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.