I’ve got a young red flowering gum in my front yard. It has had flowers nearly all year, even through winter…so definitely topsy turvy. Not many flowers but anywhere up to half a dozen even through winter. It still had the big flush of flowers late in Summer like normal last year.
Fingers crossed for your Marri bloom.
When things go out of sync like that, there would be a lot of ramifications for other species down the line. It is stuff I absolutely do not cherish.
Climate has changed. The lack of international effort to address this serious issue is mind boggling.
I hear ya Busso I’ve done a double take several times, I’m sure I’ve seen Marri blooming somewhere all year! Last Marri bloom here was sparse and lacked nectar unlike the previous year where I remember getting a nectar shower grabbing a bunch of flowers from a tree to show the kids. This season the gum tree blooms seem to be in bud form for ages and then when they finally flower they seem to have an overload of anthers. The Swan River Mahogany blossom down the hill seems to be ramping up and the right time of year too. The honey here is getting darker and darker which may point to it being sourced by my bees. 
Or not…
Hi all, after a rotten last year, Losing FH no 2 to the cold, no honey, things improving in Bridgetown Western Australia. Have FH Mark 1 with Standard super on top. Harvested 16Kgs from the FH two weeks ago and 18Kgs from standard last weekend. As a result of that success (and the time it took us to extract the honey from standard), received approval to increase unit cost by purchasing 2 frame extractor. Bees going nuts and hoping for more. Installed my second (replacement nuc as well.
Thats a copy of here (except I didn’t loose a hive) and your harvest about same as I have taken here.
My daughter would say “Unbelievable”, I say climate change.
Sooooo, anyone else loving this heat? Can’t wait to get up on some roofs tomorrow and do some work.
Bees doing ok in full sun with the insulation in the ceilings. May need to extract on the weekend but may be too cool and cloudy for it. 
That metal sheet will get really hot I think Fred, and it will radiate a fair bit of heat. Timber is better if you have any.
Sunday at 26 Celsius and minimal winds will be fine to harvest flow frames or standard frames.
It looks like I could get at the least another 2 Flow Frames of Honey before Christmas from the big hive.
The girls in the long hive have completely filled and capped the inner sides of the 2 Flow Frames in that hive and have this week started washing and polishing the outer sides of the flow frames, so it will be interesting to see how long it takes to fill and cap them.
I relented and put a cut comb frame into the long hive this week so they have some extra work to keep them busy if they fill up the flow frames before I harvest.
Note that I didn’t use any foundation in the cut comb cups, mainly so I could continue to monitor Flow Frame progress, however, I did wax the top edges of each cup to give them a start.
I’m curious to see whether they will start to build comb in the upper tier of the cups first, or both at the same time.
I will never, ever, install a camera in my hive Terry… otherwise I’ll spend my hole day snooping on them instead of getting things done.
I was live streaming to YouTube for a while but the software was too unreliable.
I often watch the bees of an evening… It is very relaxing.
Hi guys, I was just wondering what everyone is doing for their bees in preparations for the next week (if anything)
Staying in Perth… it seems to be 5degC cooler.
Are your bees in full sun? Can you give them shade? Have they got access to plenty of water?
Geez 45 on Sunday. I’m having 43 max so far.
I don’t know whether having a hose on a timer with a misting nozzle will help cool them down. I do that to my chooks. Setting it up to go off for a minute every half hour or so.
Yeah I have put out some extra watering spots filled with rocks. They don’t seem to like clean water too much, a shallow pond filled with rocks seems to be the go. I have also put towels on the sides of all my hives to wet down every few hours.
They will get shade from about 2pm, but up until then it is going to be hot. I am thinking I might just put a sheet of white MDF on top of them to give a bit of shade.
Either way it is certainly going to be a hot few days for all.
Will definitely help I think. I might do that myself too.
I’m also worried about the high temps, and mine are in full sun until about 4pm. Because of my terrain, it is not easy to erect shade cloth.
So, my hives are painted white, I have cork as insulation in the lid, and I have an extra shallow (60mm high) frame with vents under the lid as further insulation. I also have plenty of water available.
Let us know how it goes and whether they’ll cope in the heat.
If you are worried could you erect a beach umbrella over the hive(s)? They are $7-8 at the big green hardware shop
I was actually considering an umbrella as they have a small footprint and I can fit one. Problem is wind - here on the hill I get wind blowing 30kms an hour regularly, sometimes up to 60kms.
It is definitely a good idea for more sheltered apiaries though.
insulation in the roof cavity is a great idea.
Hi and welcome.
I’ll do nothing special for the girls except ensuring that they have plenty of water available.
