Category: Beekeeping

The joys and guilt of harvesting my first honey

An important day in the honeybee calendar just happened without much of a plan and definitely without a fanfare of trumpets.  One minute I was unpacking boxes due to the house move, then I got distracted and thought I would check the bees (which are now 30m round the corner).  I decided to remove a couple of frames of honey from the supers as a small reward but as I got them in the house without too many bees following me I thought, “what the heck”, and went back for the whole super.  I just shook the bees off into the hive.  No smoke was used.  No clearer boards.  No stings were received.  It was easier than I had expected.  Too easy …

My spontaneous reasoning for harvesting the honey went something along the lines that due to the high varroa count in my hives I needed to treat with Apiguard as soon as possible and I did not want to taint the honey in the one super I had with the thymol in the Apiguard.  Both hives now have an Apiguard treatment and I’ll update you on the impact in a future post.

Having placed a super on the kitchen table I then had to be deal with it there and then.  The only part that was remotely planned was that I had a borrowed extractor to hand.

Method

There were four frames that looked extractable.  They contained 20% capped honey, and 50% unripe/uncapped honey (i.e. it was very liquid with a high water content and the bees had not yet flapped their wings enough to completely turn it into ripe honey).

Uncapping honey

Uncapping honey

I uncapped the capped cells with a serrated knife and placed the four frames in the extractor and turned the wheel.  This extracted the unripe honey.  As I got increasingly desperate to extract the ripe honey I first tried a hairdryer to soften it up (this had no effect) and then I used a knife and scraped it into a jar.

I must admit this this lustful frenzy of “harvesting” felt more like robbing.  Was I really stealing the bees winter lifeline for the sake of some sweet porridge in the morning and my beekeeper ego?

I reminded myself that though humans are the reason for the decline in honeybees (destruction of habitat, importing the varroa) if it was not for novice beekeepers, like myself, there would be no chance for the blighters at all.

And so I kept scraping …

Warming honey for extraction with no success

Warming honey for extraction

Results

Two jars of unripe honey (liquid) and one jar of honey scraped from the comb (this honey seems to be a mix of wax, pollen and honey and is quite granulated).  They all taste delicious and are sitting in the fridge to preserve them the best I can (unripe honey ferments).

My first honey

My wife has so far not participated in the honey tasting sessions as (A) she does not like honey and (B) she prefers to buy food from supermarkets.  I am working on both of these elements.  We picked some blackberries and made a pie last year!  And now that we are living in the countryside, she is getting more exposure to allotment food, bees, spiders and nature.

Unfortunately, the honey I have is definitely not of the quality (or quantity) to demonstrate my thanks to the friends who had lent the extractor or to the various neighbours who had experienced at close quarters the swarm in May.  Hopefully, next year will be more productive.

Conclusion

When I started beekeeping my “business plan” was modelled on having hives with an average of three supers producing 120 jars of honey.  I have since learnt that honey production is highly correlated to the weather and that to produce honey I am going to have to be a better beekeeper: manage swarming better and aim to have hives bursting with bees for the two nectar flows of April and July.  I am also keen to get my other colony into a large 14×12 brood box as soon as possible as this will allow them to store enough honey to last them the winter without me being tempted to take their supers.

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“Look, no smoke” & a Varroa problem

I thought I would try and be a bit more of a natural beekeeper and not use smoke (or water spray) this time I opened my hives.  It’s harvest season and the bees definitely have something to defend, so I was not sure of the wisdom of trying this approach at this time of year, but what the heck.  If it got tough, I’d go back with smoke.

Well, there was no noticeable effect of not using smoke.  The bees were no more aggressive, perhaps less so, as I received no stings and was not even aware of any high pitched squeals, or vibrations on my gloves or clothes that would have meant a bee was trying to sting me.

This might be an exception and I might have friendly bees.  It was definitely not because I am a bee whisperer.   I will keep going with my non-smoke approach.

Update on my hives.

Hive A / Original Hive

One super was pretty full of nectar.  About 30% capped.  One super seemed to have some mildew?  I called one of my beekeeping mentors and he advised leaving the super on until the start of September and hope that the bees cap the rest of the honey.  The risk is that they will eat it though!  Is this what other beekeepers would do?

Super with capped honey and nectar – hope they cap the rest?

Capped honey

A moldy super?  Will the bees clean it up?

Molder super

There was some nectar in one frame of the 2nd super.  But I just removed the whole lot so the bees focused on capping the honey in the first super.  Not sure if this was the right thing to do?

