Sue & Jim's Natural Beekeeping

Saturday 28th January 2012

2012-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

We carried on feeding the Dolphins and Nectans over Christmas and into the New Year.
Checked them all last week and was distressed to find that The Nectans had all died. On examining the nucleus box with Jim, we were pretty sure they had starved. We felt awful, but are unsure if we would have been able to get enough fondant in there to save them. There were an awful lot of bees in a very small box. We think our main mistake was not getting them into a hive last Autumn, so we could have looked after them better. We were unable to give them any syrup in the Autumn because there was no room to put a feeder in.The Dolphins were fine and very active. We put 3 bars of fondant in for them. The Lizards seem to have plenty of honey left, so we didn't offer any fondant.
Jim checked both hives today and found they were both very active and bringing in pollen. He also saw new bees flying from The Lizard hive, so they must have been raising brood for a few weeks now. Decided to put fondant in both hives, just to make sure. I will check again on Monday.
Mick has built one new hive for The Lizards and Jim is going to make another one for The Dolphins, we will then be able to use the 2 smaller hives for nuclei and avoid what happened to The Nectans, hopefully.

Thursday 8th December 2011

2011-12-08T04:10:00.001-08:00

A week ago Jim & I checked all 3 hives, as we were worried that the bees may have used up their supplies during the unusually mild Autumn and early winter we have had. We checked the Dolphins and found some empty combs, we removed one of these. Decided to offer them some fondant to see if they took it. We had prepared some TBs with about 1" fondant attached along the underneath. We put one of these in. We then checked The Lizards. They seemed to have used up some of their supplies; we found an empty comb (which we removed) and then one with just a small amount of honey still in it at the LH end. After that the combs seemed to still have quite a lot in. We put in one bar of fondant to see if they wanted it. The Nectans were harder to check. They are still in the nucleus box and it is completely full. We tried to lift a bar at each end, but both had bees on, so we decided to leave it until they cluster to one end. Jim hefted the box and felt it was much heavier than when he brought it back from his parents house. Realised that we need to get them out of there pretty quickly in the Spring. We put the third bar we had prepared into the Lizards hive.
Yesterday I checked to see if the fondant had been taken. The Dolphins had taken the lot, so I put one more bar of fondant in. The Lizards had taken one bar, but hadn't finished the second, so I just left that one in there. I put the bar I had prepared for them into the Dolphins hive, so they now have 2. I decided to just take a look in one end of the Nectans and found I was able to remove the end bar now, which was empty. I went back to the house and prepared another bar of fondant and put this in for them. They seemed immediately interested. Will check again in a few days.

Friday 25th November 2011

2011-11-25T12:41:00.000-08:00

Checked the Apilife Var a week later in both the Lizard hive and Nectans' nucleus. Still some left, but decided to add some more. Checked again a week later and not much had gone. Because of this and also because the temp had dropped a little to about 13˚C decided not to put in a third lot. Last week I removed the remaining pieces and started a varroa count. Removed the tray 48hrs later and it was 101, that's 50 a day. A bit better than last time, but still a lot. Discussed our options and decided to shut them up for the winter. We could pour acid over them in the middle of the winter, but that can kill the queen. Covered all three lots of top bars with towels and blankets. We are rather worried about their supplies.
The weather has been very warm for the time of year and the bees are out flying most days. We feel they are using up their supplies and are not able to replace them. There is very little Nectar around, although we do have a few Spring and Summer flowers around!! In November?
I took these photos on 23rd November 2011.

Celandine

Nasturtium

Bora


Oxeye Daisies

A Rose

Saturday 29th October 2011

2011-10-29T10:58:00.001-07:00

Well, we fed The Lizards 7 jars of feed with Tea Tree & Lemongrass and then did another count 1 week later. The count was 166 in 48 hrs, that's 83 a day!!! Decided to use some Apilife Var. Probably a bit late, as it's best if used when the temp is above 15˚C. However the temp, down at the hives, did get above that for a few days after putting it in. We also put a few bits of it in the Nectans nuc as we thought they might have a high count too, as they came from The Lizard colony. Checked today and some of it had gone, so I put in some more. Will check again in a week.

Monday 10th October 2011

2011-10-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Finished feeding the Dolphins now. They are all ready for the winter, apart from some insulation on the top of the bars. Did a 48 hr varroa count on the Lizards and it was 155!!! That's 77 a day. Started feeding them syrup with tea tree & lemongrass 3 days ago. They have taken 4 jars so far and have 2 more in there since last night. Will give them one more jar, then do another count after a few days. If it's still high, we will consider putting in some grease patties.
The Nectans (Nucleus) is now back here and doing very well. We are a bit worried that they haven't got enough supplies for the winter, so will try and give them a comb of honey from the Lizards. It's a bit tricky feeding them with syrup as there isn't enough room in the box for a feeder. We will probably give them some fondant in the winter instead.

Friday 23rd September 2011

2011-09-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Jim did the varroa count last Friday. The tray had been on approx 3½ days and the count was 119. Most of those probably fell on the first day, but if averaged out it's 34 a day. He did another icing sugar dusting on both hives and also on the nucleus, at his Mum's. I then did another one on the Lizards yesterday and have put the tray in to do another count today.
I have also put 6 drops of tea tree and about ¼ tsp of Lecithin (as an emulsifier) into one of the jars of feed (Approx 500ml) and fed to the Dolphins. They took it well and so I have made up 2 more jars to give them over the next couple of days. This was a suggestion from Phil on the last course and I've also looked up references to it online. People who have used it seem to have found it effective against varroa. Once they have stopped feeding (soon hopefully) we plan to give some to the Lizards.

Wednesday 14th September 2011

2011-09-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

The course went very well at the weekend. The weather wasn't too bad, so they managed to look in the end of The Lizard hive, as well as through the window. They took the varroa tray back to The Barton to do a count. Not good news; there were 41 varroa in 24 hours!!! I did a dusting of icing sugar on Monday and replaced the tray, to do another count later in the week. This will probably be even higher, as the icing sugar should make the bees groom each other and, in the process, knock off varroa. We will then do another count a few days later. I also dusted The Dolphins and Jim is doing the nucleus, when he goes to his Mum's on Saturday.

Friday 9th September 2011

2011-09-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

It's the last Beginners' Natural Beekeeping Course of the year, this weekend. Hopefully the weather will at least allow them to look through the observation window on the Lizards' hive.

Our plan for the next few weeks:

1) We are doing a varroa count on The Lizards and will apply icing sugar from underneath if it's high, so they go into the winter with a lowish count, hopefully. If the count is low, I think we will presume that the nuc that came from there is probably low too. Might do a count on The Dolphins though.

2) Weather permitting, we are going to try and move the big hive's stores to one end, as Phil suggested, as the cluster usually moves through the hive towards the stores during the winter.

3) We are feeding our very small caste (The Dolphins) and it seems to be doing OK, despite the wasp attacks. Using 2:1 syrup now. That's 2 of sugar to 1 of water.

4) The nucleus that's in Jim's parents' field (about 3-4 mls away) is doing very well, it has brood and lots of new bees, so sounds like a good new queen. We will either leave it there until mid winter, or bring it back soon. They may need feeding during the winter and we will use fondant by Phil's method of packing it into comb. At the moment it seems quite heavy, so Jim will keep an eye on it when he visits his Mum, by hefting it or weighing it. It might be possible to do this with bathroom scales, as it's just the nuc box.

5) We will insulate the tops of the bars with old towels/blankets/carpets, like we did last winter.

6) We will leave the bottoms of all 3 hives uncovered to allow for ventilation.

7) Jim and Mick have started making 2 new 48" hives. Well they've prepared some of the wood anyway. They will get on with these over the winter. We hope to move the big colony (The Lizards) into one of these in the Spring and the nuc into the other one, probably. The caste (The Dolphins) can go into one of the 2 old hives.

