News Item: : Round up
(Category: Our bees)
Posted by Sally
Friday 05 March 2010 - 23:22:14
Thanks Hannah for helping David in a round up of the apiaries whilst I was at work. We'd have liked zero varroa but all seems controllable - at least for now. Hive 3 at Little Piece seems about the highest at 3 a day so we must continue to monitor. A few shook swarms could still be on the cards in early Spring.
David's tasks were to check varroa and weight and add some of the cappings that we'd saved from honey bottling time.
At Little Piece hives 1, 2 and 3 hefted OK for the size of colonies and there was pollen going into all the hives. Cappings were added to hive 5 which David put into an upturned rapid feeder. The bees had taken all of the fondant so this was most welcome.
At Green Lane David managed to forget the varroa count he made but we can do that again soon. He did feed cappings to each of the colonies though and the weight of hives seems OK. Plenty of bees around at Green Lane and once again, pollen is going in so all looks good there.
David felt a little unsure about hive 1 at the Rectory. This is a queen in at least her third year so we expected her to supercede at the end of the last season. The bees were very active and were guarding well but he didn't see pollen so we'll have to see with that one and hope it's just a new queen slow to get going. They certainly have plenty of stores though. Hives 2 and 3 seem in good shape with lots of activity and pollen seen. The picture shows the slightly aimless activity ouside Hive 1
Still the Hill and the Garden to check ...
This news item is from Beesmith
( http://www.beesmith.co.uk/news.php?extend.240 )
(Category: Our bees)
Posted by Sally
Friday 05 March 2010 - 23:22:14
Thanks Hannah for helping David in a round up of the apiaries whilst I was at work. We'd have liked zero varroa but all seems controllable - at least for now. Hive 3 at Little Piece seems about the highest at 3 a day so we must continue to monitor. A few shook swarms could still be on the cards in early Spring.
David's tasks were to check varroa and weight and add some of the cappings that we'd saved from honey bottling time.
At Little Piece hives 1, 2 and 3 hefted OK for the size of colonies and there was pollen going into all the hives. Cappings were added to hive 5 which David put into an upturned rapid feeder. The bees had taken all of the fondant so this was most welcome.
At Green Lane David managed to forget the varroa count he made but we can do that again soon. He did feed cappings to each of the colonies though and the weight of hives seems OK. Plenty of bees around at Green Lane and once again, pollen is going in so all looks good there.
David felt a little unsure about hive 1 at the Rectory. This is a queen in at least her third year so we expected her to supercede at the end of the last season. The bees were very active and were guarding well but he didn't see pollen so we'll have to see with that one and hope it's just a new queen slow to get going. They certainly have plenty of stores though. Hives 2 and 3 seem in good shape with lots of activity and pollen seen. The picture shows the slightly aimless activity ouside Hive 1
Still the Hill and the Garden to check ...
This news item is from Beesmith
( http://www.beesmith.co.uk/news.php?extend.240 )