It’s spring, the bees are doing what bees do...
My split has worked! On Good Friday I split my strong hive and 11 days later there are a couple of queen cells, capped. This weekend she should emerge and in another week or so should be laying! I’ll go back in on or around 13/5/19.
My strong hive (which was the one I split) is filling a super, so I added a second.
The weaker hive was in a single deep; when I took a look inside I found the bees building comb above the inner cover. So I removed this, shuffled the deep frames as not all were built out, and I’ve added an excluder and a super. Hopefully they’ll start to fill this now. I’ll go back this weekend to try to sort the deep out a bit.
My bait hive hasn’t been occupied yet, which I guess is good, but I’m still on the look out for a swarm...
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Spring Preparations
It's been ages since I last posted. I think I've done stuff on Facebook but nothing since September on my blog? Oops! I seem to have taken my eye of the ball.
Which is not all I have taken my eye off... I lost two hives over the winter, I think to starvation. Four were alive at Christmas when I do my oxalic acid treatment, but sadly two of the weaker hives did not make it through to March. However, on the plus side, the two that did make it seem strong and are currently taking advantage of the mild weather. Lots of pollen is being brought in and there's generally a lot of bee stuff going on.
A couple of weeks ago I cleaned up the two dead-outs and reversed one of the surviving hives; moving the super from above to below the brood box. This morning I removed super (which was empty of both stores and brood) so I now have two colonies, each in a single deep. When I do find my feeders I might consider encouraging some brood rearing but for now I'm happy with where these hives are, given it's mid-March
Which is not all I have taken my eye off... I lost two hives over the winter, I think to starvation. Four were alive at Christmas when I do my oxalic acid treatment, but sadly two of the weaker hives did not make it through to March. However, on the plus side, the two that did make it seem strong and are currently taking advantage of the mild weather. Lots of pollen is being brought in and there's generally a lot of bee stuff going on.
A couple of weeks ago I cleaned up the two dead-outs and reversed one of the surviving hives; moving the super from above to below the brood box. This morning I removed super (which was empty of both stores and brood) so I now have two colonies, each in a single deep. When I do find my feeders I might consider encouraging some brood rearing but for now I'm happy with where these hives are, given it's mid-March
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Second and Final Harvest
I bottled the second harvest. I achieved a pretty respectable 49 kgs from the 4 hives.
There’s plenty remaining for the bees in the hives so all I need to do now is put on some mite treatment before the end of the week and that should be me done for the year!
It’s been surprisingly good this year. I thought we dodged a bullet coming through the “Beast from the East” without loss, and when it got so dry in June and July I thought it would only be possible to get enough stores in for just the bees. So I’m quite content!
There’s plenty remaining for the bees in the hives so all I need to do now is put on some mite treatment before the end of the week and that should be me done for the year!
It’s been surprisingly good this year. I thought we dodged a bullet coming through the “Beast from the East” without loss, and when it got so dry in June and July I thought it would only be possible to get enough stores in for just the bees. So I’m quite content!
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Honey - Coughs - Cakes
This is timely... I just harvested some more honey... I'm not sure quite how much this amounts to yet but I think we will be close to a total of 36 kg (80 lbs) this year - not great but better than I was expecting.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
New Swarm - First of the year
I got lucky the other day. I got called out in a Facebook post for a new swarm located just up the road from home (Bramshott Chase). I made a couple of calls once I arrived in the general area and I quickly located them. It had been wet most of the day and they were looking a bit bedraggled. However, that isn't all bad because as it was damp the bees weren't flying and consequently i would imagine all were present, trying to keep dry.
I found them less than a meter off the ground on a low branch. Couldn't be easier! A sharp shake of the branch and they dropped into my swarm box; picked up a few stragglers, closed the lid and off I went. I quickly got them installed in a hive at home where they can settle in before I can determine what to do with them.
Yesterday I fed them some syrup and put a frame of donated brood from an other hive and so hopefully this will be the boost they will need to get properly going; not that they will need it - they has already started to draw out the foundation in the new hive.
I found them less than a meter off the ground on a low branch. Couldn't be easier! A sharp shake of the branch and they dropped into my swarm box; picked up a few stragglers, closed the lid and off I went. I quickly got them installed in a hive at home where they can settle in before I can determine what to do with them.