Tuesday 23rd August '11

2011-08-23T06:03:00.000-07:00

Not got round to posting for a while, so I'll try and catch up.
Jim and I had a look at all 3 sets of bees on Fri 5th. The Dolphins were about the same. Quite small and still raising brood in the comb on the floor of the hive. As this is the only brood they seem to have, we still don't want to disturb it yet. Wasps still a problem, but they seemed to be coping. Very little stores, so we'll have to keep feeding them.
The nucleus had no brood, but the bees were very defensive and quite ordered, so we think the queen just hasn't started laying yet. The wasps were bothering them and we suspect they may be being robbed from the Lizards. Decided to move them to Jim's parents' place, about 4 mls away, for a couple of weeks and then check them again. We were going to give them a comb of brood, just in case, from the Lizards, but when we opened up the Lizards the weather deteriorated. Also Jim got stung! An unusual occurrence for our bees as we've only had one sting each in well over a year. We decided to leave them alone, as it was going to be a fairly big job with quite a lot of comb attached to the sides to fix.
So, we decided that if the nuc seems to be queenless in a couple of weeks, we will consider combining it with the Dolphins. Also Jim & Mick are going to try and get at least one new, larger hive made within a few weeks and plan to try and move the Lizards into this and sort out their stores for the winter. If the nuc is queenright, we might move it into the old hive.
Jim hasn't managed to look in the nuc yet as the weather hasn't been good when he has been to his parents, but the bees were flying OK and they sounded content. Jim and Mick hope to get started on the hive/hives later in the week.
Have changed feed for the nuc to 2:1 concentration from 1:1, more concentrated, so they don't have to work so hard to dehydrate it, coming into the Autumn.
Jim found a wasps' nest in the church field, over the road, last week and destroyed it. Hopefully that will make a difference.

Monday 1st August 2011

2011-08-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

The new wasp traps were useless, so I sent them back. Got some more small glass ones, but they're not much better. Fortunately the wasp numbers have reduced quite a lot, so it's not such a big problem.
The nucleus is doing very well. Decided to leave it near the Lizard hive as it seems to get some protection there. Pollen going in regularly, so hope the queen has mated successfully. Will have a look for brood when Jim gets back from holiday later this week. The cast is still struggling on. Not as vigorous as the nuc, but surviving.

Cluster at entrance 8.30am

Had a shock 4 days ago. At about 8.30am Mick noticed a large cluster, by one entrance hole, on The Lizard hive.
We were worried they might be preparing to swarm, so put a bait hive up on top of a neighbour's garage. They stayed like that all day. In the evening I thought they would have either swarmed, or gone back in.

The beard

At 8.30pm this is what I found - even more bees clustered around the entrance, oh dear. I really didn't know what was going on. Rushed indoors and googled 'bees clustered on outside of hive'. Found that it is 'bearding'. When they get too hot, or it is heavy weather, they often 'beard' like this to cool down. Like us throwing the covers off and opening the window, I suppose. I decided to put in a couple of extra bars and also take off the varroa floor to get more of an up draught. They were a bit grumpy when I opened the hive and poured out all over the TBs in vast numbers, when I moved the follower board. I left it open a little bit to give them some extra ventilation for the night.
The next morning they were still bearding, but less so. I closed up the bars and they were less grumpy.
They continued to beard on and off for a couple of days until the weather became less close yesterday.

More photos taken on the Intermediate course by Michael

2011-08-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Inspecting The Lizards

Is that a queen cell?

Has Phil got fed up with us and decided to take a nap?

Wednesday 20th July 2011

2011-07-21T11:51:00.001-07:00

Wasps are still a problem and unfortunately our 2 homemade traps are not doing the job. We are getting about 50 in the small (bought) hanging trap a day and only few in the bottle traps. So, unfortunately, I've resorted to buying 2 more hanging traps which should arrive today.
Checked the hives on Sunday when the weather improved a little and the Dolphins, at the top of the field, seemed to be coping with fending the wasps off well, but the nuc was clearly having problems still. The Q cell was sealed, but there were several wasps in the hive and quite a lot of dead bees on the floor.
We risked going through the Lizards, as we saw another capped queen cell through the window. We were as quick as possible and fortunately it was the only Q cell we found. Quick decision needed!
We had considered an artificial swarm in the hive, but decided against it:
1) There was only one Q cell, so they were not majorly serious.
2) The weather wasn't good enough to take the time searching for the Queen and would we find her anyway?
3) The nuc needed reinforcing.
4) Hopefully, by the time the weather improves they will have forgotten about swarming.
So, we took the comb with the Q cell out of the Lizard hive and put it in the nuc, being as sure as we could that the queen wasn't on it. We figured it would reinforce the nuc and also give them another Q cell to play with.
The Lizards weren't very happy with this and there was a lot of clustering around the entrance for a while after, but they soon settled down.
We also moved the nuc in front of the Lizards and to the side, as Phil had suggested, hoping they might pick up some more flying bees and have more chance of fending off the wasps.
We just hope this was the right decision, time will tell.
Have checked several times since and the nuc is definitely fending off the wasps more effectively and seems to have more flying bees. I saw pollen going in this morning!

Link to Phil's video taken at weekend

2011-07-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to a video taken by Phil at the weekend showing the Lizards flying!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mfkmuxPR50
The bees are flying from the new nuc, but not yet bringing in pollen.

Intermediate Natural Beekeeping Course July '11

2011-07-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Weekend 8th - 10th July '11
There were 11 people on the Intermediate Natural Beekeeping Course, with Phil Chandler as tutor. We were all beekeepers already and/or had been on the introductory course and were getting bees soon.


Phil teaching in the apiary

It was a very good group with lots of varied experience, interaction and ideas. We visited the hives on Saturday afternoon. The Dolphins had taken quite a lot of the feed and were flying well. We opened up the hive and inspected the mess inside, which Jim and I will have to sort out, once the brood has emerged. The bees seemed happy though.

The Queen cell

Comb with strange large horizontal cell

Lizards were flying on mass again and we opened up to see how crowded they were. The first 2 combs were fully formed now and crammed with honey. A few combs in we found an uncapped Queen cell and another smaller horizontal, capped, odd cell that was bigger than a drone cell. We were pretty sure that there was an egg in the Queen cell. Decided to make a nucleus up in the nuc box. We transferred the comb with the Q cell, plus some with new brood and stores and moved it to where the old Buckfast hive used to be. We will keep an eye on it to check for new flying bees, bringing in pollen, over the next few days and then look in next Saturday to see if the Q cell is capped. If it isn't, we'll move in some more young brood. We also might move the nuc in front of the Lizards, if they don't have many flying bees soon, so that some of the Lizard bees go in there. We didn't inspect the whole of the Lizard hive, Jim and I will need to do that next Saturday, in case they make any more Q cells. We put in some more Top Bars for them.
The rest of the weekend went very well, especially supper in the pub on Saturday evening. We checked all the hives on Sunday afternoon and they all appeared happy.
Monday 11th July '11
Mick reported seeing wasps under the Dolphin hive. He put a concrete block under where he thought the feeder might be leaking and refilled the wasp trap. There were loads of dead wasps in it.

The new nucleus

I checked all the hives later. The Dolphins seemed to be flying well and there were only a few wasps around, but not on the concrete block. The Lizards were flying on mass again and able to repel any wasps, I'm sure. The nuc, however, seemed to be suffering from a wasp attack too. It looked as though they were getting in under the roof. Very few flying bees, as yet. I told Jim and he made another wasp trap. He also put in a top bar, to close up the gap where the wasps were getting in under the roof.

The Lizards

New colony - The Dolphins!

2011-07-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to put The Dolphins in their hive 'helped' by Alby and Rusty

Well, we moved the new bees into their hive on Thurs 23rd June. Very difficult as they had built new comb up in the corner of the square box they were in! We tried cutting this off and sewing it to top bars, but it soon fell off and all we could do was leave it propped up on the bottom of the hive. They did have a few other combs that fit in OK. It's a very small colony, as it's just a caste. We saw the queen who seemed very young and healthy. We both looked in over the next few days and they appeared alright. The brood on the comb was still being looked after and the bees were flying well. Had a bit of a problem with wasps, but the bees appeared to be fending them off well. We had left them with only one entrance hole. Also put up a wasp trap in the tree behind the hive. Decided to call them The Dolphins after Paula who gave them to us.
They seemed to have enough supplies for the amount of bees, but after talking to Phil on Wednesday this week, decided to offer them some feed. He had read some research that showed that syrup made with nettle tea increased the brood laying by 30%. Gave them 250gms sugar in 250mls nettle tea.
The Lizards are doing well and flying out in vast numbers. We may form a nucleus from them this weekend, on the Intermediate Natural Beekeeping course that Phil is running here.