I had put the Varroa count board under the open mesh floor 24 hours before.  I counted 15 Varroa mites on the board, some of them were obviously alive and walking around.  From reading the FERA National Bee Unit guidance on Varroa we don’t want more than 1,000 Varroa in our hives otherwise there is the risk of colony collapse.  You can roughly calculate the number of Varroa in your hive by taking the daily mite drop and multiplying as follows:

  • November to February: daily mite drop x 400
  • May to August: daily mite drop x 30
  • March, April, September and October: daily mite drop x  100

There is also a handy Varroa calculator at Bee Base …  It would have been best to do a count over a week, but I can do that in a few weeks time.  Essentially, it seems like I have about 500 Varroa mites and this will grow rapidly over the next few weeks.  Crikey.

A Varroa mite (middle, middle)

Varroa mite

I have looked through the FERA guidance.  It’s too late in the season to undertake further biological controls beyond my open mesh floor (essentially, drone brood culling and artificial swarms) and it seems I am in a pyrethroid resistant area.  The oxalic acid treatment sounds a bit rough on the bees and one of my bee buddies killed all his bees when he tried it one year.  Hence, I am going to try Apiguard which is described as a natural product and thymol-based.  From reading the Apiguard instructions it seems one has to close the open mesh floor to keep in the fumes of the thymol.   I hope it’s OK just to put my Varroa board in.  Should I tape up the back of the hive as well?  Feedback welcome from beekeepers.   I plan to do this after I take the honey off at the start of September, and I plan to feed them 4 weeks later, after the 4 weeks of Apiguard treatment.  Will the bees be OK if I don’t feed them until October having robbed their super of honey?

Hive B / Swarm I hived in June

No honey or nectar or anything at all in the super.  They have drawn out 7 or the 11 frames in the brood box though.  They swarmed 2 weeks ago and I could not see any eggs or uncapped larvae.  Varroa destructor mite count 5 per day.

Healthy looking 14×12 brood frame – but no eggs or larvae yet

14x12 Brood Frame

You can see bees hatching out in this photo

14x12 Brood Bees Hatching

Plan:  Check this hive again at the start of September and hope to find eggs.  Add Apiguard at same time as Hive A.  Feed in October after Apiguard treatment.

Again, welcome any thoughts on this plan.

If you just want to watch the bees, here is a video clip I took before opening the hives.  You can see the yellow pollen they are bringing in on the backs of their leggs.

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Varroa Management – A how-to guide

My Dad – The Swarm Catcher

It wasn’t meant to be like this.  I was meant to be The Man, or better yet, The Beeman.  But The Old Man is taking all the glory.  To be fair, he is far more relaxed around the bees than me, so he probably did a far better job.  I can only take credit for the fact I gave him instructions down the phone.  After I put the phone down,  for a couple of seconds I thought “Crikey – I hope he’ll be alright” … and then I buried my head in some metaphorical sand, stuck my fingers in my ears and started a mantra along the lines of La La La.  This is the closest I get to meditation these days.

The bees swarmed … yes, again.  It was Friday 20th July and I was at work.  You might be wondering, which hive?  Depending on how well you remember the bee story so far, you might know it as Hive B, or the New Hive or the-swarm-I-hived-near-the-start-of-June.  Yes, they’d only been in there 6 weeks and half of them were ready to take off again.  I’d given them a nice, big, 14×12 brood box and whacked a super on top for good measure.  What was there not to like?  Me?  Anyhow, not to worry, there are still bees coming in and out as I write this – just rather fewer than a few weeks ago.

I told Dad to get the cardboard box and bee brush, don his beekeeper suit, find someone to take photos, brush the bees into the box, flip it upside down with a rock underneath to give the remaining bees space to get in, call the local bee association for them to collect (I had no where to put them), wait a couple of hours for all the bees to go in and then seal them up and put a few holes in the box.  Easy!

Here are a few photos and video clips of my Dad being manly, filmed by The Chicken Man (aka the chap who owns the chicken coop where the swarm landed).

 The Swarm – on a chicken coop in the allotment

 

Curious Cows – the cows come from the other side of the field to check out the action

Cows watching bee swarm

 

 Dad – The Swarm Catcher! Brushes bees into box

 Swarm Catcher

 

 Remaining honeybees find the Queen and rest of the swarm through pheromones

Catching a swarm

 

Dad fancies himself as David Attenborough

 

Dad seals bees in the box for collection

Swarm in a box

 

So yes – Dad not only survived but succeeded.  Thanks Dad!

Someone from the local bee association came to collect the swarm and whilst he was there he looked in the new hive with Dad.  When Dad told me this my Inner Beeman, who is already feeling a bit of a loser, took quite a confidence knock.  Crikey, am I so inadequate that I can’t check be trusted to check my own bees?  Anyhow, he spotted a Queen cell and thinks this is the hive where the swarm came from.

