This month is often a quiet month for beekeepers because the bees are busy bringing in nectar by the bucket load and, if there is enough space in the hive to store it all, there is nothing left to be done. It’s been like that over the past 11 days with an early nectar flow from the blackberry and clover in many places. I‘ve been adding extra space to several of my hives to accommodate this sudden influx – but I'm not complaining! Earlier in the year, I had taken two hives over to my Portscatho apiary to forage on the winter-sown oilseed rape that flowers in May/June time. This year was very strange, as it was for another beekeeper that experienced the same thing as I did. Normally, once the OSR flowers start to fade from their strident yellow and the green starts to show more predominantly, it is time to remove the honey crop from the hives; otherwise it sets like concrete – literally! However, this year – and at least two of us had this – the bees had not sealed the honey in the comb by the time the flowers were going over. If extracted in this condition, there is a possibility of fermentation taking place, which, if it happens in the jar, can cause distorted lids and the honey escaping and getting everywhere. I went back to the hives one week later, no change:  two weeks later, no change: I went back again a week ago, no change! Throughout this period the honey remained liquid in the comb, not setting as expected, but by this time I felt it had had enough time to be ripened by the bees and, since it was not dripping from the combs, I extracted it. Normally, this would end up going straight into jars and would be solid within a day or two of bottling. Not this year! So, time will tell if I extracted too early or if perhaps the bees gathered something else which they mixed with the OSR (maybe hawthorn) to delay the granulation.

Because things are quiet for me on the bee front at this time of year, I take the opportunity to visit local schools to talk to them about honeybees. I take an observation hive (which has glass sides and a single, vertical tier of combs) stocked with bees, my smoker and hive tools, a model hive, some wax and some bee suits. The children love smelling the wax and dressing up in the bee suits and smelling my smoker! At the end of the talk (which is often the children talking to me and telling me how they got stung by a bee (usually a wasp!), how their granny saw a swarm of bees once, how they have seen two queen bees tail to tail in the street, how the bees in their garden live in holes in a cob wall and not in a hive, etc etc!), I show them the bees through the glass walls of the hive.

They find the queen (marked by me with a white spot on her thorax) and see the difference between workers and drones, they see honey in the comb, as well as eggs, open brood (larvae) and sealed brood (pupae) – and they love it! Last year, I went to a local school and talked to two classes and the following week received two packages through the post. Each of the children (about 60 altogether!) had drawn a picture recalling my visit and it was fascinating to see which parts of my talk had gelled with which children, each of them picking up on something totally different from the next! Today, I have just returned from talking to five classes, an all-day job – and I'm shattered! But what a worthwhile and enjoyable way to spend a day! Let's hope I was talking to the beekeepers of the future today because these children are our investment, not to be mismanaged.

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June 2010

It is now the end of May as I write this and all my colonies, such a short time ago advanced or behind in their development just like our garden plants, have all virtually caught up with each other. So much so that a week ago I had noticed bees checking out my bait hives, indicating that a swarm was imminent. I duly went and checked all the likely contenders but all was in order – no signs of swarming preparations to be seen. I therefore jokingly said to one of my beekeeping neighbours that his bees were about to swarm - but, like me, after having checked, he saw no signs of any intention on the bees' part either. Then on Friday, the swarm finally arrived, flying in a dark cloud across the hedge and surrounding and covering the external surface of one of my bait hives (see photo). After about an hour the bees were nearly all inside, having decided “this will make a good home” (see the photograph with the bees fanning their “here we are” scent just outside the hive entrance), by which time I had been through my hives again in the search to ensure the culprit was not one of them. But, sad to say, I found swarm cells in one colony, indicating their wish to make life hard for me!

