Emerging bees

The prospect of a new season is exciting but waiting for the bees to emerge [hopefully] is a worrying time as you wait to see if they have survived the winter.

Until the temperature is a minimum of 15C you shouldn't open the hive but bees will start flying when it gets to 10C.

Recently the temperature has risen and checking the fondant supplies gives me an opportunity to get an idea of what the survival rates might be.
Click the button to see the video.

The Warre Hive - Part 5- Making the quilt and feeder

The quilt is an unusual feature of the Warre Hive and its just a box that sits on top of the brood boxes.
The purpose of the quilt box is to insulate the top of the hive during cold weather, which helps the bees stay warm and, more importantly, prevents water vapour from condensing into water droplets at the top of the hive and then dripping onto the bee cluster.

There are three ways of populating a hive - buy a full colony, split an existing colony or get a swarm.
Because the Warre hive is a different size to my other hives its easier [and cheaper!] to get a swarm.
New swarms will need feeding to help it build up but in the plans I am using there is no mention of a feeder.
In Warre's book 'Beekeeping for all' [which I don't have] there are plans for one but I am going to make something simpler.
Click the button to watch the video.

Winter Oxalic acid treatment

One of the main problems facing honey bees is the varroa mite. It originated in Asia and has spread across the world.
It can weaken a colony to the point where it eventually dies but there is no silver bullet that can deal with it and a bee keeper can only try to control the levels of the mite in a hive.
Usually this is done in Autumn and winter.
The winter treatment involves using oxalic acid which is effective in reducing the mites but it is corrosive and kills any bee brood in the hive. Therefore it is administered after the queen has stopped laying.
The acid can be administered in liquid form by using a syringe but I prefer using what is called a vapouriser,

Click the button to see how it is administered.

The Warre Hive - Part 4 - Making the top bars

Making the Top Bars

The Warre hive, like the Top Bar Hive, has a series of wooden strips rather than the conventional frames.
They are easy to make and there are a couple of ways they could be improved.

Click the button to see the video.

The Warre Hive - Part 3 - Making the floor

Making the Floor

The floor is pretty straightforward. However Warre's plans didn't allow for the varroa mite. The mite didn't arrive in Europe until the 1960's and didn't get to France until the 1982, long after Warre's death.
I have made something similar to the floors I have on my National Hives

Click the button to see the video.

There is something on my website here about varroa.

January Update

It's the New Year, the Shortest Day has passed and very gradually we move towards Spring. Hurray!!

So what's been going on?
Not a lot really.
The winter wraps are on and the winter feed has started.
The Ravensden and Stevington bees all finished off the fondant I put on a couple of weeks ago whereas only half the Scald End bees did. I've bought 2 12½ kg blocks to get them through the winter.
The recent mild weather isn't good for the bees as its just warm enough for them to fly and burn up energy and stores but there's nothing for them to replace it.


Looking at my winter list of Things To Do, its still as depressingly long as when I set it up.
I have allowed myself to spend far too much time faffing around with the Warre Hive and I've only managed to build one nuc for the summer swarms.

However in my defence I have yet to set up central heating in my shed and its cold in there.

Woodpeckers

Every year the Association secretary issues a note reminding members to take steps to prevent woodpecker damage.
I can remember remarking to a neighbour that I hadn't seen any woodpeckers this year so I was a bit surprised to see this when I went to Ravensden  to do the wraps and feed.

From the white dust around the hole it looks like it had a go at where I have repaired a previous hole with filler.
For the time being I have put a square of wood over it but underneath is a bit of mesh which will give the woodpecker beak ache if it tries it again.
Next Spring I will put in an undamaged brood box and properly repair the old one.

As you both know I don't make New Year Resolutions but at a recent bee keepers meeting the main discussion was about what we intended doing differently this year.
'To stop being stupid and getting stung so much' immediately sprang to mind but the one thing I will/may try to do differently is swarm control.
When talking to other bee keepers I am aware some of my views are not entirely widely held. I'm not too bothered about swarm control and a very expert bee keeper I know said to me he didn't understand why beeks were so preoccupied with it  - 'you get a nice new young queen and get rid of an old one'.
The problem is that there are apparently 29 different methods of doing it - all with their own fervent disciples.
Much discussion at the meeting focused on what's called the Pagden method but a week or so later a very distinguished bee keeper and author wrote an article saying the Pagden method wasn't very effective and advocated using what is called the Snellgrove method.
Don't ask me to explain it - as I read it it made perfect sense and about 30 seconds later I couldn't remember a thing.
Old age gets you like that and I share Homer Simpson's view that:-

every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?”

I do have some exact instructions on how to do it so expect a blog about this sometime later this year.

Wraps and Fondant

I've probably said this before but honey bees do not hibernate and bees at the centre of the cluster are quite mobile and maintain their warmth by flexing their flying muscles. The centre of the cluster of bees is still quite warm - 29C compared with a normal temperature of ~35C.

Bees on the outside of the cluster are much more densely packed and appear motionless or even dead. However gradually the outside bees migrate to the centre of the cluster to be replaced by the warm bees. A bit like penguins.

Although the bees are settled in for the winter, there are still things to do that can help them.
As with most things there are a wide range of different views about winter insulation and a wide range of different materials that can be used. The issue around insulation is that a balance has to be struck between no insulation and possibly the bees die and too much where the bees are kept too warm and continue to be active and consume stores too quickly.

I have settled into a regular routine as regards winter care and touch wood I have been reasonably successful.
To insulate the hive I use wraps that are sheets of plasticised material that is wrapped around the hive.
To supplement the stores they have built up I give them blocks of baker's fondant.

Click the button to see the video,