Inspection

I took advantage of the slightly improved weather to inspect the hives. Temperature ~23degrees and sunny. Lots of bees out flying and crowding the reduced entrance spaces. The main aim was to check the stores, since I'm aiming to feed the bees after the Apiguard treatment is over (next week). Also, I wanted to check the varroa floors to see how the Apiguard is working.

Hive 1 is the big one on the right in the picture. Stores: 12 super faces, ie18lb, 7.5 brood faces, ie18lb, total 36lb (bit less than last time). So still lots of stores, particularly in the super. However, VERY few larvae or eggs! I did see a smattering of capped and uncapped larvae on that centre most same frame, but no eggs until I pulled out that frame again on a second pass in desperation, and not many of those either. I did not see the queen but those few eggs put my mind to rest slightly. Also, hive1 was (and in fact always is) very calm during the inspection. It's a worry that laying has virtually stopped. Having said that it may well just be a feature of the season. Or . . . (see below).

Hive2 is the shorter one on the left in the picture. Stores: 1.5 super faces, ie 2lb 7 brood faces, ie 17lb, total 19lb (bit more than last time). Lots of capped brood, but no eggs or uncapped larvae, though I could have missed any eggs since they are hard to see since the positioning of the hive2 gives dingy conditions from behind. This is not ideal, and I may have to address it with a small move. Also, I am ever so slightly suspicious of all that capped brood. Am I imagining it or has that capped brood be there all the time since the colony was first given to me!? Worth bearing in mind in future inspections.

There's a crack in hive 2 between brood and super in one corner which I need to seal up. I stuffed it with twigs for now and see what the join looks like when I switch over the brood and super (to put the latter below) in a few weeks time.

The Apiguard in both hives is now down to one quarter left in sachets. There was a strong smell of thyme in both hives when I opened up.

And now, the varroa count....
Well, when I pulled out the varroa floor of hive2 things did not seem too bad. There was a fair smattering of varroa, and I estimated about 350 on the board. Given 9 days since the last inspection, that's a daily drop rate of nearly 40. This is not typical drop, of course: it's drop in the presence of Apiguard which is supposed to result in lots of varroa falling through the hive. However, when I took a look at hive1 there was a somewhat starker result. Huge numbers of varroa. I marked out a small square and counted hundreds. Scaling this count to the size of the whole board indicated that I was probably looking at a couple of thousand little dead, red mites! Was it really only 9 days since the last inspection? Had I turned the varroa board over at that stage to get a clean count as I had thought I had? Does this indicate something good, in that there are lots of DEAD varroa? It's definitely one for reference to a more experienced keeper. I suspect I'll need to initiate some other treatment now or soon. I was planning to whack on some oxalic acid in December anyway, but perhaps this result dictates that I'll need to do something before then. Having said that, the colony seemed really healthy (apart from the very low brood count): there were loads of bees and the stores looked good. Curious. I feel somehow confident that hive1 will come through fine, but am well aware that this could just be mindless beginner's optimism. Off to the Apiray to ask the experts tomorrow . . .

Queen pikkie

Here's the picture I got of the queen in hive2 the other day. She's this year's queen, though the beek who kindly gave her (and colony)to me had marked her in white so show up better - a decision which I can fully appreciate since the '09green I personally find very tricky to spot on the hive1 queen.And some other pictures I took, whilst I'm at it....

Inspection

No time to write properly now, will update later.
Stores
hive 1: 11,9 faces, ie 5.5,4.5 frames, ie ~39 pounds
hive 2: 2,4 faces, ie 1,2, ie ~13 pounds

Saw queen in hive2 for first time in a while. Think I got some photos. Will download later.

Also, varroa floors - lots of varroa - particularly hive1.

Still wasp activity around ground near hive1.

Eggs in both hives. No uncapped brood in hive1. Weird, but could have missed them. Brood of all types in hive2.

Conditions - overcast, temp 20degrees.

Pestival was good

Well, we had a good time at Pestival. The kids got to see a few of the small observation hives (single frames, including the one inside the bee cab) and they particularly enjoyed the walk-through termite mound and digging for maggots. Cool. Oh, and Saskia liked stroking the enormous stag beetle larvae as it wriggled in the soil. All good - shame I forgot to take the camera!

Pestival

I'm off to "Pestival" this afternoon. It's an arts event on the South Bank (London) all about insects. Sounds a bit eco-warriorish for my taste, perhaps, but it should be fun for me and the kids and there will some interesting people to meet there. If you're in the area - give it a whirl.

Details on http://pestival.org/

Words cannot describe . . .

Words cannot describe quite what I think of this.
It's one of those "laugh or cry" combo emotions, with a fair bit of "cringe" thrown in there too.
Credits to Cliff W, whose blog I stole these links from.



More funny yet tragic videos on http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/

And then rather more to my taste (and in fact not much about beekeeping at all) . . .

Inspection and Apiguard round 2

It was not a good day for an inspection: overcast and blowy, but it was overdue. Again I took Nat, my wife, along for fun. We're enjoying doing this together, and she's picking up a lot of my sparse knowledge already. The objectives were: a hive inspection (mainly evidence of laying, and honey stores), heft the hives to assess their mobility if/when I do move sites, and to apply the second/final dose of Apiguard.

I still have a brood box and one super (no queen excluder) on both hives, and in fact plan to run them like this through the winter, though with the brood box on top so the queen focuses her laying there (apparently). Hive2, the later-started colony, first. I was pleased to see more honey laid down this time. Maybe there were 2 brood frames and 4 super frames worth. Using the rule-of -thumb of 5pounds each for the former and 3pounds for the latter, that's over 20pounds. Not great, but this colony was a late starter. I did not see the queen nor much evidence of laying: a little uncapped brood (and lots of capped), but I was unable to screw my eyes up enough in the gloom to make out any eggs. Hive1 again made me happy: lots of capped and some uncapped brood (did not identify some eggs, but think this was just the light) and I did see the queen. Nat was very happy to see her too. Also, the honey stores looked good: about 4 brood frames and 6 super frames which is nearly 40pounds. That should be enough to get them through the winter, though a lot can happen before then.

In each hive the first dose of Apiguard was mostly (not completely) gone. I opened and inserted the second/final dose: I quite like the thymey smell. I checked the varroa floors and there was a fair covering of red mites. I'll be honest and say I have not counted, but I'd say a "fair few", meaning "many tens" (and less in hive2). I intend to treat with Oxalic acid in November/December.

My site issues still rumble on, and it's beyond me to post them here. Suffice to say that there may be some more news soon, and I think there is some small chance the eviction order might be lifted. Again I have been told that the bees are having an adverse effect on the level of the pond. I find this ridiculous even though the pond is not large. However, I do agree that the level is dropping, and since the pond is essential to the numerous frogs, newts and toads on the site, to name but a few, I can see why this is a concern. I've pointed out that blaming the wrong culprit is likely to delay a solution to the real cause (probably a slow-punctured lining). I'll see how this argument pans out over the next fortnight.

It's high time for me to take some more pictures. In the meantime if you want to see some cool honey-bee related photos, take a look at the excellent "Diary of a Novice Beekeeper" blog (see my Blog List).