I have not looked in the hive for a few weeks now because (A) I’m a bad beekeeper, (B) I don’t think I have had any reason to check them and (C) it fits my new philosophy of Evidence-Based Beekeeping.  However, I am definitely inspecting the bees this weekend for the following:

  • Check how much honey there is and consider harvesting
  • Check their stores of honey and pollen
  • Make sure both hives have laying Queens, eggs and brood

Amazingly its near the end of the nectar flow and I need to start thinking about getting the bees ready for Winter.  I know the days are getting shorter but I’m still, looking forward to some Summer and I’m not yet ready to think about the colder months ahead.

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Evidence-Based Beekeeping

Reading The Barefoot Keeper, inspired me to do some further reading of scientific papers on honeybees with the aim of trying to understand how I need to adapt the classical methods I had been taught on courses and in beekeeping manuals.

One of the key issues raised in The Barefoot Beekeeper was the use of pre-printed wax foundation.  In his book, Philip states that, given the opportunity honeybees will “build slightly smaller worker cells than those dictated by the preformed sheets of foundation, used in framed hives”.  Philip goes on to say “according to the observations of a several long-time top bar beekeepers, these smaller cells appear to be less attractive to Varroa mites.”

Crikey.  If this is true, that’s important to know.  But was there any rigorous, scientific research into these issues?  I am shifting my reading from beekeeping manuals to science papers.

Scientific Papers

So where does one find the evidence?  I made contact with a leading academic in honeybee health and he pointed me in the direction of Google Scholar and SpringerLink.  The ApiNews Beekeeping Research page publishes new research every week.  The International Bee Research Association publishes research.

I have only had a limited amount of time, but my searches on keywords like “varroa destructor” and “brood cell size” have already yielded interesting papers (like the ones described at the end of this post).  What I have read so far led me to understand:

  • Dusting honeybees with icing sugar does not reduce varroa destructor (Whoa!! I was not expecting this.  Numerous experts had told me this was effective – and this evidence has been known since at least 2009.  See papers below.)
  • Natural selection in some wild colonies has helped improve mite resistance (not forgetting that many wild colonies have died due to varroa infestation)
  • Small-cell combs do not inhibit varroa mite reproduction

Evidence-Based Beekeeping

So, what does this initial research mean for how I keep bees?  Is there enough evidence here on which to base my beekeeping practices?  I’m not sure.  But if you want to join me on this journey, follow this blog (top right of screen) and you’ll find out what happens.  In the meantime, read on …

Dusting Bees With Icing Sugar

I might as well stop.  The evidence is pretty clear and on reading the FERA guides on varroa again, I notice there is no mention of icing sugar.

Natural Selection

It seems that if I don’t get involved in artificially selecting the Queen then my colonies might become better at resisting or living with varroa. But that said, how much can I (novice beekeeper) influence gene selection of my honeybees? Not a lot.

Action:

  • Perhaps at some point in the future look into Queen breeding for positive characteristics such as: productivity, not swarming, naturally resistant/hygienic to varroa mites – but not for the time being

Natural Comb

I like the idea of natural comb in the brood box.  I like the idea that the bees make their own sized cells, but evidence suggests this does not impact on the level of varroa infestation.  In The Barefoot Beekeeper, Philip, suggests that it is possible that there are less pesticide residues in new comb, as opposed to the recycled wax in foundation that we buy.

Actions:

  • None

Summary Of Research

My reading of scientific papers has only just started.  I have only “read” Seven so far, two in full and five abstracts.  So in the scale of things, this is very little.  If there are other useful scientific papers you think I should read, please let me know.

Here is a summary of the seven papers including links:

2012 Paper (link / pdf of full article): Host adaptations reduce the reproductive success of Varroa destructor in two distinct European honey bee populations; authors: Barbara Locke, Yves Le Conte, Didier Crauser, Ingemar Fries (Ecology and Evolution, Volume 2, Issue 6, pages 1144–1150, June 2012)

A key sentence in this article is “Besides suppressing mite reproduction, both Varroa resistant European honey bee populations in this study also share the fact that they have been unmanaged, enabling natural selection (as opposed to artificial) to shape the evolution of their mite resistance. This is an important consideration since it highlights the impact that apicultural practices otherwise have on these host–parasite interactions (Fries and Camazine 2001), suggesting a human interference in coevolution between species.”

There is a good reading list at the end of this paper.

2011 Paper (link): Small-cell comb does not control Varroa mites in colonies of honeybees of European origin

I have not paid for the full article but the abstract concludes, “We suggest that providing small-cell combs did not inhibit mite reproduction because the fill factor (thorax width/cell width) was only slightly higher in the small cells than in the standard cells (79% and 73%, respectively).”