Five days previously I had found no evidence to indicate swarming was imminent, yet I must have missed the beginnings of a swarm cell (which contains the larva/pupa of a new queen) - so easily done when you are trying to look at honeycombs covered in 6 -7,000 bees each! So, after all that, it was my bees that were misbehaving and wanted to propagate the honeybee species – they had obviously read about Colony Collapse Disorder resulting in heavy losses of bee colonies over the winter months and wanted to do their bit to help! Later that evening (it was actually almost dark by the time I started, as we had been out until about 10 o'clock), I blocked the hive entrance to stop the bees getting out and took the hive from its location on the roof of the bee shed, having earlier strapped it up in two directions to keep the components locked together. Holding it by one of the straps, I swung it out over the apex of the shed, about 10' up, hanging on to the ladder with my free hand (because a beehive with bees is not light in weight!) - when the strap unlocked, sending the hive crashing to the ground! I suppose it saved me having to carry it gingerly down the ladder but the bees were not impressed!

Having said that, the hive stayed in one piece, just becoming slightly misaligned between the boxes - that was how the bees got out - and the bees took virtually no notice of me, just clinging to the outside of the boxes whilst holding their heads to relieve their headaches!  I pushed the boxes back into alignment, took the hive to its new location and opened it up. The next morning, they were flying to identify their new location and seemed quite unaffected by their mighty fall. I transferred the bees onto fresh frames in a new hive (bait hives always tend to be old, with old combs/frames so that they smell of the previous occupants as an attractant to swarms) and reassuringly saw the marked queen, whom I was then able to safely ensconce in her new home.

The remaining bees in the parent colony (from which the swarm originated) have made several queen cells, so in a few days time I will separate those frames with cells into smaller units of bees called nuclei. The bees in these nuclei will look after their queen cell until the queen hatches, at which point begins another cycle in the life of a new bee colony. These nuclei will be ready for next year's honey harvest, if they over-winter safely, and will provide me with more stock that is tolerant of our fickle climate here in Cornwall. Oh, the joys of keeping bees!

PS. Don't forget to contact me if you see or hear of a swarm. I will arrange for someone to collect it.  You can contact me on 01872 501313, alternatively, if it isn’t urgent (i.e. not swarms!) email me at colinbeeman@aol.com.

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May 2010

At long last, it has been warm enough (at times) for me to be able to open up my hives to check what is happening inside. All colonies bar one had plenty of stores, gathered last autumn. As usual, it is mainly ivy honey, which granulates to a very hard consistency, making it difficult for the bees to access. They need to gather large volumes of water to soften and dilute these stores to the point where they can assimilate this carbohydrate part of their diet, which is why you see bees around water sources like garden ponds and rain-water puddles. When bees are gathering water (or nectar or pollen for that matter), they are quite harmless and non-aggressive, as bees do not sting unless they feel their hive (and therefore queen) is under threat.

Away from the hive, the bees generally take no interest in us, even if we brush against the flowers or water they are on. They will just rise up and fly away to the next source of nectar or water. This is also true of bees when they are in a swarm, and we are now approaching the swarming season. 

Bees swarm as a means of propagating the species, so it is instinctive, though there are certain things the beekeeper can do to reduce the likelihood of swarming. But once the bees have decided they want to swarm, they generally will - that is, if the beekeeper is not doing his/her job properly. When bees are swarming, the sky turns black and there is an associated roar as a result of the number of bees flying in close proximity at one time – quite frightening to the uninitiated! However, bees are generally in their safest and most non-aggressive state at this time, because they have previously stocked up on honey (not knowing how long they will be homeless nor when their next meal will be).

They are like us after having eaten a large meal – we can't bend over easily to tie up our shoelaces – and what's more, we are so relaxed, we can't really be bothered anyway!  The bees are exactly the same.  They have filled their stomachs with honey, so they can't bend their abdomens to insert a sting into our flesh – and what's more, they are so at ease with the world as a result of their gorging on honey, they can't be bothered either! However, beware the swarm that has been hanging in the tree for two or three days – the bees will be getting hungry and cold and worried about whether or not they will be successful in finding a new home.

