May 2001
(Our new enclosure completed: Hive3 in the foreground being moved slowly
3feet at a time towards the enclosure).
Cold weather at the beginning of May meant a slow start to the month for us with the bees but there was a hectic, exciting end to the month.
During the cold, damp weather of early May we concentrated on repairing
old hive boxes and building a "screen" around the hives in the
apiary area of the garden. Dad and Paul extended the original fencing
and bought some netting, which was fixed above the fence to act as an
8-foot high windbreak.
Hopefully this windbreak will make the bees fly higher and allow Dad to
do some gardening unmolested by bees in the area around the apiary.
By mid May the weather had improved alot and the dry, sunny days meant
the bees could start foraging for food.
May & June are the months when a hive is most likely to swarm so in
an attempt to prevent this we must give the bees more room to expand the
colony. So on Tuesday 22nd May we did a full thorough inspection of all
three hives. Placing queen excluders and a whole super of empty frames
on top of each one as we went. Looking through the hives we found Hive
1 didn't look very healthy, there was lots of "chalk brood"
- a white fungal disease killing the brood. This colony seems to be in
decline - maybe we need a new queen for this hive.
Inspspection of hive3.
Hive 2's colony is now very powerful and appears to be bulging at the
seams with lots of busy, healthy bees. No worries here, but I'm glad we
put a super on it.
Hive 3. This colony is also now very powerful and is expanding rapidly.
No apparent problems here.
In theory everything should now be well with them. We will start weekly checks for queen cells from now on.
(Hives 1&2, Note the super about to be put on hive
1).
Things do not always go according to plan however!
The bees must have felt restless.
Paul went to Holland with his Sunbeam Stiletto for a few days on the 24th
leaving John in charge of the apiary and you can probably guess what happened.
It was about 1.00 o'clock and we were just settling down to lunch when
a cloud of bees was seen rising from one of the hives and heading across
the garden to settle on a branch of the pear tree. Dad was the first to
notice it, put some of Paul's beekeeping gear on and attempted to catch
the swarm. As a novice apiarist he only had had his own observations of
John and Paul to go on. He knocked most of the swarm into a cardboard
box and tipped them into a brood box of old frames which Paul had left
out as a bait hive for any passing bees.
Worried that he hadn't caught the queen he tried to recapture all the
bees and, in his haste, he hadn't put all the protective beekeepers' clothing
on and also forgot to light the smoker. He was stung half a dozen times
on the legs as a result. Ouch!!!
Paul returned home on the 28th to all the news and excitement, we now have a fourth hive - Dads hive.
(A new hive)!
There is a beginner's evening class for beekeepers starting in York - maybe Dad ought to go to it incase a swarm should happen again while Paul is away.
When Paul came home we did another full inspection of all the hive colonies
on Tuesday, 28th and found that the swarm is now OK and seems to be thriving
so Dad must have caught the queen after all.
Hive 1 still seems to be in decline - we must do something about it soon!
Hive 2 - We found a sealed queen cell on the 3rd frame Paul examined,
meaning there maybe a new queen so we closed the hive again. Could it
have been this hive that had swarmed? Or were they just about to do so?
Hive 3 - Again we found a sealed queen cell on the 3rd frame we examined.
Paul accidentally damaged it but fortunately found three more on the next
frame so we closed this hive and left it alone.
So we now have two hives with queen cells and we have only had 1 swarm! That means there is 1 to go. Oh-oh - we'll just have to wait and see!
(A completed enclosure (Note the new hive 4 to the right of dad)).