regaining my sanity through beekeeping
Out of the blue I got an email last week from BBC Radio Gloucestershire who were wanting to interview local bloggers, understand their motivations and how they keep-up the momentum. It went out as “near-live” yesterday:
How do you move heavy supers, hives and syrup from the apiary to your car or house?
Beekeepers back is something I could fall foul of so I needed a solution for transporting the supers from the hive to home, feeding the bees with buckets of syrup and for moving my hives to an out apiary in the winter (more on this in a future post). Also – when I thought I would have 10 full supers of honey, the need for a hive trolley seemed particularly acute.
I was pointed in the direction of 2 different types of trolleys and went for the garden cart below.
It’s perfect for my needs. It can fit 4 national supers without them sliding off. Be warned it comes flat pack, the assembly instructions are very basic, and give yourself 1 hour to understand how it fits and a further 1 hour to assemble. A second head/opinion/helper (or better yet leader/flat pack-enthusiast) is also useful (regular readers will know this to be my Dad).
It’s not cheap (£65-£85) so be prepared for your partner to question its worth when you discover you’re only going to get 35 pounds of honey – and especially so, it they are 8 months pregnant, suffering back pain and haven’t invested in ones of those pregnancy back supports due to the costly nature of them!
A hand / sack truck, like photo below, was also recommended to me by experienced beekeeper:
If you are interested in hive trolleys, try the Amazon links below:
You will see similar products if the above do not meet your needs or are out of stock.
Make sure the hive trolly will fit your hives. In the UK the external length x width dimensions of national brood boxes and supers are 46cm x 46cm (just over 18 inch square).
I understand the most commonly used hives in the USA are the Langstroth hives with external length x width dimensions of 50.8cm x 41.6cm (20 inch x 16 3/8 inch).
* I could not find an equivalent hand / sack truck for USA (i.e. robust, larger wheels for outdoor use). Grateful for any links to equivalent used in USA.
Some people think aggressive bees make more honey but I have seen no evidence of this. I have only experienced terrifying attacks and their relentless and uncanny ability to find any weak spots in my protective gear, which now includes marigold washing-up gloves under my leather gloves. See video below.
I apologise for some muffled swearing at the end. I thought I was fully protected and I thought bees only walked up … but apparently they can also walk down … down my boots in this case, plus they got one of my ears (again).
Is anyone else having the same level of aggression from any of their hives – and if so, what’s to blame? Is it nature, nurture – or just they don’t like the look of me? I mean these bees are not just a bit annoyed by my visits – within seconds of lifting the lid I have 15 stings protuding from my gloves!
And I thought these bee suits were meant to protect us but even with my DIY layer of insulation underneath (thick shirt / jeans and my trusted marigolds), they are still finding routes to attack (seemingly especially fond of my ears and ankles).
Even when I make my retreat, they don’t accept their victory graciously, no, they follow me 100 metres with one even escourting me to my front door, and attacking again when I re-emerge five minutes later. No wonder I have a persecution complex!
20 minutes after the above video I was in a mild state of shock. I could see that my arms and legs were covered in hives (skin looks like it is having allergic reaction) and I noticed that my ears felt like they had been injected with wax. Apparently I was shouting. I think the hives (on the skin) and ears were stress related rather than bee venom related as they had settled down after an hour.
Here’s a photo of my feet the evening of the stings. Stings in the ankles are painful. The feet swell by 30%.
For hours (and days) after the experience I could still hear their buzz in my ears. I flinched at small sounds. I jumped nervously when my wife touched my shoulder. I have, it must be said, become a nervous beekeeper!
Despite all the above, I’m not giving up on beekeeping! So what’s my plan of counter-attack?
Next June I will re-queen with queens that are proven to generate gentle bees. Re-queening now runs the double risk of the bees not accepting the queen and of winter losses.
So how am I going to co-exist with these bees for the next 10 months? My wife and I can generally talk through our differences, and though she can be quite scary at times (“I’m gonna get you in the night” – terrifying), at least I don’t get beaten up or swell up as a result. I know this blog is called “talking with bees” but there is no opportunity for any bee whispering with these aggressive bees. So I think the only interim solution is to put a top of the range bee suit (made from kevlar?) on my Christmas list and looking at my wife’s reaction to events (she doesn’t like to see me getting hurt) – I might get one.