Sunday 19th June 2011

2011-06-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened in past few weeks. Waited and waited for signs of a new queen in the Lizard hive. They did start bringing in some pollen, but then their activity reduced quite a lot. Jim investigated and was quite worried about them. The largest, still capped, queen cell was there, so must have died, because it should have hatched several days before. The others had opened, but he couldn't see a queen and also thought they were being robbed from the Nectans. He reduced the entrance to one hole, to try and prevent further robbing. We suspected that, if there was a queen, she might have failed on her virgin flight, or got eaten by one of the swallows who had been swooping over the hives. We sought advice from Phil who thought it was worth trying again, by introducing another comb, with new eggs in, from the Nectans, so they could raise another queen. I went to do the deed on Tues, but was shocked by what I found.
At first all looked good, with many bees crowding around the entrance. I watched for a while and they seemed to be behaving oddly and certainly no pollen was coming in. There seemed to be quite a lot of scuffles breaking out and the sound of the hive was 'not content', is the only way I can think of describing it. Also, it seemed that most of the bees were coming from the other hive.
The Nectans were very contentedly bringing in nectar and pollen, or flying off to the Lizard hive.
I opened up and went through the whole hive. There was absolutely no brood and very little honey. I found no stored pollen. All the combs were very light and there was no building going on. The bees all seemed to be taking the honey that was left and flying away with it. There were a lot of drones too.
I was 99% sure most of the bees I saw were from the Nectans' hive and were robbing, despite us cutting the entrance down to one hole. I didn't think we really had a colony left. It really felt pointless to go ahead with moving comb over, as I thought there was virtually nothing to feed them with, even if there were any nurse bees left. I emailed Jim & Phil and followed up with a phone call to Phil. Decided, between us, to reunite the hives & I went ahead with this on Wednesday, on my own, as Jim was away with work. I did it by putting most of the combs into the Nectans' hive at one end. Left them alone overnight and went back on Thurs to remove a few more of the combs. The bees were not best pleased about this and became pretty angry. Just took 2 and put these in the other hive, which is now empty of course, along with the other combs I managed to leave behind the day before.
One bit of really good news is that I had phoned Paula, who had been on the first Top Bar Hive course, because she had offered us a swarm, from her own bees, that she doesn't need. She brought these to us on Friday and they are now, at the top of our field, in her nucleus box. We will move them into their new home sometime over the next few days. We decided to leave them at the top of the field to, hopefully, prevent them from being robbed.
So it looks like we are back up to 2 hives, again. We will have to decide what we are going to do about names. Really, the Nectans should go back to being called The Lizards, because they are now the original, reunited, Lizard colony.

Sunday 22nd May 2011

2011-05-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Bees flying from both hives, more from The Nectans.
Nectan's bees bringing in pollen, which indicates the presence of the queen, as they only do that when there are larvae to feed. As it's 15 days since the split, there wouldn't be any larvae if there was no queen, as the cells are capped after 9 days.
No pollen coming into The Lizards as they are waiting for their new queen, if they have one, to mate.

Removed the varroa tray from The Lizards. Counted 12 varroa in 16 days, which averages as less than one a day - great. Decided it's not worth doing another count on The Nectans, they should be about the same as they were the same colony 15 days ago.

Friday 20th June 2011

2011-05-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Fed Nectans again on Tuesday. Signs of dysentery noticed by Jim on Wednesday and weather much better, so decided to stop feeding.
This is what Jim said in an email yesterday:

"Checked the bees at about 9am this morning, it's a beautiful day (potential swarm).

Good news - the Lizards (who have the queen cell) are building. Little activity outside the hive, but they have few flying bees, so that would be right.

The Nectans seem much happier they are also building. Much activity outside the hive

I popped into your garage and put another couple of bars in both hives.

Took out the feed from the Nectans (all gone).

I'll keep a close eye on them whilst we have good weather."

Went to check them this morning with Mick. Temp 19. Wanted to have a quick look at the queen cell, so I could 'get my eye in'. Lifted the bar where Jim said it was and was very surprised to see 4-5 queen cells. There was the very large one at the bottom, that Jim had seen, covered in bees. Then 2-3 badly formed smaller ones. Then we were amazed to see that there was one in the mid RH section which looked like it had had a queen already emerged. I think this was where I saw the lumpy structure a few days after the split. We shut the hive back up quickly and left them alone. Lots of drones looking very interested, so hopefully, whichever queen wins the probable fight, she'll mate successfully.

Queen cell to the right of the middle, queen possibly emerged. Lots of drones visible.

Same cell visible with 2 smaller cells to left of it.

Workers very interested, looking into queen cell.

Workers all over large queen cell at bottom of comb.

Tues 17th May 2011

2011-05-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened over past couple of days.
We carried on feeding the Nectans until Fri evening, by which time they had consumed almost 2 kgs sugar as 1:1 syrup.
I wasn't feeling too good on Sunday, when we had planned to have another look, so Jim inspected the hives on his own.
In The Lizards he saw a well formed, capped, queen cell which Mick and I must have missed in our quick inspection on Fri. He also observed that the bees seemed to be clustering in a ball and he was worried that they might be preparing to swarm. The bees were very active and bringing in pollen.
The Nectans, however were not so good. This is what he said:
"The new colony (Nectans) have a huge number of discarded drone larvae both inside and outside the hive, 100+. Inside the combs are light in weight and have little recent activity, virtually no stores. There is a comb of sealed brood and evidence of some (not many) larvae at varying stages. No eggs. Searched long and hard for a queen, but couldn't see her. Not too many bees in this hive so I'm pretty sure I would have see her. This hive has one or two bees returning with pollen every 4-5 mins, not active. Many drones hanging around without trying to get in."
We discussed our options and wondered if we should either move the queen cell, or the queen (if we could find her) to the Nectans. We were tending to think that the queen was possibly in the Lizard hive and that the cell was a swarm cell, not a replacement. At that point we were thinking that, as the cell was capped, it had probably been in the making since before the split. We were also worried that the Lizards might have been robbing the Nectans. We decided that we needed to get advice from Phil. Jim emailed him and this was part of his reply:
"Sounds like you need to fortify the Nectans from the Lizards. A simple way to do this would be to swap the hives over (not on your own!) so the flying bees reinforce the other one."
We were a bit thrown by this, until we thought it through, logically:
1) We realised that the queen cell could well be capped and be an emergency cell in response to the split. Queen cells are capped on the 8th day, the split was done 8 days ago and the egg would have been 1-2 days old then.
2) As there were uncapped larvae, at various stages in the Nectans, this indicates that the queen is probably there, as cells are usually capped on day 9 when the larvae is fully formed.
3) If we swop the hives, the flying bees from the Lizards' hive should go to the Nectans' hive. This would mean they would start bringing in supplies there instead and also would not be robbing them. As the Lizards have loads of supplies, they would be ok for a while and also, as they are strong, they would probably be able to ward off a bid to rob them.
4) If the flying bees mostly decamp to the Nectans' hive, the Lizards would probably have insufficient flying bees to swarm, if that was what they were planning.
So last night at 9.15 we did the swop and also gave the Nectans another feed of 300gms sugar as 1:1 syrup. Put corks in entrances to do the swop and Jim removed these this morning.
It's been very cool the last 2 days and when Mick went down at about 10 this morning there were just a few, slightly confused looking, bees flying around both entrances.
Keep your fingers crossed!

