Any of you who have been following me for a while will know that I am first and foremost a naturalist and nature-lover, and beekeeping gives me an excuse to indulge this longstanding interest of mine. It also requires and inspires me to think holistically about how I can help my honey bees and consequently the other insects (birds, mammals, plants etc etc) around them. … Continue reading Love your Aphids
Bee colonies require a number of elements in their favour to overwinter successfully, and despite the go-to solution of copious feeding, this is only one part of what gives honey bees the gumption to get through the cold damp winter. The colony below has been in this hive for 5-6 years and the combs have not been changed, so I find that the bees will … Continue reading Dismantling a Winter Loss
Wow – what a difference a day (or two) makes. A few days ago my bees were flying, and I was even able to put together a video post for my patrons as I headed down to the apiary to check the entrances and inspection boards. Bees cluster up together to keep warm in the winter, and it’s important that they aren’t disturbed at this … Continue reading Bees in a Snowy Winter
I went to check the wild-living bees as I’ve not been to see them since the beginning of May – not that they will have been remotely bothered! These hives were effectively abandoned a few years ago, and the home-made hives are disintegrating, making it difficult to establish what’s going on as I daren’t prise the boxes open in case they fall apart. That said, … Continue reading Selmeston Bee Check
We are suddenly having a heatwave, with temperatures doubling from the cool rainy conditions last week. I don’t like to disturb my bees beyond the end of July as they are usually understandably defensive and they are working hard to glue the hive together ready for winter. This hot spell will mean plenty of foraging opportunities as there are buckets of nectar out there: willowherb, … Continue reading Late July Update
I was called out to a swarm at Pevensey Bay, which is right on the beach here in East Sussex. It was in someone’s garden, and they had no idea where it had come from, and didn’t know of any beekeepers locally. I do know of one nearby, but hers had not swarmed. The bees were low down on a shrub, suspended from a single … Continue reading Black Bees
I collected a swarm on May 7th, which was a cast from a beekeeper’s hives. They were low down in a shrub, so not a difficult collection! I put them in a nuc box and checked them ten days later as they were certainly not tiny enough to definitely be a cast, so I wanted to make sure they weren’t bowling along and running out … Continue reading Patience…
One can never tell how many swarms there are going to be for any given season, and I was surprised to see so many people on the Association’s list…swarms are deemed the sign of “failure” and bad management, yet here are tens of people wanting them to repopulate their apiaries after losing colonies over winter. Perhaps we should appreciate this swarming impulse and wholly natural … Continue reading Swaaaarms
We have had some lovely weather here over the last couple of days, and the bees have been making the most of it. I am checking my apiary for swarms twice a day now, although all the hives have quite a bit of growing to do. Here is the hive I nadired last week – so I put a super underneath. The advantage of this … Continue reading Spring growth
I often hear beekeepers say that it’s not too late to lose your bees even in March, usually with a reference to feeding. I was asked by some friends (and former students of mine) to do a PM on their hive as the colony – having been active earlier a few weeks previously – had died. This colony had swarmed the previous year and also … Continue reading Spring loss
