Last job - extra help for winter bees

Did you remember to alter the clocks/ watches/ mobile phones etc. etc. ?
So moving on ....................................................................................
An extra empty super will give the honeybees some cluster space.
It will also lift the wintering bees away from cold draughts, in-driving
rain and snow flurries.
Here's how I did it, with the help of 2 Bee Buddies.  You can do it on
your own but the disturbance to the colony is much greater. WBC hive
lifts and porch need removing first.

Gently lift brood box and top super of stores together. Separately if working alone - they're very heavy.

Place empty super on floor of hive.

Lower broodbox + top super onto empty super

WBC only : reassemble lifts

Put insulation/ mousetraps etc on top - then the roof.

 

 

JOB DONE !!  Well not quite - I'm still feeding some of them and I must not forget to remove the Apistan.
Then that's it for this year.  Now back to making those candles for "The Hearth" Christmas open weekend (22-23 November). 
Next blog I'll show how I make the candles.  QBuZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

All this wax.

QB saves every shred of wax in a bucket labelled - you've guessed it - "WAX".
Most goes into the solar wax extractor - which must now be emptied, cleaned and
stored away till 2015.  So what to do with the wax?
And there's all those cappings from the honey combs - washed and dried.

A large old pan is very useful.  Boil some water and drop all the wax, not very clean,
into the hot water. Keep stirring and the melted wax will float to the top.  Leave to cool.
I think it's a good idea to loosen the wax circle before it sets solid.  Pour off the water, now
cold and this is what you get.

The semi-circle on the left shows the clean wax.  The right shows the debris underneath which must be scraped off.
This lovely pale beeswax can now be used.
I make candles to use at home and also to sell.

This is our stand at the Village Show in September.
Candles, honey, furniture polish and, on the left, a BBKA Collection box in the shape of a WBC hive.
Aaaaaaah!. In aid of Honeybee health and Research.

I have to admit to buying the coloured wax. I haven't ventured into dying wax yet, although you can buy the dye. I don't scent the candles.  The natural smell of Summer cannot be beaten (in my view)
Most of my candles are made in silicon moulds. But
the coloured ones back left are rolled wax foundation.  Very quick to make and very pretty.
QBuZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
If you ask me questions (in the Comment box) I'll do my best to answer them.

My Apiary - Organised at last! (Well almost!)

After a quite unsatisfactory Summer here's where I'm up to.
Honey crop and feeding must be finished before Varroa mite treatment.

Honey - 180lbs from the 3 most productive hives. But then.... listen to this!
We went on holiday for 12 days and when we got home I found all the 'wet comb'
above the clearer board had been filled with lovely capped honey - at least another
60 lbs.  Extracting it from the comb was quite another story.  Eventually we gave it back
to the bees!  Must have been visiting the ling heather while we were away.

Ambrosia syrup was to be their treat for the winter (now on top of the stored honey)
I bought some from my local Association at a very good price.  The bees are taking it, but
very slowly. The long warm Autumn is giving them very little forage.
I hefted each hive. They must weigh a ton(ne)! Exaggerating of course but they certainly won't
starve. I'll keep hefting each colony over winter so I know how much stores they have left.

I have 5 strong hives full of honey and young bees ready for next year.
2x 2013 Queens (Red marked);  2x 2014 Queens (1 Green marked); 1x2012 Queen.

Now for the first Varroa treatment and that dreaded count.
QBuZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Planning for next Spring

Sorry for long silence  Bee-buddies !
QB has had great problems with her blogsite.  However, that doesn't mean nothing has been happening.
So here goes.
In late August I finished taking full supers and, after spinning out the lovely golden bounty, I put the wet combs back above a clearer board (1 Porter escape removed) for the bees to lick clean and dry.
This year is a first!  - Red hive and Lime hive decided to start filling up  the comb again. On the basis that "they know what they're doing" (quote King Bee!) I have left them to it for a couple of weeks.
I have done a varroa count for each colony and found hardly any!!

