A blog originally for keeping track of my hobby of being a Beekeeper which has evolved to include Home Brewing and even more recently to follow me and my families approach to "The Good Life". Eventually I hope to include baking recipes and stories of our flock of chickens also reporting on the success and failure at the allotments.
The time of year has come again when my local association hold their Winter meetings. Although as I write this it is near to the October meeting, I am only just writing about Septembers! I seem to have less time to write lately and I'm putting this down to my daughter; she has an in built sensor that detects when I get the laptop out and then just wants to climb all over me thus making writing rather tricky!
This months meeting was a little bit different to any I have attended before in that rather than there being just 1 speaker, the room was set out with multiple tables, each with a microscope set up. The purpose of the meeting was to get a look at microscopy. The first table I sat down at was all about pollen and looking at how different plants produce different pollens. We also looked at a few different parts of the Bees anatomy such as the mandible mouth parts.
The next table was all about looking at the contents of the Bees guts to see if any diseases are present. The main disease we were looking for was nosema. The first thing that was needed to be done to check the Bees gut was to mash the Bees up using a pestle and mortar and then add a small amount of water. A sample of the liquid is then studied under the microscope; I believe they were 900x magnification. The presence of nosema can be identified as small rice grain shaped cells within the liquid. Each sample that we looked at had nosema present but only in small amounts.
After we had spent about an hour looking through the microscopes we did the raffle. The last thing for me to do was to pick up something that I had ordered from one of the members, which was a 25kg sack of sugar. This is a huge amount of sugar however in Beekeeping and home brewing a lot of sugar is used and this was at a bargain price!
This was my first apiary visit of the year and also the last apiary visit as a unmarried man! In a few days I will be married!! I have been getting rather exited and commenting every time I do something for the last time before I get wed. Anyway, back to the apiary visit...
The visit was the first time I have seen the Bees this year however I have had a couple of reports from my dad saying how active they were; one particularly warm day he said that there were hundreds of them flying in and out of the hive carrying baskets full of pollen. This is an especially good sign as if they are bringing in pollen then they must be feeding young larva which in turn is a good indication of a laying queen. So far this spring has had some really warm days and there are plenty of trees already in full bloom not to mention the daffodils and other bulbs.
When I went to visit the apiary it had been a sunny day but not as warm as the last week. Due to this my visit was very short, just enough to see the Bees really. When I arrived and suited up I notice there was no activity outside the hive but when I put my head next to it I could hear a gentle buzz from within. I removed the hive roof and was surprised that the fondant I had added was still there in part, I had been fairly panicked that they would have consumed it all! When I put the fondant on there were 2 tubs full and now 1 was completely empty and the other was nearly full! After I had removed the tub I could see the Bees inside and although I didn't fully open the hive, what I could see inside was plenty of female worker Bees crawling about the comb and no sign of any drones! I believe the production of drones will start soon when the Bees get into swarm season.
I made a short video of what I could see. In the video you can see where the Bees have been eating the fondant from the tub, also you can see where the other tub has been placed as there is layer of fondant still on the crown board. Unfortunately you can also see where I have been a little clumsy and killed a couple of Bees by placing the fondant on top of them, I was a lot more careful when replacing the fondant this time.
While walking down some woodland the other day I found a huge area of Himalayan Balsam that was alive with Honey Bees.
I was visiting a friend and we decided to get out and see if there were any blackberries ready. Although there was a fair amount of blackberries ready we didn't collect any as another few days and they will be a lot bigger and easier to pick. We did pass a huge area of Balsam flowers and I was able to capture this photo on my phone. I did get another photo however the flower is in focus but the Bee moved and is just a blur so I haven't included it. There were literally hundreds of Bees busy collecting pollen and nectar from the flowers. The pollen in Balsam flowers is very light, almost white, and it's easy to tell when the Bees have been visiting them as they look like they have been dusted with icing sugar (to me anyway).
Today I have checked the varroa levels in my hive for the first time. On the 13th I added a varroa board to the hive; this is basically a bright coloured board that collects the debris that falls from the hive, including varroa mites. Before starting my full inspection I removed the varroa board and scraped the debris into a container and placed the container in my car. I then replaced the varroa board back into the hive. I will be monitoring for varroa each time I inspect the hive from now.
The varroa board prior to removing the debris.
I then moved back to the apiary to do my inspection. Inside the brood body there were 2 full frames of food stored with plenty more stores around the brood frames, along with plenty of pollen stores. There were 9 frames with brood although 1 frame only had a small patch of eggs and the rest of the frame was stores. On the 7th frame in I saw the Queen. There were a couple of Queen cups present but they weren't fully formed Queen cells so nothing to worry about. After the brood I checked the super. At the moment only 3 frames have been drawn out and the Bees have started storing nectar in there, which in time will be honey. I only took 1 photo while at the hive which shows weeds growing outside the hive, these will need to removed before it gets too overgrown!