2010 Paper (link): Brood-cell size has no influence on the population dynamics of Varroa destructor mites in the native western honey bee, Apis mellifera mellifera

I have not paid for the full article but the abstract concludes, “there is no evidence that small-cell foundation would help to contain the growth of the mite population in honeybee colonies and hence its use as a control method would not be proposed. “

2010 Paper (link): Brood cell size of Apis mellifera modifies the reproductive behavior of Varroa destructor

I have not paid for the full article but the abstract concludes, “No significant correlation was observed between brood cell width and number of offspring of V. destructor. Infertile mother mites were more frequent in narrower brood cells.”

2009 Paper (link): The efficacy of small cell foundation as a varroa mite ( Varroa destructor ) control

I have not paid for the full article but the abstract concludes, “We found no evidence that small cell foundation was beneficial with regard to varroa control under the tested conditions in Florida.”

2009 Paper (link): The efficacy of dusting honey bee colonies with powdered sugar to reduce varroa mite populations

I have not paid for the full article but the abstract concludes, “Within the limits of our study and at the application rates used, we did not find that dusting colonies with powdered sugar afforded significant varroa control”.  I.e. It had no effect in the conditions they used.  Crikey. Now there’s a surprise.  The researchers dusted every two weeks for 11 months with 120 g powdered sugar per application. They treated by sifting icing sugar over the top bars of the brood nest and then brushing it between the frames. That’s how I’ve been doing it!

2001 Paper (link / pdf): Effectiveness of confectioner sugar dusting to knock down Varroa destructor from adult honey bees in laboratory trials

I have attached the full paper.  I thought it worth including this paper, as it is probably the origin of all the icing sugar dusting that has been going on.  It seems that in lab conditions varroa are knocked off but please see the 2009 paper above for evidence of what happens in real life conditions (or at least conditions similar to how I have been treating varroa).

There are also some interesting papers on using biological plants extracts and essentials oils to reduce varroa but this area needs more research:

  • Repellent and acaricidal effects of botanical extracts on Varroa destructor (2011): link
  • Biological activity of some plant essential oils against Varroa destructor (2011): link

Future

I am going to start developing an Evidence-Based Beekeeping page.  I will rely on blog readers to improve my amateur notes.

If there are any other useful scientific papers, please let me know.  I will read them and see what conclusions I can draw or we can all draw.  Alternatively, please let me know what the conclusions are!

If you would like to be one of the first to receive this new page, please follow this blog.

The Barefoot Beekeeper

I’m a sucker for old ways of doing things, new ways of doing things, different ways of doing things, so I was always going to have a soft spot for a book like this.  And despite advocating natural beekeeping methods, there was no mention of feeding honeybees chamomile tea.

So what did I make of this book?

The Synopsis

Philip is very concerned about the traditional Langstroth hive, conventional beekeeping methods and the use of pesticides.  He’s made me concerned too!

Philip is an advocate of the Top Bar Hive (TBH).  The key reasons for this, is that he believes, the thicker material makes them easier for honeybees to maintain their colony temperature and he likes bees to make their own wax foundation to their natural specifications.  He also believes they are more ergonomic due to their height and they are cheaper and require less equipment than the Langstroth. He uses a horizontal TBH (hTBH) as opposed to a vertical TBH, which is the Warre Hive.  I’m learning!

Philip is an advocate of “natural beekeeping” which means lower, but adequate, intervention, not smoking the hive and not doing things like clipping queens.  It also means taking less honey and spending more time observing the bees.

I also understand that barefoot beekeeping allows for the use of swarm management techniques and feeding the bees when they need it.  It also allows the use of sprinkling them with icing sugar and use of oxalic acid (if needed).  But hopefully, if you get the rest right, the bees will be in better health to look after themselves and hence less intervention is required.

More research is needed into the health of honeybees and how conventional methods might be having a negative impact, and hence the book is based on a mix of ideas and facts.

One of the authors’ objectives is to challenge the conventional approach to beekeeping.  This is a big task.  From a personal experience, all the courses and books and most of the beekeepers I have so far been exposed to are the conventional type.  (Conventional in terms of beekeeping, unconventional in terms of personality).  I had taken it as fact that I needed to smoke my bees and use wax foundation.  Who was I to challenge this?

The author can consider himself successful in his impact on my thinking and behaviour:

  1. He has made me curious about natural beekeeping
  2. I am going to experiment with doing a few things differently with my Nationals immediately
  3. A TBH would be an interesting addition to my hive-mix and I will consider buying one
  4. I am going to further research any scientific papers available to help me make decisions based on evidence

I have already done some reading and am in the process of writing a post titled “Evidence-Based Beekeeping”.  If you would like to be one of the first to receive this post, please follow this blog (top right of page).

Will I Use A Top Bar Hive?

