Cut Comb – Reusing Thin Drawn Foundation?

Last Year’s Thin Foundation

Last year was the first time I made cut comb and though I made less honey in weight than other beekeepers it was a success on my criteria as it was pure, gorgeous honeycomb and quick to harvest.

This weekend I checked last years supers of thin foundation to see if it is OK to reuse this year. The drawn comb was brittle and at the bottom of most of the frames and comb was a light dusting of mould (or mold, American spelling). See photos below.

Thin Drawn Foundation - With Dusting Of Mould (or Mold) — Thin Drawn Foundation – With Dusting Of Mould (or Mold)

Questions Around Reusing Thin Foundation

This raised a number of questions which I posted on a beekeeping forum with mixed answers.

Q1. Can I use the thin foundation that was drawn last year, this year? I.e. its brittle at present, but will it soften up and be as good as new when the bees get on to it?

Answers:

The bees will clean it out and hopefully fill it
No, it will serve better use in the melt pot. Use it to secure fresh foundation with

Q2. In some of the frames, some of the drawn foundation has gone mould. I have cut this out, to leave a strip of drawn comb (1cm) at the top. Is this OK? Or should I start afresh?

Answers:

The bees will clean it out and hopefully fill it
The strip should be ok

Q3. In my super frames, could I have no foundation to start with?

Answers:

The bees will clean it out and hopefully fill it
You could, I prefer a strip or a sheet of foundation

Plan Of Action

My instinct was to cut out the mouldy comb and leave a clean (if brittle) strip where possible.

My plan:

Use the blow torch on the bottoms of the frames to remove any residue mould
Use the frames with no foundation, but space them with frames that have thin foundation already or have a starter strip like the above, to improve chances of straight comb
The thin foundation that I used last year but was not drawn has no signs of mould and will be fine to use again this year

Note: mouldy brood comb can be reused and the bees will clean it up. I am just aiming to make sure I get the best possible cut comb honey whilst reducing time and cost of creating new frames of thin foundation unnecessarily.

Beehaus – Breaking News

There is a 10% discount on the Beehaus right now – it might just be for Easter. Please follow this link to find the sale: Beehaus 10% Discount.

I have previously written about the Beehaus: Beehaus Review. Basically – I think they’re great.

They have provided me with one that I will start using shortly.

14×12 Nucs For Sale & Downsizing

Location: Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12, UK

My honeybees have so far survived the winter. They are a flying and a very quick inspection in a couple of the hives has revealed eggs.

Efficient Beekeeping

Life is very busy at present and I am going to make my beekeeping more efficient through the following changes:

Remove bee hives from allotment, so a bit less to worry about with neighbours and swarming
Reduce my number of colonies to 2 – 4 (max) and keep these in the farmers field
Use my new Beehaus which will make swarm control easier (due to some nifty techniques it enables) and gives other flexibility, e.g. sometimes using half the Beehaus to hive a swarm and then later combine into the main colony

By the way, there is a 10% discount on the Beehaus right now – it might just be for Easter. Please follow this link to find the sale: Beehaus 10% Discount. Please also note that Omlet (the manufacturer) is an affiliate of this site and has provided me with a Beehaus.

14×12 Nucs For Sale

This means I have bees and equipment for sale:

I have 6 nucs for sales (in 14 x 12 poly hives, photo below), that are either available now with 2017 Queens or by end May 2018 with 2018 Laying Queens for £200.

Please contact me now using Contact Form. First come first served. Please leave your phone number so I can call you back if needed.

Other Items For Sale

Six 14×12 nucs for £200/each
14×12 cedar hives (assembled, brood, 2 supers, stand, roof, crownboard, good condition) – £180

I am located in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12, UK.

Please contact me (via contact form) if you are interested and leave a phone number.

Videos & Photos Of Nucs (Feeder On Top):

Orange Nuc - 21 October 2016 — Orange Nuc

The Beekeeper

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sharing the excitement and a test

I transferred the blog to a new host recently to make it faster. It’s now lightening fast … but it’s caused a bit of a bug with sending emails when I write a post.

This is a test … and also … just to share the excitement … lots of bees flying into and out of my hives today … Spring is near!