Friday 13th May 2011

2011-05-15T03:46:00.000-07:00

Inspected Lizards' hive on Friday with Mick helping, as Jim away at the moment. Temp only just OK, so had to be quick. The thing we saw on Tues had gone, so it couldn't have been a queen cell, however I saw a lumpy structure in the middle of a comb which was different to and much bigger than a drone cell. I think it might have been an emergency queen cell under construction. Couldn't see any new brood. They were still building comb, so we put in another bar.
Then went to the Nectans' hive. Started looking at bars, but then it began spitting with rain and the temp dropped. Stopped and closed them up after 2 bars, so didn't see much. They have been taking 300gms sugar in 300mls water every day still. As they now have flying bees bringing in pollen, decided to give them some feed tonight and then stop. They will have had almost 2 kgs sugar in total.
Still erring on the side of thinking it's the Lizards that are queenless and hoping that the structure they are building is a queen cell. Hope to have a look at the Nectans over the weekend with Jim.

Tues 10th May '11 We think we were wrong!

2011-05-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

Possible queen cell in Lizard hive.

Results of sound test Phil did were inconclusive.
Inspected Nectans' hive with Jim today at 1pm. Bees flying around the hive quite a lot, but don't seem to be flying away to gather supplies yet. All the feed gone again, we had given them 2 more jars last night. So they have taken 5 jars now, that's 750gms sugar in 2 days. Will give them some more tonight.
Began to look at bars most likely to have brood on and found some new looking brood. Decided they may have the queen after all, so looked in the Lizards' hive instead.
Bees building very busily on new bars and bars from Buckfast colony. Saw what we think may be a very new queen cell. Took pictures, but they didn't come out very well. Too many bees in the way. Decided to leave them alone and check again in 2 -3 days. There may well be more queen cells, but we didn't want to risk chilling whatever it was we saw.

Monday 9th May 2011 First Natural Beekeeping Course of 2011

2011-05-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

The Lizards have continued to build comb at a rate of knots! On Friday they were up to 19 bars. They had built about a third of a comb on the bar I put in on Weds. Bees very busy bringing in nectar and pollen.
Phil arrived on Fri afternoon for another weekend beekeeping course. Had a look at both hives with me. Just looked in the end of the Lizards and felt we could go ahead with a split over the weekend, weather permitting. We added yet another bar. Quick look at dead Buckfast hive and Phil felt that no disease was present. Decided to go through with course members on Sat. I put the varroa tray under the Lizards later that evening.
Phil arrived with the course members late morning on Sat and we looked at both hives. Verdict on the Buckfasts is that they probably went queenless sometime over the winter and so dwindled away. There was no sign of disease, or over dampness, he thought that if they had had Nosema (the most likely winter disease) there would have been much more dead bees, as they tend to die quite quickly.
We cleaned up the hive and put back a few clean bars with fairly new, empty comb on.
The Lizards were flying in vast numbers. We went through the whole hive and they behaved impeccably. Not a single sting and yet they were all around us! Perfect, even comb and they were building manically on the newer bars. One varroa on the tray. Not 24hrs, but still pretty good. We also looked in a few drone cells and no sign of varroa. No sign of deformed wings either. All very good.
There were no queen cells and we couldn't find the queen. Phil thought it would be fine to go ahead with the split. They went back for lunch and then came down around 3.30 and we went ahead. Very interesting technique and much simpler than all that turning hives round etc.
We just took half the bars from the right hand side of the hive and put them into the other hive. We knew that there was brood and food in both ends. We didn't bother trying to find the queen, but hoped she would be in the new hive, as that would be more like a natural swarm. We put the Buckfast hive back where it was originally. We also put some of the bars from the Buckfast hive, that just had empty, newish, comb on, into each hive. Basically the flying bees will mostly go back to the old hive and by the time new flying bees emerge from the new hive, they will orientate to there. If there are any problems over the next couple of weeks we can always swap bars around if necessary, as the bees will still be used to each others' smell etc. The hive without a queen should raise one from a new egg. Half an hour after we'd done it, they all seemed quite happy, so we still didn't know where the queen was! Phil had a listening gadget which he put in both entrances to see if the sounds were different. It recorded the sounds in the hives, he listened to it later in the evening and couldn't detect a difference.
I made some syrup for the new hive (we have since named these 'The Nectans') and put it in, in the evening. This was 150gms sugar in 150mls water. They are more likely to need extra food than the Lizards as they will be short of flying bees for a while.
On Sunday the group came down again and most of us felt that the queen was probably in the Lizard hive. They were flying and behaving normally and were also still building comb. There were no more varroa visible on the tray. The new hive didn't seem particularly distressed, but they were not building at all. There were some bees flying around the hive, but not gathering supplies yet. The feed was all gone. Phil tried the listening device again and this time knocked on the hives to record the change in sound and duration. He will let us know the results.
In the evening I put 2 more jars of feed in the Nectans' hive.
We must check the Nectans within a week for queen cells and take action if there aren't any.

Thurs 21st April 2011

2011-04-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

We went through the Buckfast hive a few days ago. We originally thought they might have starved, even though we had left them all their stores, BUT, when we went through the whole hive we found some honey. Not loads, but probably enough, some of it seemed crystalised, but most was OK. They were out and flying on warm days in Feb, but not as many as from the Lizard hive. Weird thing was the lack of dead bees. On the floor there were probably only a few more than in the Lizards' hive after the winter. Then, apart from a few odd random bees, there was a VERY small cluster of no more than 50 bees. There was some dead brood, indicating the queen may have been alive in Feb. We are wondering if we had a late swarm that we didn't notice, or perhaps they got overcome by varroa.
The good news is that the Lizards are building up very rapidly. Considering they were so depleted going into the winter, having been re queened so late, in Sept, we are amazed they survived so well. We fed them the rest of the fondant I had made, so they had only 2 kgs in total. We went through them a couple of days ago and they are building +++ and have a lot of brood and stores. They have even built a comb down from the feeding bar we had in, with fondant on it! We put in extra bars for them and will add more as necessary. We are so pleased we risked the re queening and didn't amalgamate them with the Buckfasts.

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

2011-03-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Very warm today temps up to 16 C. Bees flying +++. Checked fondant a few days ago and decided to take it out of the tub with holes in and put what was left directly over hole in top bars. Checked yesterday and they had eaten it all! Made up some more and took half down and put over the hole. Also removed cork from second entrance hole, as they seemed a bit crowded going in and out of just one. Will check feed tomorrow. They have been bringing in lots of bright yellow pollen.

Wednesday 9th March Cautiously Optimistic about the Lizards!

2011-03-09T04:55:00.000-08:00

Missed the trauma of finding the dead Buckfasts, as I have had flu for a few days. Went down to check on the Lizards this morning, as have been feeling decidedly twitchy about them since hearing the news and wanted to check on their feed.
Bees were flying in and out, about 2 -3 at the entrance at a time. Didn't want to hang around, so not sure if they were bringing in pollen or not. T.12. Very briefly lifted the feed tub. Lots of bees on the bottom, feeding from the fondant.
Phoned Jim when got back and we discussed whether to replace the feed or not, in case it had gone off. Jim went down to check and reported back that it looks fine and the bees were drawing it out of the holes. We will have to keep an eye on it over the next few days, in case they need some more.
Jim also said that, yesterday, they were bringing in very bright yellow pollen. I think this is most likely to be Goat Willow and/or Celandine, both of which are out and good sources of nectar and pollen.

6th March 2011 Disaster

2011-03-06T07:38:00.000-08:00

Sue asked me to pop down and check the buckfasts as she has the flu, but noticed the other day that there wasn't much activity and couldn't hear a buzz.

I took off the lid and insulating materials, prised open the first comb and to my utter dismay it was completely empty, the comb had been completely cleaned out. It was the same throughout the entire hive. About half way through I found a small cluster of dead bees in the middle of a comb. There was no evidence of disease and a number of bees were dead inside cells trying to find food.

Before the winter the hive was filled to the brim with stores, not a single space left, all of it capped. It should have been more than enough for the colony. There were a few combs with crystalised honey in an arch shape which they obviously couldn't digest.

So why did this happen? One thought is that there was a high number of drones in the colony, but I guess we'll never really know.