Yesterday I fed them some syrup and put a frame of donated brood from an other hive and so hopefully this will be the boost they will need to get properly going; not that they will need it - they has already started to draw out the foundation in the new hive.
The Nuc is doing well
You may recall that I took some bees away from the apiary - a weak hive - and located them in my nuc/observation beehive to see if I could coax them through the winter.
Well they have been doing well and did manage to get through winter well enough. I wasn't sure how well as the first time I made an inspection there wasn't much brood. However, now they are booming and I'm worried they might swarm! The queen is laying good solid brood and most of the frames have brood in them now.
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| Not the most sensible thing to do... |
I swapped a frame of brood from the brood area with the partially drawn out comb that was in the observation hive. I hope this provides space for the queen to lay in and eases the pressure on space in the box.
I also donated brood to the hive that contains the new swarm I caught on Thursday. Once again I will go into the observation hive and swap brood with empty comb and I can keep things under control a for a week or so. Why? Well I'm going to take the bees into a local School in just over a week and also to work to illustrate a Positive Mental Health Talk I give - "5 Ways to Positive Mental Health". I'd like to prevent a swarm as I have plans to unite this strong nuc with a weak hive at the apiary.
Spring Manipulations
The weather has been pretty mixed through the winter and early spring. I didn't really manage to do much of an inspection at the apiary until the beginning of May. When i did manage to get in what i found was reasonable, not great, but not bad either.
Hive 1: My old aggressive hive that I am still nervous about. This is doign well but it 'stuck' together. I need to go through it and separate frames and deeps/supers; locate the queen, stick in a new queen excluder and reorganise the hive. There are now 2 supers on it and one is more or less full. When i reorganise I hope to be able to get a third super available for filling.
Hive 2: This was in a good position. Lots of brood, the queen is no on the correct side of a queen excluder and 2 supers are located, again one is pretty much full.
Hive 3: Not so good. It appears this is Queenless. I found a single queen cell with a larvae in it but few bees and brood. I suspect the hive swarmed before I got to the inspection. So the plan is to relocate the observation hive to this or to combine it with the new swarm. We shall see what the single queen cell produces!
Hive 4: This was in reasonable shape and probably somewhere between the extremes of the other hives. We put a super on this hive, but it needs a queen excluder and maybe another super.
ll in all things don't look too bad.
Hive 1: My old aggressive hive that I am still nervous about. This is doign well but it 'stuck' together. I need to go through it and separate frames and deeps/supers; locate the queen, stick in a new queen excluder and reorganise the hive. There are now 2 supers on it and one is more or less full. When i reorganise I hope to be able to get a third super available for filling.
Hive 2: This was in a good position. Lots of brood, the queen is no on the correct side of a queen excluder and 2 supers are located, again one is pretty much full.
Hive 3: Not so good. It appears this is Queenless. I found a single queen cell with a larvae in it but few bees and brood. I suspect the hive swarmed before I got to the inspection. So the plan is to relocate the observation hive to this or to combine it with the new swarm. We shall see what the single queen cell produces!
Hive 4: This was in reasonable shape and probably somewhere between the extremes of the other hives. We put a super on this hive, but it needs a queen excluder and maybe another super.
ll in all things don't look too bad.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Early Spring Inspection
It's been so cold of late - well at the times that have been open for me to get to my bees - that last Friday was really the first time this year I've been able to look through my hives. It all looks quite good really. I'm not sure what I was expecting for a first inspection; I always think the hives are going to be bursting with new brood and the hive on the verge of swarming. The reality is normally very different.
None of my hives had much (if any) brood and I wonder whether the cold snap we had a couple of weeks ago hit them hard. But they were good tempered and seem to have sufficient stores in house. Certainly enough now that Blackthorn is in flower. Apparently the bad weather we just had is termed a 'Blacktorn Winter' as the snow and cold followed the flowering.
I removed some of the supers that were left on the hives over the winter. Several of these contained frames of set (Ivy) honey. so i need to figure out what to do with that! Now all my hives are down to a single deep and a single super which seems manageable for the time of year and none have queen excluders in them. I did reverse one super - I saw the queen in this and decided to do a reverse to encourage her to move up - I'm ever the optimist!
