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.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Monday, 18 October 2010
Monday 18th October '10
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, 16 October 2010
Saturday 16th October '10
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.
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.
Monday, 4 October 2010
4th October
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
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
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Saturday 18th Sept '10
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?
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Wednesday 15th Sept '10
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.
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.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Wednesday 8th September 2010
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.
We will continue feeding them until they have had enough.
Sugared the Buckfast bees only.
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