It's been a strange old year .... The weather certainly hasnt helped nor the amount of travelling that Ive done for the job but at the end of the day I've ended the season with more colonies than I was intending to and a great determination to do better next year.
I'll be taking 3 colonies through the winter of differing strengths and with different backgrounds. Having taken an average colony to the heather in the New Forest on a whim I can now see the benefit both in terms of the produce of honey and the winter stores for the hive.
My hives will have a major refresh over the winter as I still have that pile of cedar in the shed. I also intend to make some new clearing boards with no moving parts as well as a couple of Snelgrove boards to be more proactive when dealing with colony growth and control as well as a whole host of brood bodies and supers.
Finally I really know when autumn is here when our Friday night beekeeping meetings kick in; I've also signed up for an introduction to Microscopy at Bath University and that will be a really good excuse to get some more toys.
