Super Number Three

It's incredible. In my last post, I mentioned (somewhat sarcastically) that the bees had been spotted in the second Super. Now, in less than a week, it is full. On Saturday, Liam and I hastily constructed a 3rd Super and put it on the hive, and in our inspection yesterday, some of the frames have been partially drawn out and nectar and pollen deposited.

I am no longer even worrying about them capping the frames. David, who dropped by to deliver the Somerset Beekeeping Association's newsletter, pointed out that the honey needs time to settle and "mature" before they will cap it. And, if it is oilseed rape honey, which as the picture shows, it could well be, I will need to take it off the minute the rape stops flowering regardless of cappings anyway!

A full bee inspection yesterday resulted in one sting (me), a sighting of the Queen, and a new Queen cup - this time with egg. Inevitably, this has happened just as it is least convenient. We have worked out that if we check the hive on Friday we SHOULD be just in time to avoid the worst happening. Fingers crossed.

And of course, we have now run out of supers. Back in March, 3 Supers seemed positively decadent. I am hoping to order one and pick it up at the Bath and West show.

Queen Cups moving up the frame

Another full inspection, and this time, the Queen Cups are moving up the frame. I think these could quite probably become full on Queen Cells and am busy planning my next steps.

Robin (bee mentor) has developed his own method of dividing a hive that is based as far as possible on the bees' natural behaviour, and which also (hopefully) will result in two strong hives rather than one strong and one weaker one. I will try and blog about this in more detail this week as it will involve me moving a nucleus hive and one of my main hives to his apiary. Every beekeeping association seems to have experienced beekeepers with their own methodologies and I thought it would be interesting to give Robin's method a go as it certainly seems logical! Wathc this space, and i would be interested in any thoughts / feedback...

And finally - it is official. Bees have been sighted in the 2nd super. There are rumours of one frame of drawn comb, and, in the first super, about 1cm of capped honey....

The realisation dawns...

Am feeling slightly stupid this morning... Liam and I have kept returning to the question of why our bees are taking honey from the super. Indeed, we were talking about it even as we assembled our 5th bonfire of the fortnight which is situated about 20 foot from our hive....

And yes, although the hive is screened by 2 giant leylandi, the bees will be inhaling a fair amount of smoke when the wind blows in the wrong direction. I assume that they then go into a panic, snort honey from the nearest place to hand, and then generally feel quite cross. Or sleepy. Or whatever.

Thankfully, we have now burned all of the debris that resulted from the laying of a 20 metre garden hedge (5 bonfires worth and considerable amounts of blood, sweat and if not tears, certainly agony) so hopefully the bees will consent to start SEALING SOME SUPER FRAMES!!!

Queen Cups and Super Puzzles

We did another routine inspection yesterday as we had been away and left it7 or 8 days since the last one. The weather was not ideal - lots of bees were on the frames rather than out and about - and the light was such I couldnt see into the cells to check for eggs etc.
We saw at least 4 or 5 Queen Cups - little "acorns" on the edge of some of the frames. It was almost impossible to see if they had anything in them although I don't think there was... We have marked the frames with a pin and will check again on Friday. I am now wondering if I should have destroyed them? But I want the bees to start developing Queen cells!

One thing that I found puzzling was the first super. Last time I checked, it was almost full but not sealed. This time, some of the centre frames had no honey on the middle - ie empty cells. I am convinved last time these were full - would the bees start consuming honey from the super? Even if they had ample stores in the brood chamber?

The bees were also having a good nibble at the brood frames - why do they do this? The super is definitely a concern though - nothing is capped - but it feels like a diminishing crop rather than an increasing one! (And needless to say - nothing in the second super yet...I knew I shouldnt have bothered!)

Freecycle Thanks

I was lucky enough to spot a post on Freecycle offering a Solar Wax Extractor near Bristol. Beekeeping equipment only ever seems to appear as a "wanted" item, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Despite lots of interest, Lyn very kindly offered us her extractor, handmade by an expert beekeeper in her district.

It is now in situ and we look forward to using it! I really want to be able to make candles and this will help me collect the wax from old frames much more easily. Many thanks again...

Still no Queen Cells

Another full inspection reveals no Queen cells (I think) but a few open drone brood cells that look a bit like Queen cups because of their size. No eggs or larvae were in any of them, and the Queen is still in the hive (and moving towards the right hand side of the picture).

I think I will try and have a look at a few pictures of Queen cups / Queen cells to give me more confidence...

2nd super is completely empty of bees let alone drawn out comb - maybe we were a tad premature! Still no capped honey in the first super either.

I also looked at the varroa tray - I counted about 8 mites over a week but in all honesty, there was so much rubbish on there I dont think this was even vaguely accurate. Will try again and do a two or three day check.

Robin and some of the other Frome beekeepers are reporting Queen Cells in their hives, so I will try and be extra vigilant and do the next inspection on thursday.

Taken by suprise

At our last inspection we were surprised by how full the super was. This is heady stuff - starting in June as we did last year, we had no honey and a super full of barely drawn out foundation at the end of the season. Now we are into new territory - a super I can hardly lift and frames dripping with the runny stuff!

Although none of the frames are sealed, we decided to add another super to try and keep ahead of the bees. Not sure if this is the right thing to do, but we can't bear the thought of missing any honey! The hive looks different to normal because I decided to clean the old hive and moved all of the frames into this second, new hive. At my next full inspection (tomorrow), I will swap back and leave the new hive for our future (fingers crossed) second colony.

I have a nasty feeling this is oil seed rape honey as we can see a few fields of rape from our windows. In which case, we will have to be finding out about borrowing an extractor asap - not to mention saving as many jars as possible.