Post script: Sherriff (the top quality bee suit manufacturer) have now supplied me an Apiarist Bee Suit. So far, so bee tight!
I approach the honey harvest with a mix of excitement, after all, this is what it’s all about; but also dread, as I find the extraction a bit of a drag plus it was too nice a day to be inside.
Having spoken to a few beekeepers, I decided to take off the honey on the 3rd August in order to allow the bees more time to bring forage into their hives for the winter and to allow me to use Apiguard earlier without the risks of the bees starving.
I’ve always been a glass half-full kind of guy (rather than half-empty) but I surpassed myself this time.
In mid-July I had 11 supers in operation and was sure I had about 150lb of honey and was on track to produce 200lb from my 4 hives. I was even managing to get my wife excited about my honey production with grand plans of getting our toddler to set up a small shop at the end of the garden with neighbours queuing down the road to buy my local wares.
However … when I removed 4 supers on 3rd August it seemed I had about 80lb of honey. (I think the bees had been eating their stores).
And then … when I jarred it the reality was I had 35lb (70 x 1/2lb jars) and that’s after literally scraping the barrel.
I thought I was going to have 300 jars for sale to raise money for a couple of new hives and still have enough to give to patient and greedy friends who listen to my bee stories. The reality is I’ll have 30 jars for friends and 40 for sale (which will only buy part of a hive).
Still, ever the optimist, I’m seeing this result as a 350% improvement on last year and not bad considering I had one colony in April. And of course, the really important bit, is that the honey tastes fantastic (I got the ultimate endorsement when a beekeepers wife told her husband that she preferred my honey to his and he agreed!)
I have created a new page detailing my honey yields and comparing with the UK and South West averages.
I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about my probable intention to use MAQs strips whilst still considering Apiguard. Based on comments, emails and conversations with 3 beekeepers (who had 25-300 hives and all used different treatments), I have concluded that Apiguard best meets my needs for August treatment.
I would use MAQs strips in May/June if I had high Varroa.
I won’t be using Apiguard in the hive with no Varroa.
A couple of years ago I had colonies with 1,000 varroa. Now, the estimated number of varroa in the hives is low and as follows.
More details about the counts in the Hive Record Cards.
My wife and I have just spent a week on holiday in Cornwall.
For our mutual sanity I agreed not to talk about bees and she agreed not to talk about her expanding body (32 weeks pregnant, “about to burst”).
It was good for both of us not to talk about our obsessive thoughts.
On reflection, I would have talked about the same 1 or 2 bee-related ideas about 50 times. No wonder she wanted a holiday from that.
Based on a sample of 1, me, it might be!
Since I was 3 years old I’ve been on eye drops, nose sprays, anti-histamine and I tried a homeopathic remedy for a time too. I might like to pretend to be Bear Grylls when I’m with the bees, but the reality is I’m a sensitive soul and I’m allergic to blooming pollen. Literally.
Peak allergy time for me was April to July. My hay fever has been getting better over the last 10 years but this year was the first time I didn’t need anything from the start of June till the end of the season. And last year, my local honey came from the June and July nectar flow!
Conclusion (again – based on my completely non-scientific sample of 1) – exposure to the June and July pollen through the rest of the year has increased my tolerance and helped to reduce my allergies. Now if only I can prove to my wife that I’m allergic to hops …
This is the kind of question I ponder in my search to create the Ultimate Beekeeping Calendar. But it’s also a question I can’t find an answer to on the Internet, so I thought I would ask you guys.
If I don’t get swayed by any comments to this post I’m going for the MAQs strips.
There are a number of interventions I am using to reduce varroa. In summary these are:
I have written more about Varroa Management on pages highlighted at the bottom of this post. There are also links to the products I am discussing.
As I increasingly smell the aromatic honey in my hives, I’ve realised a lot of this blog goes into the detail of honey production, but of course, what this hobby (passion? obsession? possible cause of divorce?) is actually about is taste.
