Sunday 28 September 2008

Last Inspection of the Year

Sunday 28th September
With so many jobs to do and a toddler's party to rush back to there was no way we'd get everything on the list done today. We just made sure that anything that involved actually opening up the hive was finished because it will soon be too cold, even on a sunny day like this, to do that.

Everything took a lot longer than normal today because of the huge quantity of both honey and bees. This is great for the health of the colony but it makes the inspection more tricky - thousands of bees defending their precious honey stores makes handling the heavy frames slow work!

They seem fairly used to us by now and are very placid most of the time, so long as they don't get squished by accident. It only takes one damaged bee to send out a distress scent and a placid colony can suddenly become very protective. This is the main reason for having the smoker handy at all times as one quick puff around the squashed bee masks this distress signal and the others don't react to it. We find we don't need to use the smoker much because we have time to move slowly and carefully, gently moving the bees out of the way as much as possible, but it's always at hand, just in case.
As expected, every frame in the super is completely full on both sides with capped honey. Just ideal stores to see them through even the harshest winter East Anglia is likely to get!
As I lifted off the super with all the full frames in some cells of brace comb broke off and spilled honey onto the frames of the brood box - some bees immediately formed a circle around the spillage and licked it all up - a drop of this stuff is far too precious for them to waste. It really makes me appreciate the value of a teaspoon of honey!
Checking the frames in the brood box took a long time, mostly because we were trying hard not to crush any bees as we went. Removing the first frame is the hardest as it's wedged in tight as well as being sealed down with propolis. First you have to lever up one end with the hive tool then hold it in place as you lever the other end loose.
Taking care not to nip any bees with your fingers you lift the frame directly up, trying not to roll any bees off against the side. Of course the queen could be on any one of these frames now and with this many thousands of bees all over the place it's practically impossible to spot her.
Having said that, my wife did catch a glimpse of her as I was holding a frame up but she'd disappeared into the mass of workers by the time I turned it round - even that is a slow process with so many bees all over my fingers!
We found that all was exactly as we could hope for in the brood box - plenty more food stores and a healthy pattern off eggs and larvae too.
Unfortunately there are still varroa mites appearing on my varroa floor, even after the recent treatment. There aren't many, only 6 in a week - which is a minuscule percentage when you consider how many thousands of bees there are here now. There's nothing I can do about them at this time of year anyway - we'll be going to see a local demonstration regarding a winter chemical treatment against varroa, called 'trickling oxalic acid' but we're trying to avoid chemical treatments as much as possible - I've got some alternative and non-chemical ideas to try out in the spring, all being well!

Saturday 27 September 2008

Winter Preparations

Saturday 27th September

It's a good forecast for tomorrow so we're planning on officially closing down the hive for the winter. I suppose it's unnecessary to do another inspection because last week's was ideal but there are a number of jobs to do to see the colony through the winter months. It's very strange to think that we won't be opening it up again until next March at least! I've made a list of all the jobs to do:

* Check the hive is totally full of food stores - there's no way to give extra rations during the winter months as you can only normally open the hive up in 'shirtsleeves' weather. [done 28/9]

* Check that the queen is laying (although realistically, if she weren't there's not a single thing we could do about it this late in the season! This is just a check for my own peace of mind) [done 28/9]

* Clean and replace the Varroa floor. I won't be removing this much in the winter as it would be a bit pointless - it would only serve to disturb the bees and there's nothing I could do about any problem until the spring anyway! [done 28/9]

* Remove the rapid-feeder. This has no use in the cold weather at all and it needs a good clean out anyway. [done 28/9]

* Check that the hive floor is free of debris (and cheeky mice looking for a warm spot to see the winter through!) [done 28/9]

* Attach mouseguard firmly, so that the cheeky mouse can't get in after I've closed the hive. [done 28/9]

* Use hive ratchet strap to secure the lid on the hive. This is more necessary in other parts of the world where raccoons, etc are a problem but here it prevents any slim risk of a freak wind blowing the roof off. [done .../...]

