A Sad Demise ...

A sad day at the apiary yesterday - I decided that the weather was warm enough to warrant a proper inspection of both colonies but upon arrival it became clear that all was not well as there was a distinct absence of any flying bees.

I suited up and lit the smoker just in case but opening the first hive confirmed my worst fears - the colony had perished despite there still being stores available. The second colony was exactly the same although there were more bees in a lifeless cluster.

I suspect that they broke the cluster and the temperature dropped - they were  flying 2 weeks ago and I gave them fondant so I was hopeful that they would get through this spell and emerge safely but it was clearly not to be.

The only positive to come from this is that I have now resolved the vile temperament issue although I now have no bees at all. Bring on the swarms !

Still Waiting ...

The weather has yet to improve and I have no idea what is going on inside the hives; I've not had the opportunity to get to the apiary for a few weeks but it has not gone much above freezing.  I think we are all getting nervous about the near future.

In the meantime I have decided to get some formal qualifications under my belt to give myself some credibility as I have joined the committee of our local bee-keeping association. I've also been asked to stand as a delegate member of the county association so I have no excuse - the first requirement is the BBKA Basic Certificate and  I've recently sent off my application to the area education officer with an intention of taking the practical element towards the latter part of the summer once I've got myself back up to speed.
BBKA Modules so I have just signed up for the correspondence course and intend to take the exam in the autumn this year - I've bought the required texts and just received my first assignment so there is plenty to do.

When will it end ?

And still it rains … my poor bees must be extremely confused by the weather, we have had the occasional warm spring day that has drawn them out of their cluster and into the sun and then it has proceeded to virtually freeze again followed by downpours.

All this leaves me with a dilemma. I’ve had a quick peek and they’ve not touched the fondant but there are still a fair few bees crawling around. I’ve bought pollen patties for them but I really don’t want to open up in this unsettled weather – not only am I concerned about the temperature but also the stress that it places on the bees and resultant bad behaviour. My bees aren’t renowned for their temper.. Construction of the new hives and Snelgrove boards is now all but complete and I shall hope to transfer the bees across when I get the first full hot afternoon with the foragers away from the hive. And in doing so I really hope to catch sight of and hopefully mark the queen as both are due to be replaced this season and sooner rather than later ..

So why am I looking at re-queening? It is a question often asked as you see many texts stating that a colony should be re-queened every 2 years and it is a procedure that most beekeepers should be able to accomplish (says he who struggles to find the queen!). Anyway my rationale is that by re-queening I will improve behaviour, improve honey production and increase the survivability of overwintering.  At present I’m not buying in any queens as our local association is starting up a queen rearing focus group and I’m heavily into that so hopefully I’ll get enough local queens to fulfil my requirements.

2013 - A new challenge

The 2012 season threw everything at me and I’m not sure I enjoyed it all … having said that I have emerged from the winter with fresh intent and at least 2 colonies still alive when I least checked 2 weeks ago.

I’ve taken the decision to completely replace my 14x12 hives with new ones built over the winter to my own specification drawing from all the best things I’ve seen on other hives and discarding the worst things I’ve encountered so far.  As an engineer this has been very enjoyable and has allowed me to replace several power tools as well so it must be a benefit.  I’ve used well seasoned red cedar that has been sitting in the shed for 2 years now and I’ll shortly be placing an order for some more to allow me to build yet more hives next winter now that I’ve got the design correct.

Having joined the committee of my local beekeeping association (FDBKA)  I have decided that I need to get on with some formal training and qualifications to allow me to have a small amount of credibility when talking to new members. To that end I’ve signed up to do my BBKA Basic assessment in the summer and will hopefully be attempting my Module 1 & 2 examinations in the autumn. Additionally I’ve just done the NDB short course on “Honeybee Anatomy & Dissection” and I’m now hooked and will be aiming to do the BBKA Module 9 on “Microscopy” next autumn.

Looking at the long range weather forecast we should see some bees flying soon so I’ll get some photos of the new hives being populated ..

End of the Season

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.

Swarming ......

It has been some considerable time since I have been able to add to this blog but fear not - things have moved on at pace. The hive has come through the winter in fine fashion and much activity has been apparent through all of the variety of weather that we have all endured - the frustration of not being able to conduct a full inspection because of heavy rain and torrential wind must be felt across all apiaries.

Additionally I have expanded my colonies by taking on an apiary from a lady who needed to step back from beekeeping for medical reasons. Not only did I acquire a 14x12 deep national populated with a full house of very feisty bees but the site is on a farm with many fields of Oil Seed Rape so I will certainly need to up my game and make regular visits although the farm lane is currently flooded and in-passable which makes life pretty difficult.

So imagine my surprise in the pouring rain as I ventured to tidy up around my original hive when I saw a most impressive dripping wet swarm of bees clinging to a bush just 10 feet from the hive.  Never having seen a swarm before I had to learn fast although I did seek the assistance of the local beekeeper who originally donated my colony.  The bush was a prize bush and couldn't be hacked so much shaking and sue of smoke got sodden clumps of bees into cardboard boxes and then into my freshly acquired 14x12 Nuc hive later transferred to the farm apiary. When last visited they were doing great guns and drawing out the fresh foundation ... so that was 3 colonies when I had only expected to have 1 some 2 weeks earlier.

And today I just missed a swarm emerging from my original hive but was able to see it settle in a hedge just behind the house and now a dab hand at this collection game I swiftly dropped the colony into my new polystyrene Nuc hive which had literally just arrived. I was a little annoyed that I had missed the signs of swarming but the weather has been shocking this week and as such I've not been able to get near the hive on a dry day let alone search for queen cells and the like ...

So now I have 4 colonies; 3 on the farm and 1 at home still. It is going to be a busy summer.

Spring Excitement ...

Its been a strange old year so far; the bees were flying on Christmas Day and are currently spending more time out of the hive than in and plenty of pollen is being brought in. All good news and I have plenty of things to do this year. I'm planning to get a couple more hives running and I have been invited to look at a new site which sounds extremely promising !

I've not yet managed to get the now fully dry cedar out of the shed and into the workshop, I keep meaning to practice cutting dovetails to make my 14 x 12 brood boxes but time evades me. I'm also really keen to try out a Snelgrove board this year as the principle sounds extremely sound and should help with my anti-swarm strategy.