Decisions have to be made about the strength and temperament of each colony - so ..................
-- White hive seems to have failed to raise a Q after artificial swarming.
    Action - I united White with Red ( 2013 Q from art. swarm.)  SUCCESS.

-- Blue hive 2011 Q stopped laying early.  Having tried a few times to find her I have now put her in my freezer.
   Action - I united Blue hive with Silver hive (successful nuc. with 2014Q)  SUCCESS.

-- Lime hive - very agressive (a swarm given to me by a Bee-buddy in June.
   Plan to re-queen but plan to purchase a gentle colony from another Bee-buddy and unite them.
   Action - see next blog.

Feeding will begin soon and then treatment with Apiguard var. (for a change from Apiguard) even though the count was very low - I don't want to risk a growth in v. population.

Sorry no pics. - still got probs. getting them.  Next blog in 2 weeks when I have sorted my technical
problems.  Meanwhile, get planning for next year and take action to make sure you will have strong,
disease-free, queen-right colonies.  It will be worth the effort.
QBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz

Saturday-last chance for a few days-bad weather coming!

There's still plenty of forage. My bees have found Agapanthus,  Eryngium, Violas & Lavender. And loads more. After yesterday's thunder-showers today is lovely. The forecast is poor so .........today I checked through :  Red Hive - 3 supers on - top one full - put on clearerboard.

White Hive - new Q has decided to set up home in the super - so I switched super to bottom and brood box above. Let's see what happens!

Blue Hive - 3 supers on - top one full - put clearer board on. Silver Hive (was 3 nucs - combined).Saw Q laying - marked her Green - added super of wet comb. Lime Hive - 2 supers on - top one filling but not ready to take off yet.

Eryngium

That's all for now from Buzzy QBZzzzzzzzzzz

Agapanthus

 

Clearer boards on

The last of the meadowsweet

Roadside Rosebay Willowherb

Today is quite chilly in the wind and cloud.  However the BBC promised me 20C at 1400hrs!
So I have 3 hives to check for capped honey in the top supers. Each hive has 3 supers on.
Anyway, last night I cleaned all the burrwax off 3 boards and scrubbed 6 Porter escapes with soda crystals. (This is the only product I know which will remove propolis).
So we're all set to go.  I read that it is a good idea to put clearer boards on when the sun is hot and the bees are all busy foraging - using minimum, if any, smoke.
As usual, the bees hadn't read that particular manual.  Even New Red Hive, the quietest, best behaved, were not at all pleased to see me. 
A quick look through all supers told me that N.R.H. and Blue Hive were not ready ie the honey in the top supers wasn't 2/3rds capped.  Possibly in a week's time?
Lime Hive - the most unpleasant colony- (a swarm given by a Bee-Buddy) had the top box pretty well capped so on with the clearer board and retreated to the dark shade of a beech tree - with an escort of 20 or more angry bees.
The same book tells me the best time to remove the top box is late evening.  Now, I wonder..........

 Anyway, there are still plenty of nectar-rich flowers to help the bees to fill the supers. QBZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Heather (Ling) is already in full flower on the moorland round here. At least 2 weeks early!

                                                                                                                           

 

The Golden Harvest

 Yes. That first flow of the golden harvest never ceases to thrill me.

This is the first super from my "New Red Hive" and produced 20lbs honey after spinning the uncapped combs in the (manual) extractor. there's lots more to come.

This batch is already bottled and labelled and sold!  The money goes into my honeypot to be spent on my bees. Well OK. They sometimes insist on buying me a gift as a reward for my caring for them.

The honey is pouring from the extractor through  3 sieves into the honey bucket which has a tap.  It stays there for a few days to settle, and let any air bubbles rise to the surface before bottling.  I put the cappings to drip through a separate sieve - then wash and dry them to melt down into wax for candles.

The whole process is a complete joy - nothing wasted - but plenty of honey left in the bees' winter stores.  QBZzzzzzzzzzzz

 PS  Tomorrow is the varroa count, with decisions to be made, depending on the results!! Watch this space.