Very busy bees

After a busy weekend away, we inspected the bees at around 5pm on Monday. Again, it was noticeable that the later the hour, the more bees were in the hive.

On removing the crown board (see picture on left) we could see that the bees had once again been very active with the bridge comb, but, more productively, had drawn out all but two of the frames we added.

We inspected each frame and found eggs, larvae and sealed brood as well as an abundance of nectar. The brood pattern (the way in which the brood is arranged) was good with most cells sealed.

The only oddity was that we noticed a "W" pattern of unsealed cells on a couple of frames (see right). We then realised that this must be where the wire of the frames is present. I dont know why they objected to this on just a few of the frames but it was definitely visible.

We didnt spot the Queen but there were definitely fresh eggs so no worries there. I also remembered to measure the floor to make a DIY varroa board... Next inspection will be Sunday - Liam is convinced we will need to put the Super on and has laid it all out ready to assemble on the dining table. I wonder how long it will stay like that?

Quick Update...

Today has been a bit manic and we ended up checking the hive at 5pm rather than at lunchtime. There was quite a big difference with far more bees in the hive. Liam managed to spot the Queen. I am not sure if I am just very blind or if it is because I am the one always holding the frame... I did manage to spot a quantity of fluffy new bees, however, which were quite cute. Once agian we removed a profusion of bridge comb (still havent managed to find out why so much).

We then checked the frames we had turned and both sides of the foundation are now beautifully drawn out. We are going away this weekend and we took the decision to add four new frames - two on each side of the brood nest - instead of two, as we were worried they might run out of space. Not sure if that was the right thing to do, (although we saw plenty of bees already on the extra frames behind the dummy board anyway) but time will tell.

Next inspection on Monday and I am determined to remember to measure the opening at the back of the hive so that I can do a varroa check.

1st unsupervised hive manipulation - and the Queen is alive!

Although we had spent the last 3 days looking forward to Sunday, as we put our suits on we realised that this was actually the first time we had manipulated the bees on our own. This prompted a slightly greater emphasis being put on lighting the smoker - and more importantly, keeping it lit...

Liam did a fantastic job using a combination of dried grass and rotten wood picked up on dog walks so hopefully we now have this side of things sorted.

The bees were extremely well behaved and allowed us to inspect them with no problems. The new frames had been beautifully drawn out on one side and we reversed them as planned. We found lots of eggs and larvae and plenty of sealed brood. The only thing that looked slightly unusual (to our very untrained eyes) was the presence of some partially sealed brood - I dont know if we had disturbed the bees who might have been still working on it or whether this is not uncommon but we both noticed one of two cells where capping had definitely started but seemed to have been abandoned leaving larvae exposed.

Liam spotted the Queen - thank goodness... I was worried that we had inadvertently killed her... We then cleared off quite a lot of brace comb which was hanging off the bottom of the frames, closed up, and left it on top of the hive for the bees to clean up.
The plan is now to add another two or possibly 3 frames on Wednesday and then reverse them on Monday.

Just waiting for Sunday...

Have just gone out and bought Ted Hooper's book as I dont think I can keep my library copy out for much longer...
Unashamedly spent at least quarter of an hour going through all the beebooks in the Hunting Raven Bookshop to pick up any nuggets of wisdom. One book had quite a good section on how to light a smoker - newspaper, (puff) pine needles (puff), more pine needles (more puffing) and finally rotten wood (keep puffing at intervals). Question: It is summer, where do I get dried pine needles from?!

B-day - Rehoming the bees & marking the Queen

Yesterday was a wash out - rainy and cold and I didnt want to risk disturbing the bees. Instead I did my best to practice lighting the smoker - and failed dismally.

Robin arrived at 2pm this afternoon and we went straight out to try and find the Queen. Liam appeared to light the smoker effortlessly - although I felt slightly better when it fizzled out ten minutes later.

On lifting the crown board of the nucleus hive, it was obvious that the bees were desperate for more space. There were eggs in several frames and nearly all frames contained large expanses of sealed brood as well as honey. We went through the frames one by one initially with no success, but on coming back through the second time, Robin spotted the Queen. After a few false starts, I was able to manoeuvre her into a small tube capped with a piece of cork which we put down whilst transferring the rest of the colony into the main hive.