Monday 28th February 2011

2011-02-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

Been down to see the bees on sunny days a few times over past 2 weeks. Bees have been flying from both hives. The Lizards were even bringing in pollen on a couple of occasions. I think it was gorse, as it was very orange and dark. Not sure if the Buckfasts were too. There are now crocuses and daffodils out for them and the goat willow catkins are nearly there. As soon as it warms up a bit more we will try and remove some of the old frames from the Buckfast hive.
Lizards have now eaten about half the fondant.

8th February 2011

2011-02-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

Went down to check the hives this morning. It's cold (5 degrees C) but bright and last night's frost is melting quickly. Some snowdrops out but not much else for the bees to feed from. No wind today so a good opportunity to listen to the hives.

No activity outside either of the hives today. I could hear (just) activity in the Lizard hive which is what I was hoping for. The sound was tinny rather than the happy bass resonance from the Buckfasts, but we're just glad they've got this far through the winter after starting so late. Didn't look like they've taken much of the fondant yet.

Noticed a few dead bees still with full pollen sacks on the mesh floor on the other side of the separator board. They must have been working full pelt right up until the hard weather came in

Buckfasts had been active with evidence of fresh wax plates underneath the colony, guessing that probably them uncapping and eating up their stores. Good strong smell of honey too.

Jim

Monday 10th January 2011

2011-01-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Gosh, we haven't posted for 3 months! Unfortunately I have had a recurrence of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and have been on chemo for the past few months and a bit 'out of it'. Also of course the bees have been pretty inactive.
Well we tucked them up for the winter with old towels and carpet over the top of the bars (didn't get round to making the boxes filled with lambswool as we intended). We left the bottoms of the hives open with just the varroa mesh to allow for ventilation. Then we just crossed all our fingers and toes and hoped for the best. We were quite worried about the Lizards after their late re-queening and seemingly low numbers. During the very cold December we had we could hear a faint buzz from both hives, interestingly louder from the Lizards. Then last Friday, Mick was down in the field with Grandson Alby and the bees were flying from both hives in the late afternoon sunshine. It's turned fairly mild and they seem to be coming out for cleansing flights in fairly large numbers. We have decided to feed the Lizards some fondant today to see if they need it as they were so low on honey stores in the Autumn and only took down a fairly small amount of the sugar syrup we offered them. I have made up 1kg sugar with 250ml water and some cider vinegar and put it in an ice cream tub. We are going to make holes in the top and invert it over a top bar with a slot cut out of it. I'll take some pics and post them soon. There is still a lot of the winter to go yet, but things seem pretty good at the moment.

Monday 18th October '10

2010-10-18T03:55:00.000-07:00

The Lizards took no feed at all. Removed it last night after 3 days. It was very warm and sunny the last 2 days, so they had plenty of opportunity. Either they don't need it or they couldn't be bothered.

Saturday 16th October '10

2010-10-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

Applied a good dusting of icing sugar to both hives on Monday 11th Oct as it was a sunny warm day, 15 C, and the bees were flying well. Lizards looked much more lively than a couple of weeks ago, bringing in pollen. Buckfasts very busy as usual.
Thurs 14th Oct '10 Mick and Jim went down to hives at 8.30pm with the intention of moving the Lizards, because of our worries about damp. However decided that it wasn't worth moving them. Damp seems to be mostly due to the low number of bees not keeping the temp up in the outer parts of the hive. Hopefully the main cluster area, over the winter, will keep warm enough and damp free. We'll just have to sort out the hive next Spring. They put a towel over the top of the bars to absorb moisture and to help keep them warm. Mick will make some boxes to put over both clusters which we will put sheep's wool in to do this job more efficiently.
Gave the Lizards a feed again as we were worried about supplies now they have more bees again. A bit late to feed really, so we'll keep an eye on it to check if they take it or not.

4th October

2010-10-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

A sunny day! By 11:30 the temperature had got up to 17 degrees C, so I thought it was worth using the time to check on the progress of the two hives.

As expected the Buckfasts were very active with pollen and stores coming in and around 20 - 30 bees going in and out of the entrance. At the observation window I could see a dense mass of bees covering a good half of the hive. I removed the cork covering one of the 3 entrances to give them more access.

Down at the Lizards things were not so busy. A couple of bees were gingerly exiting the hive. There was a dead drone still clinging to the entrance hole and half a worker in the hole. I cleared these and a couple more bees came out. The wasp trap gave off an almighty stench and I think a couple of slugs may have managed to get in and begin to decompose. When I emptied it there was a large hornet inside. This may account for the half eaten worker at the entrance.

Sue and I have both been concerned that the Lizard Hive is in a poor state and won't survive the winter, so I took this opportunity to have a look inside. There had been no further activity in building new comb on the outer edges but the central combs had been refilled with stores and much has been capped. The truely great news is that on three of the combs there is worker brood, surrounded by stores. However the hive still has a large number of drones and there was still the occasional patch of drone brood. The mood of the bees was quite testy. If I moved the combs too quickly a sudden loud roar came up and dropped down again just as quickly. The bees that crawled up onto the top of the topbars seemed to be jumpy, occasionally jumping on one another like flies do.
I corked one of the entrance holes to reduce the chance of robbing and noticed there was a steady stream of a few bees returning laden heavy with pollen. This hive is still the size of a large nuc and will have a hard time getting through the winter, but at least the queen has produced new workers and been accepted. Lets hope for a long warm dry autumn.

Jim

Saturday 18th Sept '10

2010-09-21T02:03:00.000-07:00

11.30 am Couldn't believe it, looked out of window and saw a tractor spraying herbicide in the field next door!!! The farmer had promised us that he would let us know when they were going to spray AND that they would try and do it in the evening. Warm sunny day, so the bees would have been out flying. Mick phoned Graham, the farmer, he said sorry, he'd been busy and had forgotten to phone. What could we say?

Wednesday 15th Sept '10

2010-09-16T03:27:00.000-07:00

1pm Went down to bees with Jim as weather quite good, sunny and 16 C. Went through Lizards. Still not much sign of worker brood although we saw possible uncapped cells. Still some drone brood, but probably from the old queen. Not a lot of activity and numbers low, stil quite a lot of drones around. Didn't see queen, but didn't want to keep hive open too long. Saw a possible supersedure cell, Jim took a photo. Will post when I've got it. They seemed fairly happy. Slowed down on the amount of feed they are taking. Will try to look again in a couple of weeks, weather permitting.

Buckfasts very busy!!! 20 - 30 bees flying in and out with nectar and pollen. Weighed (L) 31 kgs (R) 27 kgs , exactly the same as a month ago, so they are keeping up their stores well. Should be OK for the winter.

Wednesday 8th September 2010

2010-09-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

2 pm We went down to check what was happening. Loads of bees over the cage and clearly VERY interested in the new queen. They had nearly eaten through the plug, so we released her. She was soon covered in a mass of bees who pushed her down into the hive. So it's keep your fingers crossed time for the next week or so. We'll leave them alone and then check to see if she's laying.
We will continue feeding them until they have had enough.
Sugared the Buckfast bees only.

Tuesday 7th September 2010

2010-09-09T05:55:00.000-07:00

Robert Bell sent us a new queen to requeen the colony. She arrived this morning, so we went down and committed regicide on the old queen! The queen is dead - long live the queen. Poor thing, however she was pretty useless and we had given her a chance to redeem herself. See the picture of her pathetic brood. All drone and scattered at that. The colony would have died out over the winter if we hadn't done something.

This was one of the better combs too!
Late afternoon Jim took the new queen down and put the cage between 2 bars so the bees could get used to her overnight. The cage had a candy plug which they could eat through to let her out.
He covered it with a blanket to keep her warm.

Wednesday 1st September 2010

2010-09-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

Decided we needed to investigate again to be absolutely sure if we had a queen or not. Went through the whole hive very carefully. Temp 20 C, so not too worried about chilling them.
About half way through we found her! I saw her first and immediately started doubting myself, as you do. Then we looked again and Jim saw her too. We took some pictures. The workers didn't seem as interested in her as they should. This picture seems to be about the best one.

