Budding Cottage

In April (28th) the beginners sessions began at the Hanley castle apiary.  It was great to see into some hives and talk through what we found.  I immediately realised that I needed to review my frame constructions and went back through my empty hives to add additional nails to the lugs of the frames that I had forgotten!

The bees, bluebells and badgers BBQ on 30 April was a great social opportunity as well as another chance to explore Richard Goode’s hives.

5 May found us back at the Hanley Castle hives for another look.  The hive we looked in had not been thriving as expected and we realised that it had already swarmed. I saw the use of a manipulation cloth, which seemed like a good idea and learned that to persuade a swarm to stay can be helped by providing them with a couple of frames of brood.  I also learned that lavender heads make a nice smelling smoke and that a small blow torch is very useful for relighting a smoker.  Another possible tip or hint was that if bees are being attracted by a sting, a puff of smoke can help disguise the smell a little and put them off.

12 May and back to Hanley Swan – a quick session on the best practice in making foundation frames.  Then a quick look at some of the bees.  I looked at the swarm hive that had been settling in to see how far it had got.  It was doing well on drawing out comb and we had a couple of quick chats on subjects like the direction the brood box is placed in – ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ formation; and how the queen prefers to start laying from near the entrance.  If I remember right, ‘hot’ formation is having the frames hanging at right angles to the front entrance, ‘cold’ is having them running parallel.  We then worked from the back towards the queen, but didn’t spot her. However, some eggs were spotted.  I found them very hard to see, almost like reflections in honey rather than eggs.

We also looked at a hive that may have swarmed because it hadn’t progressed as well as expected.  It had a brood and a half on it, and there was some discussion on preferences around this.  Some beekeepers prefer more brood space.  Others think it increases the risk of losing the queen during a manipulation; or makes it easier to miss disease and/or queen cells.  I must admit being torn on this point.  I had designed my hives as a brood and a half potentially, to create the best possible brood size going into winter.  But I also appreciate the issues around the second brood box.  I have not resolved this yet, but have a little time before my hives are ‘boiling up’ around their brood boxes.

One thing I did double check and get a reminder on, and that was to treat my swarm for varroa as they were probably feral bees.  I double checked in case it might drive them away, but the consensus was that I should treat them before there was any sealed brood.

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