Old Costessy and Bluebell Road Apiary

I started feeding again today on a damp day that rained on and off all day.

I last visited my Old Costessy Apiary on September 15 and gave them some feed. They hadn't used much of that feed (probably as I had put Thymol in it) so I just topped up the buckets on the four hives. Two of those hives are on double brood and two are on brood and a half. All have entrance blocks but none have mouse guards.

Costessy link

I also gave the two hives at The Bluebell Road Apiary a new bucket of sugar syrup each. Both hives need some attention. One has a roof that has fallen to bits and the other needs re-positioning. Neither has an entrance block or a mouse guard in place.

Bluebell Road Apiary link

More sugar

The weather improved as the day progressed and by tea time it was a lovely day.

I have bought five more 25kilo bags of sugar.

I went to see how the bees from the chimney are getting on today and although the weather wasn't especially nice or dry it wasn't tipping down with rain and the bees were flying well.

After being taken out of the chimney several weeks ago their honey comb was placed in two empty supers on a board above a brood box. The plywood board had four large hole drilled in it to give the bees access to the old comb. So they have a regular hive floor and brood box arrangement at the bottom and their old wax at the top.

They now need an entrance block and mouseguard and some feeding.

We will wait until next year before sorting out the old honey comb that came from inside the chimney pot. First we need to get bees to lead the queen out of their old comb and into one of our boxes. Once she starts to lay in a regular brood box we will be able to remove the old comb.

These bees are very small and very black.

The morning started nice and sunny but by the afternoon our sunny spell was over and a wind was picking up from the North West. Time to start thinking of feeding the bees again.