Swarm-a-thon

It's that time of year again - I seem to spend most of my day in a bee suit but it's been great to pick up some prime swarms to add to my colonies. Two have been from my hives and the rest from fairly local hedges! All are laying and building and doing what swarms love to do, and the weather has been warm and sunny (in between the odd day of torrential rain, hail and strong winds) so the foragers have been busy on the remaining hawthorn. I did feed one small swarm with a frame of stores poached from a stronger hive as they had been in the open for 3 days. One swarm decided to make their new home in a roof unfortunately but we are going to investigate to see if the bees have access to the interior of the house; if not, there's not really much point in faffing about trying to remove them.

I used small rectangles of foundation (approximately 2 x 8cm) affixed at the top of the frames this year as I read/heard/dreamt? that bees fix comb more securely to wood than to wax and so far they are building lovely straight comb in line with the frames. I've sold one colony and the fresh combs survived the trip so it seems to be working. I find swarming in a controlled manner is great for bees and brood as the varroa load is lessened during the break, and they start their colony life in new, bee-built comb to their own specifications. I'm not sure how many cast swarms I will get, but I'm rapidly running out of room!

Mouse Nest

Rodents are proving to be a bit troublesome this year. It was warm enough (about 15°C) to properly take the lid off of the hive with the mouse nest and remove the squatters. They'd made a lovely cosy nest on top of the crownboard in the WBC:

Two mice were in there but they skidaddled off having given me a bit of a hard stare for destroying their home. The weather is good enough now though and there are plenty of other places for them to live so I wanted to see what damage they'd done, having not had this issue before. Thankfully they don't seem to have ravaged their way through the hive:

The bees didn't seem remotely perturbed by the mice and apart from giving me a bit of a talking to about taking the hive apart they carried on calmly. I've clearly forgotten how to keep a smoker alight  over winter which didn't help! Having left all the honey on after taking a  bit in July, there was still loads of food which was great to see and hopefully will give the colony a positive start to the season.

I blocked the entrance with some bits of frame that were lying about (doesn't pay to be too tidy) but I'll get some proper blockers for this hive. The bees happily carried on bringing in pollen so I'm hoping the mice won't take up residence again...

New Year

Having enjoyed a break over the darkest part of the year, the hens are now laying again, with a few double-yolkers in the next boxes already. I'm still feeding them hot molassed mash with Net-tex Mineral Boost, and some cooked crushed eggshells to increase the calcium levels. Apart from the loss of one hen due to a prolapse - RIP Mary :-( - they've all come through the winter in good condition with bright fluffy new feathers having all moulted. I've had a couple of requests for hatching eggs so once the bantams start laying again with any regularity I'll be able to collect some for my customers.

I'm considering getting some eggs under the first broody I have to increase my stock a bit, and check the fertility of the pair of Buff Sussex I bought last year as I've not had a chance to put Bertie and Beatrice to the test. The little chick I kept back (called Herbert, although he's turned out to be a hen) is still very small and seems to have the poultry version of cradle cap with scabby deposits around his head. He's not yet found the dustbath, preferring instead to scamper about the garden. I feel a bit sorry for him - I mean her! - as she's in with Bertie and Beatrice who are in their third year so rather staid company for a little pullet who wants to bounce around and spar with her mates. 

The garden is looking worse for wear but the crocuses are poking up now and will soon be showing their faces for the bees to enjoy, although I've got rows of snowdrops to enjoy before then.

So, that's the New Year - best wishes to all!

The ducks and the hens doing their bit to ruin the last remnants of grass...

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