Making a TBH as cheaply as possible seems to be an important part of the initiation into being a barefoot beekeeper, though the author does talk about using champagne corks from his cellar to plug entrances as required.  Corks from our wedding have long gone and I don’t have the tools, skills or innate ability to take a hive plan, some bit of wood and make a hive.

But Yes, I will definitely consider buying one.  I love wild comb and I believe in focusing on bee health as a way to creating honey.  The only thing putting me off is that others have said they have tried to use one with limited success.  So before taking this step I will investigate more and also I need to think about where I can put more hives.

Read the Dave Loveless review of the Top Bar Hive for more information.

Will I Be A Barefoot Beekeeper?

In writing this blog and researching hive types, I had started to pick-up on this fringe of natural beekeepers so some of the ideas had already started to infiltrate my psyche.  These included:

  • I wanted to focus on the health of my bees as a route to honey production
  • I located my hives in the countryside with plenty of flower and plant diversity, no rape in sight and fields devoted to live stock rather than crop (hence less pesticide I think)
  • I had bought a 14×12 brood box as I felt this would give the bees more space for brood and to store their own honey for winter
  • I was also planning on insulating the hive in winter so they used less honey during this period
  • I had considered a beehaus for their insulation properties and ergonomic height (though natural beekeepers will shudder at the use of plastic)
  • I already had no intention of clipping Queens (though this might have been more to do with my fears than for natural beekeeping reasons)
  • I wanted to have fewer and faster inspections than advocated in many books as there is a direct impact on honey production
  • At every chance I speak to fellow allotmenters about the bees and explain swarming so as to reduce anxieties

As a direct result of reading this book I am going to try the following:

  • Not using smoke or anything else when I inspect the hive
  • With future National hives experiment with using wax starter strips in the brood box to at least give the bees some chance of creating the cell sizes they want

I will let you know how it goes! I might discover for myself why people use smoke and wax foundation!  Any thoughts before I embark on this experiment?

Reminder of some useful links

If you want to buy The Barefoot Beekeeper, or other natural beekeeping books, please click here.

As I have said elsewhere, whilst building your own TBH is to be encouraged (it’s part of the initiation process), if you are like me, this is not an option. These links below might be helpful.  A particiapant in a beekeeping forum says “don’t faff about with a 3′ hive, go for 4′ “.

3’ TBH with viewing window

4’ TBH with viewing window

(US Link)

Reading this book led me to Evidence-Based Beekeeping.  Note: evidence gathering is still in progress!

The Beekeeper’s Wife

I’ve asked my wife to let you know the reality of sharing your partner with a hive.   She’s not a fan of “beasts” (i.e. insects) and the photo below shows the closest she has ventured to my beehives.

Beekeepers wife

In her own words …

The Pros

  • Roger finally has a proper hobby which means I get time to watch ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ and other such nonsense without him telling me it degrades my brain
  • He seems happier, more upbeat and enthusiastic about life these days. I’d like to think the marriage and pregnancy has something to do with that – but I think I have to share a bit of the credit with the hives

 The Cons

  • He talks about his hobby A LOT. This blog manages to capture about 10% of his bee-thoughts and I get the rest. Considering I don’t even like honey (let alone crawling flying insects which sting), I can’t say I’m naturally interested but I think I have perfected the interested nod (important in any marriage) and encourage Roger to get his bee-updates out the ways when friends come round for dinner. BE WARNED!
  • He’s already looking at bee-keeping suits for children

If you want to read how we are getting on, try It’s A Girl.

Proud Dad

Like a proud Dad, I can announce that there are larvae in both beehives*.  Absolutely, definitely this time. You can see the larvae curled up in the first photo below and you can also see some larvae that have been capped in the second photo (bottom left) … beautiful.

uncapped honeybee brood

 

proud dad

Like any new born, they don’t look pretty but you’ve got to think long term. In about 21 days these little grubs will reach puberty and then fly the nest (only in this case, I won’t need to fork out for tuition fees).

Having essentially ‘fathered’ these hives, I experienced intense relief, which lasted about 5 seconds, and some joy, which lasted about 3½ hours.  However this joy was quickly replaced by newly developed worries; timescales I suspect most new-Dads can appreciate.

Like two small children – my hives already have distinct personalities …

Beehive A – ‘the late developer’

Now this one had me worried. I had adopted Beehive A and so I couldn’t be sure of anything and as soon as I got it, it went off the rails and swarmed.  Seven weeks later, the colony has settled down in its home and despite keeping me on my toes with little evidence of a Queen, nature has come good and I’m very proud.

Beehive B – ‘the productive protégé’

These amazing bees have drawn out 9 of the 11 frames (in a 14×12 brood box).  The sugar syrup I fed them has done the job.  There were cells containing brood and some capped honey around the edges.  Very pleased.

Of course, with both hives, come worries…and my main one is whether they will produce any honey.

