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!