Forlorn Beesuit

It’s been hanging there several months asking to be washed …and now with forecasts of 15C this weekend, I’d better start getting my act together.

Because what I want to make this year is more of this:

If you are wondering which beesuit to buy I totally recommend Sherriff, who sponsor this blog and also make the best beesuits in the world: Sherriff Beesuits

14×12 Thermosolar Hives For Sale

Location: Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12, UK

As I mentioned in my last post, in July this year I started a very busy job. To use the Thermosolar Hive effectively one needs a day above 20C to be able to be near these hives to deliver the thermosolar treatment and kill the varroa. Ideally, you would deliver two thermosolar treatments in April/May and then another two in August/September.

I work in an office 5 days a week and then two children and many jobs need my attention at weekends, hence I cannot be sure of being free on a couple of key weekends to deliver the treatment.

I have written about these amazing hives that deliver chemical-free, varroa treatment here:

I am sad to not be using them but I would rather someone else used them effectively and then wrote 2 reviews per year (with photos) for 3 years. This will help readers understand this new hive better.

The hives were painted and put into the allotment in the Summer (2017). They are very high quality. There is a brood box, 3 supers, roof and solar panel.

These hives retail new for £530 ($690) and I will sell for £400 each (or nearest offer), plus the reviews.

Please contact me using Contact Form and please leave a phone number as we may need to discuss.

I have nucs of bees and other items for sale as I scale down my operation: Items for sale

Thermosolar Hive Photos

14×12 Nucs For Sale From £175

14×12 Nucs & Beekeeping Equipment For Sale

Location: Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, GL12, UK

In July this year I started a very busy job and now need to reduce the number of colonies I am managing.

I have 6 nucs for sales (in 14 x 12 poly hives, photo below) that I will aim to be ready for collection by end May 2018 with 2018 Laying Queens.

This will be as a result of some colonies splits and artificial swarms in April 2018. All my colonies have good tempered bees, have been fed for the winter and were treated for Varroa with Apiguard and MAQs in Summer and early Autumn. I will treat them again before collection.

Two payment options: (A) £100 non refundable deposit to reserve your nuc plus £100 on collection; or (B) discounted price of £175 paid upfront when reserving your nuc.

Please contact me now using Contact Form. First come first served. Please leave your phone number so I can call you back if needed.

Other Items For Sale

Six 14×12 nucs for £200/each (or £175 if full amount paid upfront)
14×12 cedar hives (assembled, brood, 2 supers, stand, roof, crownboard, good condition) – £180
One honey ripener (photo below). Similar to the one here: honey ripener at £134 from Maisemore. This has been extremely useful for jarring honey. Will sell for £70.
Five 30lb honey buckets. Typically about £3.40 each, hence £17 value. Will sell for £10.
One 54lb honey bucket worth about £5. Will sell for £3.
Two Thermosolar Hives (I am about to write a post on this), assembled, painted, brood, 3 supers, roof, crownboard, good condition, sad to see it go (just don’t have the time to use effectively): £400 each plus the buyer needs to write 2 posts/reviews a year, with photos, for 3 years

I am located in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, UK.

Please contact me (via contact form) if you are interested and leave a phone number.

Videos & Photos Of Nucs (Feeder On Top):

Honey Ripener Fpr Sale — Honey Ripener For Sale

The Beekeeper

I look forward to hearing from you.

Cut Comb Honey Success?

I decided to stop producing liquid honey a couple of years ago as I was not enjoying the extraction process. It was time-consuming, blooming messy and I had to recruit my parents to help (meaning as well as spending hours scraping honey off the extractor, lifting surprisingly heavy boxes and labelling far too many jars, I also had to be polite and make small talk throughout!).

Last year I was seduced by the idea of sections. Easy, efficient, and no need to exploit the kindness of others in order to harvest the honey.

I tried Ross Rounds but based on my experience and further research (thanks to BBKA forum) discovered that, due to our short beekeeping season in the UK, the bees do not have enough time and are not that keen on sections. Fussy blighters.