Worker bees take 21 days from egg until they hatch.  They then spend their first 18 days on jobs in the hive.  We’re looking at the end of July before these bees start foraging but the second main nectar flow finishes about then too.  Let’s hope there is some nectar and pollen for the bees to collect in August.

I also saw a moth during my “inspection” but at the time I didn’t consider it due to my usual panic.  However, I am now a bit worried that it might have been a wax moth.  I will look out for this next time I go in.

I need advice. Perhaps a little fatherly pep talk from more experienced beekeepers who know more than me?

  • Should I remove a super from the old hive (so they can cap more of the current honey in the first super)?
  • Should I add a super to the new hive or let them draw out more brood frame?
  • Should I feed the new hive again due to all this poor weather?

Let me know if you know!

* I should also probably tell you that the 20 week scan my wife and I went to this week shows that we are probably going to have a baby girl.  Hurrah!

Postscript: You might want to read It’s A Girl.

An encouraging(?) email

Sometimes I am not sure if friends are encouraging or just a bit too jubilant when things go wrong.  This email arrived a few days ago …

“It seems bees are all the rage, the National Trust is selling a book on bee basics.  It includes a few handy tips and 8 don’ts. Number 3 is don’t let your bees swarm, number 4 don’t upset the neighbours (swarming bees in their garden is a no no), I can see these little insects are a real commitment, bring on the baby!!!”

 Note: My new wife is pregnant.

Postscript: For an update you might want to read Proud Dad.

Warning – novice beekeeper alert

I inspected my TWO hives on Sunday with some trepidation.

Hive A: My hopes were raised when I looked in the old hive (the one that swarmed 5 weeks ago) and I saw white “stuff” at the bottom of some of the cells.  To a desperate, novice beekeeper, they looked a bit like uncapped larvae. To members of the Beekeeping Forum, with no emotional attachment to my hives, it was definetly granulated honey stores.  In conclusion, there may, or maynot, be a newly-laying Queen. Advice from beekeepers welcome.

Hive B: The newly hived swarm seemed to be doing nicely.  The first thing that amazed me was that they had drunk all the sugar syrup I had given them.  They had drawn out most of the frames and were starting to fill them with nectar and pollen.  I was hoping to see eggs, but it was 5pm, the light was poor and I could not see any.  The only worry about this hive is that Dad report enormous amounts of activity at about 1.30pm and he showed me some photos and it looked like they might have been planning to swarm.  So this might be a Queenless hive too.  Advice appreciated.

This is my first year of beekeeping and it’s even more complex than I originally thought.  Four days of training, some experience and numerous books had not shown me any photos of granulated stores or given me a definitive answer on what to do in the circumstances I have described in a number of posts.  There is a constant uncertainty around not having a laying Queen and further swarming.  I had hoped to be an OK beekeeper in my first year and make 2-3 supers of honey. I am now seeing this period as a huge learning experience.

I am going to phone a friend.

Original hive / brood box frame / no brood / granulated honey in centre / honey stores around the edge:

granulated stores

Newly hived swarm / drawing out new comb:

new hive brood frame

To find out what happened next you might want to read Proud Dad and please subscribe to this blog.

Hiving a swarm … again

I had already hived a swarm which had absconded the next day and I was at the peak of my exhaustion from 14 bee stings the previous day, but when I heard my new beekeeper friend, Pete, had caught a large (size of a football), prime swarm from one of his hives, I was keen to give it another go.

We shook and swept his swarm into my hive and I fed them 12 pints of sugar syrup (1:1, sugar to water) using a 12 pint jumbo beehive feeder. There was some drizzle during the day and the forecast for the next few days was not good, so I hoped they would want to anywhere and they would stay this time. When I got home that evening I had the satisfied glow of a job well done.

Seven days later and they are still their hurrah! A success.

Smoking the swarm (which was caught in a nuc box):

Hiving a swarm 1

 Shaking bees into their new home:

Hiving a swarm 2

 Bees flying everywhere:

Hiving a swarm 3

Postscript: If you want to find out if they stayed this time, please read Warning – Novice Beekeeper Alert.

Bee stings – numbers 2 to 15

Even walking through long grass brings me out in a skin rash … so perhaps I should have known better.

I had become blasé.  When we next went to check on Darren’s hives, I tucked my jeans into my socks and put the top half of the bee jacket on.

I already knew from experience that my jeans were not bee proof and I was rather nervous as Darren’s bees tried penetrating my button fly, only half of which were done up.  I have noticed bees make a high pitch whine when they are stuck or in the process of stinging you.  I hoped the whining sound coming from my fly was just a stuck bee.

And then it happened.  I got stung where there was only a thin layer of sock.  No not there, the sock on my foot.

