Thurs 21st April 2011

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.