Eight Ross Rounds Sections (the 2016 haul)

I then decided to pursue cut comb which is meant to be the easiest way to make comb honey in the UK. I was also rather keen on producing that gorgeous honeycomb that I love so much (and retails for so much more than a jar of honey if packaged in a quaint box with string round it).

And so my dreams began…

I was hoping for 200 cartons of cut comb with minimum effort. I caught all my swarms and combined them into stronger colonies. I made some artificial swarms in early May that were largely successful. The hives all had at least 1 super all with thin foundation … 10 supers in total.

And today was the day of truth.

The Reckoning

27 cartons of cut comb honey (plus 4 dodgy cartons for my porridge). The taste is the same as previous years: highly scented and aromatic with a floral flavour – thanks to all the flowers which surround the apiary, in the allotment, gardens, hedges, woods and fields. I am delighted with my haul.

And all this from about 6 frames of honey. Imagine if all 100 frames had delivered! I will continue to pursue cut comb next year.

How has everyone else done this year?

Video Of Me Cutting Honey Comb

What Is Success When It Comes To A Honey Crop?

Is it quality and taste? Is it quantity?

For me – a novice – as you can probably tell from the video above, I’m very happy and excited with my 27 cartons. 27 is enough to show it off, enjoy with friends and give away some as a gifts. But I would have been over the moon if I had made 100 cartons. 100 cartons would mean a surplus. I could set up a shop at the bottom of the garden for the day. Perhaps next year …

First Indications

As I peered into the first super I was delighted to see the 4 frames below.

Frame Of Capped Honey – Beautiful

Cutting Comb

Cut Comb In Carton

Cut Comb Success — Cut Comb Honey – Success For Talking With Bees

Bees Installed Into Thermosolar Hives

I had two hives in the locations I was to put the Thermosolar Hives. It was simply a question of lifting out the frames and placing in the new hives.

Key points during the transfer:

I had to cut plastic queen excluder so it fit the hive dimensions
My guess of SSE facing for the original hives was 90 degrees incorrect, so I had to point the new hives in this new direction
The brood boxes only take eight 14×12 frames (this is the equivalent to a national brood box) – so a super below is required (I’ll have to ask Thermosolar Hive team if this was the plan?)
I had to plug the holes in the Thermosolar ceiling as bees could get in and out
There was 200 dead and slow moving bees 2 hours later. Not sure if this was the result of fighting (bees confused due to 90 degree hive rotation and trying to enter wrong hive) or due to hunger and confusion (could not find entrance and they ran out of energy trying to find it). Thoughts please.
That said majority of bees in the hive!
Next day, a lot of bees flying about in confused manner around green hive

My blue hive appears queen-less, so planning to combine another colony onto this hive. Hive notes and plans can be found here: My Apiary. Also planning some further combining to create stronger hives for the second nectar flow that will start in a week or two. Grateful for any thoughts on my plans.

Read Thermosolar Hive Guide to find links to all things relevant to this new hive.

Thermosolar Hive Arrives

I have been talking about the Thermosolar Hive for over a year now (it claims to kill 100% of varroa using a thermosolar, chemical-free treatment). It has now successfully completed a crowd fundraising process and they have very kindly given me two which I am excited to use and write about. I have no connection to the Thermosolar Hive team and will only give a truthful and independent review and feedback on this hive.

First Reaction

From the moment I took away the packaging and opened the hive I can honestly say you could feel the quality and it had some great beekeeping features. It’s weighty, the parts fit together well, there are handles on the side of each box to help lifting, the inside of the brood and super boxes is made of metal to stop pathogens and there are entrances on each super to give the bees direct access.

Here is me giving an overview of the hive before I put the bees in it.

The Key Components

I wish I had closed the garage door before taking these photos! Please ignore the mess and focus on the beauty.

From the bottom up …

Insulated Varroa Bottom Board Without Building Barrier

The building barrier (below) prevents bees building comb down into the space of the bottom board.

Insulated Varroa Bottom Board With Building Barrier

You can also see the white insulation frame in the photo below to help dissipate the heat coming through the window.

Supers & Brood Box Protected By Metal To Reduce Pathogens

The roof is upside down, below, so that you can see more of the detail.