The other bees identified my weak spot and in text book fashion my ankle was attacked by several bees, then my other ankle, then the top of my upper thighs!!

I made my excuses to Darren and headed to the other end of his garden.

I counted about 7 stings in one ankle, 4 in the other and 3 in my thigh.  I pulled about 30 bee stings out of my clothes.  What had Darren just said, it takes 200 bee stings to kill you … or was it 20?

A bee stingbee sting My swollen foot the next daybee sting reaction

I woke up the next morning at 6am with my ankles itching like crazy, my ankle swollen so that it looked like an elephants, bruising and an over welcoming feeling of tiredness.  Later that day, I felt slightly feverish and it was all I could do to hive a swarm of bees that a new bee friend had caught the previous day.  Honeymoon arrangements will have to wait!

My pregnant wife, who has a natural tendency to negate my feelings at the best of times, told me to man-up.  She will be horrified by the following analogy: Like a hippy woman approaching labour and not wanting to use any drugs or an epidural, I initially resisted anti-histamine pills or cream.  But 24 hours later I was smoothing in cream like it was suntan lotion.

Three days later, I was still exhausted, swollen, itchy and bruised.

I have been reading Beekeeping by Ron Brown over recent weeks.  He has a whole section on the make-up of bee venom (pages 131-134) which I have learnt is made up of: several toxic substances, several agents that help the venom spread around the body, protein irritants, steroids and an alarm pheromone.  Crikey!

Ron explains there are two types of people, those who produce more immunoglobulin G (IgG) and those who produce more immunoglobulin E (IgE).  Asthma and hayfever sufferers tend to produce more IgE (that’s me!) and this group of people suffer progressively worse from stings.  Those people who produce more IgG build up their resistance to stings.

He says that no beekeeper needs to give up because of an allergy because it is possible to have immunotherapy which results in becoming someone who produces more IgG.  I will have to look into this!

I also need to reduce the amount of stings I get in the first place so the plan is to: buy a full bee suit and wear wellington boots.  Get kitted-up and be prepared:

Buy beekeeper suits from £37Beekeeper suit

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Hive envy – according to Freud

I braced myself and decided it was time to check out Darren’s hives. I’d showed him mine so, you know, it only seemed fair.

Like most of my friends, Darren is more manly than myself.  He likes making fire, snowboarding at speed and wears chunky, S&M style wrist jewellery.  He likes BIG hives and aggressive bees.  He likes them aggressive as he believes they make more honey.

His garden extends into an allotment.  He describes himself as a low intervention beekeeper and I knew what he meant as we hacked our way through undergrowth to reach his hives.  It was actually quite magical when we got there, not least because his hives towered into the lower braches of the trees … one of the hives was on a triple brood box and full of bees!

Every frame was bursting with bees and filled with eggs, brood, honey and pollen in near perfect form.  As we got to the 33rd and final frame in the brood we found the Queen that he had marked last year.  He had found her last year, picked her up by her legs and marked her with Tipex.  I can’t even pick up a daddy-long-legs by the legs.

The visit re-established my bee-keeping inferiority complex, but it was a useful session.  I now know what eggs look like, how to see them and what a Queen looks like.  She’s a lot longer than the other bees.

Some beautiful wild honeycomb in one of Darren’s hives:

wild honeycomb

A bumbleebee on the wild honeycomb:

bumblebee on wild honeycomb

 

A busy brood box (one of the triple brood box colony):

busy beehive

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The Honey Jubilee – but where’s my Queen?

The Queen is everywhere. On a boat in the rain; standing beside a hula-hooping Grace Jones; her face is even on Tesco’s cupcakes. But while there’s no escaping our long standing monarch, my Queen is nowhere to be seen.

It’s been one month since my hive swarmed and two weeks since the last inspection.  Some expert advice might be needed so I pick up my beekeeping friend, Darren, to provide an extra pair of eyes.

He’s the Harry to my William. While I’m more cautious, he’s all gung ho, a bit of a rogue and likely to dress-up inappropriately at a fancy dress party. He’s a manly beekeeper and someone I need to learn from.

The good news: We cannot see any varroa and there is plenty of capped honey in the super, see photo, makes my mouth water.

Super with honey

The bad news: We cannot see any brood, eggs or Queen.  And if the Diamond Jubilee has taught us anything – it’s that we need a Queen (if only to give a disapproving look to Elton John).

All 6 Queen cells had hatched out and it looks like each one had taken a cast (= after swarm) with it.  I had hoped the first Queen to hatch out would kill her sisters (after all there’s a bit history of this with those royal folk) but this obviously hadn’t happened and now I only have about 5,000 bees left.

Suddenly I wish Darren wasn’t here to size up my hive. I also wish I had killed the Queen cells as advised and maybe I would have had more of a hive to size up.

