Honey in May

Although the bees have been keeping us on our toes this month they have also been doing what they should. On Monday we put clearer boards ( boards that will let the bees go out of a super but not go back in) on 2 hives- the hive we had moved from garden had 3 supers on! On Tuesday evening we went back to bring them home and yesterday we spun the honey from them. The frames had a lot of pollen in them- earlier in the year the bees were finding plenty of pollen but not much nectar- hence the worry about starving bees with some beekeepers having to feed their bees.

Pollen filling lots of the cells in the frames.

We kept the two supers separate- the super taken from the garden hive was filled before we moved it to Cordwood so will be from different forage sources than the one from Cordwood. We can see Oil Seed Rape fields on the farm from the hives and although most of this super was also filled while the weather was fairly poor it could be Rape Honey which will granulate quickly- we will have to wait and see.
In total we filled 44 X 12 oz jars from the 2 supers- about 33lbs- not bad when lots of pollen was left behind to go back to the bees- hopefully they will still use this and clear the frames for more honey!

Solar Wax Extractor

Over a period of time doing inspections and extracting honey a pile of dirty wax begins to grow- reluctant to waste anything beekeepers tend to keep it in boxes until it can't be ignored. Cleaned wax can be used for lots of things- candles, lotions and potions as well as being swapped for new wax foundation. The problem is cleaning the wax- solar wax extractors are used by lots of beekeepers but they are expensive to buy for what the average beekeeper would need it for.
So, a search on one of the beekeeping blogs http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.co.uk/  I follow produced a home made verion- something of a Heath Robinson afair but well within my means!

Step one was to gather the equipment needed- a polystryene box ( used to transport broccoli to the school kitchen)- this was painted black and lined with foil. All these things easy enough to find. Then a tub with a couple of inches of water covered with kitchen roll held in place by an elastic band is placed inside. The wax is scrunched into balls and placed on top of the kitchen paper. A piece of glass is put over the top of the box and the whole things put in the sunniest spot you can find - usually a tricky thing to do in Nottingham but with the recent hot weather , no problem!

Black paint on the outside to absorb the heat.

Water in the tub covered with kitchen paper



Wax - brace comb, capping etc.




Ready for the sun!

We could see results within an hour, the wax melts and drips through the paper leaving the gunge behind.





 

The results are amazing - I separated the types of wax- the cappings gave the paler wax and the brace comb a rich butter colour. The only thing now is to decide what to use the wax for!



Pollinators

At this time of year the strawberries are beginning to flower, the blueberries are waiting to be pollinated, broad beans bursting with blooms- but on Monday on the allotment, not a sign of any pollinators flying. The weather (again) cold for the time of year. The forcast for this week is for sun and heat so hopefully there will be evidence of those insects we rely on doing their jobs!!


Strawberries- beautiful pink flowers!



Blueberries- lots of flowers, lets hope for a good crop!

This year we have planted a whole bed of strawberries, some Marshmellow, some of the everbearing varieties such as Albion and a late harvester called Florence- a delicious variety we tasted last year. Later in the year I hope to say which is the best after having tasted lots!!

Absconding Bees

To house the beautiful prime swarm we caught at Cordwood I bought a new hive- delivery was promised in 48 hours, which seemed fine- time to build it and get the swarm settled in before they began to feel the pinch. However, it was not to be- Yodel's 48 hour delivery turned into a week and although the suppliers kindly sent another (which arrived by TNT before the Yodel) the bees had had enough of being cramped in and set off to find a new home. Most annoying of all is that it was only a day too late! Better news of the little cluster of bees I collected from under the hive and the cast that came from the same hive as the prime swarm- both have settled in the nucs - one already laying, the other hopefully with the weather turning fair not far behind. The 3 hives we have artificially swarmed are doing well, but the other halves of these with the virgin queens have yet to start laying- the bad weather will probably have delayed them taking a mating flight so slightly anxious times until we know what is happening there.

Beeing Busy

Well the weather doesn't know what to do- it's cold and wet and it looks like the bees don't know what to do either!
We thought that we had them under control- but life finds a way to show you it has a mind of it's own.
We knew that because of circumstance 2 hives had not been rechecked to ensure the bees had not tried to make emergency queen cells from larvae that is too old, but hoped that they would raise the one cell we had left and knock down the others. But no- too much to ask - they had obviously raised more because last Wednesday we had a swarm- a beauty, which luckily Rob spotted and tracked and we were able to collect.

What I don't understand though is why the bees in our garden hive raised a queen cell on the frame of egg and brood we had put in with the old queen when we did the artificial swarm- this had been checked and seemed fine, not drawing the comb very vigorously even though they had plenty of stores and there were lots of bees in the hive. They capped the queen cell and the old queen swarmed., in the garden the bees don't seem to go far- they were easy to catch, but made us realise that maybe the garden is not the place for them.

All equipment having been used, these bees went back in the hive they came from with a queen excluder under the brood box after knocking out the queen cell and checking there were no more. We will see what they do now- they are filling the 2 supers up, hopefully they put some effort into developing a strong colony as well.

Dad, Grandad and Great Grandad

Not a happy post but something that can't be ignored- after being ill for a while Dad finally couldn't fight off a bout of pneumonia and died in the early hours of the 30th April. He had managed to see his 97th birthday. The loss we feel at the moment is immense and although I'm sure time will make it easier at the moment the whole family is struggling with the gap his loss has left in our lives.

26th April 1915- 30th April 2012