Follow end of thumb past length of one bee

The Queen

So we do have a queen, but there are definitely an awful lot of drones, only drone brood, which is scattered and in some cases with very large uneven domed caps and no worker brood.
It looks like we have a drone laying queen, oh dear!!!
Will email Robert Bell of Heather Bell bees where we got the nuc from and ask his advice. Maybe we can requeen them if it's not too late. I'll also email our friend Dennis.
We have a new bellows powder blower for icing sugar. Sugared both hives from underneath.
Sue

Tuesday, 31 August, 2010

2010-09-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

3 pm I wanted to have a good look at the Lizards so I popped on my jacket and gloves. From outside the hive all looked pretty good. Lots of activity, lots of workers carrying pollen.

The wasp trap is working well, although there was one bee inside too.

When I took the top off there was an audible change in buzz, in my opinion it sounded a little angry and stressed. On the left hand side (without feed) there were some dead bees and 3 dead wasps. Good, they are protecting themselves. On the right hand side there was a small cloud of bees that rose up. There was one bee that was stuck to the side and was covered in a green gue, could just be an accidentally squashed one that had gone a bit off, but I'll do a bit of research just to check.

I went through the combs ultra carefully and found no evidence of worker brood. Towards the middle there was a fair amount of uncapped stores (probably from the sugar) but on each of the middle combs there was nothing but drones with the occasional 'shotgun' patch of drone brood.

I hate to admit it, but I really don't think we have a real queen. I think we have a cuckoo situation where a minority of worker bees are working themselves silly in order to feed a majority of drone bees. Inside the hive there are clearly more drones than workers.

Where do we go from here?
Jim

Sunday, 29 August, 2010

2010-09-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

3 pm Just been down with Brinsley and had a look from the outside. Lizards are far more busy than the Buckfasts. They are still bringing in pollen and seem more co-ordinated. Quite a lot of black (new?) bees around the entrance. Also saw 5 wasps underneath the Lizard hive so have refilled wasp trap and put it down near the Lizards. This could be because of the feed?
Jim

Sunday 22nd August

2010-08-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday 22nd August
3.30 pm Temp 22C. Jim away, so I had to check the Lizards alone. Had to do it today as weather is meant to be turning bad again tomorrow. Flying very busily and seemed to be behaving normally AND were defensive! Went through the whole hive. Couldn't find queen - AGAIN, but there was drone brood and I think a small amount of worker brood, including uncapped cells. Not a lot, but more than last time. There was also more honey, or maybe it was stored sugar syrup. So I think we can say we probably have a queen who had stopped laying until we stimulated her with feeding. My guess is that she was too hungry to lay PHEW!!! I sugared them as best I could, avoiding the brood.

Monday 16th August
Started feeding 200g sugar : 100mls water daily in contact feeder. They took it all. Carried on for 6 days as weather was so bad we couldn't open up the hive to check.

Sunday 15th August
2.30 pm Temp 20C. Weighed both hives Lizards (L) 19kgs (R) 21kgs. Buckfasts (L) 31kgs (R) 27kgs. Both had lost some weight over past 5 wks.
Buckfasts seemed quite good, although had used up some of their stores, we are glad we didn't take any significant amounts of honey. Applied icing sugar, avoiding brood.
We were worried about the Lizards, as they had very little stores or brood. Couldn't find queen again! Seemed to be behaving fairly normally though, apart from being less defensive than usual (which is not a good sign). Applied icing sugar. Decided to phone old experienced beekeeping friend for advice. He said to check if they were bringing in pollen, then feed them 1:2 sugar syrup for a 3 - 4 days to try to stimulate the queen to lay. Then check for cells. If still worried to check if more than one egg in each cell. This would indicate laying workers and probably no queen. He said our only option, if that were the case, would be to integrate the 2 hives together. Oh dear!!! Checked and found they were not bringing in pollen.
Sue

Sat 31st July '10

2010-08-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Jim had heard from Phil that he had some concerns about the Lizards. He thought there was not a lot of brood and could not find the queen last weekend.
5.30 pm We looked in both ends of the hive a couple of bars in, but as the temperature was dropping thought it best not to go any further, at this stage. Bees seem happy, flying back and forth normally. Saw brood one end and a lot of bees. No visible distress or problem. Will investigate further and treat with icing sugar on a warmer day.

26th July

2010-07-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

Got a call from Mick saying that he'd seen a strange tight ball of bees around the front of the Lizard Hive about the size of a apple. The time was about 9:30pm. When we went down to investigate the ball had disappeared. The temperature had dropped by this point so I didn't want to open the hive and investigate, but it was evident from the small amount of activity outside the hive that all was now well.

My guess was that either the bees were all rushing to get in (thunder clouds overhead) or they were dealing with an intruder. There was no sign of robbing from the Buckfast hive though.

Jim

24th July Yarner Natural Beekeeping Course comes to visit

2010-07-29T01:56:00.000-07:00

Having recovered after about 3 hours from my first sting (just above my right eye)on Friday I was very glad to find I did not look like a prize fighter when the course participants turned up on Saturday.

Phil showed the group both hives, starting with the Buckfast. We added a top bar to each end of the Buckfast which is now pretty much at capacity. We will build our future hives about a foot longer.

The Buckfast bees remained happy throughout and no one was buzzed (warning noise) let alone, stung. This colony is now busy filling the empty brood cells with stores and we feel quite happy that they will be fine for the winter.

We moved on to the Lizard colony afterwards, they only arrived in early July as a nuc (see below) so have had their work cut out to build up quickly. They built an extra 4 combs within 2 weeks, but we will have to hope that there is a sufficent nectar flow to ensure that they have enough over winter. We added another 2 top bars at either end.

Jim

2010-07-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Thurs 22nd July
6pm Went to see bees with Chrissy, Lee and Alby. Alby wore his bee suit and decided to pull follower board (gently) aside to show his Dad the bees.A bit worried as it looks like the end comb has broken off 3 - 4 inches down.
Fri 23rd July
5.45pm Phil arrived for course. Came to visit bees. Investigated severed comb; not as bad as I had first thought. The bees appear to have repaired it quite well. Phil seemed fairly happy with their condition.

2010-07-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

2 pm Removed varroa board from Lizards after 7 days. Count was 65, divided by 7 = 9.28 and x 30 = 278, but as there are less bees than a full colony, wondered if we should multiply by more. I'll get Jim to check count when he gets back from being away and see what he thinks. Otherwise bees very busy today in sunshine.

2010-07-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

Alby modelling the new bee suit for him, June and Rufus to wear.

2010-07-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

The Lizards in their hive

1.30 pm T 23 C. Decided to name hives Buckfast (1st colony) Lizard (2nd colony). Weighed Lizard hive (L) 21 kgs (R) 21 kgs. Very pleased as quite a lot heavier than Buckfast were at this stage. Looked in hive, both ends and found they were building on the new bars. So they now have 10 bars with comb on. Will put another bar in soon. Bees very busy bringing in nectar and pollen. Fitted varroa floor for a 7 day count, depending on weather conditions. Have a very different character to Buckfast hive and are thinner. More Italian in them we think.

Sprayed Homeopathy (8) in Buckfast hive . Building some cross comb, but only extends across 2 bars and is stores, not brood. Weighed (L) 35 kgs (R) 31 kgs, still growing. Put in another bar. A lot of drones around, but no signs of swarming.

2010-07-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

6 pm Visited by Richard B and his Woofers. Very interested in bees. Sunny for the first time today and bees flying very busily. New bees had taken most of their feed. Won't give them any more, especially if the weather stays good now.

First colony's viewing window

2010-07-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday 3rd July 9 am
New bees from The Lizard were picked up for us yesterday by Essie and Richard. Collected them from their house last night. After getting the hive leveled off and high grass cleared, we put them in the hive. Eight bars, 6 have good combs with supplies and brood. One had a small comb on and they were just starting to build on the 8th one. Lots of bees. Didn't see the queen, but they are happy and soon got used to their new home. Gave them a feed of 100 mgs sugar in 100 mls water in contact feeder. Also dusted them well with icing sugar. We put 2 more TBs in for them too. Definitely more feisty than our first colony, but no stings.
Put one more bar into first hive.

