First Spring Inspection

Yes, it's OK to check our colonies by watching their comings and goings.
Lots of pollen, various colours, being brought in, vast quantities.  A good sign that the Q is laying - lots of little mouths to feed!
However, we've had some very warm days (eg.20C) so I took the opportunity, when they were all
too busy to notice me, to go through each colony in turn. I  changed
the floor, varroa tray, porch lift and any other lifts that need a coat of paint.  I have 5 colonies, all looking strong -  3 Green queens,
(marked) (2014) and 2 Red queens (marked) (2013). That's the good news as young, marked queens make life a whole lot easier for the hard-pressed beekeeper!***
The bad news is that every Q decided, in her regal wisdom, to lay her eggs in  the stores super.  What to do?  First I judged that each colony was strong and had enough bees to cover the brood in the super. Then I found each Q*** and moved her into the deep brood box, plonked a Q. excluder on top, and put the super with its stores and mini-brood nest on top of that.
Now, unfortunately, that hot spell has become arctic.  It would be a very bad idea to open the hives again to see the result of my ("clever manoeuvre") so now I'll just have to wait until it stops snowing and blowing. Oh dear!!


This is a flowering cherry called, ironically, "Snow in Spring".
The honeybees and bumblebees love it, but its blossom is short-lived.
Honeybees much prefer the gooseberry flowers and soon abandon the cherry when the goosegogs bloom! 

We planted this tree in memory of my sister in March 2009.
When this awful cold weather develops into a 'proper' Spring I'll let you know what has happened in my hives.
QBzzzzzzzzzzzz

North of England Beekeepers Convention Report

Well we really enjoyed our day!  Raffle, Secret Auction, continual flow of refreshments and quite a few stalls of equipment, gifts and books to tempt us.
Susan Cobley from Washington State University gave 2 talks - "Queen Breeding" and "Queen & Drone Rearing". Both were very informative, interesting and thought-provoking.  However, QB and BrB agreed we didn't approve of some of the methods eg. the way that colonies were combined by sort of chucking several colonies into one via a metal chute.  We show more respect for our bees!
Anyway, I made copious notes - too much to report here - but some interesting facts :

Bees have highest mating rate of any insect - Q takes several mating flights; mates with 1-60 drones;
10-60m high; 10,000-25,000 drones from 200-300 colonies; each drone produces 10,000,000 sperm.
Multiple mating increases drone viability and colony fitness.

Simon Croson's talk on Beekeeping Photography was excellent and easy to understand by we amateurs.  He made a good point - that by photographing your active bees you gain a better understanding of why and how bees do what they do.
Blurred photos?  camera shake (brace your elbows on your knees) and being patient, get close to bees and don't automatically use the zoom. Well, that's me sorted out - hopefully!
Finally, red-eyes in drones may be a sign of in-breeding!

If you took your own lunch the day cost £30.  I will certainly go again next year.
QBZzzzzzzzzzzzz  Now it's a gorgeous day. I'm off to the hives with my camera! 

Don't Forget

All you Bee Buddies who can quite happily buzz on all day about honeybees.
Tomorrow 28th March is the 58th Annual Convention of the North of England Beekeepers.
"Bee Breeding and Selection" is the Colin Weightman Memorial Lecture.
QB and BrB are looking forward to the "Bee Photography" Talk.  You might find an improvement
in my pics. after this.

 These 2 Terrible Pics show honeybees in early Spring on Winter Aconites.  They were taken BEFORE the talk!!
I'll let you know how the Convention went.  QBzz

Sunday 15/3/15

Spring seemed to have sprung until today - 6C - Easterly wind.
QB checked the food situation in all 5 colonies - named White, Red, Blue, Silver, Lime.
I opened the mouseguards last week but rapidly closed them again when I found evidence
(odorous 'pee' puddles and nasty little black pellets) above the crown board in all hives
except White (much the strongest colony).
Lime and Silver have gone back into cluster and are not feeding.
The others are enjoying their candy treat and White colony has completely demolished
the Nektapol - so I have given them another block.
How to make polish + some flower pics. coming soon.
QB is struggling with her technology - AS USUAL!!!
QBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Queen Bee's out and about!

Yep!  QB has come out of hibernation after her long winter break.
Now is the tricky part.  There's not much pollen to help feed the early larvae.
Snowdrops, crocus, winter aconites OK but willow (very polleniferous!) is only just opening.
The W/NW wind today is cold and strong.  One or two honeybees are spring-cleaning.
The good news is that all 5 colonies are alive.
But ... if the weather stays cold the bees could use all their stores and could starve.
I have put 250g of candy above each feeder hole - as a "justincase". Nektapol is useful too.
Candy with pollen in it.  However once you start feeding this you must keep on, until the
colonies are flying strongly and there is plenty of pollen around.

Looking forward to HBKA visit to Chainbridge Honey Farm on May 10th.

But there's a lot to do before then. I'll keep you posted.
Next blog next week.
QBuzzzing

Using that precious wax - Pt. 2

Carefully roll candle out of mould after leaving to set.

The last photo. shows some of the various candles which QB has made for "The Hearth" Winter Fair on Sat. and Sun. 22nd and 23Nov.                                                                                                         

These are the beeswax blocks.  It's surprising
how many uses there are for plain beeswax!

Beeswax candles burn without smoke and drips.
The scent is very reminiscent of those summer hives! Add caption

Next blog QB 'll be making furniture polish - yet  another use for this amazing natural material. I'll buzz off now - see you at The Hearth. QB

 

Using that precious beeswax - Pt.1

I found out the other day that honey bees need to consume 2kg honey to make 60g wax. About 1 table-candle.
In old money that is 1lb to make 1oz.!! So, from now on QB will be saving every little flake.
I've been v. busy purifying wax and moulding and rolling candles.  Here's what I did.

These are silicon mouls - expensive but long- lasting.
The wick is threaded through fom the bottom and
Held tight with 2 sticks (cocktail - fine!)
and rubber bands.Add caption

I save tins from B. beans/dog food - any that are watertight.
Boil water in that old pan. Put broken pieces of wax
in the tins and squeeze tin rim to make a pouring lip. Put tins
in water - wax will melt at 65C

 

Once the wax is liquid it can be poured into the moulds. Pic. at top shows plain (no wicks) moulds for beeswax blocks.
Bottom pic. shows candle moulds filled to the top.  If the wax shrinks as it sets I top it up again.
Once cold (takes a few hours) the candles can be taken out of the moulds.                                             
Episode 2 to follow - gets even more exciting!!!!!
QB  ran out of space on blogpage.