Postwick apiary has been due a visit for some time.
I went to the Postwick apiary to see if the food I left on the weaker hives had been taken. The first hive I came to has been under attack from rodents. Not through the front entrance as that was protected with a mouse guard but through the crown board. The crown board was old and rotting and the mouse (or maybe rat) had no problem ripping through the failing plywood. The bees were still there and having no spare crown boards at the apiary (they are all in the shed) I put a temporary board over the top to keep the critters out. I took the plastic feeder off. I noticed that the plastic bucket had also been chewed.
I filled the bucket on the swarm hive and put a mouse gard on Norman's original hive that still has his old queen in and pretty much left everything else be.
On the way back I payed a visit to the three WBC hives at Thorpe and put some sugar on the middle hive. Two of the three hives there still need mouse guards putting on.
