Varroa

Varroa mites need to be controlled really strictly as they will decimate a hive in around two years if left to there own devices.

They also carry a virus called deformed wing virus, as the name suggests it deforms the wing in the pupa stage, just before it is about to emerge from the cell, and so shorting its life by half, no wings = no flying = no food to forage = so the the whole colony suffers from starvation eventually.

What you can do in the winter months is apply some thing called Oxalic acid which you make up with a little sugar and some water, get 5 mils in a syringe and trickle it down each seam of bees.

You do this in deepest winter when there is very little brood and the bees cluster.

You can also sprinkle icing sugar onto the bees during each manipulation, it only takes a few minutes to do so theres no excuse!

The Bee

The hive

The hive consists of

1) Floor
This should be an open mesh floor. The mesh allows for the varroa mites to drop out of the hive, and also gives good ventilation.

2)The brood chamber
This is where the brood is reared. Inside the brood box is 11 frame’s of wax

3)Queen excluder
This is a thin piece of metal the size of the brood box.
It has got small holes in just big enough to let the worker bee through, but not the queen as she needs to stay in the brood, or else she will lay in the frames used for honey.

4)Super
This is a smaller box but the same width as the brood chamber, it also has 11 frames, but this is where the bee’s store the honey.

5) Crown board
This is a piece of wood that goes on top of the hive before the roof.
It has got holes in the top that is use for:
1) feeding in autumn
2) clearing the bees out  (so that you can take the super away for honey extraction)

6) Roof
Name says it all!

First winter inspection

Today was really sunny and the bee’s from all five hive’s were flying well.
They were mostly on cleansing flights, cleaning themselves and clearing dead bees away, but also collecting water which will enable them to dilute the capped stores in to usable food.

Although bee’s are quiet in the winter, it is important to go through your hives throughout the cold months to see how the stores are doing, to make sure that the bees will not starve due to no pollen & nectar available. It is possible to lose a hive in this way.

In the autumn you should put mouse guards onto the hive entrance to stop the hive being robbed of its precious stores by mice. If even one mouse gets in it will almost certainly destroy all the comb and in the process the bee’s .

Today all the hives were half full of stores, so even though they are getting through them, eating well, there is still plenty left, well at least until next month’s inspection!
The mouse guard from one hive had unfortunately come a drift and (sods law) a mouse had entered and started to eat the honey, and the wax making the frame useless.
The frame had to be replaced.

Below are some photos of the mouse damage.
luckily it was only one frame but could of been a lot worse.

This is damaged at the top of the frame, it goes right down to the center.

The yellow colour is the wax, the orange colour is where the pollen was stored, the dark colour is where the brood was (and also where the stored honey was put for the winter), but the mouse has eaten it.

The rugby ball shape is the shape of the brood patten. Imagine a rugby ball in the middle of the hive, this is the brood, then on the outside of the brood the bee’s put stores and pollen.

How I started!

Well where do I start!
I’ve always been interested in wildlife, birds, bugs & everything else mother nature has to offer.
Where I work there are a lot of damson trees & even a few plum trees & I have also added to the bounty by planting some apple & pear trees too!
The damson would always flower but had never really fruited well & I, never really thought any more about why they didn’t flower*…

I then saw an ad in the local paper for some bees for sale & I thought ‘hmm I have space for one’ So I rung up and bought it!
I quickly purchased a bee suit & joined my local Bee keepers association, which was invaluable (& advisable!) as they were really helpful and very friendly.

Anyways my bees came & I walked with the hive across the field, which was not easy(its full of holes due to chicken’s doing there stuff, mainly digging!), then let them out and left them to settle for a few days.

My hobby in Apiculture had started & my obsession with the honeybee had begun!
*pollination my curious friends!

From Bee’s to Honey…

Welcome to my web blog!