Below is the thermometer that comes with the hive. There are two of these per hive. The cable and sensor are waterproof but not the display unit. This begs another question for Jan and Roman.

Supers and the brood box have additional entrances for the bees. I need to find out more about how to use these effectively. Any advice from readers?

Complete Thermosolar Hive (Less Thermometers)

Eliminating Varroa

Their literature that comes with the hive is very confident that it will kill 100% of the varroa. The science is good (varroa die above 40C, bees tolerate the temperature range). But will it work in practice – that is what we need to know.

Thermosolar Hive Guide

They also supply a handy guide on how to the use the hive: Thermosolar Hive Guide (this is a PDF that downloads).

All I need to do now is get some bees in them. I am going to transfer the hive frames from the south facing hives in the allotment. Read My Apiary for more info.

My Questions For Thermosolar Hive Team

Please comment if you have more questions.

Has the peer-reviewed, University paper on the Thermosolar hive been published? Please can you email me a link?
I will be using the anti-swarm method promoted on your website. Your Thermosolar guide refers to literature on this method, please could you email me a link or attachment?
As I am using anti-swarm method I will be placing a super below the brood box. Does the lower temperature sensor go into the bottom of the super box or bottom of the brood box?
None of the supers had Thermosolar windows. Will this be OK when I am doing Thermosolar treatment?
Do they have a recommended solution for waterproofing the thermometer display unit or is it best to just use the thermometer on the day of the Thermosolar treatment?
Does he have any recommended reading on using the extra entrances into the brood box and supers?
Why is there a rear entrance in the floor component that the bees could enter and exit? Is it an to aid a swarm control method?
The outer dimensions of the hive are not the same as the British national dimensions. The Thermosolar hive has smaller external dimensions that the national. My queen excluder will work fine with a bit of overlap on the outside? However, my QE with rhombus bee escape and jumbo feeder does not fit. Do you have products or recommendation for clearing supers and feeding?
Do you have any preference of non-caustic cleaner for the metal part of the roof?

I have created a Thermosolar Hive Ultimate Page which includes all key comments, photos, videos and links

Chaos In The Apiary

Grateful for thoughts on my analysis below.

The Events

Big week at work: which left me only 15 mins to catch swarms during the day, no time to analyse and just having to combine colonies during the evening without too much thought
Swarms (that I suspect were casts from south facing allotment hives) on 22, 24 and 25 May – but I had no time to count days since artificially swarming and since the combining to analyse what was going on
Ran out of nucs on 22 May
Combined two farmer field hives of unknown queen state using newspaper method to free up a 14×12 brood box
Put two separate swarms in to two supers and combined on top of a hive that in the end had 3 separate colonies separated by newspaper
I peaked at 10 colonies for a few days but am back down to 7 colonies
I’ve done my analysis in the last few hours and feel a bit more in control and that I know what might have happened

24 May Swarm

This swarm escaped 10 minutes later and appeared as two swarms? Is this because of multiple virgin queens? Or just because sometime swarms just do this before deciding on one location to hang from?

Series of videos on the day:

My Last Nuc Box On 22 May

Swarm in nuc box - Steve/Suki allotment — Swarm in nuc box – Steve/Suki allotment

The Analysis

I had family obligations Saturday and Sunday and so it is only today, Monday 29th May, that I can actually read back over my hive notes and understand what happened.

The Swarms

Please read My Apiary notes for 22 May to 28 May 2017 for all the detail.

I had a quick look in the middle hive that had not been artificially swarmed as it had been starving earlier in the season and was in recovery. I could not find the unmarked Queen but this hive had new eggs in it. If this hive had swarmed it would have been the first large swarm on 22 May which I put in the nuc box n the farmer’s field.

I suspect all three, or at least the other two swarms, were casts, headed by virgin queens, from both of the two south facing hives.

At least the swarm on 24 May was a cast as I found two virgin queens and there could have been more.

I artificially swarmed these south facing hives on the 7 May and they were queen-less at that point (I know this as the queens were definitely left in the nucs). They would since have raised at least one queen and in this case, evidently more than one. This was 15 days ago. It takes 16 days for queen honeybee to hatch from an egg, so if they created a emergency queens with an egg that was already laid, we are in the right time frame, or if they had already started a queen cell we are also in the right time frame. Worker bees can hide virgin queens from other queens so that they can then create a caste with that queen up to a few weeks after they have hatched out.

