Winter Check 1

Hannah & Gil dropped by to check on the hive this morning, while the sun was out. We met Liz who had also just been to see them. They were quite busy, and carrying pollen.

 

We also had a go at "hefting the hive" - and comparing the weight to the empty hive beside it. There certainly didn't seem to be anything to concern us yet.

 

 

Top Bar Meeting

Today I went to Brian's top bar meeting in Halifax.  There were about 18 people there from across northern England, including Yorkshire, Cumbria and Manchester.

Each of us told a story about our journey to top bar beekeeping.  Some people had yet to find their first bees, whilst others had years of experience.  Most of us were fairly new beekeepers.

We agreed to meet again as we could tell there was so much we can learn from each other.  You can see it's a worthwhile event when people can't quite leave before having one more chat with each person in the room.  And Brian is encouraging everyone to sign up to the biobees forum so that we can all be part of a local sub-group.

And to help things along Janice brought scones with jam and cream to have with our tea.   Thanks to those arranging it for a worthwhile get together.

Preparation for winter

My first ever go on the blog and indeed on any blog ever. Being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. A few days late but here goes...

Visited the hive on morning of Monday 8th to do a few jobs.

Firstly checked the empty hive over, moved it onto bricks and then covered it with huge plastic sheet held down with bungees. This will hopefully give it a bit more protection over the winter as it is left out in the field.

The active hive was still busy with bees coming and going. Opening it up (taking the roof off only) the bees were very quiet and calm. As the hive is full of bars and a cold wind was blowing I didn't venture to look in. I then put the straw filled pillow slips on top of the hive to add insulation. Loosening the bottom board to have a quick look I noticed small amount of verroa in amongst the debris. The first time I have seen it since introducing the bees. After cleaning the board off I attempted to stand up and unfortunately ripped my cartilage in the left knee. Had to then try pin the board back using the old bent staples sat in the mud whilst lots of angry bees decided they didn't like me tampering with their home. Being unable to stand or bend my leg whilst being in "a jolly large amount of pain" added to the pleasure of the experience somewhat.

Fortunately Hannah and Gil have picked up from where I fell over and sorted the bottom board, so thanks to them once again.

Did not have opportunity to look at insulating the hive further but the weather still is mild enough to not worry about it yet.

Now that I am housebound time to look at getting info to new and interested people and see if we can get a few more suited up next spring. Anyone for a bit of hive building this winter, large amounts of tea and cake on offer?

Bradford Bee Keepers AGM

Gil went along to the AGM of the Bradford Beekeepers Association tonight.  It was in Phoenix House on the Bradford University campus - which unfortunately is a security-card accessed venue, so you really need to get there on time. Another member and me only got in when they let the Masons out (after presenting a cheque)

It was really nice actually - there were about 30 members present, and it turned out a good number were beginners too - they handed out a lot of certificates, but unfortunately not one for Hannah or me - Bill said he'd post them to us.

There were 15 positions on the Committee - seeing as we all really are busy enough with other things,
I managed to resist going for even the events team - they are planning an Official Opening Day for the Apiary, and also there's a planned "theatre performance" planned for there too - in July.

There was a 'honey tasting' at the end - with 6 entrants. The most popular (blind tasting) one, actually was revealed to be a "M&S donated jar" - which didn't fool me  (c:

I got the calendar of monthly talks planned for the year ahead - would be really good to get along to these when we can - they really are a charming friendly bunch of folk

The Colonies are allowed to mingle

This evening there was thankfully a break in the atrocious rain for Hannah & Gil to return to the hives.  In fact the bad weather has meant that the small hive haven't actually lost much chance of foraging while they've been shut inside - as we weren't able to make any fondant to feed them.

We were totally unsure as to whether the small colony would have survived their latest trauma.

However - when we removed the cover and lifted out the 'holy follower board' - sure enough there were bees climbing out of the hive from both sides. We had been told of other beekeepers attempts at merging colonies resulting in pairs of bees attacking each other in midair, but there seemed to be no animosity between any bees at all.

Fingers crossed, we do seem to have managed it - of course the only way we will really know is by finding dead bees in and around the hive next visit, but we think that's unlikely.

Our next adventure will be making some sugar fondant to feed them through the winter (or Autumn if this rain continues much longer)

Poor Pudsey Bees

Merging the Colonies (now on film)

This week we attempted to merge the two colonies - as the smaller colony is not going to survive for much longer on its own without a queen or new bees being created.

The problem is that a colony will defend their hive against bees from another hive - they can tell them apart by smell. Their queens scent is detectable - so we needed to allow the bees to mix for a while without them reaching and attacking each other.

Steve, Hannah and Gil met on Saturday afternoon (after the PuLSE Urban Harvest - see our facebook page for details) to discuss tactics, and then convened at the hives on Sunday morning - tools at the ready. First of all we used our swarm box to put the small hive into - and wrapped them in cloth.

We decided on using a follower board from the now empty hive to separate the two colonies within the main hive. We drilled holes in the board to allow the smells to mix and the bees to see each other, but blocked the gaps around the board so they wouldn't be able to get through.

The small colony was then lifted into the back of the main hive along with their comb, and they were sealed completely inside - with no egress - for three days. . .

Bradford Beekeepers Evening Meeting

I wrote a piece last week about how I visited the Bradford Beekeepers meeting but it didn't save on the blog and I have slept since then.

The main gist of my post was that the event was educational, supportive and welcoming so we should join in with more of their events.

There are still a few chances to visit the Knowles Park apiary before the hives are closed for winter, so that's a chance to talk bees some more.

We should make the most of this resource.