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.

Brian helps us out

We were lucky enough to have an experienced top-bar beekeeper come along to our hives early on Sunday morning.  Brian had visited the co-op in the early days to talk about beekeeping and was a wealth of information and enthusiasm.

We had a lot of questions but Brian was happy to dive straight in and inspect both hives. We started with Hive 1 - the bees were extremely lively and poured out of the Hive much more than we had seen before - poor Gil's hood/suit zip had broken, so he was relegated to watching from the sidelines - as we'd never seen them this reactive before.

We managed to get through about two-thirds of the combs before deciding that they were getting a bit too lively. We didn't find the Queen, but Brian was satisfied that there were definitely young brood present.

Hive 2 was totally different - there had obviously been no building activity at all since they were first returned. Brian & Steve managed to lift the whole clump of combs out, and all we could see was honeycomb. Brian was definitely of the opinion that they are Queen-less and have been for some time.

The level of cross-comb is clearly visible here - as is the small number of bees compared to hive 1. Brian left us with a number of the "prepared" top-bars that he uses to give the bees a start.

We then sealed up the hives, with the intention of increasing their level of insulation (with the weed membrane and kingspan). Brian then gave us a range of things we could do with the small hive - including ways of integrating them into the larger hive. Brian even gave us a very nice brand-new smoker !

Finally we took away some of the broken comb, and the comb they had built onto the feeder (which we also removed). So here's a picture of our very first "cut-comb"

 

 

Quiet Site

Gil has just visited the bees this evening. Hive 1 very quiet - just half a dozen bees visible - absolutely nothing happening at Hive 2.  Opened up hive 2 - no more than a third of the feeder had been taken since Sunday morning. Moved away the follower board, and sure enough the bees were still there in a very small clump down at the end.  Filled feeder up to the top and closed it up.

Opened Hive 1 - not really much change seen since last visit - still some comb being built around feeder. Gave the bees a bit of syrup (as weather overall pretty bad) and closed up the hive and left them alone.

To Feed or not to Feed . . .

Liz and Gil went to feed the bees this morning - Hive 2 very quiet and had hardly drunk any syrup since Sarah & Liz visited them on Friday.

Hive 1 still had four or five bees a second arriving at the entrances - still covered in silver pollen. We took off the roof and checked the feeder - which sure enough was empty, but noticed that the bees were busy building comb around the feeder and the hive walls now. Liz and I discussed and agreed that we both felt that the bees must be trying to build enough storage space to cope with all the feed they are getting.

So to stop them literally 'building themselves out of house & home" we left their feeder empty. We can easily begin feeding them again if the weather returns to appalling.

Liz left the syrup and bag at Gil's house - as Hannah is on the rota next week.

LIz & Sarah Feeding

> Sarah and Liz fed the bees last night but as I cannot update the blog, I thought I would just drop you a quick email.
>
> Hive 2 (the smaller hive) had only taken half of the syrup (we last fed them Sunday) but there was a small amount of bees flying in and out of the hive and they were fairly active.
>
> Hive 1 - taken all their syrup (as is usual)... lots and lots of activity in and out of the hive with lots of pollen being collected. They seemed happy enough but I suspect will run out of space very soon. Hopefully we can meet up next Monday and make a decision.
>
We plan to feed again on Thursday dependent upon how the weather has been, but at least to visit the hives to check everything ok.
>

Changeover Feed

Another quick simple feed this evening - Steve and Liz joined Hannah & Gil on an unexpectedly dry opportunity for a joint changeover.

Both hives were showing signs of activity. We slightly opened Hive 2, just to see if they needed any more room, but the 2 extra bars we gave them on Monday were still bare. The feeder was half empty.

Hive 1 feeder was empty, but we left the hive undisturbed

Feeding

I fed the bees today - it was about 7:30 before I made it down to the hives after a day of warm sun and heavy showers.  Hive 2 feeder was still half full.  There were several bees in the feeder but the hive was eerily quiet.  It was quite cool by that time so I didn't want to look into the hive and let cold air in.

Hive 1 still had a bit of bee traffic and bees sat on all three entrances.  The feeder was empty.  Again I didn't open anything due to the cool conditions.

Wild life

Hannah and Gil fed the bees this evening.  Brookie joined us to see the hives.  Both feeders were empty so it really needs to be a visit every 48 hours to make sure the food doesn't run out.  Although the weather hasn't been perfect, it has been mostly dry and warm and despite that the bees are using the feeders a lot.  If the weather is poor I think we will still need to visit every day.  We forgot to bring a funnel this evening so had to pour syrup into the feeders in a slow trickle.  In hive 1, two workers sat on the edge of the feeder supping the syrup as I poured it into the feeder.  It's amazing how they can smell the sugar and sense where it is coming from.

