Today's Buzz!

[Keeper]

17th March, weather still cold, 5C and overcast, feels sub-zero! Snow drops and crocus mostly past now but willows, hazel, ivy and early flowering trees and shrubs providing pollen. Soon as the sun comes out foragers bringing in plenty pollen. Queens are getting busy, and the season has started. Last round of OA, and no varroa found on the boards. Fondant feeders were topped up along with half pack of pollen substitute.
March is the tell tale time when winter bees are coming to their end, any colonies without a laying queen and able foragers are not going to make it. Sadly there's nothing to be done to recover ailing colonies at this time.
It's still too cold for their first full inspection but the varroa boards are showing tell tale signs of brood production. Queen marking equipment, frames with fresh foundation all ready for that first look. Better get the supers and syrup feeders ready!

[Keeper]

3rd March, 9C and overcast. The high winds took their toll again, three hives over this time but thankfully the hive boxes were not scattered and bees remained snug in the brood boxes. Surprisingly they were still bringing in small amounts of pollen, two colours, one definitely ivy. All the colonies have continued bringing pollen in throughout the winter when conditions allowed flight.

There were no varroa visible on the boards from the first sublimation, and there were amounts of biscuit coloured debris on all hive boards, hopefully a good sign of brood being produced. The second sublimation was beyond the 14 days so a third will be required to ensure full effect. Two are normally sufficient.

A review of the hive stands is needed. The strength of the winter winds has dramatically increased in the last two years, and the stability of the stands is no longer adequate. Time to dig out the joinery kit!

Early spring flowers are out in force now, snowdrops and crocus looking grand. It's a sign the season is fast approaching. Better get those supers ready!

[Keeper]

25th Jan, a cold 2C and breezy after the previous nights storm with howling gales and morning thundersnow. Quick round of apiaries once the thundersnow had stopped. Lower apiary colonies were in tact, but one colony at the upper apiary had been blown over. With sheer luck, the hive had gone over backwards and the components had stayed relatively together. There were a few bees milling around on the top of the combs but the rest were all still tucked up in the brood box.They were in pretty good humour considering their predicament, and they stayed that way as I gently righted the hive. Time will tell if the queen has survived, fingers crossed.



It's a reminder of the importance of checking apiaries after high winds. They may well survive intact if you get to them quickly but, especially in winter, snow, rain, and low temperatures will quickly put paid to any exposed bees.

The hive righted, fondant feeders back in place and roof weighted down, back to the fireside!

[Keeper]

24th December, 12C. The very unseasonable temperature had the bees out flying in significant numbers and if it were not for the dead grass and leaflets trees, it could have been any other day but a mid winter one! No surprise that stores in the brood boxes and supers below were now used up and the bees now up into the ekes. Feeders were topped up and a moment taken to observe the activity at the entrances. Couldn't see any pollen but occasionally the colour and amount means it's difficult to see without getting up very close, and they were already unhappy about my minimal intrusion!
Merry Xmas

[Keeper]

Monday 21st Oct, 12C. A bit of sunshine and out they come! Colonies recently back from the heather all out bringing in yellow and orange pollen. A good sign there is brood being produced, boosting numbers of winter bees with any luck!


A sunny spot for the winter months gives them the best chance of remaining healthy through to the spring. Entrances are reduced to exclude vermin, and allows the bees to defend against the wasps that are still mooching around.

There will be no brood nest inspections from now until spring. Keeping an eye on the varroa board debris gives an idea of what's going on inside, as does a quick look under the roof through the glass quilts, and by hefting the hive we've an idea of what honey stores they have. Ekes and fondant feeders will be put on later when honey stores are depleted.

[Keeper]

17th October, sunny 15C to start, then rain. Just enough time to check on the colonies brought down from the heather. Bringing the colonies off the hillside was eventful. The ground conditions were too soggy at the first attempt. Our 2WD just slithered about, but following some drier weather we managed at the second attempt. Once back in the lower apiary, where they will overwinter and spend the spring, they were configured for the autumn season. Supers of honey placed under the brood boxes and varroa strips in. It's late in the season for Flumethrin strips but temperatures are remaining up enough for them to be effective. Varroa loading seems to have been very light this year, but even so that's a ball we won't take our eyes off.


Inspecting and cleaning varroa boards. A lot can be learned form the debris found on these, not least if and where there is brood being produced!