Honey is about satisfying those 10,000 taste buds of ours (only 5,000 if you’re older). It’s about dipping a spoon into a pot of honey, pulling it out, watching it ooze over our toast and biting in. It’s about that unique, sweetness enveloping our senses. It’s the reason why, for centuries, man has tackled the beehive (without our modern protection) and raided the bees larder.
When I began beekeeping all I knew was that I liked honey on my porridge and that I’d like a “free” supply even more. These days, I’m really interested in the different tastes of honey – floral, aromatic, delicate, spicey, malty, tangy, peppery, smokey, buttery, hints of vanilla, blackberry front notes, fruity back notes, toffee aftertaste, a touch of mint … the list goes on and as I taste the different honeys I come across I increasingly appreciate the differences.
I’m still on a mission to sample more varieties from different regions across the country and around the world and would love any recommendations you have. From the Talking With Bees perspective I’m very happy with the honey I have been producing which is highly scented and aromatic with a floral flavour, and I’m hopeful that friends and customers comments about it being the best honey they’ve tasted stands up to scrutiny. Undoubtedly this is due primarily to all those lovely flowers which surround the apiary, in the allotment, gardens, hedges, woods and fields – photos of which you can see here.
Help with naming the flowers below appreciated!
I’m a bloke with a small garden, allotment, beehives, wife, small child, full time job and a bee blog. In winter it’s manageable, it’s mainly the job and the family to contend with. But in summer, I literally run around the lawn with my push mower, do 2 hour emergency weeding once a month and have 30 minutes for weekly bee inspections. It does not feel like the good life until 10pm when I’m sitting on my bench with a beer staring at the stars and wondering what I can do less of.
After spending 1 hour and 40 minutes assembling 10 frames for another super and realising I needed an extra day (that I didn’t have) to assemble more, I thought I’d google and see if there was a better option. An option that would hopefully mean I didn’t bodge frames so badly that they needed to go on the fire, or that the remaining 80% of my frames had minor defects.
Finding a time-saving solution became even more pressing when I realised that, when I’d originally put my frames together a couple of years ago, I’d glued in both the bottom bars, not appreciating that I would need to take out the wax every few years. Rather than this being an excellent idea of mine to ‘ad lib wih the instructions’, it turns out that I’ll probably need to build another fire to chuck on some more useless frames I’ve spent time on!
Anyway in order to save you guys time – here’s what I’ve found out …
I’d seen an advert in the BBKA magazine for Beesy frames (link below) which used plastic corners and MDF strips: “Snap together, no more nailing” – sounded perfect – especially as they cost just £10 for 10 frames.
These frames are definitely worth considering and the cheapest I have found (cost comparison below).
http://youtu.be/PBy8J4kk4q8
Next, I came across Beehive Bits. Their frames are 100% plastic. Their website stated “They are delivered to you already made and just need foundation. To do this just prise the frame apart with your hive tool, slide your chosen foundation into position and close the two sides back together. No more nails needed and ready to use within minutes. They can be cleaned very easily by simply boiling, a plastic bag in the deep freeze or even cleaned through a dishwasher therefore making them ready to re-use”.
Even though they were a bit more expensive I decided to go with them because of the dishwasher bonus and, er, because they looked shiney and red. Here I am assembling one:
I am delighted with these frames as it took me less than 15 minutes to make 10 of them. Now I just need to see how the bees find them. They don’t make them for 14×12 frames, so I might call Beesy over the winter.
Grateful for any comments on people’s experience of plastic frames.
These prices do not include wax foundation or delivery or bulk pricing and are correct as of 6 July 2014.
With the Beehive Bits frames you can use the unwired foundation, saving yourself £1 per 10 frames.
I provide a honey extraction service for beekeepers with hives in Bristol, Bath & Gloucestershire.
I come to bespoke arrangements with beekeepers to extract their honey from supers. I can pay you per full super or can provide you with a proportion of the extracted honey. Payment or share varies depending on if I collect or you drop-off and pick-up.
Please read my page on the TWB Network for more information.
Please read TWB Network page for more information.
