Adopt-A-Wayward-Beehive

I am putting together plans for an Adopt-A-Hive facility at my apiary here in glorious East Sussex. It will follow similar lines to other hive adoption programs where you pay for a 'share' of a hive and as such receive regular information about that hive, a share of the honey produced and the chance to visit the apiary and meet the bees in person.

Worker bee

I would love the opportunity for people who perhaps can't have their own bees due to time or other commitments/reasons to share in the delight, wonder and pleasure of keeping bees, and I feel it may also be a good way for those who are interested in keeping them but not sure about how they'll feel when faced with a hive - it can be quite daunting! - to have a gentle introduction before enrolling on a course.

My daughter, aged 9

So, for the initial £30 fee, you will receive the following:

• A 1/10th share in a Wayward Beehive at the apiary
• A document giving you an introduction to honeybees and natural beekeeping
• A pack of annual or perennial seeds, specifically for pollinators
• A beeswax tealight or hand-made soap made with wax from the apiary
• Two 8oz jars of raw, floral honey from your bees*
• Monthly updates about your hive and other activity at the apiary
• Visits to the apiary to see the bees with protective clothing and refreshments provided

*if not 'your' particular hive of bees due to lack of surplus, it will be honey from the apiary so representative of the hive you have adopted.

My bees produce their own wax (I don't use foundation) for which they need to eat honey, and they are not fed sugar syrup, consequently the honey yields are lower. However, there is plenty of forage in the area and as we can discuss during a visit, there are numerous benefits to leaving honey for the bees in their hive. However, the bees' ability to fly and collect pollen and nectar is dependent on the season so their needs will always be put first.

The variety of plants means the colour and texture of the honey
also varies across the season 

The hives are inspected only when necessary and are left undisturbed if possible. Having said that, there are opportunites to look inside without unduly interfering with the colony's duties and other times when assessing health and honey stores in the hive that minor disturbance is warranted. It would be lovely for you to take up the option of visiting the apiary, although as checks are only carried out during good weather conditions it may need you to be available at short notice! You are welcome to come and see the apiary and discuss the bees' important role in the environment and learn about them even if an inspection isn't possible; there is always something interesting going on.

If you would like more information then please contact me at jcmoore111 [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. Shares will be available from March 2015 once the wellbeing of the hives at the apiary has been assessed. Subsequent years will have a reduced fee of £25.

Uniting Bee Colonies

For beekeepers, this is the time of year when it is time to check that the colonies in our care are fit and well and ready to overwinter. Small or late swarms will need extra provisions by way of excess honey from another colony, honey from your own collected stock (NOT shop bought honey) or if no alternative, sugar solution.

Colonies without a queen will not survive the winter, so will need uniting with a queenright hive. I had been wondering how to do this, as in have had two swarms which started off with a laying queen, then she suddenly seemed to vanish with no attempt by the other bees to rear a new queen. I don't know what is going on but I was wanting to unite them as they have built up a good supply of stores and they will be robbed by wasps and other bees if they start to dwindle. In a National hive, uniting colonies is a simple procedure as one can place newspaper between two boxes and place one on top of the other.

I have WBCs and it is less straightforward to do this as the hives have an inner and an outer casing. Thankfully I read this timely and excellent post about queenless colonies here on the Simple Bees website and have used their method to combine my two WBCs. I placed the weaker colony next to the strong one during the evening when all the bees were inside and put some peasticks over the entrance so that the bees would re-orientate themselves to the new position of the hive. After a couple of days, I then moved the hive back and the bees without a queen have been accepted in to the stronger colony. There are no dead bees, no fighting. There is some honey left in the frames which I will move over when I do the final check before winter.

The bees are much quieter now that the days are
starting to shorten and the weather is cooler

Summer to Autumn

After a summer of hot spells and storms, it appears that autumn is fast approaching. The bees are much quieter and having to deal with wasp raids as well as ejecting drones who sadly don't get to spend the winter in the hive, having done their duty. The new growth on the plants that I cut back a few weeks ago is deep green and hunkering down ready for dormancy, and the annuals are covered in seed pods, ready for collection. Ten chicks hatched and struggled to cope with the heat a few weeks ago, but 9 are now in their new home under a lamp - I kept one chick back as I wasn't sure it would thrive; tucked under the feather duvet of mother hen means it will be warm and spoilt rotten.

Plums, damsons and apples are becoming ripe and ready to pick, eat and preserve. Having found a good jam recipe here I'm looking forward to trying it out on this small haul from a friend's garden.

It's always handy to keep a bee skep in the boot of the car!