Jim carrying nucleus box down to the apiary

New bees in their hive

2010-07-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 30th June '10 1.30 pm
Weighed (R) 27.5 kgs (L) 31 kgs

Really building up well now. Less than 3 wks ago it was (R) 22 kgs (L) 24 kgs.

Removed varroa floor and moved bees into other hive. Mick had put an observation window in it, made a new roof and put another coat of linseed and beeswax (our own) on. Richard N came to help us and it went very well. Bees had built on new bars, so we now have 19 bars. We put 2 more in. There were 2 lots of 2 bars where they had fixed them together with cross comb. We decided to leave these as we could have damaged the delicate new comb on the new TBs in each case. There was another one however where they had fixed 3 combs together. We removed this cross comb which was full of honey, our first proper taster of our own honey - lovely. No sign of queen cells, a lot of drone brood and drones though. Saw queen. Everyone seemed happy. Dusted well with icing sugar.
Moved the other hive well away and let the remaining bees fly home when they were ready.
Varroa count 58 over 4 days. So divided by 4 = 14.5 (daily count) and multiplied by 30 is 435. Not too bad, but we need to keep a check and dust again.
5 pm Sue went and helped Dennis, in a nearby hamlet, hive his new nucleus into a TB hive. The more bees the better! His bees are from the same place as our new nuc is coming from. They are feistier than our bees, but OK.
7.30 pm
Bees still flying well and seem very happy. Looked through observation window and it's great. The children are going to love it. When Mick fitted the window he used silicone to stick it on. None of this was on the inside of the hive though, apart from a tiny bit where the glass had chipped off at one corner. We tried to cover this with wax, but it wouldn't stick. The bees were not happy with this at all and were busy pulling strings of it out and dumping them out of the hive. Have visions of them removing the window and carrying it out too.
The new nucleus is arriving on Friday, so Mick is going to blowtorch the inside of the empty hive, re-oil it and finish it's new roof ready for Jim and Sue to hive them on Saturday.

2010-06-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Fitted varroa floor at 1.45 pm. Planned to do a 7 day count, but will have to be shorter as the new bees are coming next Friday. We need to get the second hive re-roofed, re-oiled and an observation window fitted. Then transfer the bees into that so we can do the same to the first hive, ready for the new bees.
Also put some water out near to the hive, as the water near them has dried out. Used a shallow tray with rainwater in. Put some twigs on the surface to prevent the bees drowning. T 26 C.

2010-06-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

Went down to check on possible queen cell yesterday at 5 pm. Had spoken to Dennis S, in the morning, about it and he said it would only be a queen cell if it was hanging vertically. We had marked the bar, so I gently lifted just this bar having made a gap either side. Looked almost the same as on Friday, protruding out from the comb at only a slight downward angle. Definitely not vertical. So presumably it's a very large drone cell.
Also moved another of the TBs in between other bars/frames.
Sue

2010-06-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday lunchtime( 12:30, 22 degrees Celsius) we popped down to see how the bees had been enjoying the good weather. I (the Jim bit of Sue and Jim) risked life and death by wearing shorts and flipflops, but our bees are so good natured I really didn't need to worry.
There was much activity from the flying bees at the entrance and still plenty of pollen going in. The colour of this has changed to a yellow-white-grey now that the grasses and trees are in season.
We had a look in each end and were greeted with a cloud of bees each time. The new top bar at the end had not been touched, but as we went through checking for cross comb we found 6 top bars with completely natural comb. This made us both very happy. Putting stitched comb and new top bars in between the established comb on the old dedants had worked! There was one comb with a cell which could be a queen cell, but it was hard to tell as it also could be a drone cell at an angle. I sure there will be many beekeepers panicking at this point, but as it is the only one and within the comb body, it's just as likely to be a supersedure, which we are quite happy about.
Didn't weigh or do any dusting this time round, will do next time. Will also do another Varroa count soon.
Jim

2010-06-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

7.30 pm Phoned by Graham, the farmer who owns the land next door. They will be spraying fungicide in about an hour on the field near our house. He wasn't sure what it was called. No wind, just a very gentle breeze from the north, so there will be no drift. Checked bees at 8.15, very few flying and mostly just returning.
8.20 pm Started spraying. Not too worried and really glad that Graham phoned and takes it so seriously.
Sue

2010-06-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

After consultation with Alan and David decided not to use roofing felt on roofs as could harbour pests and diseases. Was going to use sealant and tape, but after examining them, Mick decided to remake roofs instead.
Bees very busy today bringing in nectar and pollen.
Escallonia and loads of flowers in meadow out now, I hope they like it!
Sue

2010-06-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Fri 11th June '10
1 pm T 21 C. Weighed (R) 22 kgs (L) 24 kgs - pretty much the same as last time.
Investigated cross comb, not too bad. Removed 2 small pieces and sewed one of these to a TB and reinserted in between bars, as well as another bar with new comb on it from before. Also put 1 of new TBs with wooden strip in between other bars. Encouraged to do this as the really good news is that they have built some really good combs on the 2 bars we put in 2 weeks ago!!! Removed some brace comb. No sign of queen cells or varroa. Plenty of brood, mostly worker with some drone. Sprayed with homeopathy (7) and small amount of icing sugar.
Roof is leaking and record book got wet. Decided to start this blog instead. Also asked Mick to put roofing felt on both roofs.

Sun 6th June '10
5.30 pm T 17 C. Lots of activity, 40+ bees entering and exiting, many bearing pollen. Good buzz sound. No wax being drawn from new TBs yet, but plenty of bees on them.

Fri 4th June '10
5 pm 2 new TB's with wooden strip rubbed with bees own new wax inserted either end. One spare one prepared and left in hive. Very busy T 20 C.

Thurs 3rd June '10
11 am T 22 C. Lots of activity, pollen bearing bees. Some visible evidence of cross comb. No queen cells seen from looking from each end. Fresh nectar stores at L end. Possible need for more TBs?

Weds 26th May '10
1 pm Removed varroa tray early, after 5 days, as have to do something about cross comb.
Weighed (R) 22.5 kgs (L) 24 kgs. T 18 C.
Investigated cross comb at entrance side and at back! Not as bad as we had feared. Removed cross comb. Sewed some onto a TB and reinserted, a few bars in, at brood end. Also moved one of bars we did before to in between other bars. Bees have also been building out in right direction, either side, especially on one bar. Also tidied up some brace comb. Dusted with icing sugar.
Sue counted 22 varroa on tray. Jim checked and found 33. This when divided by 5 is a daily varroa count of 6.6. This multiplied by 30 (as suggested on our conventional course for this time of year) comes to 198. The worrying level is apparently 1,000, so this is really low - great. Dissected some of the drone cells we had removed in cross comb. Found approx 1 in 5 had a single mite in it.

Fri 21st May '10
7 pm Advised by neighbour of a swarm flying over Linton Farm. Rushed home to check bees. Looked in, either end of bars. Seem fine. Still flying well. Seem content and very strong buzz from main brood area. Unlikely to have swarmed. T 18 C still! However building fresh comb again at R-angle to bars. This time on entrance side.

Fri 21st May '10
2 pm Have attached another varroa mesh to tray, so bees can't get on it. Thought this would prevent any live mites getting back on bees and also bees coming into contact with Vaseline, as used petroleum based product this time (cheaper). Put tray under hive to do a 7 day count. T 23 C. Bees content and flying well.

Mon 17th May '10
Flying very well and working blossom in orchard and brassica flowers. Jim noticed bees in his garden on the Rosemary.

Sat 15th May '10
Very warm and sunny. Now have a thermometer T 15 C. Sprayed with homeopathy (6) in warmed rainwater. Only opened bars very small amount to do this. Removed feed as almost empty. Flying well and seem happy. Homeopathy now monthly for 3 months.

