New Hive

Mick finished the new hive and we did a split from the Lizards into it yesterday. There was one possible queen cell which we put into it along with some new brood and stores, 5 bars in all. The bees were very interested in the cell, but we're not sure if there was an egg in it or not. They were not showing signs of serious swarm activity, but were obviously beginning to think about it. We couldn't find the Lizard's queen, but were pretty sure we left her behind. There was also a possible supersedure cell, so they might also be thinking about replacing the old queen.
The new hive has a periscope entrance which we hope will make it easier for them to defend against wasps. Fed them with some syrup in the contact feeder.

The new hive in situ showing periscope entrance

The new hive with observation window and Lizard hive behind

Friday 4th May 2012

Checked both hives today and they are absolutely buzzing with activity. Mick just doing finishing touches to the new hive, so we are planning to move the Lizards in there asap and possibly do a split at the same time. The Dolphins are building up nicely too and we may get a split off them too soon.

The Dolphin hive

The window at the back of the Lizard's hive

The Lizard hive

The very busy Lizards with a drone already over to the right

Small black bumble bee on our broccoli flowers

Crab Apple in blossom

Atlantic Coast Friends of the Bees Group

We had a very successful first apiary visit here on Sunday, despite Sue's snuffles. There were 14 of us and after we introduced ourselves and said what our interests were, we talked about hive design, feeding etc etc, before visiting the bees. It was a very mixed group, ranging from those just getting interested in beekeeping through to those of us who have kept bees for a couple of years. No one more experienced than that, unfortunately.
The Dolphins are thriving and were out flying in large numbers. However the Lizards were not so active. This may well be because they were more shaded by the time we got down to them. Hopefully we will get them into their new hive soon and we can check through them in the process.

Wednesday 28th March 2012

What amazing weather, the bees think it's summer and are busy bringing in pollen and nectar to both hives. It's been up to 21˚C down near the Lizard's hive where we have a thermometer.
It was the first Natural Beekeeping course of the year at the weekend. We opened up the Lizard's hive and found they still had supplies from the winter and were busy raising brood and bringing in nectar and pollen. They had also made fresh honey.
I checked in the Dolphin's hive yesterday and found they were doing the same, although I didn't go far enough in to see any brood, I'm sure they have some. They are certainly building new comb and storing honey.

Saturday 28th January 2012

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

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

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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