Postwick apiary is now down to 7 hives. The bee hive that had the rodent rip open the crown board didn't make it after all. Of the seven hives remaining one has an old queen that is not laying. I saw her in the box but there were no eggs or brood I put a frame with some eggs in from one of the other hives and will put more frames of eggs in now on each visit until the bees decide to supersede her. Two of the other hives are strong and thriving on double brood boxes. The hive at the back is on a double brood box but may as well have the bottom box removed. I moved the hive and it a plastic box to stand on and an open mesh base. The old hive floor was in a bit of state. The bees found the move a bit disoriantating but I guess they will get used to it in a couple of days. The swarm hive has a small but strong colony and a light queen. I think they will build up well during the year. One hive had signs of a bad Varroa infection with a couple of young bees with deformed wings. I gave it a tray of Apiguard. They will all need 2 trays each in the next few weeks.
All three hives at Thorpe seem to be doing well but I haven't opened them up yet.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Allotment apiary
In the allotment apiary. It was warm enough today to light up the smoker for the first time this year take a quick look under the crown board of the hives and make a few adjustments to some of them.
The feral bees that still have bits of twigs in the honeycomb needed a brood box that the bees can move into put on top of the makeshift arrangement that they have had for their winter quarters. The hive has a feeder on that the bees were taking food from today. I put that back on above the empty brood box. So long as there is some warm weather the bees should relocate the feeder and keep feeding from it. I will keep feeding these bees until they have moved the queen up into the brood box and left their old comb behind. I think they will eventually vacate the old comb entirely and leave it empty.
I also doubled up the brood box on the hive under the greengage tree. They were quite a small colony last year but have come through the winter OK and were very busy today.
Tina's hive has two brood boxes and a super on and still some of the bees were at the top of all of that lot feeding on fondant. I put the contents of an Apiguard tray on the lugs of the top brood box. This is not recommended practice but the old style crown boards just don't have enough space to take an Apiguard tray.
Furgle's hive has plenty of stores and the bees there are not showing any interest in the fondant.
The bees in the swarm hive near the small pear tree were the only ones to kick up a fuss at my intrusion of their space. They will have to be moved and I will have reduce the hive down to one brood box first. They are a strong hive and whenever I was working near the hive I could smell the fermented honey that they were uncapping inside the hive.
All the three hives on the student plot had flying bees.
The feral bees that still have bits of twigs in the honeycomb needed a brood box that the bees can move into put on top of the makeshift arrangement that they have had for their winter quarters. The hive has a feeder on that the bees were taking food from today. I put that back on above the empty brood box. So long as there is some warm weather the bees should relocate the feeder and keep feeding from it. I will keep feeding these bees until they have moved the queen up into the brood box and left their old comb behind. I think they will eventually vacate the old comb entirely and leave it empty.
I also doubled up the brood box on the hive under the greengage tree. They were quite a small colony last year but have come through the winter OK and were very busy today.
Tina's hive has two brood boxes and a super on and still some of the bees were at the top of all of that lot feeding on fondant. I put the contents of an Apiguard tray on the lugs of the top brood box. This is not recommended practice but the old style crown boards just don't have enough space to take an Apiguard tray.
Furgle's hive has plenty of stores and the bees there are not showing any interest in the fondant.
The bees in the swarm hive near the small pear tree were the only ones to kick up a fuss at my intrusion of their space. They will have to be moved and I will have reduce the hive down to one brood box first. They are a strong hive and whenever I was working near the hive I could smell the fermented honey that they were uncapping inside the hive.
All the three hives on the student plot had flying bees.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
The allotment hives
The allotment hives were all busy in the middle of the day today. They all have fondant on although most of the colonies have bees that have eaten just a little of this latest batch. But there was one hive where the bees were very busy eating it. These were the bees from Thorpe. I will keep an eye on them and make sure they don't run out.
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