Another varroa test and a first attempt to feed...

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. In the last few weeks of August with the danger of swarming past, I decided to leave well alone for 2-3 weeks. In the meantime I attended a talk with Frome beekeepers given by Robin on recycling wax. This was excellent and I hope to be able to get some spare wax to start experimenting!

After the talk I got chatting with some of the other members about how and when to feed. Apparently, in this area, it is a good plan to feed before the ivy comes out as otherwise the bees can get too distracted and not take up enough syrup. I therefore put my order in for sugar in bulk - and now have a 25kilo sack sitting in the kitchen.

Liam and I then did one full inspection, and noted down the amount of stores on each frame. We calculated that the bees have 9 pounds worth of stores in the hive - and understand that they need at least 40 to get through the winter.

Before feeding, however, I decided to review the varroa count again. This time I did it for 7.5 days and got 38 mites. According to Defra this calls for light control. We have therefore constructed an eke (OK, Liam constructed an eke) and have decided to treat and feed at the same time.

Varroa Count Results

Four days after putting the insert in, we removed it and put it on our patio table to inspect in the sunlight.

With the help of Ted Hooper and the Defra leaflet, we counted just 10 still varroa mites, but the board was also covered with two or three types of other, smaller, moving insects. From the Defra pictures, I dont think that the largest of these was Braula coeca (?) because it was considerably smaller than the Varroa. It looked like a little red spider but there were literally hundreds of them scurrying all over the board.

The next size down was really too small for detailed observation to the naked eye. It just looked like little brown specs moving around. I am hoping these were Melittiphis?

We have decided not to worry about these for the time being... Instead, we divided 10 varroa mites by 4 days to get a daily mite drop of 2.5. According to Defra, that figure for this time of year means that control is not yet required. We will do a first icing sugar dust at our next inspection and see how the bees react and in the meantime have asked Norman for his advice. Now I just have to dispose of the sticky paper - yuk!

Varroa check (finally)

Emails from David from Frome beekeeping division about purchasing Apiguard have made me assemble a homemade varroa floor insert.

Our hive originally had a solid floor, and Robin made it into a varroa floor for us by turning it round, putting the brood chamber on top of a mesh floor with the solid floor underneath. We then blocked off the "rear" opening with a piece of wood that can also be removed to slide in an insert. (Robin, apologies, I have explained this appallingly).

DEFRA's very useful leaflet explained that I needed an insert with sticky paper. So, one IKEA slim chopping board later, with sticky paper from the kitchen shop glued on and secured with much muttering and elastic bands we have a bona fide varroa insert.... Well, it will do for now...

I put this in the hive on Tuesday and will give it 3 days before removing and counting. I was quite suprised (not sure why) at all the debris already underneath. I don't think I had thought about it before and now need to work out how I will clean this old debris without disturbing the bees.

I really, REALLY hope there is little or no varroa, as rereading David's email I note we had to let him know about the Apiguard before end of July...

Belated Update

I didn't post last week because my husband did the weekly inspection with his mother. I think we may have persuaded her to take up beekeeping if she can find a friend to do it with her... Liam reported that everything seemed OK, a few half super frames were drawn out and he moved them along a bit to encourage the bees to keep up the good work.

We both then did an inspection on Monday taking advantage of a (very) brief lull in the rain. I couldnt believe how drowsy the bees were. It was not until we had inspected the 5th brood frame that they seemed to realise anything was going on. It was very strange and almost too calm.

I managed to spot the Queen first for the first time (normally Liam manages this - after excitedly spotting about 4 drones or "potential" Queens...) and also managed to get the camera totally covered in Propolis. On the plus side, eggs, sealed and unsealed brood were very much in evidence although definitely fewer eggs than on previous checks.

There was some more activity in the Super with 4 "half" frames now drawn out (rather pathetically shown on photo). Again, we moved them further out leaving new, undrawn frames above the heat of the brood nest to soften. We still have not put the Queen excluder on as very few bees (never mind the Queen) seem to show the slightest interest in going up there!

Rain, rain and more rain

Still no interest in the Super from the bees apart from them chewing more holes in it. I eventually rang my bee mentor, Norman to ask him how I can get them to start drawing out the wax foundation.

He thinks the problem may be weather related. The bees dont need to draw out the foundation in the Super as they have nothing to put in it. There is nothing to put in it because the rain means they are not flying and there is not much nectar. They are nibbling the foundation because they are then taking the wax down into the brood chamber to store. This all sounds quite plausible, especially as we noticed in our inspection on Monday that the stores have reduced slightly in the brood chamber which does seem to confirm that they are using these up.

Apparently we could pour some syrup over the frames to encourage them to come up, clean it off and then draw the wax out. I am not sure if we will do this yet - perhaps if we have a run of clear weather.

We never actually expected any honey this year, we are just being greedy! Although it would be nice to go into next year with the super frames ready drawn so we can have a head start.

I still havent done a varroa check - but I have at least read the varroa leaflet that Robin brought round and I have bought some sticky paper. If it could just stop raining for long enough for me to put my bee suit on I might actually get out and do it!

Two more bee blogs. One is in the Daily Telegraph Gardening section - they have now created a whole beekeeping section - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/beekeeping/
I particularly like this one as Ian Douglas also started out with a nucleus in June.

The other is the Farming Today bee blog - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/the_farming_today_bees/ which is also good although I suspect the real beekeeping is being done by others behind the scenes!

Not so busy bees

The almost constant rain has meant we haven't been near the bees since putting the Super on and I was expecting to find that a few frames would be nicely drawn out by now. Instead, on removing the crown board a pitiful number of bees were in the super, and not one single frame has been drawn out. In fact, there are several holes in a few of the frames where it looks as if the bees have been nibbling at the foundation.

Why???? Admittedly, when we put the super on, I managed to drop quite a few of the frames - did this damage them in some way and the bees are voicing their concern? Or can they just not be bothered? Is it the effect of ten days of rain?

We need to do a proper inspection this afternoon (assuming the rain stops) so at least we can check that all is normal in the brood chamber.

One last thing - I have found another bee blog - http://beehivejive.wordpress.com/
Not sure how often it is updated but another beginner!

Adding the Super

On checking the bees on Monday, we found that they had drawn out and used almost every brood frame and were clearly desperate for some more work to do. This presented a slight problem as the Super was still sitting (in bits) on our kitchen table.

Liam got to work with the Super and I did the frames. Despite getting bits upside down, the wrong nails and many varied sets of instructions on the internet, a super with 11 frames (of sorts) was ready and put on top of the brood chamber on Tuesday.

Putting in the castellated spacers
Robin had recommended castellated spacers - which should make it easier to check and move the super frames.







Checking the frame fits!