Maybe sensing my slight-despair-with-a-hint-of-embarrassment Darren did offer some solace. “Don’t worry mate – the weather’s been pants so maybe the Queen’s just gone out on her mating flight. And worse case you can just buy a new queen for £25”.

When it comes to bees … royalty is cheap!

Then we went to inspect Darren’s hives and I got Hive Envy.

Building more beehive parts – by myself

I felt confident enough to put frames together myself and I was chuffed that I managed to get the Black & Decker workmate up.

Beehive building

It took about 2-3 hours in the garage to build 10 frames with foundation and about 2 hours the following evening to build a Super.  Of course, I put the Super together wrongly …. But I managed to prise the box apart, including eight 2” nails, before the glue set.

My advice – either build the hive over Winter, buy a completed beehive for an extra £100 or buy a beehaus.

Postscript: Hmmmm … I didn’t follow my advice, read It’s A Girl.

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Beekeeping ambitions – pure emotion

I want a second hive, because for some reason, for me, one just isn’t enough.  I’ve tried explaining this to my wife but she just thinks I’m mad (and sometimes she thinks I’m just greedy).

There is some logic about having a second hive so you can compare hives … but rest assured, my need has nothing to do with logic.

Postscript: And then I tried to build it.

The first sting is the deepest

I have passed a key milestone in joining the beekeeping club.  I received my first couple of stings for interfering too much with the bees.  They stung through my jeans, so I didn’t get the full impact, but enough to back-off.

The good news is that I did not go into an anaphylactic shock.  I had thought about provoking a bee sting before investing in beehives … but I wasn’t brave enough.

Hopefully, these initial bee stings will build some resistance.  But I think I have read somewhere, that the opposite can happen and you can become allergic over time.  The future is full of uncertainties.

Decision: buy an EpiPen, not for me, but in case someone else needs it.

You need to buy an actual EpiPen from a chemists, but here are some useful products on Amazon:

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Easy come, easy go

Photo sent to me from my neighbour, of my newly-hived bees just before they swarmed again and left me:

newly hived bees departing

What’s more annoying than someone who’s told you your hive has swarmed is someone who’s seen and told you twice.  I want to be the first to know.  I want to give the impression that everything is in control.  Do other beekeepers feel like this?  But I have to get over this because it’s actually very useful (so thanks Andrew).

By the time I got home, they were all gone.  They hadn’t even started to draw out the foundation into comb.

I spoke to another beekeeper the same day and he said the same thing happened to him last year.  Phew!  It’s not just me.  The beekeeping books say one could put some drawn comb in the hive, but I don’t have any of that yet.

Hiving a swarm

The thing about swarms is that it can be a blooming disappointing (verging on soul-destroying) when you lose one, but rather brilliant when you catch one. And it can even be pretty good when your beekeeping mentor catches one – and you benefit from it…

At 8.08pm I got a text from Jonathan saying that he had caught a swarm. His hive had swarmed (sad to say, this was music to my ears, see Swarmy Bees post, and made me feel a bit less of an idiot). He didn’t want any more hives and he very kindly thought of me as he knew I wanted a second one to play with. (At this stage he didn’t know I’d partially lost the first colony).

It was only as I was driving home with a box of Angry Bees in a cardboard box in the back of the car that I began to wonder … what would Jonathan have done if I didn’t want them. The Queen Bee is laying about 2,000 eggs a day (I have even read up to 6,000 in the BBKA News, I’m scared to read it these days). That’s 60,000 new bees a month and they only take about 21 days to hatch out.

I have visions of my beehives doubling every year and my life generally getting out of control in proportion to the number of beehives. Is this how people suddenly find themselves with 25 dogs, 13 cats and 8 budgies living in a one bed flat? Am I just going to have to be a beekeeper in-denial and ignore the fact they need to swarm and just let them? Is that what beekeepers do? Or am I going to wake up one day with 100 beehives somehow integrated into my house?

I am going to have to stop writing this post as I’m starting to feel a bit queasy.

…………………………………………………………………..

OK. I got over it and I’m back. In short, I had another beekeeping session in the dark, with my Dad, and chucked the bees in the hive we made a month ago. There were some issues about me getting in a panic, not opening the cardboard box properly and shaking the bees around and making them angrier. But Dad saved the day. One day … I’ll save the day. One day I’ll be a Dad.

Oh by the way, I should mention my wife is 15 weeks pregnant. The vicar was a bit surprised when I told him the day after the wedding.

Here we are hiving the swarm.

Beekeepers - Dad & I Hiving a swarm

And here’s a video:

Post script: Funny, how looking at my old posts I was worrying about varroa, but I haven’t thought about varroa for 3 weeks now. CRIKEY!!! The varroa!!! I’d forgot about the varroa!