The Combined Hives In Farmer’s Field

Please read My Apiary notes for 22 May to 28 May 2017 for all the detail.

In summary, I discovered that both boxes had laying queens before I combined 6 days ago and that the North facing hive must have always been Queen-right and the South facing hive must also have been Queen-right … when I had been sure both colonies had been Queen-less due to no eggs or brood.

Is My Analysis Correct?

Have I drawn the right conclusions? Were they more probably prime swarms rather than casts? Were the field hives always Queen-right? Please comment.

The Outcome

The field hives look to have combined OK and I hope will have let the 2017 queen survive. (Though I am a bit concerned why they are already raising more queen cells – which I removed)
The stack of three colonies on one hive … looks to have combined OK, again, hopefully with a 2017 Queen leading the colony
I have a spare nuc box again! Phew!
One of the allotment hives looks to have complete 2 supers of honey with thin foundation! Wow! My hopes are once again raised for a large summer harvest!
All colonies look on course to be productive in July
Senen and I scraped out some honey from the supers where the swarms had been captured:

Roger & Senen Eating Honey From Comb (28 May 2017)

Plans

According to the “track and trace” function on the transport company website, on the 1st June I can expect my two new Thermosolar Hives to arrive. These are much needed. I can then put the 2 nucs in the allotments into 2 full 14×12 hives and put the south facing colonies into the Thermosolar hives! Very, very exciting. I will then be able to fully try out killed varroa without chemicals in these two hives. I will also be able to free up a further 2 nuc boxes.
I have got the two field hives into a good position to put into the Beehaus when it arrives early summer
Add supers and put my feet up in June and July??? I guess not!

Please read My Apiary notes for 22 May to 28 May 2017 for the detail of this week
How-To Catch A Swarm
How-To Hive A Swarm
How-To Combine Hives
Beehaus Review

Beautiful Swarm For The Beehaus

I had my first swarm of the year.

It was 16C, so I went down to the allotment to do a quick 12 noon scan for a swarm. 80m away I spotted that a fence post in the farmers field was a darker colour than the other posts and wider at the top. As I approached it was clearly a swarm. It was very contained, just a few bees flying around. And very calm, the bees did not bother with me at all. It was a classic, beautiful swarm.

Swarm Of Bees - Close Up — Swarm Of Bees – Close Up

Catching The Swarm

I quickly got my nuc box, brushed half of the bees in, moved the box 10m to behind the gates (safe from the cows), grabbed a few handfuls of the remaining bees from the post and placed them on walkway up to the nuc entrance. 10 minutes later all the bees had left the post and made their way to the nuc.

The Remaining Bees In Swarm Find Nuc Box

I later transferred the swarm to full hive body and fed a thin syrup.

Ready For The Beehaus

I have mentioned before that the team at Omlet are providing me with a Beehaus (thanks again). The Beehaus is wide, has 2 entrances and allows for 2 separate colonies.

With 2 colonies facing in opposite directions I am ready for the Beehaus. The plan is to put both colonies in the Beehaus, whilst keeping them separate. Exterminate the old queen and then combine the hives with the new Queen (the hive on the left is the one that swarmed and will have a 2017 queen). I am hoping this large colony become a honey factory with possibly 20+ frames of brood by end May that will become foragers during the main nectar flow in July! I am ever hopeful!

I wrote a review of the Beehaus some years ago, or you can go direct to the Beehaus website. It’s a super duper hive. With an aching back the day after my swarm exertions, I am looking forward to using this ergonomic hive. It will also make swarm management easier.

My Swarm Management Approach This Year

I hadn’t managed to find a convenient time (due to cold weather when I was free) to practice any swarm management on this colony that swarmed. I was also hoping that the cold weather would delay any swarming till a bit later in May. With my allotment hives, I have given them additional supers below the brood box and am planning to split the 2 strong ones ASAP. The colony which I had to emergency feed is struggling somewhat and no where near swarming.