Sometimes, therefore, they can be quite crotchety, even though it is with good cause. At this time of year, I place empty hives on a shed or garage roof, so if there is a swarm around looking for a new home, it will possibly find one of these hives and take up residence. This minimises the time the swarm is homeless, which is good for the public and good for the bees – and good for me, because I have acquired a new colony of bees which I can save from perishing, as without a beekeeper's intervention a colony of unmanaged bees will die out in two or three years as a result of the predations of the parasite Varroa, with which all bees are afflicted.

No, beekeeping is not what it once was. It is no longer a question of just gathering in the honey at the end of the season - beekeepers are now full-time carers, an essential and important responsibility if we want to save the planet (more of this later). So if you see a swarm either in flight, or settled on a tree branch or in a hedge, give me a call and I will either come and safely remove it, or arrange for someone else to do so – for no charge! If you fail to do so, the bees will likely be dead within a year or two. I can be contacted under: colinbeeman@aol.com 01872 501313

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April 2010

Well, after last month's report I thought we would now be well into the flying season, but the weather has let us down yet again. Whilst we have had some good flying days, too often have we seen the bees further confined to the hive owing to cold or wet weather. But that does not mean that the bees are doing nothing.

On the fine days though, my water sources (an old loft header tank in one apiary, a lemonade bottle inverted over a dish in another, an old oil drum in another) are literally buzzing with bees gathering water for their young brood and to dilute the granulated ivy stores they gathered last autumn. This is always a good sign. The entrances of the hives have not seen so much traffic for a good few months and it is heartening to behold.

It is still too early (in my opinion) to open up the hive for a detailed examination of the combs but this is not far off now – another week or so, hopefully. In the meantime, watching the entrance activity or looking down into the colony through my Perspex crown-boards (the “ceiling” of the inner part of the hive) can give a good indication of the state of the colony.

Now the days are getting longer and warmer (hard to believe, I know), the queen is increasing her laying rate and the number of young bees orientating outside the hive entrances last Saturday show that the colonies are expanding quite rapidly. The danger is that the colonies will expand during the bad weather and need more stores than are available from the winter supply, so supplemental feeding is necessary. I have had sugar candy on each of my hives since the beginning of February as an emergency back-up should the bees need it. Some of the colonies are working their way through this like there is no tomorrow, whilst others are virtually ignoring it. That's fine and quite normal – no two bee colonies are ever alike. As long as there is something for the bees to eat when they need it, all will be well.

The other problem with colonies expanding whilst being unable to fly out is that they might become congested, resulting in a potential risk that they will swarm when the weather gets warmer. This is not a desirable situation for the beekeeper because a lost swarm means the loss of about half the bees from the colony as well as the loss of any honey harvest that season. This is apart from the effect a swarm might have on members of the public who witness such an event – but more about that next time.

Since the last report, my bees' honey has won 1^st and 2^nd Prize for Flavour, 1^st and 3^rd Prize in the Light Honey Class, and 3^rd Prize for Granulated at the Roseland Beekeepers' Honey Show, and 1^st Prize, 3^rd Prize, and Highly Commended in the Granulated Class, 1^st Prize, Very Highly Commended and Highly Commended at the Cornwall Beekeepers' Association Honey Show, so I don't want any swarms to leave my hives this season!

I will explain what I shall be doing to prevent this next time.

Colin Rees, colinbeeman@aol.com  Tel: 01872 501313

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March 2010

Well, things have moved on a little since my last report. We have had some warmer days, with temperatures up to 10 degrees on the warmest. This encourages the bees to loosen their previously tight cluster and enables them to leave the hive more easily to void their faeces without getting cold and dying before they can get home again.

Additionally, the queen is starting to lay more eggs now that she has sensed that the days are getting longer (though not necessarily always warmer). This in turn means that the foraging bees must collect fresh pollen (from gorse, mainly, but also snowdrops, aconites, etc) for their young brood. They also require water to dilute the solidified honey stores in order to be able to feed both themselves and their young.

