Amanda Hayes
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An Inspector Calls!

26/4/2015

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Kenwood Apiary

The regular meetings of the North London Beekeepers commenced in April.  At the 'Shed Lunch' in the Apiary we enjoyed meeting fellow members again and welcoming new students who are just completing their course and will now start working with the bees in the apiary.

All the hives successfully over-wintered and now we start the process of weekly checks on health and status regarding build-up of the new brood and signs of preparations to swarm - which of course we will try to prevent through a variety of strategies including: ensuring there is adequate space for the queen to lay, room for nectar stores and creating an artificial swarm, if queen cells are found.

We arrived last Thursday to the news that the apiary manager had just been told that the DEFRA inspector was on her way to carry out a full disease inspection.  Inexplicably we also had seven inexperienced beekeepers turn up so looking well organised and on top of things was a challenge but we managed it.  Watching the inspector at work and finding out the signs of potential ill-health was very useful - books can only show you so much.  No disease was suspected but she did find a couple of wax moth larvae in brood cells and several bees with deformed wing virus which can be associated with varroa mite infestation.  A useful learning experience and we all need to get our tweezers at the ready each inspection so that we can open up cells and closely inspect bees where we think there may be problems.


Garden Hive

I have now carried out four inspections of my hive.  All the frames are now clean and full sized except for one short one kept for 'sacrificial brood' which is drone cells that will be destroyed as part of my integrated pest control strategy.  The varroa mite thrive in drone cells as drones take longer to develop into mature bees than workers or queens. 

Inspection 2 revealed some 'play cups' which are experimental queen cells made by the worker bees and a natural activity.  They do not necessarily mean that the colony is planning to swarm but I will be diligent about weekly inspections as a missed queen cell could mean a swarm and the loss of half my bees.

Inspection 3 showed that there were bees on all seems between the frames and that there was plenty of new brood, but no queen seen.  I added another honey super as the first one was filling up well and the bees were beginning to cap off the matured nectar.  I included a frame seeded with just one inch of foundation wax in the hope that the bees would draw this out as 'wild comb' that I can later cut up and use as chunk honey in my jars this year.  I have been warned that this may not work, but I think it is worth trying.

Inspection 4 I took a long time over to ensure that there were no queen cells.  There was a mass of mature and newly capped brood and plenty of larvae to evidence the presence of the queen but in such a busy hive I failed to find her.  As it was only just warm enough to inspect the hive I decided not to extend the search but If I am to split the hive in the next couple of weeks I will need to find the queen.  However, I was delighted to find that the honey frame that I provided with just a thin strip of wax has been drawn out by the worker bees into lovely comb so I may get my jars of honey with chunks of comb this year

Bee Related Activities


The second National Bee Count takes place and I will take part again.  The garden has been full of a wide range of pollinators especially: hover flies, hairy-footed garden bees and bee flies, but not so many bumblebees yet even though their favourite yellow poppies have just come into flower.

The British Beekeepers Association Basic Assessment Course starts and hopefully I will be able to demonstrate adequate skills and knowledge to pass this later in the year.

I have nearly finished reading Lark Rise to Candleford with bees making regular appearances in the story of English country life in 1880-1890.  I am keeping up with reading bee journals - usually on the long bus journey to Kenwood and back.  I have not done so well with my intention to read more historic books about beekeeping.






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'Old Ways' and the New Beekeeping Year

9/4/2015

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Picture
Garden Hive

After a cold spring the sunshine came and on Easter Monday it was warm enough to open the hive.  The 'Old Ways' of beekeeping have much to teach us although we need to keep up with modern scientific research if our colonies are to thrive.  Thus the flowering currant in full bloom was the old indicator I used to tell me that it was warm enough to open up the hive and complete a full inspection. Another 'old way' is to observe the hive from the outside and so even when it was too cold to open the hive I watched the bees taking in pollen, collecting water from the birdbath, I looked at the number of dead bees on the ground and for signs of faecal staining indicating Nosema, bee dysentery.

With the help of my husband as 'scribe' I inspected each frame in the brood box checking for honey and pollen stores, brood from eggs to capped larvae.  All was well.  The brood was building up and there were no signs of disease so my previous concerns about nosema were allayed.

I was delighted to find my elusive queen. I was already prepared with the 'crown of thorns' queen catcher and green marking pen in my pocket, so marking was quick and easy although the marking was rather blobby as she moved about.  I did not want to risk squashing her down too much and injuring her.

I removed one of the old frames which had quite a few drone cells as well as worker cells. I then moved the last of the old frames to the outside of the brood box with new empty frames between.  I am not sure that this was a good idea but we will see.  My idea was to allow the capped brood to emerge but to dissuade the queen from laying more eggs in the empty cells.  It may just be that these larvae are chilled and die but as the alternative was to remove the frame and thereby kill these bees anyway it seemed worth trying.

I took the old frame that I had removed into the house and gave it a full examination using a magnifier.  I removed 50 drone larvae from their cells to check for health.  The larvae were white and healthy but four had one varroa mite each.  Not a disaster, but treatment is necessary.  Changing the old wax is part of my integrated pest management plan, the next step will be to apply MAQS formic acid strips.  I have put the varroa board under the hive floor and will see what the drop of mites is over the next week and then if the colony looks strong at the next inspection I will commence the treatment and keep a record of mite deaths.

Out and about in the garden I have seen plenty of bumble and solitary bees.  The hairy-footed flower bees are fond of the japonica and pulmonaria flowers and the bee flies are busy on the forget-me-nots but seem thwarted by the muscari despite their impressively long proboscis.  There have also been some very large queen bumble bees about.  My honeybees have now ceased crowding around the birdbath to collect water.  I wonder if this is because they no longer need to dilute the sugar stores and have fresh nectar coming in?

Bee-related activities

I am keeping up with refreshing my website and have added a folklore section.  I added some more photographs.  I am reading Larkrise to Candleford which has several references to beekeeping in Oxfordshire in the 1880s which is fascinating.  This includes the importance of 'Telling the Bees' about important family events.  My youngest son was seriously ill earlier this month and eccentric as it will sound, I did go and tell the bees.  I doubt that it had any impact on them but it made me feel better at a very stressful time.  I did of course also tell them when he recovered!

Picture
One of the old, short brood frames that I removed with empty 'wild' comb added to the bottom
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    Hello, for many years I have been a passionate gardener and have encouraged wildlife into my urban garden.  Three years ago I joined a Beekeeping Association.   Last year I installed a beehive in my garden and started this blog to record my  experiences.


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