Videos Of The Swarm

I also took a series of 4 video clips:

Part 1/4 – Found Bee Swarm On Fence Post

Part 2/4 – Some Bees In Box Others Remain On Fence Post

Part 3/4 – All The Bees Find The Nuc Box

Part 4/4 – Close Up Of Bees Going Into The Nuc Box

Supering-Up With Ross Rounds

It’s all about making section honey this summer and in yesterday’s glorious weather I added Ross Round (RR) supers to my 3 strong hives (with no queen excluders this year).

Ross Rounds - Placing Foundation In Frames — Ross Rounds – Placing Foundation In Frames

I only have 3 RR supers, so my plan is to put regular supers containing thin foundation on top of these RRs. I will do this in about a weeks time.

I will not be using queen excluders with the RR because (A) it slows down the bees, (B) it’s hard enough to get the bees into the circular RRs, and (C ) I read that the Queen does not like or go in the RRs to lay anyhow. The plan is that creating a layer of honey in the RR will deter the Queen going further up and laying eggs in the thin foundation supers.

I have written about RRs here:

For an update on my hive records, visit My Apiary.

And this is what I am aiming for with the RRs by the end of July, except more of them this year:

Bee Gym Review – Does It Help Bees Self-Groom & Remove Varroa?

Summary

The Bee Gym claims to help honeybees to self-groom, scratch and rub to remove varroa mites from their bodies. Is it too good to be true?

In a limited trial, a well-respected apicultural research group finds significantly lower estimated mite population in the hive with the Bee Gym than the other hives and significantly increased mite drop under the Bee Gym. They make an initial conclusion that the “Bee Gym has been beneficial but many more similar trials are needed for a considered conclusion”.

This blog post describes how the Bee Gym works and links to this independent research trial and evidence. It is also a call for the National Bee Unit or University to undertake some further research.

How does it work?

I became aware of the Bee Gym in Vita’s February newsletter and they very kindly sent me a few to pop into my hives.

In summary, the Bee Gym contains a 10cm square plastic frame with a wire and paddles / flippers that the honeybees can rub against in order to self-groom and remove varroa. It’s a hygienic bee’s dream! Just writing about it makes me want to have a good scratch! To use it you simply slide it through the entrance and onto your open mesh floor.

Here is a video of it in action. There is a lot of rubbing going on … though I don’t see any varroa mites falling off.

There is also an informational graphic:

Is there any evidence that it works?

There has not been much independent research into the Bee Gym but one trial is worth a mention by the Devon Apricultural Research Group (DARG). This group have good credentials as it was established by a number of individuals including the author and lecturer, Ron Brown, and Peter Donovan of Buckfast Abbey.

In summary their results show:

Significantly lower estimated mite population in the hive with the Bee Gym than the other hives
Significantly increased mite drop under the Bee Gym as compared with other hives

And in conclusion:

“My initial conclusion is that for this trial the Bee Gym has been beneficial but many more similar trials are needed for a considered conclusion. I shall certainly carry on with this trial using more colonies and Bee Gyms in 2017.” Richard Ball, Chairman DARG

I look forward to hearing more from this group on their experience in 2017. It would be great if the National Bee Unit or a University could get involved.

Their trial can be downloaded here. It’s a two pager. Bee Gym – DARG research trial.

The Bee Gym website also publishes some results: Bee Gym Results.

How much is it?

It is currently retailing at £12.61 in the UK and USA. Follow this link to Vita to find suppliers and more information: Bee Gym Info & Suppliers.

Vita – Visit this website for more information and to find suppliers
Thermosolar Hive – I expect to receive two of these varroa eliminating hives shortly – this is my review
Varroa management – My pages on how to control varroa

Finally

The beekeeping season is in full swing. I am very excited. I have flying bees in all 4 hives.

Emergency Feeding Bees – Part 2

I checked the hive again today to see if my emergency feeding had worked.

There was still virtually no activity in the hive – so evidently not worked.

I filled my sprayer with sugar syrup and returned.

I opened the hive and there were no bees in the feeder. I opened the hive and there was about 1-2,000 bees still alive … just. They were consuming whatever they could. They had eaten their brood. They were barely moving. There was quite a bit of diarrhoea due to the starvation.