All this means I'm going to be hands off for a couple of weeks, or a month. Mid-April always used to be the first real nectar flow in Missouri, and although it's very very different here I'll wait until at least then before I do anything else, other than perhaps just sit by the hive enjoying their activity!
It's also good having my observation hive at home close at hand and I'll take a look in it as soon as I can. This is my base line as I always thought they we're the weakest hive coming into winter. If they survive then the others must be doing well!
To date, in baseball parlance, I'm "5 for 5" with my hives. Five into winter and five out (so far). Life is good!
None of my hives had much (if any) brood and I wonder whether the cold snap we had a couple of weeks ago hit them hard. But they were good tempered and seem to have sufficient stores in house. Certainly enough now that Blackthorn is in flower. Apparently the bad weather we just had is termed a 'Blacktorn Winter' as the snow and cold followed the flowering.
I removed some of the supers that were left on the hives over the winter. Several of these contained frames of set (Ivy) honey. so i need to figure out what to do with that! Now all my hives are down to a single deep and a single super which seems manageable for the time of year and none have queen excluders in them. I did reverse one super - I saw the queen in this and decided to do a reverse to encourage her to move up - I'm ever the optimist!
All this means I'm going to be hands off for a couple of weeks, or a month. Mid-April always used to be the first real nectar flow in Missouri, and although it's very very different here I'll wait until at least then before I do anything else, other than perhaps just sit by the hive enjoying their activity!
It's also good having my observation hive at home close at hand and I'll take a look in it as soon as I can. This is my base line as I always thought they we're the weakest hive coming into winter. If they survive then the others must be doing well!
To date, in baseball parlance, I'm "5 for 5" with my hives. Five into winter and five out (so far). Life is good!
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Out and About
It’s been ages since I’ve seen any activity so it’s brilliant to see one or two bees brave the damp weather. I’m not sure what forage is out there but I guess they must like the warmer weather to do some cleaning!
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Going Nuts!
Thanksgiving is now past so Christmas must be just around the corner... as a result we’re going nuts here at Sandhills Honey! Hazelnuts, Walnuts and Pistachios to be precise! I just love how the colours are warmed through a filter of Honey!!
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Cheeky Monkey
Thanks Cici
Lovely to see some of my Kirkwood marketing material is still hanging around and being put to good use!
Lovely to see some of my Kirkwood marketing material is still hanging around and being put to good use!
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
2018 Preparations
OK. So it's a bit premature but I actually saw a bargain (or what I thought was anyway) and went and splashed out on a 4-frame stainless steel manual extractor. Not an electric one, as really I don't have enough need for that, and besides I thought the exercise would be good for me!
It's now stashed in the shed waiting for an opportunity to extract.
Next job is to remove a couple of supers, if I can, to reduce the boxes on the hives over winter - then some mite management in a couple of months - oxalic acid crystals vaporized in the hive in late December...
Dave and I may even move the hives to a new location in the winter.
Lots to do and consider even now!
It's now stashed in the shed waiting for an opportunity to extract.
Next job is to remove a couple of supers, if I can, to reduce the boxes on the hives over winter - then some mite management in a couple of months - oxalic acid crystals vaporized in the hive in late December...
Dave and I may even move the hives to a new location in the winter.
Lots to do and consider even now!
Friday, September 22, 2017
Harvest Time!
Working away from home and going on holiday certainly don't
do much for keeping the blog up to date! The late summer was fairly uneventful and Dave and I finally managed to harvest, mostly in
August, and we got a reasonable haul!
All in all the current count is about 54 kgs, or 120lbs, which I'm really quite chuffed with. It took a while to get all the labels for the jars sorted out but the following photos I think do the product justice.
I managed to source a few Muth jars as well as my favourite hexagonal 12oz and 1lb jars. My great thanks goes to colleague Fiona in Salford who put up with me badgering her to help me with the design of the labels and I think she came up with some wonderful ideas!
There were just enough jars even to sell through a couple of local shops - Apothacary27 in Wey Hill Haslemere and the Haslemere Wine Cellar in West Street. Most gratifying of all however is the trade I did with Dylan's Ice Cream. They have made a couple of flavours... "HoneyHoneyDontStop" (a pure honey flavour) and "Bumblebee" which is a chocolate and honey ripple with crunchy honeycomb pieces in it. The latter will be available at the Haslemere Food Festival tomorrow (23 September 2017) on Lion Green. Come and try some while you can!
