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21st April - inspections in the sunshine

As the weather was eminently suitable I carried out full inspections of all hives after lunch. All hives were foraging and all queens laying but hive 7 is very weak. I may dummy it down with a sheet of kingspan. I spotted the somewhat faded mark on my green queen in hive 3. She is laying well and the colony is expanding. The other hives had elusive queens last year and I had not marked them. However I spotted three and they are now sporting blue spots. No signs of queen cell building but some normal patches of drone brood and a few drones visible on the combs. A couple of hives could do with the omf cleaning but I'm unable to lift weight for a while longer so they will wait.
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much to do

So the new apiary is established with 5 over wintered colonies. One was queenless so I purchased 2 mated queens from BS bees in Cheltenham. One used here and another for a nuc at the main apiary. I'd forgotten how much work goes into making new hive parts from scratch. While the WBC hives were already made (3 lifts no inners) in the past few weeks I've assembled 5 brood chambers, 50 deep frames (for spares/frame replacement/nucs) 15 WBC supers and frames with foundation (over 150 frames), 10 additional WBC lifts , and also re-foundationing 15 national supers that I had to cut out last season due to set OSR in them. Phew. So on to the bees.... I have to report I have not seen such strong colonies for many years as I have seen this...
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spring build up

Interestingly, I have a colony that is in a poor place. I can't find the records for the colony and the marking on the queen has worn off....so shes got to be at least 3 years old. Last year produced a good surplus and fed well and strong into the autumn. Very small colony now vs the others adjacent which are rapidly expanding even with the variable weather conditions and. But no sign of disease, no chalk brood, no spotting in the small brood pattern. No K wings and mite drop non existent. I'll look into this Nosema thing a bit more...but the existential question is do I leave them to it, unite, add brood from another hive, feed (they have bee candy on them from February) while the other hives go from strength to strength.
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What did you do in the Apiary today?

Yes ... Love 'em.... or you start to open a hive and wonder why the little devils are so anti when they are usually pussycats ... so you close up and by the time you have got your kit together it's chucking it down ... Like JBM I look for activity at the entrance on any days that are going to be suspect at all .. saves upsetting the bees more than I have to. Been wet all day today, I don't think its stopped raining for more than a few minutes since first thing this morning. I just closed up the hens and had a look at the bees through the clear crownboards ... all of them very busy - lovely smell of honey coming up from two hives - not sure whether they are eating it or making it. The weather looks better for tomorrow and Sunday and...
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1st April - Springtime activity

Due to my current medical restrictions I have been watching my hives from a distance so far but the improving weather has encouraged the bees to go foraging in force. I am seeing yellow and orange pollen being brought in and orientation flights. The. Blackthorn hedge is going to burst into flower any day now. If the weather continues to improve and temperatures rise I shall have to see if I can get into my beesuit and look through the clear crownboards to assess the colonies. Inspection season looms, I hope the coming honey season is more productive than 2015 :)
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new out apiary (site 1)

Took a visit to discuss the 2nd new out apiary this year - all WBCs and had a good chat to a couple of master thatchers working overtime thatching 2 purpose built garden granaries on old staddle stones. Fell about crying with laughter as while the gardener and I were chatting about the world, my youngest who'd been trying to get as close to the geese as possible suddenly squawked and took off as fast as his little legs could carry him hotly pursued by one of the Ganders who too umbrage at his personal space being abused. Funniest thing I've seen in a week or two and the Thatchers almost fell off the roof in hysterics too. Goose survived as did my youngest's pride to live another day ;-)) As for the apiary - just need to convince...
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31st October - and the bees are still hard at work

I looked at the apiary yesterday to see all hives very active. Lots of bees flying and yellow pollen coming in. The rapid feeders which I have been frequently refilling with thymolised 2:1 had finally not been emptied so concluded the larders were now filled. All hives heavy. The feeders are now off and Kingspan sheets fitted into the crownboards. Hive cozy's fitted and time to leave things alone for winter.
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October - best of the year ?

Hello my one reader ! So the feeding has been completed - bar the dregs combined onto the hive that was luckiest (the one at the end of the Apiary !) I can't believe how they have taken the Maisemore Ambrosia this year. Not used it before and a darn sight easier than having to make up syrup myself. That said I know many do and going the 'pre mixed' way isn't the cheapest. Like many I struggle to make really 'Thick' syrup as it seems to not only take ages and loads of gas/electricity to boil the water, but all to often it crusts either in the pan or in the feeder. The hives are pretty much there for winter now - mouse guards and entrance blocks in, 2nd ApiGuard on and feeders and ekes removed. I was amazed though to check through...
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Autumn 2015

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted here. Many apologies to my one reader. So the season has been very indifferent on the weather front. After a stunning April, te summer never really got going. However I've mnaged 2 full supers on average from 11 hives. Half of it has granulated to I finally plumped for a smaller model Api Melter from Maisemore. I have to admit while it is slower than conventional extracting it does a great job and the honey seems to be of good quality, albeit needing a final filtering as it has wax particles in it. The Api Melter has a very good thermostat and is made to excellent standards but I had to get the instructions translated ! I have also made cut comb for the first time ever due...
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30th August - supers off, Apilife Var on.

Having attended the Association Apiary yesterday to put second doses of Apilife Var on two hives I returned home where I started the task of removing supers and applying treatment to my home hives. Some were drawn but empty and some had honey. Most of the honey was capped and the uncapped passed the shake test. :) I didn't get all hives completed yesterday so I resumed late morning today and concluded around 2.00 pm. All hives had BIAS although some were stronger than others. Even the late swarm that arrived a month ago is on four frames. I'm thinking should I buy a five frame poly nuc or knock up some snug fitting kingspan panels to insert in the brood box.
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21st July - Inspections and observations

I inspected all hives at lunchtime today. The bees were in much better humour than they were during the previous inspections. I suffered one sting only when one bee tried to investigate the hive tool and became trapped unnoticed between the tool and the palm of my hand. All hives are healthy but the foraging is not providing a lot of production. Today is another chilly and overcast day so I'm not expecting a lot of nectar to be collected. There will be honey but a lot of the supers still contain nectar which requires ripening. There is time for this but it's not going to be a patch on last year's performance :( There was an unusual episode when hive 3 bees gathered in great numbers on the front of the hive and in a cloud in front of...
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Sublimating oxalic

i tried this in spring and it did nothing at all. gave 4 treatments on a 5 day interval and no change in mite drop. i guess it has something to do with bees not clustering. others in the club have reported good results. please try and report mite drop on here!
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