I took the hive apart so I could empty the floor of dead bees (again, about 1-2,000).

Beekeeper Inspecting Dead BeesBeekeeper Inspecting Dead Bees — Me Inspecting Dead Bees

I then pulled out the a frame with bees on and started spraying the thin sugar syrup into the cells. I then took courage and took the lid off and started pouring it in. That worked well with no spillage. The cells held it all in. I poured the syrup into the other side and repeated on about 4 frames in total. The bees were getting more active by the time I had finished.

I put the feeder back on top.

There was some interest from the other bees but not too much. Fingers crossed a robbing session will not happen.

Emergency Feeding Bees – Part 1

Blog readers have just started posting again on my Beekeeper Anonymous page (that I created when an early colony of mine starved), so I should have taken it as a warning to go and check my bees.

I just popped down to the allotment today (24th March) to do a quick 30 minute weed. I could immediately see that the near and far hives were very, very busy but that the middle hive was not very active at all.

This hive had the least stores when I inspected a week ago. Reading the comb I knew this hive was low on stores but it had been such a nice day and I hoped they were home and dry now that April was near. Lesson learnt – I should have fed. I wish I had.

There were dead bees and bees moving slowly on the landing board. There was the occasional bee returning from foraging. I looked in through the entrance and could see lots of dead bees on the floor (up to about 1,000). It looked desperate but hopefully not terminal.

I immediately went to the shop and bought 3kg sugar. Mixed with 3L of water into a thin syrup and put into a honey tub and some into a hand sprayer.

Returned to the hive. Opened the crown board. Removed the MAQs. Sprayed several times down each seam directing it into the comb. In retrospect, I wish I had sprayed more as the comb could have held it without leaking out of the hive. Put the jumbo feeder on top and poured in the thin syrup. I then trickled some down into the hive so they could find the feeder.

Closed up and hoped. It was 5.30pm and still 13C.

I looked into the feeder 20 mins later and one single bee was walking up into the feeder! I hope they find the energy to get into the feeder.

Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny and 13C. If the emergency feeding has worked they should be flying as normal. If not, I’ll open again and spray in a lot more syrup.

Whilst I was kitted out I removed the MAQs from all 4 hives and put in entrance reducers.

Go and check your hives tomorrow!

March In The Apiary

Hello! Welcome Back!

The beekeeping season is kicking off here in the UK. Temperatures are occasionally hitting 17C (63F) and honeybees are flying. I am very excited about 2017 though I remain apprehensive about whether I can remember how to do the beekeeping and intimidated at the idea of opening hives full of 60,000 bees! I am again optimistic about honey production and have bought 90 super frames with thin foundation … that’s about 360 containers of cut comb honey! I’ll be delighted if I make 50 containers. I am hotly anticipating in the arrival of the Thermosolar Hives, a Beehaus and my use of the anti-swarm method!

In my roller coaster of emotions I am currently excited and terrified in equal measure! It’s a heady mix.

Time In The Apiary

I am going to keep logging my time, to see if the “five hour beekeeper” is a realistic goal. Total beekeeping in March: 3 hours: 1.5 hours of manipulations, 1.5 hours cleaning and disinfecting hives. I also spent 1 hour of shopping in the January online sales. So 4 hours total this year.

First Inspection Of 2017

I took advantage of a sunny spell over the weekend and dived into my hives.

All four hives are thriving. Two hives are strong and one of those had bees on 9-11 frames. Two hives have about 6-7 frames of bees. All hives had frame after frame of cells with neat lines of eggs. The bees looked healthy. One hive was low on stores but had some liquid nectar. None of the colonies were aggressive. I think they are all going to be fine.

Brood Frame Inspection Close Up (Capped Honey Top Left; Capped Brood Visible Below Bees)

There were some big fat spiders lurking under the roof of the hive and in one case, in the hive. I had seen a wax moth larvae in September last year, but now there are no signs of wax moth. Either I destroyed the one wax moth larvae, the bees defended their hive or the spiders ate them all up!