On the walk home we spotted a wild/feral honey bee nest in a garden tree not far from the hives.  It is in a large ash tree about 10 feet from the ground with an entrance about the size of one of ours.  There was a lot of bee traffic, which led us to the conclusion that it was not our errant swarm.  I guess the colony will swarm next spring.  Good news if we reach the swarm but not so good if we are held responsible for the consequences.  I wonder if the residents of that house know it it there.

Another Inspection (on film)

Steve & Gil returned to the bees this morning. We had a discussion about Hive 2, and agreed that we all seem to prefer the option of leaving them alone as much as possible - the more we destroy their 'cross-comb', the less likely they are to survive. At least leaving them on their own to live as a "Warre hive", they'll have a chance to build up numbers before winter, and then we can start them again 'properly' in Spring - possibly in a new hive - possibly with a perspex side so we can watch them more easily.  We did fill the feeder with inverted sugar syrup but without opening the hive.

Hive 1 was really due for a full inspection - Because there were only 2 of us, I concentrated on filming the inspection rather than taking photos, as there are so many bees in there, it takes 2 pairs of hands to avoid squishing them.

I've edited the film down to 5 minutes - I've also edited out my 'near sting' (but that's why i had the camera on the grass - though I left me walking past to show how the bees were really crowding us this time).  By the end there were quite a few attempted stings going on, and the misaligned comb is just really awkward to lift out and replace easily. 

Though the feeder was empty we also agreed that Hive 1 really seems to have enough stored syrup for now - and that we would leave off feeding them as much as Hive 2.

I will return early on Monday evening just to feed them, if anyone fancies joining me.

Quick Check

Hannah and Steve visited this evening.  The feeder in hive 2 was completely empty with a lot of bees trying to glean the last few drops of sugar syrup from the straw.  We had to fill the feeder very slowly with the funnel to avoid drowning bees.  The straw above a floating mesh has worked very well to give the bees a means of escape and we didn't lose anyone.  We started to look into the hive.  The first comb appeared straight, if small.  We had to cut some honey containing comb to free the second and by the third decided to stop as the comb was built diagonally across the bars.  We adjusted one leg of the hive as it was possibly not level.

We have a dilemma - it is getting late in the year and any damage to the bees in this very small colony could be enough to see them off (again).  But if we don't release the combs from the bars, we can't inspect the hive and look for disease, signs of swarming etc.  And even if we did manage to get a haphazard colony through the winter, we would want to start again in the spring with straight comb.  We resolved to go away and read/ask for advice on the best way forward and closed up the hive.  This hive does seem to be making a distinctive buzzing sound, quite different from the other one.  I'm concerned it means the bees are not happy - perhaps they don't even have a queen.

Hive 1 also had an empty feeder.  Despite the good weather and clearly lots of bee foraging traffic the bees are clearly still relying on our sugar syrup so we need to go back every 48 hours maximum.  There was so much bee traffic we opened the third entrance hole.

So off to do some research and back to visit the hives on Saturday.

Inspecting between the showers

Desite the rain having returned - the hives needed inspecting, so now armed with our tools, Hannah and Gil returned to the farm. It is a lovely secluded little bit of Pudsey and we do feel very priviledged to be able to come here, which makes the effort of getting ready much more bearable.

The rain was coming in short bursts, but at least it meant that we could at last try out our new umbrella.  

The bees were still busy despite the rain. We started with a quick look in Hive 2 - but from the photos and film we took yesterday, we're really worried about hacking into the clump of bees (with it's hidden queen) and decided to concentrate on Hive 1.

It really is getting to be full of bees in Hive 1 - of course the rain meant that most of the foragers would also have been inside. All of the bars were glued together with propolis - (which is what the knife is for - to prise them apart and detach the comb from the walls)

Despite stopping briefly for a heavy shower, we actually managed to lift out and check over every comb. We took plenty of photographs to look at later, to speed the process up - Bees don't like getting wet or cold, and so time is short. However, they still seem to be relatively calm considering what we're doing to their home.

Here you can see the "top" of the comb - which is separate from the bar - at the opposite end of the hive from the feeder, the combs really overlap the bars at one edge. This makes it really difficult to separate the combs and lift them up safely. However we actually only lost one comb this time - though unfortunately it was mostly 'capped brood' - ie. young about to hatch. Hopefully we managed to prop it up between combs, so they will probably be OK.

And here's another treat, courtesy of our super-snapper Hannah. Two or three new drone bees in the process of hatching !  You can see their eyes peeping out of the cells . . .