Not a jar of honey to be had the year. what was produced has all gone back to the bees. At least we still have healthy colonies. Lets hope next year is better. !

That's just how the cookies have crumbled this year

[Keeper]

23rd September, 12 degrees, overcast and cold. Garden bees are soldiering on and have produced just short of a super of honey. Pretty poor, but they'll need that for the winter.

Out apiaries haven't produced anything and are being fed syrup. The hill bees have produced a little honey but the heather is now finished so they'll be brought back down.

Varroa control - all colonies being treated with Flumethrin strips, the hill bees will be treated once back down and surplus honey taken off.

That's it, season over, lots of running around and nothing to show!

[Keeper]

Thursday 5th September, a cold and dreich day, with temperatures down to 12C and no bees out flying. not the best for checking bees but today, needs must! With the weather is still very changeable and overall temperatures dipping towards autumnal levels, and winter prep just over the horizon, it was time for a quick inspection of honey supers. Brood boxes were left undisturbed.

After full inspections and manipulations at the end of July the colonies were in decent fettle for the heather and for any late blossom. August would normally have produced something. On inspection, the colonies on the heather are producing, albeit not as much as expected, however the heather still looks as though it will last a couple more weeks. With decent weather we may just get a bit more in the supers.



Visits to the hill bees are always interesting. Not only did we have to contend with a stiff easterly breeze driving heavy drizzle, the heilin' coos came to see what we were up to, surrounding the car. They had calves with them and the matriarch looked at us with intent so we exercised suitable caution.

Garden hives had produced a bit of honey and have fared reasonably well, better than the others for sure. There may be some excess that we can harvest.

The out apiary hives have not done well at all. Little or no honey has been produced. In fact after hefting them, they are in desperate need of feeding all ready. Mostly down to weather patterns, but perhaps other areas may have fared better.

[Keeper]

Spoke too soon!

30th July, sky full of sunshine, 25C, enjoying an afternoon on the lawn until that familiar buzz of a swarm filled the ears. A sizeable swarm from who knows where decided fly into the garden necessitating a quick retreat for my sunbathing better half!

Thinking the season had moved on, swarm traps and nuc boxes had just been stacked away for next year. Some would still contain old brood comb but would still be smelling of fresh bee habitation and clearly were too much of a temptation for this swarm. There was a gentle breeze blowing that made the swarm sway too and fro around the boxes but after about 30 minutes had settled in one of the nuc boxes.



Click here for video of late swarm arriving

It's always an amazement how so many bees can pack themselves in to a relatively small cavity!

[Keeper]

29th July, After a hectic few weeks, finally things in the apiary more or less under control!

Swarming was slow to start at the end of June but continued well into July. This was complicated by the fact we were feeding syrup during the cold weather when the colonies had used up what honey they had produced, filling brood space up with syrup instead of producing brood. There were many swarms to deal with, a couple from our own colonies but most from unknown origins. Quite a few had no queens, or no laying queens with them, and trying to get those queened proved more than a challenge. Similarly, our colonies that had swarmed, did not successfully re-queen even with donor frames added. Other colleagues have reported other unusual swarming activity, catching swarms that stayed in the box long enough to consume all the syrup provided before absconding.

Normal looking hatched and unhatched queen cells were evident but no sign of laying queens. This was a concern. Sample sealed queen cells were sent to SASA for analysis and thankfully there were no abnormalities. However they did pass on that, during a recent meeting, bee inspectors reported they had seen widespread issues this year with queens failing to mate, mating poorly, or not returning from their mating flights, along with very late swarming. Our experience was just that, and has meant a lot of running around right through June and July trying to ensure queen-right colonies.

The local farmer at one of our out apiaries mentioned the noticeable lack of fly activity around, especially while he was moving a large midden from the Steading out to a field. He thought the prolonged cold weather had a lot to do with it and he was probably right. Lack of fly life means that birds in particular would have to find alternative food sources when their normally abundant supply didn't materialise. A virgin queen out on a mating flight would be pretty conspicuous and would make an easy target. I've watched young sparrows sit near the entrance of the garden hive and pick off the odd returning bee. Not their normal diet, but there they were. Perhaps this may account for some of the missing queen problems.

The heather is coming into bloom on the hills, two strong colonies were taken up. Fingers crossed for some favourable weather.