Spring Cleaning

Over the past weeks the bees (and us) have been busy- the weather has been amazing, warm, sunny and not like March! Last year the bees swarmed at the beginning of April so this year we have been very careful about watching them.
On the 10th March the temperature was 15C in the garden, we checked quickly, the bees were taking in loads of pollen, bees were on 8 frames and brood on 6- the other frames were full of stores. As the weather stayed so good we did a floor change and longer check on the 21st  March- they were packed! We decided that whether it was March or not, a super was needed. The bees were good natured- we saw the queen- laying egg on the second frame!
On the 29th March the temperature was 24C in the garden and we did a more through inspection- I had found a caterpillar on the floor outside the hive which I thought was a Greater Wax Moth. During the inspection we didn't see any sign of a problem but they can be very hard to spot until they have done some damage. The books say a thriving colony can easily cope with Wax Moth and we have found a couple more on the floor since.
Mary reminded me that removing the slide under the open mesh floor can help because it gives the moth something to hang on to. They were removed from all the hives- the ventilation will be better now as the weather gets better. As I was cleaning the corrugated sheet from under the home hive it became obvious that there caterpillars in the grooves of the floors- a very useful hiding place for them. These will need to be replaced with a solid material!


Wire woodpecker protection removed



The Cordwood hives were also inspected and were thriving- all 3 needed tidying- lots of excess comb removed containing larvae, egg and stores. I checked the brood for varroa mite and found only one. We removed the wire cages- the hives should be awake enough now to protect themselves if a woodpecker should show any interest.



Varroa mite on the cleared brood.