Forget that EU vote, don’t worry about the Scottish Referendum and stop dialling the Big Brother voting line (somehow I doubt any beekeeping types would) … it’s time for the results you’ve been waiting for. Yes, in my completely non-scientific poll you guys have said I probably need less than 8 supers for my 4 hives.
This seems reasonable but I must admit I’m getting a bit greedy with my appetite for supers. It’s the place where bees store their honey after all and I don’t want to restrict their ability when there’s all this glorious nectar about. Obviously I will abide by the results but there’s a Maisemore sale on Saturday which makes it very hard!! I’ll let you know if I resist the temptation…
In the meantime, here is a photo of my 4 hives with 5 supers.
Some strange goings on in Hive Two. One swarm cell in centre of hive and one swarm cell at the bottom of a frame. She’s a new Queen and laying well. If they were planning to swarm there would normally be about 10 swarm cells. Are they thinking of supercedure? I moved the frames around and I’ll see what’s happened at the weekend.
I posted on the 15 May that I had my first guest at the solitary bee hotel (or Interactive Mason Bee Management System House as it’s known in the States).
I now have 11 guests.
A neighbour gave me some poppy seeds last year. I sprinkled them liberally around the garden, expecting them to look like the ones you see in fields – 30cm tall, floaty, dreamy. Instead, I have 150cm giants, single headed, double headed, pink, red, purple. I love them. My bees love them. They’ve been all over them every morning since the end of May. I’m going to harvest the seeds and give them to neighbours to help give the bees some food during next year’s June gap (when there’s a shortage of flowers for the bees, before the 2nd nectar flow starts in July).
I have been overly optimistic in previous seasons when estimating how many supers (boxes on top of the hive where the bees store honey) I need, so this time I thought I would ask you guys for a more objective estimate before I buy any more.
So to help estimate:
How many supers do you think I will need this summer?
Total Voters: 10
Loading ...This poll ends on 30 June 2014. Also – I would be interested in comments on how you have made your estimates.
… and 3 of them are marked! At some points last year I thought I would never reach this level of beekeeping! Or maybe the weather and bees have been kinder to me. Either way, I am delighted.
In Summary:
They need to draw the comb so the Queen can lay more eggs so I have strong hives for July nectar flow.
The allotment is also beginning to bloom and providing some flowers for the bees:
Forget Godzilla… this summer’s thriller is all about the bees. They have been swarming all over the country; from Topshop in London to cultural statues in Cambridge and now, my lot here in tranquil Gloucestershire are at it!
Like any classic summer blockbuster, the day started so peacefully. My wife and child were out for the day and I was living the dream… pottering down the allotment, checking out my broad beans and blissfully unaware of what the bees were planning. Until of course I heard the roar of them departing.
Suddenly ten thousand bees were on their way out. Man, they are loud. And blooming scary!
I’ve never seen a swarm in action before but I quickly converted into super-hero mode. I donned my uniform and reassured myself I could handle this.
A lot of the neighbours were also in the allotment. I was conscious I had to look like I knew what I was doing.
I rushed back for my swarm capture gear (cardboard box, suit, brush) and being the dedicated blogger I am, my video camera.
In my mind, I expected the swarm to land on the branch of a tree and I’d shake the whole lot into a box in one go. The reality was more messy.
I hopped over the fence, found the bees congregating in the hedge and shook them into the cardboard box. I got a few thousand but many more thousands remained in the air, on the grass and in the hedge.
I went back for a spare hive and placed it 1m away. I chucked the swarm into the hive, placed the frames over them and closed it up with a crown board.
Studying the bees I saw them congregating again in the hedge. I went back with the cardboard box, and shook them in. I didn’t want to open the hive, so placed the box near the hive. My hope was the Queen was in the hive and she would attract all the workers.
I studied the cardboard box to see if I could see the Queen, and after 5 minutes I did. I coached her onto my fingers, placed her near the entrance of the hive and she walked in. I studied the entrance for a few more minutes and did not see her come out.
This felt like the moment where the credits of the film would come up – I had surely won the day!
There remained lots of bees on the outside of the hive but after about 4 hours they were in with only a few hundred flying around.