Later checks of other photos reveal a lot of larvae, some eggs, and no signs of egg cups, or even verroa (touch wood). However we still haven't definitely identified a Queen.

Silverback Bees

Hannah & Gil have ended up with an extra half a shift this week - luckily the weather was kind and allowed us to visit this evening. We were really pleased with the news that Steve told us about the return of the lost colony, but as they had been "allowed movement from the hive" for 24 hours, we were dubious if they would be still there. They were. . .

In fact they were more active than we remember them being originally. The feeder in particular was nearly empty of syrup, but full of bees feeding.

We had forgotten to bring the hive tools for opening up the bars, and separating the comb safely, so we decided just to feed them and return again tomorrow evening.

Hive 1 was an absolute buzz of activity. It was noticeable that the bees have been foraging the surrounding fields of Himalayan Balsam, as their backs were stained with silver pollen.

  We also took a film of them flying into the hive - just to show how rapidly they were returning.

It is necessary to slightly open Hive 1 to see the level of the feeder (which was also nearly empty) - when we did so we realised that the bees are even building comb on the feeder bar:

There really is no stopping them !

We also did another 'hive dive' of Hive 2 - which shows the bean plant that they were returned on and the feeder in action . . . 

Can you see the little bit of comb at the end.  It looks much more "parallel" to the bars this time (they've obviously been watching the olympics) - and have got more of the idea. Hopefully this will mean they will be easily inspected from now on . . .

Since the last write up on the 22 July we have discussions about what to do with the queen cup and decided to remove it.  We still have so much to learn about basic bee keeping, that splitting the colony felt like advanced action, which we can take on next year.  On the next inspection, the large cell we had though was a queen cup was empty, so we didn't need to remove it.
The small colony which had swarmed has been returned having been found hanging on a bean plant in a nearby garden.  Fortunately Steve had finished the swarm box which Hannah and Gil started, so he was able to go and pick them up.  Steve had also cleaned out the bee hive, so was able to return the bees to the hive.  They were blocked into the hive for 3 days as we couldn't take them 3 miles away, not having transport.  We are hoping they are still around, although they are now a very small colony and may not be viable.  Steve has reduced the area with in the hive and placed carpet on top to try and keep them warm.
We have been unable to inspect this evening due to the wind and rain.

2nd Full Hive Inspection

Steve, Sarah and Gil met up on Sunday evening to perform our second full inspection. Of course there was only Hive 1 inhabited - but we knew that they were building fast. And we wanted to keep them from building comb down from the gaps.

Sure enough - the comb on the left is brand new - built in just a few days.  You can see how pure white the new wax is

Here is Sarah - examining the far side of the comb - affixed to the "follower board" - which is not good - but having learned our lesson, we left it there.

This comb is pretty clear of bees - you can get a good view of the structure of the cells.

 Here we think we have found a "Queen Cup" - can you see the "peanut shell" like object - halfway down the right hand side of the "downward gap" in the comb ?

 We still haven't managed to spot a Queen.  However I did take a lot of photographs during the inspection, and after a lot of staring at blurry bees - this is my best guess . . .   The Queen's 'retinue' generally form a ring around her pointing inwards - Can you see what looks like a much larger black furless backplate on the central (not top) bee ?  Can you also see how it's possible she might have her bottom down a cell - ie. laying an egg ??   If you're still looking - I think her eyes are pointing to the top of the photo, and her tail is pointing to the bottom left corner . .

Well maybee . . .

Hive Diving and Bad News

Suzi and Gil returned this evening (last night had been a PuLSE meeting).

We started off with Hive 1 - which had a lot of activity over a lot of comb. We decided not to start opening up the hive again so soon after last time. So instead I took a dive in there . . .

The feeder was down to a third full, so we topped it up with the syrup that Hannah had made up, and closed the hive back up again.

As soon as we took the roof off Hive 2 however, Suzi realised that it was quiet - very very quiet indeed.  And sure enough the bees were gone.

We had a quick look around the trees, but no sign.   There were just a handful of bees left - one very noisy drone, and a couple of worker bees trying to feed the larvae in the remaining comb. It really was quite pitiful. 

We can only reflect again that this colony were up against it from the start. And the other colony seem to be building and building.  Who knows - perhaps they took in some refugees .  .  .

To sew or not to sew

Today Suzi, Hannah and Gil went to see if we could rescue the collapsed comb in Hive 2.

