Sunday 30th August
No pictures today as I forgot to take the camera with me. Nothing to report though, we just removed the empty Thymol packs and replaced them with full ones. Just like last year, the treatment seems to have really slowed their production down - there seems to have been very little activity though quite a lot of dead varroa have appeared on the floor (not thousands, just a couple of hundred from each hive).
We sealed everything up again to leave it for another fortnight.
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Starting the Varroa Treatment
Sunday 16th August
Finally a bit of decent weather, which is great for the varroa treatment. This Thymol gel is only activated if the temperature is over 15 degrees Centigrade - that's not normally a concern at all in the summer but it explains why this treatment can't be done much later in the year.
The nettles are clearly fighting back, though I probably won't clear them away before the autumn now as they won't really be getting in our way for much longer now (and they provide good cover from any stray ramblers who sometimes appear along that tree line in the background!). Besides, we're planning to do a bit of landscaping around here soon, but I don't think it will be necessary to move the hives at all (they're sitting on top of the pipeline to the septic tank so the JCB won't be able to drive over here anyway).
There aren't many photos because everything went smoothly today, no surprises at all!
We cleaned all the frames down again as they'd become quite built-up again.
We found Bea really quickly (shown in the centre of the picture) and everything looked healthy in both hives. We put the Thymol gel packs on top of the brood frames then closed everything up. It all needs to be closed up for a fortnight, then we repeat the dosage.
Finally a bit of decent weather, which is great for the varroa treatment. This Thymol gel is only activated if the temperature is over 15 degrees Centigrade - that's not normally a concern at all in the summer but it explains why this treatment can't be done much later in the year.
The nettles are clearly fighting back, though I probably won't clear them away before the autumn now as they won't really be getting in our way for much longer now (and they provide good cover from any stray ramblers who sometimes appear along that tree line in the background!). Besides, we're planning to do a bit of landscaping around here soon, but I don't think it will be necessary to move the hives at all (they're sitting on top of the pipeline to the septic tank so the JCB won't be able to drive over here anyway). There aren't many photos because everything went smoothly today, no surprises at all! We cleaned all the frames down again as they'd become quite built-up again. We found Bea really quickly (shown in the centre of the picture) and everything looked healthy in both hives. We put the Thymol gel packs on top of the brood frames then closed everything up. It all needs to be closed up for a fortnight, then we repeat the dosage.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
A Pretty Poor Harvest
Sunday August 9th
Well, this is it - right now is normally the time to remove any surplus honey from the hives ready for the varroa treatment to begin in the middle of August. We finally have a decent weekend after a pretty awful late summer so we're not expecting there to be a huge amount to spare!
Most of the frames have been built up with wax but there don't seem to be a great deal of stores here.
This frame is what many look like - some honey stored but not much.
Finally, a frame with sealed honey on it - but even this one isn't full!
Some of the frames are more like this - completely empty on both sides!
It's a similar situation in the brood box - some stores (loads of brightly-coloured pollen on the frame here) but not nearly enough for them to spare any at all.
The other hive was in an identical state too. Now that we're certain that we won't be removing any honey this year it's safe to do the chemical treatment. Once Thymol has been used in a hive it affects all the honey in it. It can still be used safely by the bees but is not suitable for human consumption.
It's not a huge disappointment for us as we could only have expected a very small surplus at best this year, having lost the swarm and then had pretty awful weather during the peak nectar flow season.
Well, this is it - right now is normally the time to remove any surplus honey from the hives ready for the varroa treatment to begin in the middle of August. We finally have a decent weekend after a pretty awful late summer so we're not expecting there to be a huge amount to spare!
Most of the frames have been built up with wax but there don't seem to be a great deal of stores here. This frame is what many look like - some honey stored but not much. Finally, a frame with sealed honey on it - but even this one isn't full! Some of the frames are more like this - completely empty on both sides! It's a similar situation in the brood box - some stores (loads of brightly-coloured pollen on the frame here) but not nearly enough for them to spare any at all.The other hive was in an identical state too. Now that we're certain that we won't be removing any honey this year it's safe to do the chemical treatment. Once Thymol has been used in a hive it affects all the honey in it. It can still be used safely by the bees but is not suitable for human consumption.
It's not a huge disappointment for us as we could only have expected a very small surplus at best this year, having lost the swarm and then had pretty awful weather during the peak nectar flow season.
Monday, 3 August 2009
More Poor Weather
Monday 3rd August
It's been pretty rotten weather for weeks now so we haven't had an opportunity to do an inspection. A pretty gloomy end to the season and it may well mean the bees won't produce much surplus honey this year.
It's been pretty rotten weather for weeks now so we haven't had an opportunity to do an inspection. A pretty gloomy end to the season and it may well mean the bees won't produce much surplus honey this year.I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get any for the second year running because we started this year with such small colonies again. Most of their efforts have been in just getting themselves up to full strength fit for healthy overwintering, just like in our first year!
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