On Saturday three of us from North London Beekeepers went to a course on Food Hygiene run by Barnet Beekeepers.  It is important that any honey sold should be safe to eat so no chemicals, bits of dead bee or any other horrors.  At the end of the day we took the level 2 qualification and I will post the outcome when I know.  I haven't poisoned anyone yet but there are a few people I might want to ...................

As the weather was awful I wrote up my notes on safe and healthy beekeeping and honey bottling which I sent to my colleagues for comment.  It is always good to write up notes immediately after a training event as one either fails to get round to it, or when you do the original scribbles do not make any sense.  I doubt that my bees will give me enough honey to sell this year but I might as well train myself in best practice before bad habits creep in.

I also used rainy days to put together a 'swarm kit' with essential equipment and a step by step guide of what to do.  If you have a swarm there is no time to go shopping or start Googling!  I thus have a new Apidea (mating hive) from Thornes, water spray, white sheet and cardboard box.  Lets hope I don't need them anytime soon. Probably the best bit of swarm kit is the 'phone number of an experienced beekeeper.

I went to the Kenwood Apiary today and my little hive looks fine with busy bees.  I couldn't find the queen but as there is brood in all stages of development and the workers were not agitated I think that things are probably fine, but I would like to see her next week.  We then had the excitement of a swarm from the apiary high up in an elderflower tree which resulted in ladders, boxes, secateurs and eventually the swarm captured and put into a new hive.  Definitely not a job to do on your own even if you know what you are doing.

Although my colony still has room to grow with 3 frames of the brood box empty, I added a super above the queen excluder.  This is to collect honey stores without brood so you don't get bees on toast!  I found and killed a wax moth larva at the last inspection and was having bad dreams that the hive was infested.  Glad to report that all is fine so far as I could see, but will stay vigilant.  Removed the varroa board to allow for more ventilation in this nice warm weather.  Any mites will fall through the mesh above and onto the ground.

I have noticed a lot of great tit activity close to the hive and I am not sure if they are taking dead bees, catching live ones on the landing board, or just generally 'hanging out' in the area. 

I read something about bees and beekeeping every day.  Retaining the information and applying it is the next trick.  Today I read about 'tanging' which seems to relate to beating a drum to claim a swarm as yours, warn local people that there is a swarm about and most curiously the sound is also supposed to lure the swarm back to a hive ........ hm I am not yet confident to gather a swarm and suspect that hitting a metal lid with the hive tool will be as annoying to the neighbours as the swarm itself.  More reading needed.

The swallows have arrived on this wonderful current of hot air that is the start of summer.  The bees in the garden continue to forage and on Sunday I will open the hive and check on the queen to make sure she is laying and the brood are thriving.  I also need to check for disease and do an icing sugar dusting to get rid of varroa.

At Kenwood apiary yesterday my hive is doing well and we marked the new queen with green dot to help identify her in the hive and remind everyone which year she hatched.  Talking of which, I was working on someone else's hive and looked at a couple of odd-shaped queen cells and whilst I was wondering if they were healthy the end flipped off and a new queen emerged for this queenless colony.  Good news and also a very rare and special experience.  We also made up an apidea for the next emerging queen so that she can build a new colony rather than suffer the fate of being killed by the first queen.  Great experience for when I need to re-queen by garden colony.

Good news! Sunshine and the bees are out foraging with 50% bringing pollen back into the hive which is an increase on yesterday.  I lifted the lid and they are still taking the sugar syrup but I did not check how much is left as it was filled up 3 days ago. 

Not such good news!  There was a fall of 6 varroa mites since yesterday.  I checked with a magnifying glass to make sure it was not just hive debris.  I will dust the bees in the frames with icing sugar at the weekend when I do my first inspection for disease, queen activity and brood development.  The sugar makes it hard for the mites to cling onto the bees and so they drop off.  Also it encoura

The local woodpecker was in the sycamore tree at the end of the garden making a lot of noise.  I shall have to watch him.  There are plenty of caterpillars about at the moment but when food gets short I will may need to put mesh on the hive to keep him out.

The sun has come out and my bees are flying out and about.  Sadly they missed the blossom on the apple tree next to the hive and their favourite globe thistles are only now beginning to sprout their little blue spikes.  Hopefully there is plenty of forage nearby so I can ween them off their sugar syrup when this batch runs out.

Well, at last after attending courses and working with others at the Association Apiary I have taken the plunge and a queen with brood and stores on five frames has arrived from Capital Bees and been installed in the National hive I assembled last year.  It was a really horrible cold day but that may have been a good thing as it encouraged he bees to stay in the hive and 're-set their sat-navs' from south to east London.  I gave them thin sugar syrup in a feeder to help them get a good start.

I have been watching the foraging bees come and go and was relieved to see that on the second day some bees were bringing pollen into the hive which suggests that the nurse bees are feeding young ones.  I have resisted the big temptation to open up the hive; first because the bees need to settle down and second because the weather is not very warm and I need to ensure the colony does not cool down.  I did take the top off and check that they were feeding on the syrup, which they were.  I also looked at the varroa board to see what was on it - general debris and one varroa mite.  I shall have to keep an eye on this. 

Yesterday I printed off a BBKA (British Beekeepers Association colony inspection checklist and filled it in.  It is important to keep accurate records.  I also registered with Beebase as I think it is important that all colonies are recorded and their health inspected so that other beekeepers can be notified of disease in local apiaries and take appropriate action.

Today I have been watching the bees come and go.  About 10% of the returning bees are bringing in pollen.  There are a small number of dead bees near the entrance which I am taking to be natural death because of age or the stress and strain of moving them or perhaps local bees who were trying to rob the hive.  One bee hauled a dead bee out of the hive and then flew off with it over the fence.  I was amazed at the strength it had.  It is important that the bees keep the hive clean of dead bees and debris so that the health of the colony is not compromised.  Looking our from a window I noticed a great tit hopping about near the hive.  I have been encouraging birds with food and nest boxes for several years but I hope they do not think that my bees are a new generously provided food.

I have ordered another smock and veil for visitors to borrow or for a family member to wear if there is any heavy lifting in the future - hopefully of supers full of honey!  I resisted the temptation to buy more bee related items.  There is a never ending list of what one can buy but I will get advice from experienced fellow beekeepers a the Association before I spend more money.  I am not beekeeping for profit which is probably just as well as my experiences to date demonstrate that it is an expensive interest.