Weds 12th May '10
2.45 pm Joined by Essie and Richard (from course) to observe and help. Removed cross comb and attached to TB's. Removed one old frame and replaced with this TB. Also moved one of TB's with new comb on from last Weds to brood end as no activity on it. Removed more side bars from dadant frames. Left 2-3 on as bees were building comb in right direction to side of them. Dusted with icing sugar. Much less traumatic operation than last time. Bees less angry. Essie got one sting. Taken most of feed.
7 pm Farmer sprayed field at back of orchard with herbicides. Mick asked what it was - Hussar plus another one (didn't catch name will try to find out).

Sun 9th May '10
4.30 pm Some activity still despite drop in temperature. Powdered bees from underneath and above. New comb being built at R-angle to old comb on the frames again. Counted 12 dead bees and 2 at entrance that hadn't been removed.
Fresh comb that we moved had been patched up and extended slightly.

Fri 7th May '10
1.30 pm Put bait flowerpot out in case of swarm. Took old comb out of hive to put in this. Bees still very busy repairing their new comb that we moved. No feed taken as yet.

Thurs 6th May '10
Varroa count 50. This was after sugar dusting and moving fresh comb. Will do a 7 day count soon.
150 gms sugar in 150 ml rainwater given in contact feeder and pinch of salt. No chamomile this time.

Weds 5th May '10
Varroa count 10.
1 pm Weighed ( with roof on as forget to check what we did last time ) (R) 18 kgs (L) 19.5 Kgs
Replaced varroa counting board at 1 pm. Removed fresh comb that was at R-angle to dadant frames. This contained both drone and worker brood. Possible queen cell or more likely a queen cup. Varroa seen on pupae and in fresh comb cells. Sewed 2 bits onto TB's and put them back in hive.
Removed side bars from 3 frames. Will do rest at later date. Dusting with icing sugar carried out in brood area. Next dusting due on Sun 9th May.

Tues 4th May '10
6.40 pm Little activity as sun is low and temperature has dropped. Observed collection of 5 bees on the underside of varroa mesh. 4 look dead and 1 alive. Observed one dying bee repeatedly trying to clean it's abdomen with hind legs.

Mon 3rd May '10
1.30 pm Homeopathy (5) given. Some bees with small abdomens and dying! Also some with tatty wings. No sign of varroa. Bees building 3 combs at right angle to sidebars of the dadants, away from entrance, at stores end, across several frames! HELP!
Phoned Phil - Do varroa count for 24 hrs as may have K wing virus and varroa. Then do dusting with icing sugar over backs of bees in brood area. Then repeat 24 hr count. Will get board fixed underneath to do this. As for the 3 R-angled combs. These must be removed. Will try to sew to TB's and put back in brood area. Also try to take off second halves of dadant side bars. Check for drone and queen cells at same time.
7.30 pm Fitted floor invented by Mick to catch varroa. Fitted graph paper to it covered with Nature's World Petroleum free jelly (like Vaseline).

Mon 26th April '10
4 pm Rained yesterday, so didn't do treatment. Sprayed today instead using warmed rainwater and homeopathy (4).

Sat 24th April '10
4 pm Due for homeopathy today, but cooled down. Will leave until tomorrow.

Tues 20th April '10
3 - 4.30 pm Fitted varroa floor on second hive. Transferred bees into this. Saw queen in brood area. Bees very docile. One frame unattached from TB, so reattached. Lots of brood and stores. Some brace comb.
Set old hive up as possible trap for a swarm.

Mon 19th April '10
3 pm Very busy, crowded at entrance. Removed grass bung from 3rd hole so they can get in easier.
5.50 pm Little or no activity now. Cool northerly.

Sat 17th April ‘10
4 pm Sprayed with homeopathy (3). Lots of bees. Lots of activity. V sunny & warm. Homeopathy now weekly for 3 weeks.

Fri 16th April ‘10
12.15 pm Lots of activity. Many bees returning with pollen. Sunny, but with cold easterly wind going into entrance. Syrup feed only a few cms down.
5.30 pm Removed feed. Weighed without lid on: (R) 14kgs (L) 17kgs. Still flying well
Sprayed with homeopathy (2).

Thurs 15th April ‘10
10 am Not much of syrup gone – will leave in for now. Bees flying already. V sunny.
4.15 pm Sprayed with homeopathy (1). Peaked in, lots of activity. Grass stalks falling down in hive so removed. Mat seems to do the job on it's own.

Weds 14th April ‘10
Fed with sugar syrup in contact feeder.150g sugar / 150ml chamomile tea & pinch of salt. Very cold, no bees flying.
Checked late afternoon and they have started flying, as warmed up a bit.

Tues 13th April ‘10
Cleared a few more dead bees out. Opened follower board at stores end & looked in. Not started building new comb yet. Flying well.

Mon 12th April ‘10
Took roof off. 6 dead bees & debris on top of mesh. Removed these. Bees seem happy.

Sun 11th April ‘10
Last day of course. Bees escaping up between bars because wire ties causing gaps. Grass stalks packed between bars & mat put over the top.

Sat 10th April ‘10
Natural Beekeeping Course. Bees transferred to TBH by Phil. Bottom bars and ½ of side bars removed from frames. Trimmed at bottom to fit into TBH. Fixed to TB’s using wire. Very docile bees, aren't we lucky!

Thurs 8th April ’10
Nucleus delivered by Phil Chandler from Buckfast Abbey on ½ Dadant frames.

2010-06-12T00:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Sue & Jim's Natural Beekeeping blog.

We are neighbours in the beautiful coastal village of Welcombe on the North Devon/Cornwall border. We both decided to start beekeeping about a year ago and began to attend apiary meetings of the Holsworthy Beekeepers Association. We signed up for the course they were running over the winter and started this, along with another neighbour, Richard, in January 2010.
It was a very good course, but we were all uncomfortable with some aspects of conventional beekeeping. We then came across Phil Chandler and his Barefoot Beekeeper book and website. This way of beekeeping uses Top Bar Hives which are the type used all over Africa, The Caribean and many other places in the world. They predate the conventional hives that are used in most developed countries by hundreds of years. The bees build natural comb onto top bars and are managed with as little intervention as possible.
We realised that The Yarner Trust, in our own village, was running a Natural Beekeeping course, with Phil as tutor, in April 2010, what a coincidence ( or is it synchronicity? ). Anyway we all signed up and Yarner asked us if we would be prepared to look after the bees for the courses and house them in Sue's field. Jim and Sue decided to say yes and the hunt was on for a nucleus of bees that would be ready in time for the course.
This was not an easy task. No one knew, at that stage, how their colonies had fared over the severe winter and most people had a long list of people already for their nucleii. Beekeeping has become very popular recently with many people realising that bees are in trouble and need our help. Also, as we learned more, we realised that there was a lot of prejudice amongst some conventional beekeepers against Top Bar Beekeeping. Oh dear 'politics' even in beekeeping! This, unfortunately, meant that some beekeepers said they wouldn't sell us bees to go in a Top Bar Hive. We also needed a couple of hives to start the apiary off.
After a couple of months of phone calls and headaches Phil managed to source a nucleus of bees and Dave Baker, one of the Yarner Trustees, made 2 Top Bar Hives.
So, we were off!
The weekend course with Phil went ahead and was great. Sue & Jim were now very 'green' beekeepers. We have had quite a lot of problems over the past 2 months, mostly to do with the fact the bees are in conversion from 1/2 Dadant frames to Top Bars. We are now awaiting our second nucleus, which are on Top Bars already. These are coming from Heather Bell bees on the Lizard. We had similar problems again in sourcing bees, especially as many beekeepers had losses over the winter.
We began keeping a small book, with notes to each other, in the hive. It served as our record of everything that we did and how the bees were doing. Unfortunately we had a leak in the roof this week and our book got wet. Hence the birth of this blog. We will be adding all the notes from the book here over the next day or so and then be using this as our record of the progress of the apiary.
Phil Chandler's website: www.biobees.com
The Yarner Trust: www.yarnertrust.org
Heather Bell bees: www.cornwallhoney.com