And earlier today I was up winterizing the bees and I think I will be able to harvest another 25 pounds or thereabouts. This is after leaving a at least a single full supers on each of my 4 hives.
So I may do some cut comb or even some jars of honey & nuts... watch this space.
All in all the current count is about 54 kgs, or 120lbs, which I'm really quite chuffed with. It took a while to get all the labels for the jars sorted out but the following photos I think do the product justice.
I managed to source a few Muth jars as well as my favourite hexagonal 12oz and 1lb jars. My great thanks goes to colleague Fiona in Salford who put up with me badgering her to help me with the design of the labels and I think she came up with some wonderful ideas!
There were just enough jars even to sell through a couple of local shops - Apothacary27 in Wey Hill Haslemere and the Haslemere Wine Cellar in West Street. Most gratifying of all however is the trade I did with Dylan's Ice Cream. They have made a couple of flavours... "HoneyHoneyDontStop" (a pure honey flavour) and "Bumblebee" which is a chocolate and honey ripple with crunchy honeycomb pieces in it. The latter will be available at the Haslemere Food Festival tomorrow (23 September 2017) on Lion Green. Come and try some while you can!
And earlier today I was up winterizing the bees and I think I will be able to harvest another 25 pounds or thereabouts. This is after leaving a at least a single full supers on each of my 4 hives.
So I may do some cut comb or even some jars of honey & nuts... watch this space.
Friday, July 14, 2017
Hot Hive!
It's been a while since I've had one of these! Fortunately I was warned in advance.
Dave tried the other day to put a bee escape on the hive under the supers but was beaten back almost before he started.
So prewarned, I tried. Two thick layers under the suit, plus taped up gloves and I was ready. I was suiting up close to the hive and it was barely 5 minutes before I was being bombed; I hadn't even started to get ready and wasn't fully dressed!
So I heavily smoked the hive - not sure if that made things better or worse! When I cracked the top of the hive I straight away had bees on me. But I managed to lift 3 supers off, put an empty one back, then the bee escape, then two full supers and then the cover - all the time repeating the mantra "keep calm, keep calm". As soon as I was done I walked off in the opposite direction of my car and through bushes. Some bees were very persistent and one even got into my veil somehow. I think past a zip but I'll need to double check for holes!
Anyway I got away with it - no stings - but I am not really looking forward to removing the two supers now! But I'll grin and bear it somehow!
Dave tried the other day to put a bee escape on the hive under the supers but was beaten back almost before he started.
So prewarned, I tried. Two thick layers under the suit, plus taped up gloves and I was ready. I was suiting up close to the hive and it was barely 5 minutes before I was being bombed; I hadn't even started to get ready and wasn't fully dressed!
So I heavily smoked the hive - not sure if that made things better or worse! When I cracked the top of the hive I straight away had bees on me. But I managed to lift 3 supers off, put an empty one back, then the bee escape, then two full supers and then the cover - all the time repeating the mantra "keep calm, keep calm". As soon as I was done I walked off in the opposite direction of my car and through bushes. Some bees were very persistent and one even got into my veil somehow. I think past a zip but I'll need to double check for holes!
Anyway I got away with it - no stings - but I am not really looking forward to removing the two supers now! But I'll grin and bear it somehow!
Friday, July 7, 2017
It's Been Hectic!
A lot has happened since I last blogged- it's been nearly 2 months - a lifetime in bee terms.
So I'm not sure where to start. Last time I talked about the swarm Dave caught. This gad been Queenless so I put a frame of eggs in it. We checked in this about 4 weeks later and found no brood etc. In it. So it appeared the bees didn't raise a Queen. We decided that rather than do the frame of eggs thing again we'd source a mated queen instead.
We found one easily enough (from Sinah Common Honey) on Hayling Island and I went down a couple of weeks ago to pick her up. The following day (Saturday) I went to install her, but found eggs in the hive! But it looked like laying workers; multiple (2) eggs in some cells. After a call to the queen supplier he reassured me it was more likely an inexperienced queen who was not skilled at laying was present. The sign is that eggs were at the bottom if the cell and not on the sides. Laying workers can't reach the bottom! Anyway, could I find her? Not a chance! We looked through the hive 3 times.
