Apiary visit 14/06/2017
Poor weather had postponed the usual Sunday visit to a Wednesday. Mandy Clydesdale with 2 of this year’s beginners (Ilknur, Mark and Mark’s son Benjamin) and turned up for what was hoped to be a brief session. Mark had just taken delivery of his own nuc of bees, so was anxious to get as much hands-on experience as possible.
By now all the colonies had swarmed or had been reduced in strength by creating nucs. However on arrival a quick check of the fir trees by the hives confirmed not just one but 3 swarms!
We had 2 nuc boxes ready on site, so by standing on a small stack of bee boxes, managed to get 2 of the swarms into boxes. (The third had to wait till a third nuc box could be got to the site, and a small team – Mandy, Linda and Wilma) was rounded up to deal with it that evening.
Hive 1: On a super, brood box, queen excluder and 2 supers. The bees were agitated but not aggressive: many drones were found above the excluder, so this might have been the reason for the agitation – the excluder was taken out and all the bees brushed off the supers into the brood box, then the hive was reassembled. Hopefully this will solve the problem. Three queen cells were seen – this was probably the source of at least one of the swarms. 2 queen cells were removed.
Next time: if possible remove the super that is beneath the brood box, or re-locate it to above the excluder.
Hive 2: On Brood box, excluder, super, brood box (to draw out comb – hadn’t obliged yet!)
The lower super was full of honey, but they hadn’t yet been tempted to draw out the comb in the higher brood box – it was left till the next visit. No eggs or young brood seen, but one recently hatched queen cell found at the base of a frame. One of the queen cells from hive 1 added, just in case. It was assumed that the hive had swarmed, and that the new queen was not yet laying.
Several of the sheets of foundation – all 4 of a dull brown colour – had not been touched at all – it seems the bees did not like them, despite some congestion in the hive. These frames were removed and replaced with frames with fresh foundation.
Next time: do not disturb for at least 2 weeks (ie after 1st July), then check if a new queen is laying.
If the foundation in the upper brood box has been drawn, remove and store for use in nuc/bait hives. (Check if it is the same dull brown foundation that the bees ignored in the lower brood box?) Add another super if needed. Check whether the bees have drawn out the clean foundation in the lower brood box.
Hive 3: the bees covered 7 frames in the brood box; a super was added, but it needs a queen excluder – none were spare at the time. Some frames of the comb were very irregular so were moved to the right hand side of the brood box, with the intention of removing it as soon as feasible (once brood has hatched). Queen not seen, but worker eggs and brood were seen.
Next time: add a queen excluder; remove right hand frame in brood box if possible and replace.
Hive 4: had died out. We were concerned about this colony for some time, but it has now died out (there were some spots of diarrhoea on the frames), with dead bees on the floor. It was next to the colony that succumbed to what we assume was nosema, so may have been infected via drifting. The hive was sealed to prevent bees from other colonies accessing it; the super was taken away to be cleaned, the brood box also needs to be taken away to be emptied and sterilised for re-use. All gloves worn by those handling this hive were immediately changed on site; hive tools had not been used.
There does not seem to be a permitted treatment for nosema, control is recommended to be “hygienic practices and requeening”. We have been very careful not to transfer frames between colonies, and any suspected infected hive is always the last in the list for inspection – hopefully this is an end to the disease.
Next time: bring away hive 4 for cleaning and sterilising.
Hives 5 & 6 have been relocated off-site in advance of the renovation works at the apiary.
Nucs and swarms:
The swarm (next to hive 4) was doing fine, 2 full frames of beautifully regular sealed brood. Same for the swarm in the hive at the front of the apiary: this one was due to go to one of our beginners, so we prepared it for moving with strap and travelling screen, and went over ways of blocking the entrance. Syrup was put on the swarms in their new boxes – they all seemed settled.
Next time: check the swarms have enough syrup, and see if any of them need transferring to a brood box.
The colonies seem to have built up well in the dry weeks of April and May, despite the cold start: it seems to have been a very swarmy year so far.
So this week’s mentored session covered collecting a swarm, transfer of queen cell, reminders about life cycles of all castes in a colony, finding eggs and young brood, checking nucs/swarms are queenright, checking for disease, isolation of a source of disease, preparing hives for moving – not bad!
So the summary for the next visit (due 25th June)
Hive 1: if possible remove the super that is beneath the brood box, or re-locate it to above the excluder.
Hive 2: DO NOT DISTURB till after 1st July, then check if a new queen is laying.
If the foundation in the upper brood box has been drawn, remove and store for use in nuc/bait hives. (Check if it is the same dull brown foundation that the bees ignored in the lower brood box?) Add another super if needed. Check whether the bees have drawn out the clean foundation in the lower brood box.
Hive 3: add a queen excluder; remove right hand frame in brood box if possible and replace.
Hive 4: bring away hive 4 for cleaning and sterilising.
Swarms and nucs: check whether the swarms in the nuc boxes need more syrup, and have enough room; move to a brood box if needed. Check that there’s a laying queen – in case some of the swarms are casts, headed by a virgin queen.