At 8pm, I moved the hive into the allotment, placed a Queen excluder above and below the brood box, so she couldn’t escape, and gave them 2Kg of sugar as a light syrup.
So me and the bees have survived. It’s been scary but thrilling and overall “Catching A Swarm” has felt like a classic.
If you are enjoying these occasional posts, please do subscribe to get the latest goings on in the apiary into your inbox. Facebook likes and tweets also very much appreciated.
Also – please share your swarm experiences.
WARNING (and this is particularly aimed at my friend Mark) – If you are not a beekeeper do not read this post.
During my inspection and hive manipulations on the 17th May (Post: Bee Inspection), there was a really high pitched squeal (a bit like a high pitched hiss of steam escaping under pressure), followed by another one when I put the frame with the Queen swarm cell in the poly nuc (small hive). I’m not sure if this was because they realised they now had the chance of a Queen or because some fights broke out with the few bees from the foreign hive. Or it might have been a piping sound indicating that there was a queen in the hive? Eek. On reflection it could have been the later – but was she mated, unmated, able to sting?
Lots of options, lots of questions, please help:
I posted my question on the BBKA Discussion Board and got the following response (many thanks):
It’s reasonable to assume that one or other queen did emerge from the queencell and there’s a queen in the hive. If the weather has been less than 16 degrees, then she would be unlikely to have mated. You have now put a queencell in the hive so it’s quite possible that the piping you heard is from one or other queen. As a result you will either have a swarm with the older virgin leaving (more likely with a populous hive); the queencell could be torn down from the back or the queen could emerge from the queencell and then fight with the older one.
To check for queenlessness the procedure is to put in a test frame of eggs / young brood to see if they raise a queencell. One check to see if there’s a queen in the hive is to look where the brood should be. If that space of polished cells is surrounded by an arc of stores, then it’s a pretty sure sign that the bees are ready for the queen to lay and she’s there. (Somewhere).
With a careful check you may be able to find the young queen (they tend to be quite quick-moving) and then decide what you want to do. (Use little smoke). You are right that queens that fail to mate for more than a month or so are likely to mate poorly or become drone layers.
Virgin queens that have not hatched out communicate by making a “quacking” from their queen cells. Queens free in the colony make a “tooting” sound. “Quacking” and “tooting” are collectively known as “piping”.
A virgin queen may frequently quack before she emerges from her cell and for a brief time afterwards. Mated queens may briefly pipe after being released in a hive.
Piping is most common when there is more than one queen in a hive. It is thought that the piping is a battle cry to announce her willingness to fight the other Queen and to let the worker bees know she is strong and worthwhile supporting.
Listening to the videos below, the sound was like a tooting. Hence, looks like their may have been a Queen in the hive. Mated or unmated. If she was been unmated she will have become a drone layer … but I just didn’t see any eggs or larvae.
The sound from my hive was like this.
Just as I thought I was becoming a better beekeeper I have realised beekeeping is even more of a challenge than I thought.
I found the Queen in Hive Two:
Inspecting the poly nuc hive:
Despite quite a lot of rain, Spring is still in the air!
I was bought a solitary bee hotel* (Amazon UK Link / USA Link) for Christmas and now it’s got its first guest! I think it might be a Mason Bee egg/larvae as the entrance has been plugged with mud.
* It’s funny how some things don’t translate. Putting in the Amazon link above I have learnt that in the States the same solitary bee hotel is called an “Interactive Mason Bee Management System House”, which reminds me of a story a friend who works in Houston told me recently, about a colleague who ran into the room to say that the “European Electric Water Heater was about to explode” when he was simply boiling a kettle.
I must say, I reckon those solitary bees have the right idea. I might have been able to cope with communal living in my twenties (I didn’t seem to mind waking up on Saturday mornings with random bodies sprawled over the flat) but these days I can barely handle my wife sharing the king sized bed let alone anyone else!
And eh eh, what’s this I’ve spotted in the garden? A hole with two halves of a nut shell on each side.
I’m pretty sure I know what it is and will update with my next post but open to guesses from you guys.
