Beatrice swarmed

Ok so even though last week we only saw queen cups - either we missed something important or they have been very busy.

Next door neighbours called to say they had been troubled with swarms yesterday and then the swarm came back today and poor neighbour couldn't get out of the house because the bees were settling in the tree by the front door.

By the time I got organised they were off again in the middle of the main road where a lot got killed by passing cars.  Eventually the stopped in this bush.

I got them safely in a box and Gill arrived we went to inspect the hives.  Connie are on the verge of swarming so my plan is to do an artificial swarm on Sunday evening.   I saw eggs so they have not gone yet.  Beatrice had no eggs an approx. 12 capped queen cells - that is some going for a weeks work.   Adele were just plain nasty and we retrieved the entrance block and retired without an inspection again.  I'm just going to have to get brave one day soon!

Here I am making a spectacle of myself on the Kenilworth Road.

  The swarm have gone to live in Barston for the time being until they go to a good home.

Hive inspections

Eventually managed to do hive inspections on Beatrice and Connie.  Beatrice, eggs, larvae and brood but very few stores and none capped over for storage.  Hive feels very light.
Connie eventually managed to see some eggs and larvae lots of capped over brood - very few stores none capped at all.  Put an application of hive clean on both hives.

Connie's brood box and replacing the frames

 Bees were very active and relaxed Beatrice - a bit more active in Connie but then we decided to open Adele and have a quick look and they were horrid.   The smoker had almost gone out which didn't help.  By about the fourth frame I had god stung and we put on some hive clean, shut up shop and retired!

Last night and eventually got another gallon of sugar syrup on each hive - hopefully the weather will improve now and we won't need to feed anymore.

Adele Hive update

As you can see still some bees in the roof but not as many as there were.

Still loads on the crown board though and too many I thought to put on a contact feeder.

This was how it looks the next day when I popped up to put on a super to try and give these bees some more room.  A lot more bees had gone down into the hive.

With my usual lack of timing I opened the hive just as it decided to hail - so slapped the super on and shut the hive up sharpish.

I will try and feed them this evening hopefully the eke will be cleared of bees by then.  In fact the sun came out this afternoon and bees were everywhere feeding from the water in the garden and charging out from the hives in huge numbers.

Bailey Comb change - final stage

So on Thursday afternoon we found a small window of no rain and attempted to complete our Bailey Comb change on Adele hive.

It has been so wet that the hive was full of bees and no bees out foraging at all so we put the new brood box on a clean floor on the new hive stand and removed the old brood box and old hive stand and replaced the new hive back in its original position because you can only move a bee hive less that a foot or more than a mile.   The old hive was full of bees so because every where was so wet and too wet for the bees to fly we decided to shake and brush them onto the crown board of the hive.

We didn't want to leave the old hive out and encourage robbing or for it to start raining and the bees not manage to get into the new hive but I'm not sure now that was the right thing to do because I popped down to the hive tonight to feed them and found loads of bees clinging to the roof of the hive and all in the eke above the crown board.

If think I need to put a super on to give these bees somewhere to go.  Perhaps there is not enough space in the one brood box for them all.  Perhaps they have been rejected by the other bees as not a part of the hive because they did not enter through the entrance but appeared on the crown board although surely they will have the same smell?

The trouble is the books don't actually tell you how to manage the manipulations they just give you the basic principle and of course things are always much more complicated especially when you are trying to do hive manipulations in these weather conditions.

I am feeding bees in May while the rapeseed is in flower - how bonkers is that??

Turkish solitary bees make beautiful nests

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/photogalleries/100510-bees-flower-sandwich-nests-pictures/
Check out this link to see the most beautiful bee nests made of flower petals.

Bailey Comb change

I realise that it is ages since I wrote and we are in the middle of a bailey comb change on Adele hive.
This means that you move the bees in stages from the old set of frames and old wax to a new brood box with all new wax.  You have to feed them throughout this process so that they have enough energy to produce all new wax brood nest in a few weeks.  

Stage one you place a new brood box and new foundation on top of old brood box and a feeder with sugar syrup.  a good tip is to put a queen excluder between the bottom brood box and the floor to stop the bees from absconding.
Stage two - when the bees have drawn out some comb you trap the queen in the top brood box.  continue to feed.
Stage three - 24 days time all the brood in the bottom box will have hatched and you can remove it and dispose of the old wax.  Replacing the new brood box on a clean floor and add a super.

Last week we though we had achieved stage two because although we could not find the queen we saw eggs in the top box so hoped for the best and put the queen excluder between both boxes.
I meant to check last wednesday but it snowed.
So today I thought I'd just have a quick look.  Was sure I would see eggs in the top box and I would be able to shut it all up and go away content.  NO EGGS!
So had to start looking for the queen which is never easy although I knew she was definately in the bottom box.  Eventually I found her on the last frame as always in a huge mass of wax making bees so I
put the frame over the other brood box and eased the whole lot of bees into a frame and into the box.  I didn't exactly see where the queen went but shut everything back up and hoped and pray that all is well.

I notice in all the books it doesn't actually tell you how to move the queen from one box to another and is quite difficult doing it by yourself with a heavy frame of bees in one hand and wearing your marigolds.

Fingers crossed all is well and stage two is now complete.

Spring Inspection

What a lovely day.  I was going to do the last application of Hive Clean today anyway so I decided I might as well do my Spring Inspection.  This mean you have to inspect each frame of bees really carefully - looking for anything untoward like disease.  So you have to shake the bees off the frames into the brood box so you can have a really good look at all the brood, to check if they are all healthy.

All went well, Adele hive was grumpiest of all and I got stung on the hand a couple of times.  Everything looks health.  Some covered brood, larvae and eggs in all hives.  Didn't see any queens but they are obviously in there due to the eggs.  Connie had a queen cup of course.  They are our swarmiest hive having gone three times last year.  All looking good for the coming season.