What options were available? To leave the swarm alone and use the new queen in a split? Well, given the nature of our other hives (feisty would be an understatement) we were cowardly and decided to put the new queen in the hive with the inexperienced queen and let them do what they needed to do.
I came back a week later- could I find the queen? Nope! But there were lots more eggs and brood present so I conclude that this hive is well and booming! We left it not knowing which queen is in residence. We will find out in due course.
All this time the other feisty hives are doing well - supers are filling and we're close to harvesting - but the weather and other events have betrayed us so no honey has been extracted. But we do have plans for this weekend...
So what else could possibly happen?
Well, I caught a swarm last weekend. I got directed to a Facebook post from someone in Haslemere with a swarm in his hedge. It's on High Lane not far from where I caught my first swarm in 2015. A small one but easy to catch. I went over on Saturday morning picked it out of the hedge and installed it next to the other hives. Very easy indeed! And during their walk into the hive I saw the Queen! The word swarm is so misunderstood - these were perfectly behaved!
I'll check on the hive this weekend to see how they're doing!
So currently we're up to 6 hives! 3 producers (and maybe a fourth) and 2 new swarms.
Once the honey is harvested I'll treat the 4 main hives with MAQS and then pop some wireless foundation on to try to capture some heather honey!
Not sure how I'm managing to do this and work in Manchester in the week...
So I'm not sure where to start. Last time I talked about the swarm Dave caught. This gad been Queenless so I put a frame of eggs in it. We checked in this about 4 weeks later and found no brood etc. In it. So it appeared the bees didn't raise a Queen. We decided that rather than do the frame of eggs thing again we'd source a mated queen instead.
We found one easily enough (from Sinah Common Honey) on Hayling Island and I went down a couple of weeks ago to pick her up. The following day (Saturday) I went to install her, but found eggs in the hive! But it looked like laying workers; multiple (2) eggs in some cells. After a call to the queen supplier he reassured me it was more likely an inexperienced queen who was not skilled at laying was present. The sign is that eggs were at the bottom if the cell and not on the sides. Laying workers can't reach the bottom! Anyway, could I find her? Not a chance! We looked through the hive 3 times.
What options were available? To leave the swarm alone and use the new queen in a split? Well, given the nature of our other hives (feisty would be an understatement) we were cowardly and decided to put the new queen in the hive with the inexperienced queen and let them do what they needed to do.
I came back a week later- could I find the queen? Nope! But there were lots more eggs and brood present so I conclude that this hive is well and booming! We left it not knowing which queen is in residence. We will find out in due course.
All this time the other feisty hives are doing well - supers are filling and we're close to harvesting - but the weather and other events have betrayed us so no honey has been extracted. But we do have plans for this weekend...
So what else could possibly happen?
Well, I caught a swarm last weekend. I got directed to a Facebook post from someone in Haslemere with a swarm in his hedge. It's on High Lane not far from where I caught my first swarm in 2015. A small one but easy to catch. I went over on Saturday morning picked it out of the hedge and installed it next to the other hives. Very easy indeed! And during their walk into the hive I saw the Queen! The word swarm is so misunderstood - these were perfectly behaved!
I'll check on the hive this weekend to see how they're doing!
So currently we're up to 6 hives! 3 producers (and maybe a fourth) and 2 new swarms.
Once the honey is harvested I'll treat the 4 main hives with MAQS and then pop some wireless foundation on to try to capture some heather honey!
Not sure how I'm managing to do this and work in Manchester in the week...
Friday, May 26, 2017
End on May - Lovely Weather and an Almost Healthy Swarm
It's fantastic weather here today; about 25 C, a clear sky and breezy. I went over to the bees just to have a look at what they were doing. I didn't intend to ruin their day by rummaging through their nests. Let them get on with it is my maxim - although that changed...
There was a lot of activity in the garden; bees busy charging in and out of the hives. I was just content to have a look from the outside, but after I got to chatting with Dave about the good weather and the prospect of good foraging prospects this weekend we decided to add a super to his hive. The single super he has there (HIVE 3) is already quite full and I suspect the bees would draw out some more foundation if it were added.
As I carry my equipment in the car it is easy to get ready, although I was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Once I ad added the super I couldn't resist taking a quick look under the top covers of the other hives - a lot of bees inside and some heavy supers too. More supers will need to be added over the next week I think.
