed colonies

18/03/2025

Milder weather seems to be on the way, so time to remove the mouse guards, and check if the colonies have sufficient storage to early-May.
Just a quick heft for the weight and a sneak peak if they are alive and the size of the cluster.

In general they look good and strong, and the direct winter losses are very low - but who knows what the next some weeks will bring us...
The strong colonies can stand up to almost everything, but a cold spring can do bad things on the smaller ones.

Let's hope for the best, and do our best to bring them through to the honey flow 🌞 🍯