Winter Beekeeping



November Bees!!!



What do beekeepers do in the winter?

Plenty of beekeeping jobs- cleaning and storing equipment, checking the bees for stores and keeping an eye on varroa counts. This year the worry is the weather has been so mild the bees are active and using stores too quickly. So making sure we have some fondant ready for feeding has been a priority. Last year I made my own but this year with not so much spare time I have resorted to buying in bulk- just in case!!

This year as well I have had a go at making candles- not my own wax this year but hopefully next year I will have enough to clean up to use.

These candles are made with sheets of what looks like foundation in different colours- very easy to make and just right for beekeepers to give as Christmas presents!

Woodpecker Protection

The varroa treatment is done, the stores are up to strength, reduced entrance blocks in- almost ready for the winter! One thing left to be done- to protect the hives from woodpeckers!!
In the garden there should be no problem, we have never seen or heard woodpeckers; but on the Cordwood site they may be a problem. Hives can sit for years and never be bothered by woodpeckers, but once found it appears they pass on the knowledge about the presence of easy winter food. Beekeepers don't seem sure whether it is the honey, comb or bees and larvae that are the attraction but it is not worth taking the risk when we hear green woodpeckers regularly on site. The hives can be damaged or destroyed, resulting in the colony left open to the elements to die. So many thanks to Rob and Jim who joined us and made a fantastic job of constructing protective cages for the hives. Let's hope the bees appreciate it !!!

Honey Show

Those of you who know us and have followed the saga of our bees this year will be aware of the angst we had trying to get the bees to go up into the supers to store honey in May and June.  We had swarms and our original hive has now ended up being four hives. So the bees had to build up their strength before they could get out there and collect surplus honey. We tried smearing honey on the frames, changing queen excluders and Mary kindly gave us drawn frames to try and encourage reluctant bees to give us some of their bounty!
So, at the end of the honey season we have been very proud of the bees efforts this year- we collected about 50 lbs of honey in total from the 2 Cordwood hives and the Garden hive. From the Cordwood bees there was light and very dark honey; taken in July and August. The garden bees gave us about 19lbs in August- classed as light honey but a richer colour than that earlier in the year. Maybe not the most prolific harvest but nevertheless we were happy.
This week was the Notts Beekeepers Honey Show and we decided to have a go with our three types of honey- I thought they would be light, medium and dark- but in fact when it came to it we had 2 light and a dark. So I entered the garden honey in the beginner's class and  the Cordwood honey in the light and dark classes.

Well done bees!!!

Going into Autumn

Stores for the winter!

As the days shorten the bees are getting ready for the winter and to help them this is the time of year that we have a targeted offensive against the varroa mite. As the bees slow down for winter and form a cluster the varroa mite just keeps going, so if they go into winter with a big population they can overwhelm the bees and they won't make it through the winter. This year we have used 2 forms of control- Apiguard on the bees on the Cordwood site and ApiLife Var on the hive in the garden- nothing really scientific about it as the hives and sites are so different. The bees in the garden have not had a very big drop as the treatment went on and the concern must be is the treatment doing it's job or were there not that many varroa? This hive was a very small nucleus and has become active and very busy. It has produced about 15lbs of honey and seems to be collecting enough stores to sustain the bees over the winter without any help from us.
The bees on the Cordwood site have produced about 35lbs of honey from 2 of the hives- the third hive wasn't very big and we didn't take any honey from them this year. The drop of Varroa has tailed off over the treatment but there were still a few on the floor when we took off the tray of Apiguard- something to keep a watch on over the next few months and maybe consider further treatment during the winter.
These three hives have a moderate amount of stores but just to be sure over the next week or so we will put on some 2:1 syrup to build them up for the winter, although with the recent record temperatures I wonder what the reaction will be!!

ApiGaurd tray on top of the frames.

Figs

I was given a recipe recently for Fig, Honey and Thyme Tart- it looked tasty and being keen to try my honey in recipes I decided to give it a try. However, I could not get my hands on any figs, I made the tart with blackberries as we have been picking them for some weeks. The tart was lovely. At the top of our garden we have had a Brown Turkey fig tree for a few years- it often tempts us with some tiny,green figs- but they never come to anything, dropping off way before they are ready.

So, imagine how suprised I was when I was checking on the bees and whether the apples were ready to pick,when I spied not one but two brown figs!!

They were soon eaten and were absolutely delicious!

Honey Harvest

Earlier this year when the bees were swarming and all we seemed to be doing was collecting bees and trying to build up new colonies, honey seemed a bit of a dream. But now at the end of the season we are pleased to say that we are happy with our harvest of honey. We have been able to take small amounts from the woodland apiary at Waxwings/Cordwood in both July and August and even some from the very smallest colony in the garden which has built up brilliantly and has lots of stores for the winter already.
The season has been incredibly dry and the woodland nectar appears to have slowed down much earlier than normal- where we had expected the bees to build up stores for themselves we have had to feed these colonies before the varroa treatments went on. However the farmer has given them a bit of a bonus- we have noticed a field boundary of sunflowers all in flower now, well within reach of the bees!

What has intrigued me more than anything is the difference in the honey we have collected- the July honey a beautiful pale amber with a mild flavour, but the August honey from the same bees as dark almost as Guiness and tasting of much more complex flavours!

August

I can't believe nearly a whole month has gone by without updating the blog- it has been a busy and enjoyable time with holidays and visiting family.

Had a great time on Colonsay - the weather was mostly fine and sunny. We spent time walking, bird watching and identifying wildflowers!! Colonsay House gardens was a special afternoon with great views of Apis Mellifera Mellifera, the original  British black bee that dissappeared from Britain after the mainland population was wiped out earlier last century.