* Put a couple of matchsticks under the crownboard. This removes any condensation problems in cold weather - as the bees keep themselves warm condensation can form on the inside of the lid if it's really cold outside. Doing this prevents any cold drips of water from falling on the bees. [done .../...]

* Surround the whole hive with chicken wire. This sounds a bit extreme but is vital around here - green woodpeckers are very skilled at finding honey bee colonies in winter when there are few other grubs available. They tap on the side and, if there is an answering buzz from inside they hammer their way in to eat the bees and larvae - often the whole colony is killed by the cold and you have a major repair to do as well! [done .../...]

Also it's my son's birthday party during the day too - I'm sure we'll fit it all in somehow!

Sunday 21 September 2008

A Hive Full of Honey

Sunday 21st September

I had to make up another 7 batches of sugar syrup for them this week - that's 28kg of sugar in a fortnight! I thought I was being massively over-prepared when I bought a 25kg sack of sugar last month!
These frames in the super are now full of sealed honey, with the white cappings on for winter storage. Sugar syrup alone would not store well for long (it begins to ferment and makes the bees sick) but now that the bees have processed it into honey and sealed it away it will store perfectly well for several months if required.
You can see how thick the honeycomb is now. With this much on each side of the frame they're fairly heavy to lift. Of course I had to lift the whole full super off the brood box to be able to check that - normally I can do it very gently but it must have weighed about 20kg today. I just hefted it down hoping any bees would have the sense to get out of the way quickly!
I stand the full super on top of the upturned roof like this. This means that there won't be many bees lost on the ground as I carry on checking the brood box.
There is loads of capped honey stored in here too - the side of the frame you can still see in the box here is completely full of it. The one being held up still has brood developing in the very centre, as do all eight central frames, but the priority for the colony now is to store food like crazy, not to raise new mouths to feed!
This is the ideal state to leave the hive in for the winter. I hope to do one last check through next weekend, if the weather's warm enough, then it'll be time to shut it all up for the winter and hope for the best.

Sunday 14 September 2008

A Sugar Rush

Sunday 14th September

It's hard to believe that this is the exact same super which was empty in the photo just 6 days ago. Since then they have built up every single frame in the super with foundation and started to fill the cells too!
They've taken an amazing amount of sugar syrup this week - I've had to make up a new batch every single day! That's 2kg of sugar plus 1 litre of water each time.
They've had 12kg of sugar in 6 days with no sign of slowing down! Things are looking pretty hopeful for the winter after all!

Thursday 11 September 2008

Some Guests Arrive

Thursday 11th September

I had some surprise visitors sitting on top of the hive today.
I think these dragonflies were tricked by the metal roof looking like a pool of water from the sky. Great to see them so close and still for once - they're usually just flashes of colour in the sky round here.

Monday 8 September 2008

Varroa Treatment Completed

Monday 8th September

We've been away for a week on holiday so it worked out nicely that we had to leave the hive unopened last weekend. Now that the chemical treatment is complete we have to really crack on and prepare for the winter. We have a full colony with (hopefully) virtually no Varroa mites, now we just have to make sure that they're stocked to the rafters with enough provisions to survive the winter.
As you can see here, their larder is completely bare. They've only just begun to build up the wax foundation in the super - in fact they're in virtually the same state they were in a month ago! By now these frames should be full of honey - there's no way this colony would survive even the mildest winter in this state.
The brood box shown above is a different story - masses of bees and plenty of honey to feed the hatching brood. There just isn't much in the way of provisions to keep the adult population alive for very long.
It was interesting to see the bees' reaction here when a wasp invaded to try to pinch some honey. They didn't sting it as I would have expected but four or five of them just bundled on top of it and wrestled it out of the hive. It came back less than a minute later but it got the message when it was booted out the next time - we didn't see it again.
Seeing as the only problem facing this colony now (so far as we can tell) is a shortage of food, we just need to feed them plenty of sugar syrup over the next few weeks and hope that they can convert it into honey to store for the winter. The autumn sugar syrup solution is much more concentrated than the spring syrup - I use 2kg of sugar to 1 litre of water (approx.)