Attendees:
Peter, Helen, Julie, Mark, Richard L., Anne, Shirley, Richard B. and young Sam.

There was lots of looking hopefully upwards to the sky for the promised better weather to arrive as we assembled at the apiary.

The weather was cool, damp and breezy and it was touch and go whether we should go in to the hives. A few bees were flying so we decided to make a start and see how we got on.

We started with Hive 1 and the new beekeepers each had a go at inspecting the frames. There was a good healthy brood pattern throughout the main brood box and no signs of queen cells. There was also no sign of the queen, which was a pity otherwise we could have trapped her in the main brood box (there is a shallow box being used for brood underneath the deep box). However the bees were getting grumpier by the minute so we did not go through the shallow brood box. An extra super with foundation was put on top as the bees were spilling out onto the crown board looking for something to do.

Next we opened up Hive2, again to check for swarm cells, but the bees by this time were in quite a temper at having been disturbed on a cool Sunday afternoon and so we decided to call it a day. These were given a brood box to draw foundation last time but they have not obliged so far.

The bees ushered us off the premises in no uncertain terms and sadly were being stingy right over to the cars. The picnic was abandoned as Julie suffered a sting on the eyelid and Helen had to have a bee removed from her hair. Julie has since assured us that thankfully the sting didn’t cause too bad a reaction.

It was during this scene of mayhem that Matthew and Lulu (the landlords) happened to appear and tried to engage in a conversation about works to the apiary site.

Work is to start very soon so there might be some disruption to our planned schedule. So look our for updates here and by email.

Jobs to do next time:-
Hive 1 – Check for queen cells. Confine queen to deep brood box if possible and move shallow brood box to hive3
Hive 2 – Check for queen cells. Check
Hive 3 – Replace the 2 shallow brood frames in the deep brood box. If possible use the shallow brood from hive 1 to take these shallow frames and boost the population
Hive 4 – Check for new queen, ideally laying – sealed queen cells seen 2 weeks ago
This is where hive numbers get shaky. Hives now have numbers on them but the hive notes don’t necessarily match!
Hive 5 (the one next to the wall and shed). – Check for queen cells. May need super. 7th May frames were removed to make a nuc.
Hive 6 (the furthest from the gate). Check for new queen, ideally laying. 7th May queen was removed to make a nuc.
Nuc – Check for new queen, ideally laying.

Sorry no actual photos from the day but here’s one taken on a sunnier day:-

Barns on 14^th May and next visit 21^st May

Guest: Norman Jarvis, Border Beekeepers: has been keeping bees since 1996; was hoping to find a spare queen cell to take away but none found! He would be delighted to return in a fortnight!

The hives are now all numbered, apart from the nuc that was created on 7^th: a small QC was spotted in that, will need to be checked by 28^th or 4^th June to see that the queen is mated and laying.

All hives except 6 and 7 were checked.

1: Super added; and super with brood now underneath the brood box. Once brood has hatched, put this under 3’s brood box (see below)

2: No queen cells, queen seen, (re)marked & clipped. Brood box added ABOVE so bees can start drawing out foundation – this to be removed once some frames have been drawn out so that they can be used for nucs/swarms.

3: shallow frames in brood box  with unstable comb beneath, suggest removing the super from underneath Hive 1 as soon as it’s empty of brood, and putting this super beneath the brood box, with the 2 shallow frames (removing unstable comb first) until the brood in the shallow frames has hatched. This colony is producing very irregular comb, clean up, add fresh frames and enough dummy boards (in store cupboard) to close all gaps.

4: had 2 queen cells and few bees – left, inspect on 21^st or 4^th June

5: empty

6: nuc created from this, it should be acting as normal.

7: nuc created by this by removing queen and frames – this needs to be checked  by 28th or 4th June to see that the queen is mated and laying.

The paths and hives area has been neatly strimmed – thank you!

Runners for frames have been left in the store cupboard

AC took away one nuc box – a molehill had come up underneath it, the 3 frames inside were damp and mouldy, the interior was damp and had some soil in it; the exterior has been slightly strimmed on one corner. I’ll get some exterior filler and paint; clean the nuc box and fill it with fresh frames and foundation.

Taken away: Em MacKie took away one nuc box and one empty hive with frames, in preparation for splitting colonies at Kailzie.

Summary of the first of this summer’s regular Sunday meetings
The Association is developing a rota so that every Sunday we can have an experienced beekeeper on site, to check over the colonies and to help this year’s beginners who have been allocated a “foster” hive to look after.

At the Apiary

Three of this year’s beginners – Shirley, Ilknur and Brian – were allocated 2 of the hives to foster: Shirley and Ilknur opened the hives themselves and carried out the inspections with David and Mandy on hand to give encouragement. Excellent first attempts: and as both hives were very full of bees, they were split to form nucs. It’s now a matter of waiting, and counting the days until the new queens are due to hatch, fly, mate and then start laying eggs.

Spot The Queen

The aim is to keep enough colonies for a teaching apiary, and to produce nucs for beginners and active members, reducing the need to bring in bees from outside area (with the accompanying risk of disease).

The other colonies were checked – no queen cells were found, there was sufficient space and stores in each. One had already swarmed (sealed queen cells were found) and one looked as if it needed a little extra TLC.

Inspection

Jobs for the next visit: put hive numbers on the boxes, check the colonies for space, stores and signs of incipient swarming – create nucs from any that look as if they might swarm.

Next visit: (weather permitting) 14th May 2-4pm with Mandy and Janet: if you are coming and need to borrow a beesuit, please let Mandy know.
If we have to cancel at short notice, an email will be sent round at 11am, so please check your emails.

On Sunday 28th May we’re delighted to be welcoming West Linton Beekeeper’s Association, at our Association apiary, Dave Stokes might be persuaded to be one of the demonstrators on the day. We hope that other experienced local beekeepers will come along and be a guest demonstrator for one of the