Apiary Visit 26 June 2011.

It is always great to get together with other bee-keepers and get to learn some new tricks.  Everyone has a story to share and a tip to help.  Today was particularly good due to to the variety of hives we were able to view and the enthusiasm of the apiarist. So what were the highlights of what I learnt this time....

  

Pretty as it is, the WBC Hive is a real nuisance to work with, the insides are compact and the outside shell, although good for insulation, is tedious.

The outer shell kept getting stuck and the hive had to be built up aligning each box to ensure a proper fit, or the outer shell snagged up. 

It is not easy to swap between boxes, and this WBC needed an extra super, and a national super wouldn't fit.  Leaving our beekeeper set to to beg or borrow, a spare super to see him through the current nectar flow. 

This Hive has a brood box and another half of a brood box on top.  Then the Queen excluder.  So it is commonly called 'a brood and a half'  ....clever stuff.  

We made our way through the various hives, with various stories, some colonies stronger than others, but generally all the hives were in really good condition.  Our apiarist was saving the best till last...my opinion, not his!

He had a top bar, my first, apart from my own. I was looking forward to seeing how it was done properly!

This top bar had 2 colonies inside, one was weak and had lost its Queen, the bees had been trying to replace her and there was evidence of failed queen cups. 

There was 2 dividers in the middle of the hive keeping them separate and the bees had holes at either end for access.

  

The plan now is to combine the 2 colonies by removing the dividers and and putting some newspaper in between enabling the weak hive to gradually infiltrate the strong hive and hopefully they will become one really strong colony. 

See above the stand that I would like to try and copy.   With top bar, the best way to view the comb is to support it and walk around it rather than risk turning it. Although, due to my cowardice, my combs have braced together more.  I need to make a stand that will hold 5 or 6 top bars at a time so I can cut up and segregate for inspection.  We will see, if it was a Warre hive, I wouldn't be able to inspect at all, so perhaps  it is not all so bad. 

Ultimately, at the end, the general assessment of the top bar, by the members present, was that the top bar was a bit of fun, for the hobbyist, but not for a serious bee-keeper.  And of the 2 association members present who have kept top bars, they both prefer the framed hives, although not WBC. I am still content with my top bar, despite my incompetence as a bee-keeper, the bees seem to be happy, and that's what its all about.  

All in all I had a lovely afternoon with our association, it was a beautiful afternoon, ideal for inspections, although we did feel rather over dressed on the hottest day of the summer so far.  Finished off by some lovely home made quiche and a tin of Ginger Beer, inspired by good old Enid Blyton.  Thanks to our resident apiarist for hosting us. 

Talking of snacks,  

Some drone comb was removed as part of a Varroa Mite control, we could clearly see some mites living in the cells with the drone grubs.  Normally the comb would be taken home and disposed of away from the hive to prevent the mites getting back into the Hive, but....

our bee-keeper knew of a more appreciative crowd. The chickens loved it, they were scrabbling and scrapping over the comb.  Nice to see an organic use for the drone grubs, rather than see them left to rot in a black bag.  Bet they are very nutritious, although, I am not tempted to try! 

My Friend, Bumble.

This year because I have planted lots of wild flowers for my Honey Bees, (who mostly ignore them and head off elsewhere) we have been lucky enough to have more visits from Bumble Bees.  I was using my manual mower, (again trying to be bee friendly) and for 30 mins I kept feeling this bumble crawling on shoulder.  I thought I would leave her bee , she will go soon, but no, when she got caught in my hair, I had to shake her off.  I left her in the dining room while I finished the mowing, and she waited!

I couldn't just leave her so I put my hand out and she happily crawled on, a cup of tea later, what to do, she seemed to have moved in. Out to the garden with you, you can stay, but you will be an outdoor pet! 

I have seen bumble bees previously on the pansies, so that will please her, she put out a couple of legs and appeared to make the move......But no, before I could pull away she jumped back on. Perhaps it was a heat thing, it was a nippy day. I wandered around the garden trying to tempt her with geraniums, fuchsias, marigolds, poppys etc all to no avail.  I had to show some tough love, it was going to be the sunflower.  In the end, I had to push her and step back really quickly.  Hopefully she made it home eventually.

Inspection on 19 June 2011

After procrastinating for a couple of weeks, the moment was here, another inspection. Neighbours didn't have any washing out, weather wasn't too bad.  I felt as a responsible bee-keeper, I should check out the brood and look for diseases so I could take evasive action to prevent my bees contaminating the rest of the local bee population.  So, Mr TB offered to help, although he did stress that he really would like to wear some protection this time. I guess he does live and learn. So all suited up, smoker was going a storm, I had all the equipment handy, bee brush to clear the brood comb for inspection, hive tool and knife, newly cleaned in washing soda and a spare hair clip - I had even prepared for previous disasters.

So good start, lid off - Comb 13, looking good, 2 small ones, with a cute little window in one so the bees can take a short cut. Next bar in Comb 19 -

Another tiny one, shows they are expanding nicely. 

Next is front and back of comb 18.  Another beautiful looking white comb.  Queen still not seen, so I was going careful....The next 5 combs were all stuck together, I thought I would just bring them out all together and have a look at whether I could manipulate a split between the combs to separate them out. 

Then Oooops....

In a flash all positivity about the inspection vanished.  Luckily, the comb (16) stayed on the bar, a few dizzy, and very angry bees and I can just recall Mr TB shouting "We are under attack!"  He just needed to finish it off with "abandon hive" and it would have been a movie script. 

Luckily the fallen comb was OK, nestled in my flower bed.  I put it back and the bees who had been evicted shortly followed. My fear was that I had thrown out Queen Kylie.  But after such a disaster, my goal was to get the lid back on and hope for the best.  They took about 5 mins to calm down, although I still feel that they are bearing me a grudge.  Result was no Queen seen, no brood checked, and lots of angry bees.  I didn't use my hive tool, knife and on a good note, my hair clip, and my normally not so hot smoker was still smoking a good hour after I had shut up shop. Not a good score.  Not only that, when I tried to review the video to take screen caps, the video hangs, so I have lost most of the footage!  

Final Count 13, 2 small combs, 19 - tiny comb, 18 - medium comb, 5 together, then 16 made a break for it.  33 - big comb with some drone brood.  

I did have a bit of an adventure later on with a bumble bee who just would leave me alone, but I will save that for tomorrow.  

Dead Baby Bees. 10 June 2011

Today I was watching my hive and I saw a bee dragging out a baby bee, still living and trying to hang on the entrance of the hive, but then it was flown out and dumped on the grass outside the hive. The baby died shortly after. I also found another body of a baby bee. I thought I might have found wing damage or a mite on the baby, but they looked ok to me, but I guess the bees had an issue.

I am assuming they must have been sick in some way, to have been thrown out. I thought I would get the cameras out so have quick look in the hive to see if there was a problem within.

View from the end entrance, there seems to be plenty of bees, and all looks good.

They don't appear to have created any new comb in the last few weeks, I guess they have been busy filling the comb they have. Kinda hoping to pop the camera in one day to see some capped honey. Everything looks good from the outside the bees are bringing in lots of pollen and look healthy enough, apart from the ditched babies.  I must open them up again this weekend and have a proper look at the brood to see if they
are healthy. 

A few bees were curious about the camera, I changed the focus and got a few close up shots. I didn't realise that they were so fluffy.

 

Pollen shopping bags.

Some view from the middle entrance.  All seems well, and they seem to be happy.  

I will do an inspection at the weekend and have a close up look at the brood comb.