Rather than putting the nucleus frames in the middle of a full set of frames as I had expected, we added one new frame full of foundation to either side of the nucleus, and then added the dummy board. We now need to check their progress on Sunday - if they have drawn out one side of each of the frames, then we can turn them round before adding another frame each side at the next inspection.

Back in the house, I realised fairly swiftly that I wasnt going to be able to hold the Queen. Even though I knew she couldnt sting me, I was too worried I might inadvertently squash her wings or legs. Instead, Robin held her and I was able to quickly snip at her wings.

We then returned her to the tube which had a cork on a plunger at one end, and a cap like a grid at the other. Marking her took several attempts as she refused to stay still and the paint kept drying on the end of the matchstick I was trying to mark her with. She is now marked on her thorax with a rusty orange paint on the grounds that she is a) a swarm Queen and we dont know her age and b) it was all Robin had...

Once marked, we took her back to the hive. The foundation had been so well drawn out by the bees that it was very difficult to find a gap to "plunge" her down into once the grid cap was removed. I did my best but she seemed to go down onto the comb very slowly and was quickly surrounded by workers. We are concerned they may have smelt me on her and possibly "balled" her. This is another reason to check on Sunday for the presence of eggs so we can see if she is OK...



Accidents to the Queen dont seem to be that uncommon - when I emailed Norman my designated bee "mentor" about today he wished me luck and then went on to say not to worry in case of "problems" with the Queen - Donald from Frome division is apparently raising Queens for this purpose!

Fingers crossed for Sunday...

Day 2 - Checking the new arrivals

Although both Liam and I kept going and looking at the bees at intervals yesterday and this morning, neither of us had actually put our bee suits on and gone and had a proper look close up.
Mindful of Robin's advice to check the bees were finding their way back and bringing in pollen, I decided to go and make sure.

The first thing I noticed was how loud the hum was - maybe because it is such a small hive, you can hear it more? I also saw that although not every bee was bringing back pollen, some were returning absolutely loaded down - which I think you can see in the photo.

Lastly, sods law, the area which Liam and I had painstakingly cleared to give the bees a good direct flight path over the neighbouring field is being completely ignored. Instead, the bees are flying behind the hive, and up between a very overgrown hazel hedge and a copper beech (it must be a gap of all of 3 feet). It doesnt matter - at least they are flying up and out of the way of anyone who might walk along the road behind, but it does mean that we pollarded at least 8 foot of hedge for absolutely no reason!!

The apiary

The apiary site in our back garden.

The nucleus hive is on the blocks, the main (empty) hive is sitting for the time being on a pallet alongside it.

Day One - Nucleus Hive in Place

Yesterday, Liam and I went over to Robin's - our friendly bee "supplier" and chose between two nuclei.

One was a swarm from Warminster, the other reared from a Queen Cell from one of Robin's own hives. I was really tempted to go for the latter option, Robin seems to rear incredibly placid bees, but he recommended the swarm as they had already drawn out all their comb and were laying better. We went with his recommendation and went home leaving him to close them up later that evening.

This morning Robin arrived with a nucleus hive, and the hive we are buying off him second hand. He has made most of it himself, including my particular favourite - a crown board with glass in so you can observe what is happening underneath...

The whole operation only took 5 minutes - I put the nucleus down on our makeshift hive stand (8 concrete slabs facing our neighbouring field) and Robin put on the nucleus roof and pulled out the fabric "stopper" from the nucleus hive entrance. Seconds later, bees tumbled out and started flying around.

Needless to say my camera is dead so I am charging it as I type but I hope to take some photos later on. All I need to do (apparently) is check on them from afar to see if they are flying back to the nucleus hive, bringing in pollen and generally seem OK (!?) Robin will then come back on Thursday to help Liam and I transfer them to the hive proper and maybe (hopefully) clip and mark the Queen.

I seem to have become a beekeeper!