By now, most beekeepers will have finished the harvesting of the honey, unless they get a second honey flow from plants such as balsam and heather. The Ivy will start to flower soon, and provide more nectar, but it is a very bitter honey and many don't take it but instead leave it for the … Continue reading Autumn Jobs
It was worth it
I did a full inspection (first of the season) at home today. Putting the 1:1 feed and pollen patties on 10 days ago has paid off - the increase in brood is amazing. When I put the feed on, there was about half a frame of brood in the hives, today there are 7 frames … Continue reading It was worth it
Recovering from winter losses
The winter of 2017/2018 seems to have seen larger than normal losses across the UK, with forum and social media reports of up to 80% losses for some beekeepers. Colonies fail for many reasons; Disease, queen failure, starvation, lack of forage and cold wet weather restricting foraging activities and forage availability, amongst others. Luckily, I did … Continue reading Recovering from winter losses
Quick look inside
My weather station gives today's temperature as 14°, so I decided to take the first look in the back garden hives of the season - This is almost three weeks later than last year. The false widow spiders had taken up residence in the roof above the insulation, and were most peeved at being evicted. … Continue reading Quick look inside
Spring
It's the Spring Equinox in Northern Hemisphere at 16:15 today, the first day of Spring, I for one am looking forward to longer days and the start of the new beekeeping season. The recent cold weather and snow has seen the bees smashing through their feed - the increasing number of brood, and the lack … Continue reading Spring
Warming up
The BBC weather app says it's 9 degrees here, but my weather station tells me it's 12 degrees - either way, the bees are out in force, with lots of orientation flights going on, and pollen coming in. If the weather keeps improving, and we have a spell of double figure temperature days, I'll take … Continue reading Warming up
Good and Bad
Checked my hives last Friday and Saturday, all ok (Queen problems aside). Yesterday, a new Queen I'd ordered arrived, and on checking the hive before introducing her, I was surprised to see dead bees - they had smashed through all the honey/nectar stores and were dying from starvation. I quickly knocked up 5L of 1:1 … Continue reading Good and Bad