You can see from the photograph there are two distinct clumps of bees - the top clump has not really moved very much since they were first 'knocked' into the hive nearly a month ago. The clump at the bottom are covering the collapsed comb - which probably contains a lot of larvae and eggs.  On closer inspection we came to the conclusion that we would very probably injure far more larvae and bees by trying to grapple and sew the comb back onto the bars.  To be honest - this smaller colony has never had much of a chance - after being stripped of their food and young, and relocated so late into what has been a dreadful year for bees.
We decided to leave the hive for now, do some more research and hopefully get some support from someone else. . .

First full inspection

Today there were four of us available and the weather was excellent - so we opted to bite the bullet and do a proper full hive inspection. We decided to start with the larger colony (Hive 1).

We could tell almost straight away that something was wrong - the comb had been built onto the gaps between the top bars, which meant we had to cut into the top of the combs to separate them enough. Fortunately there was nothing but fresh syrup stored in these cells.

  

Unfortunately we lost another comb which fell off the bar - but again it was nothing but syrup. The bees seemed to remain very calm throughout which was very positive.  The syrup feeder had not been emptied as much this time, as the weather had been much better recently.

Hive 2 was very worrying - it became immediately obvious that the great mass of comb (which had been completely surrounded by a lump of bees since they were delivered) was completely at an angle to the bars.
 Again we tried to very slowly and gently separate the comb enough to inspect it, but it was no good, the comb just started to collapse and drop to the bottom of the hive.  We decided to call a halt and return with some cord tomorrow to secure the combs back onto the bars.

After getting back home, a closer inspection revealed tiny eggs in the base of some of what we had thought was empty comb.

Wednesday Feeding

Yesterday Steve went to the hives with Liz.  The weather was sunshine and showers.

Hannah was back on duty today.  By the time we got there at 7pm it was a bit cooler after a warm day with showers.  The sun was still out but the hives were in shade and there wasn't much activity outside.  As over the last few days, feeder 1 was nearly empty and 2 just needed topping up.  We saw three bees that drowned in feeder 2.  However there was plenty of straw in it and we watched a bee lose her footing and then get out again using the straw.  In hive 1 we had to draw back the follower board to see the level in the feeder and few bees wanted to pop out of the top.  They all seem to be in a cluster towards the other end.

Hannah made up another 2kg batch of syrup this evening too.

pictures

Feeding in the rain

Hannah and Liz visited this evening.  It was dry this morning but rain/drizzle all afternoon. 

Hive 1 had completely emptied their syrup feeder.  We didn't check the pollen patty.

Hive 2 had only used about a quarter but we topped it up.  There were a few bees on the pollen patty but we couldn't see whether they had taken any.  As we replaced the lid, we dislodged top bars, disturbing the bees.  Steve has a technique for closing this hive and Gil managed it straight away yesterday. 

Pollen substitute and top up feeders

Sunday.  After a terrible Friday and quite a bit of rain on Saturday, conditions have mostly been good today.  It was warm and mostly sunny with only a brief downpour about six pm.  I hope our bees have had chance to forage today.

Liz and Hannah made up pollen substitue to the Scottish Beekeepers recipe.  It's simple to make and doesn't taste too bad.  In fact it is slightly like pollen (think I prefer it to the real thing).

Rather than using paper we have put the paste in mango chutney pots that are easy to fit in the hive and won't fall apart. We hope.

Hannah & Gil visited the hives in the afternoon.  There was lots of bee traffic into/out of both hives with many of the bees carrying pollen.  With a bit of luck they won't need our supplement but we feel happier with it available if need be.

Hive 1 had used four fifths of their feeder contents.  Bees were active in the feeder in hive 2 but had used only a third.  We will have to visit tomorrow to top up.

We added a few extra blank bars into each hives (outside the follower boards) so that there is no access to the empty sections from under the roof as Kippax had problems with the bees selecting the roof space.  So far we have not found any bees in the roofs although oddly there were two ladybird larvae.

Shopping and making a swarm box

On Saturday, Gil and Hannah spent an unpleasant couple of hours shopping in south Leeds for bee stuff.  Along with admin tasks, this one of the harder bits of our bee journey so far.  Reminder to self - don't leave things until the last minute so you then have to visit the White Rose Centre.  We bought a big plant pot, some planed timber, milk powder and soya flour.

Here's what the plant pot is meant for.  When we finish the top bars and make an entrance hole, this box can be used for transporting a swarm. In theory the swarm bees will build comb quickly so it's better for us if they do it on some top bars that we can transfer easily into one of our hives.  This will help us with swarm control of our existing bees and/or collecting a swarm if one turns up.

group inspection -

Today was the first sunny day we've had since the bees arrived here at Pudsey, so we made the most of it and 5 of us gathered to check them over.

