There has not been as much ivy pollen or nectar coming in as previous years, but on all my sites you can see the dark brown nectar and then patches where it is crystalising into white honey, before they even get the chance to cap it. I am still feeding thymolised syrup to the colonies that still need it.
There have been a couple of mild frosts, but not enough to kill off the wasps. The eucaplyptus clippings that I put around hives at the allotment as a mulch seem to actually be attracting more wasps. The plan is to wait until the wasps are gone before putting on the mousegaurds. I'll make sure I take the entrance blocks out when I put on the mouseguards so that the dead bees won't silt up the entrance over Winter. I don't want to take the entrance blocks of yet, until the evil jaspers are gone....don't you love the word jaspers?
I've now moved two hives and all 5 nucs to the park near my house. They should be easier to look after there. The allotment apairy looks a bit empty and it made me feel sad, but although it is a great site for teaching, I had virtually no honey from the allotment, so I need to be unsentimental and move them. I think the issues with the site are:
They tell me they are going to cut down some trees. There are still 5 colonies there, so I'll see if things improve once the trees are fewer.
I attended Peter Springhall's funeral in the week. He was an inspiration to watch with the bees. Beekeeper for 60 years. His top tip was, 'Do you know what these are for?' (showing his index and thumb) 'They are for squashing bad tempered queens. Never tolerate bees with a bad temperament.'
Coming up : National Honey Show on Thursday followed by the Central Association of Beekeepers dinner.
There have been a couple of mild frosts, but not enough to kill off the wasps. The eucaplyptus clippings that I put around hives at the allotment as a mulch seem to actually be attracting more wasps. The plan is to wait until the wasps are gone before putting on the mousegaurds. I'll make sure I take the entrance blocks out when I put on the mouseguards so that the dead bees won't silt up the entrance over Winter. I don't want to take the entrance blocks of yet, until the evil jaspers are gone....don't you love the word jaspers?
I've now moved two hives and all 5 nucs to the park near my house. They should be easier to look after there. The allotment apairy looks a bit empty and it made me feel sad, but although it is a great site for teaching, I had virtually no honey from the allotment, so I need to be unsentimental and move them. I think the issues with the site are:
- too much competition for forage
- too damp and overcast by trees.
They tell me they are going to cut down some trees. There are still 5 colonies there, so I'll see if things improve once the trees are fewer.
I attended Peter Springhall's funeral in the week. He was an inspiration to watch with the bees. Beekeeper for 60 years. His top tip was, 'Do you know what these are for?' (showing his index and thumb) 'They are for squashing bad tempered queens. Never tolerate bees with a bad temperament.'
Coming up : National Honey Show on Thursday followed by the Central Association of Beekeepers dinner.
