Swarm Part 2

So Friday 8th April came- normal day at work, very sunny- looking forward to that cup of coffee sitting outside and relaxing. But no, as I pull into the garage there is Trev looking a bit flustered. The greeting was- 'Hurry up and park the car the bees are swarming!!'

So, luckily they have not gone far- just a few metres in to a tree near the hive, they have gathered on a branch in an almost textbook fashion. This does not make us feel less nervous as we get the equipment ready that we will need- ladder, sturdy box, white sheet, empty brood box and frames....

A quick call to Bob, an experienced beekeeper from the NBKA, who kindly agrees to come round to check out what we are doing.

Everything ready and Trev climbs the ladder while I stand under the swarm holding the box. A quick, hard wallop on the branch holding the swarm and they are in the box, a quick turn over onto the sheet, prop one corner up on a rock and the bees begin to crawl in. It works just as the books say it should and in about 40 minutes time the whole lot are in the box!!

The next step is to hive the swarm- the brood box is ready- 4 or 5 frames removed from the centre and the quick way to hive them is to wrap the sheet round the box, carry it to the hive, up end the box over the hive and give a good strong shake into the hive.  Remember to put in the entrance block- otherwise they all come falling out! Luckily we did and the bees were in the hive. Lower the frames back in gently and as the bees climb up the frames they settle in. Put on the crown board and roof,remove the entrance block so stragglers from the box can fly in- then leave them alone!!!!

Eventually I did get that coffee, while we watched the bees settle down from a distance. The bees were just doing what came naturally to them, but it was certainly unexpected for us quite so early in the year.

I wish I could say that that was all the excitement the bees gave us last weekend but no there was more to come!

Swarm !!

Part 1...
What a bee keeping week! I thought the first thing I would be writing about this week would be the initial spring inspection of the hive. It will be, but the events of this week have certainly meant I am not going to take the bees for granted!!

Last Wednesday the day was lovely and sunny- just right for a first look in the hive this year. I knew that there would be brace comb from the Apiguard eke, because we had already seen this when we had used Apiguard to check the Varroa spring drop. When the hive was opened there was not just stores in the brace comb but also lots of capped brood attached to the crown board. The brood box was very full of bees, larvae, eggs and stores. We also saw some queen cups- play cups we thought- not unusual and we certainly didn't think it could be a sign of an imminent swarm- it was only the 8th of April after all!!!

Thinking of the talk the NBKA had just had I turned over the crown board put an empty super over it and then placed a super with frames and foundation on top of a queen excluder and sought some advice.The advice was to remove the brace comb and replace the excluder, super with frames, crown board and roof. The next day we opened the hive up again and this was done. The stores in the brace comb had all been cleared by the bees, we also removed the obvious queen cups which were all empty. It appeared the hive was busy, full and hopefully ready to get busy with the business of making honey!

However this was to be just the begining of our weekend of beekeeping.............................................

Time Difference

This weekend we were lucky enough to have family visiting. As they travel up to Nottingham from Portsmouth it is interesting that some signs of spring are much further ahead and others are about the same. The asparagus on our allotment is just starting to show a few spears and yet in Portsmouth they have already been able to cut some of this early treat!

Last year we noticed some of our asparagus crowns weren't as strong as others and have ordered crowns of Pacific 2000 to replace them. I am not sure if the female crowns don't produce such strong crops because they put more effort into seed production. The new crowns are supposed to be all male - so we shall see how they do. In the past we have grown asparagus from seed but it takes longer to take a crop- these new crowns should give us a small crop next year and go on to crop for up to 20 years at least.

Spring Ups and Downs

As I write this I can see two long tailed tits browsing through the hazel outside the window- they have been regular visitors for the last few weeks, so hopefully they are nesting somwhere close by. The spring flowers in the garden are beautiful- the days have lengthened and March has been warm and dry- a great start to the gardening year!
On the allotment we have already put in potatoes, some asparagus is shooting and seed sowing is well under way. I just love this time of year!!
For the first time the bees come into the scheme of things - the first inspection of the year looms and already we are contending with keeping the bees healthy. An early monitoring of the Varroa count on the open mesh floor indictated that there may be a problem later in the year. The natural mite drop can be used to calculate the population in the hive. At this time of year a drop of 1 mite a day could mean that as the brood nest increases, so will the mites proportionally and seriously affect the colony.
Our drop had been between 0.5 and 1 so it was decided to put Apiguard on to prevent the problem getting worse later in the year. It is nearly two weeks since we put on the treatment so I hope this week to carry out an inspection and evaluate whether more treatment is needed or if all looks well.
On the positive side of things the hive is busy with lots pollen going in- indicating a growing amount od brood. When we opened the hive to put on the Apiguard we removed the crown board and broke away brace comb that was full of honey- as some dripped out it had to be tasted and was delilcious- hopefully a sign of things to come!

Busy Times

A busy and eventful few weeks - a warm welcome to a new member of our family. Rowan Harrison Fulton was born on the 15th February, we now have two amazing grandsons.

Problems with the computer are my excuse for no entries for a while- but time has not stood still in the garden. Spring flowers are thriving, the snowdrops are almost over but native daffodils (Lenten Lily) are now opening along with Hellebores and Cyclamen Coum. The bees have been amazingly active and I have fed them fondant as the hive seemed a bit light. It has been interesting to see which flowers in the garden the bees have visited- so far snowdrops, hellebores, the hazel catkins and a very early white marsh marigold have all provided interest. Mike from nearby thinks the bees on the Mahonia in his garden must be ours! Last year we didn't notice bees taking water from the pond, however in the past week or two there has been a regular stream from the hive to take water. When the bees take fondant they often need water to make it easier for them to 'eat'.

Early Forage

Over the past couple of weeks there has been some milder sunny weather enabling the bees to get out and stretch their wings. At the weekend we watched with interest as the bees obviously began to bring little packages of pollen to the hive!


 There was pale yellow and a greenish colour which I think must be from the hazel catkins in the garden.We have tried to plant up the garden to be bee friendly and there are clumps of snowdrops in flower ready to release their nectar and pollen, hazel with catkins full of pollen as well as Viburnum Bodantense and Sarcococca Confusa to hopefully attract the bees for an early feed. Trev managed to capture this bee on the Viburnum on Wednesday.

Better Weather

It's been a busy time over the past month with visiting family and work done in the house and garden- tidying and getting ready for the spring-my favourite time of year in the garden.

The flowers I most look forward to are snowdrops- I just love the clear green and white shoots as they push up through the earth, gradually droop over and open up against the dark ground. Over the years I have tried to collect different varieties and the glossy or matt blue green leaves are as attractive as the flowers. It was with great interest that I watched Carole Klein in her delightful garden explaining how to propagate snowdrops en masse. The method- called twin scaling -involves cutting bulbs into slices, each containing a piece of the basal plate and placing them into vermiculite until they start to grow tiny bulbils. These can then be grown on to flowering size in a couple of years. When my bulbs have finished flowering this year I hope to give this a try!