There seemed to be more activity in Hive 2 today at first, though there were bees around the entrance of both.    We were especially interested in seeing the new in-hive-feeder that Steve had made following Simons' instructions.

This allows us to check and top up the levels of sugar-syrup without opening the hive at all.  Very important when the weather is as awful as it has been.

The bees started showing a bit more interest in us at this point, and offered a chance to check a few out individually.

The bees are obviously finding pollen from somewhere - lots of them had bulging pollen sacs, which was extremely encouraging.

The other hive was a bit more worrying - a lot of fresh comb had collapsed off the top bar, and was piled up on the floor of the hive - this needed removing as it would block the rest of the hive.  We'd left the comb for a few days to allow the bees to clear it of honey, but it was quite devastating to later find it contained almost fully developed larvae.   However the bees had started building more comb from other bars, so hopefully they'll be fine.

To say this was the smaller colony, and they were already producing and raising young in such quantities is fantastic news.  Can't wait to see the other hives comb, and of course we are yet to find either of the Queens.

Hannah & Gil later did a bit of shopping, and have bought  a plastic planter which can be used as a swarm box, and some more wood and skewers which we are making into another dozen top bars.  No luck yet finding another metal funnel though.

Bad news - the coop on the other side have had the colony swarm.  I try and get their diary to put the details on here. 
It does mean we are now able to fit a swarm in - having already been offered 2 in a week, so hopefully we can fill the hive soon.

The weather is proving difficult, so the bees need feeding daily or at least every other day.  They ahve used 5 litres in the last 5 days.  As the bees can't get out easily, making a pollen substitute seems important, Steve found a recipe on the Scottish Beekeepers Association website http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/TDS%20number%209%20pollen%20substitute.pdf  for the recipe. 
The Hives are marked 1 (colony) and 2 (nuc) now.  Hive inspection last Thursday:
1 - Healthy, comb on the top bars adn the colony is calm, but there is little nectar / food in cells.  The queen wasn't seen, so will have to be looked for carefully in the next inspection - due around Wednesday / Thursday next week weather permitting.  The feeder was empty - so they are making good use of them. 
2 - A bit less organised, they had built comb which collapsed and Steve will remove today, the bees will ahve had the opportunity to clean it off.  They are not feeding as much as the other hive, but are using the feeder.  They are coming and going from the hive and were calm when inspected.  Again no queen seen, but need to let them build more comb before inspecting again - so need to be left longer than hive 1.


Steve has contacted Brian to organise his help in inspecting the hives and will let us all know dates for this.  The rota has now been emailed out, so we should all be getting into the swing of beekeeping over the next months. 

To do:
Fill in the meeting dates emal Louise sent out.
Make the pollen substitute and more feed
Ensure feeders are topped up daily or every other day at the least
Make 8 more top bars to block gaps

Steve checked the hives on the 30th June, the station feeders needed cleaning out as the ambrosia had solidified.  He was unable to inspect the comb, which he could see they are begining to build, because he didn't had a spray to send the bees back into the hive when replacing the tops bars and didn't want to squish any bees.  The bees are moving in and out of the hives, although the smaller colony is less active.

So far there are 9 of us in the bee coop, with four hives on 2 locations on opposite sides of Leeds.  It's taken over a year to be ready for our colonies to arrive, but they are here now.  We spent last winter writting a constitution for the coop and building 4 top bar hives.  We've all been on bee keeping courses, bought our suits, some belonging to the coop and visited other local bee keepers to learn a bit more.  Initial funding for the project came from Leeds and Wakefield Cooperative Membership committee.  Working as a group makes the whole responsibility of beekeeping feel more managable.  We've found another common interest of wine making and tasting, keeping our meetings entertaining.

We are registered with www.beetight.com hive and Bee base (DEFRA), belong to the Bradford Beekeepers Association and through them the Yorkshire and British Beekeepers Associations.  We are also part of Leeds Permaculture Network.

Early next morning

The next morning Steve & Gil returned through the pouring rain and mud to feed our new arrivals with "ambrosia" that Bill had kindly left us.

We were accompanied by Rosie Foster, who had helped us apply for the Co-op funding.

We only had 2 beesuits with us, but Rosie bravely joined us anyway. You can see her bare finger in one of the photos!  But our bees remain very calm indeed.

We tried out several new feeding methods today. We took a couple of "feeding stations" from Steve's chickens, and filled them with some syrup. We placed lots of straw in the syrup to stop the bees from falling in.

We also filled some 'takeaway tubs' and placed one in each hive - hoping that would keep them happy till the weather improves.  They certainly were a bit active, but most of the colonies remain 'swarmed up' around their queens at the end of the hives.