I am trying the anti-swarm method I have written about. In one hive I managed to add a super below and 4 frames of drone comb – perfect. In another hive I added a super and 2 frames of comb as there was too much stores or eggs on the other frames. The strong hives had too many bees and whilst not stinging me, they did start pinging off my bonnet … I replaced the frames and left them alone. As I split hives, create nucs and artificial swarms and move them into the Thermosolar hives and Beehaus I will add the drone frames and supers till I get to the correct configuration.

I added MAQS to all hives to remove varroa as MAQs work at more than 10C.

Plan

I am probably going to leave the hiives for a few weeks. In April I will add two supers to each colony and if the Thermosolar hives have arrived I will establish new colonies in these boxes with the anti-swarm configuration (one super for brood, one 14×12 box, 4 drone frames in the 14×12 box ).

Roman Linhart and Jan Rája with Thermosolar Hive

The Sound Of Spring

The sun is gathering power and we are experiencing the occasional warm day.

I popped down to the allotment on a sunny lunchtime this week and found my honeybees flying in all 3 allotment hives. They were happily buzzing away and carrying huge sacks of bright yellow pollen on their legs. The birds are also getting noisier. I felt energised!

Successful Overwintering

I also felt I might be becoming a better beekeeper. 4 out of 4 colonies have survived the winter, so far. I didn’t need to feed the colonies last autumn as it’s a job I want to stop doing.

What I did differently this year:

Taking honey at the end of July, rather than August – this was the key change
Perhaps the Bee Cosies might be helping (but the 2 strongest colonies going into autumn are also the 2 strongest colonies as spring approaches and one of those colonies did not have a Bee Cosy)
Not moving the hives over the winter period

… and as always I did Apiguard treatments in August.

A great start.

What’s Next

Now I need to get my bravery up to open the hives, prepare them for my anti-swarm strategy and add MAQs.

My beekeeping approach for this year (2017) is summarised here: The Five Hour Beekeeper.

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Requeening - Simon & Roger — Requeening – Simon & Roger

Thermal Images Show Honeybee Cluster

I sold two good quality 14×12 nucs in October and the new owner has stayed in touch.

He just emailed me a few thermal images, including the one below. I think he took them on a thermal image camera and then used his phone to take a photo of the screen.

Whilst most of us are sitting tight he has the comfort of knowing, his bees are in the winter cluster.

The Nuc Seller & The New Beekeeper

Cut Comb – Reusing Thin Drawn Foundation?

Last Year’s Thin Foundation

Questions Around Reusing Thin Foundation

Plan Of Action

Further Reading

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Beehaus – Breaking News

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14×12 Nucs For Sale & Downsizing

Efficient Beekeeping

14×12 Nucs For Sale

Other Items For Sale

Videos & Photos Of Nucs (Feeder On Top):

The Beekeeper

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Forlorn Beesuit

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14×12 Thermosolar Hives For Sale

Thermosolar Hive Photos

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14×12 Nucs & Beekeeping Equipment For Sale

Other Items For Sale

Videos & Photos Of Nucs (Feeder On Top):

The Beekeeper

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Cut Comb Honey Success?

The Reckoning

Video Of Me Cutting Honey Comb

What Is Success When It Comes To A Honey Crop?

First Indications

Frame Of Capped Honey – Beautiful

Cutting Comb

Cut Comb In Carton

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Bees Installed Into Thermosolar Hives

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Thermosolar Hive Arrives

First Reaction

The Key Components

Eliminating Varroa

Thermosolar Hive Guide

My Questions For Thermosolar Hive Team

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Chaos In The Apiary

The Events

24 May Swarm

My Last Nuc Box On 22 May

The Analysis

The Swarms

The Combined Hives In Farmer’s Field

Is My Analysis Correct?

The Outcome

Plans

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Beautiful Swarm For The Beehaus

Catching The Swarm

Ready For The Beehaus

My Swarm Management Approach This Year

Videos Of The Swarm

Part 1/4 – Found Bee Swarm On Fence Post

Part 2/4 – Some Bees In Box Others Remain On Fence Post

Part 3/4 – All The Bees Find The Nuc Box

Part 4/4 – Close Up Of Bees Going Into The Nuc Box

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