In The Apiary

Title Photo: A Wild overgrown Apiary At the start of the month, we still had temperatures of 14º and all our colonies were active trying to find any late Autumn flowers to supplement their winter stores. A tough call for any worker bees.Then we had torrential rain and floods followed by -5º temperatures which has hopefully killed off most of the remaining worker wasps bothering our hives as their Queens go into hibernation.But back to […]

Title Photo: Wild Comb As we move well and truly into Autumn the colonies are well into ‘close down mode’ but will storm out to work any flowers still about as the temperatures are still high enough for them to be able to fly.This first picture taken earlier in the month shows how busy they can be on the Ivy collecting the last flow of nectar and pollen from this freely available plant. This means

Title Photo: Pollen pouring in ready for winter storage As the heat of the summer dissipates and we get a little much needed rain turning scorched grass into a ”Green and Pleasant Land” the colonies make the best of those plants still in flower. The title picture shows Pollen pouring in which is deep yellow in colour followed by a pale lilac colour. Anyone’s guess which plants these are from? Ivy (yellow) maybe? But for

Title Photo: Bees on Thyme The start of the month started out very hot with many of our colonies still under siege from marauding Wasps and European Hornets (EH)Nature can be harsh as the weaker colonies are taken out so the stronger ones can survive. My Apiary looked like an insect War Zone with little activity from the hives as the heat dried up any flowering plants, and nectar and pollen supplies disappeared.But those that

Title Photo: Any Wasp Trap size fits all After the extreme heat at the start of the month the temperatures cooled as we approached August but the lack of rain dried up the chance of any summer or late nectar flows. But the Wasps and Hornets are having a field day as they seem to have a second sense as to which hives are weakening or have failing Queens.I think we’ve all had hives completely

Title Photo: Honey Bee on Thyme As the temperatures this month continue to break records in the heat, the good nectar flows from the start of the month dried up even affecting the deep roots of the Lime trees which were flowering well. How do the bees cope with all this heat trying to regulate the heat in their colonies?  Well one thing they do is to “clump” outside their front door hanging in a

Title Photo: European Hornet Nest in an empty Nuc Well what a start to the season with ground frosts at the start of the month followed by really hot summer weather and a subsequent nectar flow followed by swarming galore. I’m a little better prepared this year with “bait” hives out and about around the garden away from the Apiary but with empty hives with or without combs and Foundation all ready to go. Then

Title Photo: Drone Layer At the start of the month we were all seeing ground frosts which were keeping colonies restricted to hives especially early in the morning but by the end of April nectar was flowing in and a temperature of 20 °and no rain. But those of us that sat up Asian Hornet baits were pleased to see only Queen Wasps and European Hornets feeding on the wicks.  Hence the picture of a

Title photo: Mouse in the House As it starts to warm up in what is turning into a very dry but warm March, well when the sun comes out, but with ground frosts persisting until late in the month, the bees are getting active. It is time to take off the Woodpecker protection and see what is going on in the hives. I don’t go into my brood chambers unless it is really warm and

Title Photo: Dismantled Smokers ready for cleaning. This month we start our preparations as we see the bees get active on cleansing flights and collecting pollen. I’ve several smokers which I use over a season, so about this time I take them apart, clean off all the tar and ensure the bellows are working efficiently with no holes!Then I have to remember which bits have to fit onto each other. When bees are busy on