After I had finished my inspection I returned home and emptied the debris from the varroa board onto a sheet of white paper. I then spread the debris about so I had a better chance of seeing any varroa mites that had fallen; I found 3 dead mites and 1 live one. Using the calculator found on Beebase, I found that the levels of varroa are acceptable but I will keep a close eye on them. The calculator said I have roughly 35 mites in the hive and upto 1000 is a acceptable level.
The mites are the tiny shiny things. I have placed some wax comb next to it give a idea of size
These are different pieces of pollen, demonstrating the variety of colours of pollen
I did a quick inspection today as the weather decided to be nice, rather than the rain we have had all week. There wasn't anyone available to look after our baby so Steph stayed at home for this one.
Upon arrival at the allotment I did a quick visual check of the apiary. There was plenty of Bees entering and exiting the hive, some could be seen with their pollen baskets full. Next I lit the smoker and then got suited up.
When I opened the hive I was hoping to see that the Bees had started to draw out the foundation in the supers, ready to start storing honey. Unfortunately this wasn't the case; in the super there were about 5 Bees just wondering around! I removed the super and the Queen excluder and started to check on the brood chamber. This was a different story, it was quite full of Bees!
I started by removing the first frame and checking for food. The first frame had plenty of stores on it but no brood, there was small amounts of pollen present also. The next frame had a few eggs present but mainly stored food. The next 5 frames I checked were full of brood and I even saw her majesty on one of them. I did notice a lot of drone brood on the underside of one frame but at the course I was advised this is normal so will just keep an eye in it and make sure it doesn't get any worse; the main thing is that there is evidence the Queen is laying worker brood. On the last couple of frames I checked there was plenty of stored pollen.
As I was doing the inspection I tried to remove as much comb that was out of place as I could, there was a fair bit below the Queen excluder. After I'd checked all the frames I replaced all the hive parts and left the apiary.
When I returned to my car I had a closer look at some of the excess comb I had removed and noticed there were a couple of eggs in there. The eggs are tiny but can be seen fairly clearly in the photo
This month the subject was "Preparing for the New Season Ahead" with guest speaker David Aston. In the meeting he talked about the importance of getting ready for the new season.
Such things as removing mouse guards now that some flowers are starting to bloom and we are having the occasional nice day, the bees are starting their first foraging runs. With mouse guards still in place some of the pollen can be brushed off the bees as they re-enter the hive. At the beginning of the season bees need this early pollen as it provides them with protein needed to thrive.
Also mentioned was the importance of cleaning comb and disposing of old, damaged or diseased comb. This is of greater importance than ever with the recent decline of bees. The best way of disposing of old comb is to burn it as this will get rid of any potential contagion. Also with frames being so cheap it would often be cheaper to replace comb rather than risk infection and end up having to replace whole colonies!
Other pieces of equipment that were mentioned that need checking before the new season are your smoker, hive tool, suit, veil and gauntlets (heavy-duty elbow length gloves). Without a working smoker you can end up working with angry bees as smoke makes the bees think there's a fire so eat lots of honey; they do this in case they need to make a speedy get away and by doing so makes it harder for them to physically sting due to their bellies being so full. He also mentioned another option which is to spray water across the mouth of the hive; the advantage of this is that it doesn't scare the queen as much so she may be less inclined to hide when the hive is opened and if a hive is smoked too much bees can think there is a problem and leave. A hive tool is essential for removing the comb that bees build to glue everything together, also known as burr comb. It is also used to pry frames apart so inspections can take place. The suit, veil and gauntlets are all for the Beekeepers safety so are essential. They all need to be thoroughly checked for gaps that bees can get through and kept clean so disease is kept from spreading. There was also recommendation to not use gauntlets where possible and use disposable rubber gloves if needed. By using disposable gloves your are guaranteeing the cleanest possible approach.
There was more talk on bee health and several slides, one including small hive beetles. These little nasties haven't made it to our shores yet (from the other side of the Atlantic) but due to the size of them it would be hard to see them so could be accidentally brought in on something else. In the picture you can see the little black beetles (click to enlarge). The larvae of the beetles can burrow through the comb, defecating as they go, which can in turn discolour the honey and cause it to ferment, thus spoiling the honey! A common sign of this damage is a smell of decaying orange and a slimy froth. If the infestation gets too bad the bees may abscond the hive.
At each meeting there is a raffle and I took part this time for the first time and am happy to report I won one of the prizes. If your number comes out you can choose your prize from a variety of things, I choose a bottle of beer which I shared with my better half when I got home.