Some more thinking...
I was enjoying the weather so much I thought I'd take a look at the new swarm hive Dave caught just over a week ago. This was very calm but devoid of any brood and eggs - Queenless! However they were active and drawing out comb well. They simply need some eggs. After more discussions we decided to take them from the smaller of the two established hives I have (HIVE 2) This has been the better tempered of my hives but has still been quite feisty at times. I donned an additional sweatshirt over my t-shirt, and got into the hive; after a lot of fuss and bother lighting the smoker - I really must get some better fuel.
I was not really bombed by the bees, even after I shook them from the frames to check for eggs and larvae - quite a surprise. And although I didn't see any I'm hopeful I got some eggs. I definitely got larvae in the frame so I know there's a resident Queen about in the donor hive. Once I selected the best frame I walked it around the corner to the new hive and popped it in. I'll ask Dave to check in this hive in about a week, just to make sure there are queen cells being formed. If not it will be back to the donor for more frames.
So events do take over and ruin our plans - a bit. I went just for a look and ended up doing some major manipulations - I love it. But that should be it for the weekend.
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| Spot the hives... |
Monday, May 15, 2017
Split progress
The split I formed on 30/4 (Hive 4) appears to be on the road to success! I did an inspection yesterday (14/5) and found at least 2 capped queen cells. This means two things. The split contained eggs and the old queen remained in the parent hive (Hive 2)! Just what I wanted! In a couple of days there should be a new queen in residence. Give it a couple more weeks and with luck she'll be laying! So no further inspections until early June!
I did go through Hive 1 but this was quite feisty and I got stung a couple of times. It is bursting with bees and looks ripe for a split, but I didn't do this as I felt they were not very accepting of me. I will go back wearing more protection - layers on my arms!. I did however add a third super - bottom supered.
I did go through Hive 1 but this was quite feisty and I got stung a couple of times. It is bursting with bees and looks ripe for a split, but I didn't do this as I felt they were not very accepting of me. I will go back wearing more protection - layers on my arms!. I did however add a third super - bottom supered.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Split
I've been back to the apiary once since Easter to see my bees and they weren't too bad - their behavior seems to be a bit erratic and unpredictable this spring. The last time I was there (a couple of weeks ago) it was poor weather but I managed to get though the bees; enough to see that they were doing really well and were potentially in need of splitting.
On my visit last weekend (30/4/17) I found that I successfully trapped the queen in Hive 1 in the deep and the supers are now clear of brood - although there are some drones kicking about above the QE. I might have to go back and shake these supers out in order to clear all the drones. So this hive is set up well - there were no sign of queen cells!
Hive 2 was bursting! I popped a second deep on a couple of weeks ago and this was pretty full of bees. I was half expecting this so I was prepared to make up another hive (thanks to Dave for preparing all the wooden-ware etc.). I went through the upper of the two deeps to try to spot the queen - no such luck; but there was brood, eggs and lots of bees.
I decided to relocate this entire deep into a new hive (Hive 4), frame by frame. My intention was to have them raise a new queen from eggs. I also gave this hive a partially full super. If the queen wasn't with the bees I moved and there are eggs, by next weekend (6/5/17) there should be some queen cells present and my work was successful, so far. If there are no queen cells in the new hive then the queen was in the group of bees I moved and there should be some queen cells in Hive 1. Not quite what I was planning but I think that should still be OK. Again, I saw no queen cells in Hive 1. So that's a plus too.
I didn't look though Hive 3 (Dave's original hive). I think I was pushing my luck by this time and so I decided to beat a retreat.
On my visit last weekend (30/4/17) I found that I successfully trapped the queen in Hive 1 in the deep and the supers are now clear of brood - although there are some drones kicking about above the QE. I might have to go back and shake these supers out in order to clear all the drones. So this hive is set up well - there were no sign of queen cells!
Hive 2 was bursting! I popped a second deep on a couple of weeks ago and this was pretty full of bees. I was half expecting this so I was prepared to make up another hive (thanks to Dave for preparing all the wooden-ware etc.). I went through the upper of the two deeps to try to spot the queen - no such luck; but there was brood, eggs and lots of bees.