I have stood alongside each of my hives on fine days during the past month to make sure there is pollen being brought home, because that is generally a sign that the queen is alive and has started to lay. However, I noticed one hive this week that had no flying bees, so decided I needed to investigate further.

This same hive had exhibited similar behaviour about a month back, but when I removed the top covers to check inside, a number of rather indignant bees came up to see who had opened the door and was letting draughts in. This time, however, there were no bees coming up to investigate, only the odd one or two who thought this opportunity to replenish their honey stores from an unoccupied hive was a great idea.

There were no piles of dead bees on the floor, just a few odd ones here and there, but there was quite a lot of evidence of voided faeces on the woodwork. It would appear, therefore, that the bees had maybe suffered a bad bout of dysentery through being confined in the hive too long during the cold, wet weather.

I have yet to examine the floor debris in detail to confirm why the colony died, but in the meantime have closed it up to prevent further robbing and possible disease transmission by the unsuspecting bees who were looking for a freebie.

Despite what we might read or hear in the media, colony losses over the winter months are not uncommon in the beekeeping fraternity. However, when they climb higher than about 10%, it is then that we realise that we have an unidentified problem. The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that we hear about in the United States and parts of Europe, resulting in colony losses of 30%, 40%, even sometimes up to 60%, falls into this category but is not what I am experiencing.

CCD hives tend to have some sealed brood, possibly a very small number of bees (though often there are none), and stores (sealed honey) which are left untouched by other insects. In my situation, there was certainly no brood and the honey stores were being robbed. The former implies that the queen may well have died, whilst the latter indicates there is nothing wrong with the hive per se. And since a 5% loss is quite acceptable, I am not unduly worried.

The wonderful thing about Nature is that she selects for survival. If a creature is weak or diseased, it generally dies (if human kind is not involved), so preventing the disease or weakness affecting future generations of that species. “Survival of the fittest” eliminates the weaklings and that is what I breed for – survivors, locally adapted queens and bees, bees that can cope with the parasite Varroa. But more about that later.

Colin Rees

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February 2010

How many of you have seen bees in your garden recently? Not (m)any, I am sure. So why is that? Well, the only bumblebees alive now are the mated queens, who are in hibernation, awaiting the warmer days of Spring, when they can emerge from the compost heaps or mouse holes in the hedges and start building their new colonies. As for honeybees, although they don’t hibernate, they do over-winter; as small colonies, all huddled up in a ball inside their hives, trying to keep warm enough to keep their queen alive ready for the time that she starts laying again in earnest. 

During the recent cold, snowy weather over Christmas and the New Year, they stayed indoors, but when the temperatures rose after 3 weeks of that, they came out on the few fine days following.  This was not to gather nectar or pollen, but rather so that they could go to the loo! But they had to wait for the warmer weather or they would have died in the cold.

Honeybees are extremely hygienic and will not soil their combs if they can possibly avoid it because of the risks from disease. Just imagine, if you were locked in a huddle for 3 weeks and couldn't go out, wouldn't you want to get to the toilet ASAP?

The queen, meanwhile, is biding her time, maybe laying 2 or 3 eggs a day - maybe up to a dozen or so - just so she doesn't forget how!  She knows (as do the bees) that if she starts laying too fast, too soon, the colony might starve because of shortages of food in the hive, as there will be little nectar available in the flowers at this time and the weather is often too cold to go out for it. Yes, there are some winter flowering plants such as gorse, hellebores, snowdrops, etc which can yield nectar but even these require minimum temperatures before they give a flow of nectar worth gathering. So the bees stay at home waiting for warmer weather, thus extending their lives sufficiently to tend the queen until she starts laying fully and her new brood emerges. 

At this point, the colony starts to grow in size again, aiming to reach its largest possible size in July, ready for the main honey-gathering season...but more about this later!

Colin will be back each month with more Bee-man-ia for you!

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