I decided to relocate this entire deep into a new hive (Hive 4), frame by frame. My intention was to have them raise a new queen from eggs. I also gave this hive a partially full super. If the queen wasn't with the bees I moved and there are eggs, by next weekend (6/5/17) there should be some queen cells present and my work was successful, so far. If there are no queen cells in the new hive then the queen was in the group of bees I moved and there should be some queen cells in Hive 1. Not quite what I was planning but I think that should still be OK. Again, I saw no queen cells in Hive 1. So that's a plus too.
I didn't look though Hive 3 (Dave's original hive). I think I was pushing my luck by this time and so I decided to beat a retreat.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Ouch!
I went back to the bees on Saturday on what I thought was a pretty perfect spring day for an inspection. I went around about 11.30 am, it was sunny, warm(ish) and not particularly windy. There were a lot of bees flying around the entrance and out foraging in two of the three hives. I thought it would be lovely
I decided to go through Hive 3 first as this was the 'quietest' of the hives on my arrival. They didn't seen too problematic but once I got into the brood box they started being defensive - trying (and succeeding on a couple of occasions) to sting me. I just about managed to determine there were 4 frames of brood on the deep but I closed up pretty quickly once I found that out.
I then went into Hive 1. I was planning on introducing a couple of queen excluders in this hive in order to isolate the queen (with luck in a brood box). These bees were not impressed with me but I managed to get the excluders on - but I had to beat a temporary retreat mid inspection. Maybe it was the alarm pheromone on my suit that they sensed but I got out as quickly as I could - picking up a couple more stings!
Quite why I opened the hive, Hive 2, I'm not too sure! They were just as cross and not too keen on my presence. But my objective was to put on a super I had brought from home. The previous week this hive was looking like the bees were starting to quickly fill the supers so I was planning on providing more space. I had thought about checking the brood boxes to see if the queen had started on the second layer - I never even started that!
So what is to be learned? I'm not sure. I suspect the alarm pheromone set them off. But why on such a nice day did they get so cross in the first place? I will have to do a bit of research. My experience has usually been that they are fairly calm and quiet in the spring on fine days!
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Early Spring Management
I dropped in on the bees today to catch up on where I left things a couple of weeks ago. The good news is that since I removed the removable bottom boards the moisture in the hives has disappeared. It's either that or down to the fact the bees are growing in number and are therefore keeping moisture levels down through their fanning. Ventilation is much better now and the weather warmer.
Hive 1: This now has brood throughout the 2 supers as well as the deep on the top of the stack! I'm going to have to get things back on track and I think the best way is to trap the queen in one of the 3 boxes using 2 queen excluders and then re-organise things. I'll add QEs next weekend, then look for larvae the following week. Bingo where there's larvae that's where she'll be! Apart from that the hive looks good - quite a bit of stores and brood present and some, but not a large quantity, of drone brood.
Hive 2: This is doing well. There's even a couple of completely capped frames of honey in one of the supers! The brood is in good shape too. There were 6 or 7 frames with brood on them in the deep so I added a second deep to the hive and 'seeded' the this with a couple of frames of brood. I may take the supers off in order to make space for fresh foundation - but that's something for next week or at least once spring really gets moving. If this hive builds up well I will attempt to make a split from this hive.
Hive 3: I took the empty deep from this hive and added it to Hive 2. The bees are mostly in the deep below the QE but there are several frames of bees and I'm happy with the way this is coming on!
Hive 1: This now has brood throughout the 2 supers as well as the deep on the top of the stack! I'm going to have to get things back on track and I think the best way is to trap the queen in one of the 3 boxes using 2 queen excluders and then re-organise things. I'll add QEs next weekend, then look for larvae the following week. Bingo where there's larvae that's where she'll be! Apart from that the hive looks good - quite a bit of stores and brood present and some, but not a large quantity, of drone brood.
Hive 2: This is doing well. There's even a couple of completely capped frames of honey in one of the supers! The brood is in good shape too. There were 6 or 7 frames with brood on them in the deep so I added a second deep to the hive and 'seeded' the this with a couple of frames of brood. I may take the supers off in order to make space for fresh foundation - but that's something for next week or at least once spring really gets moving. If this hive builds up well I will attempt to make a split from this hive.
Hive 3: I took the empty deep from this hive and added it to Hive 2. The bees are mostly in the deep below the QE but there are several frames of bees and I'm happy with the way this is coming on!
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