Every day over the last week I moved hive number four a couple of feet closer to hive number three until by Friday the two hives were side by side. Yesterday I was all set to unite them when I received a phone call and the chance to buy a mated Apis Mellifera Mellifera queen. I agreed to buy one queen, but now I would have to rethink my plans and make preparations for the arrival of the new queen. I decided to have a look at my bees and find out what exactly where they (and I) stand.
My hive number one still had no eggs, larvae or brood, and the bees were not happy! By my reckoning a virgin queen hatched in this colony about two weeks ago and should still be there, waiting for a chance to get mated.
The bees were flying very well from hive number two and my inspection showed eggs, larvae and sealed brood, and no queen cells. They had taken down all the syrup I had given to them a week earlier and I removed the feeder because there was quite a lot of unsealed stores in the brood chamber. The queen had plenty of room to lay, but still had not started to use the two super frames of comb I had given to the colony more than two weeks ago, although I suspect that was down to the cold wet weather as much as anything.
On to hive number three. I had given this colony a frame of eggs, larvae and brood a week previously and I expected to see sealed queen cells by now. However when I removed the frame there were larvae and sealed brood, but no queen cells of any kind. I checked my dates - it was seven days since I inserted the frame of eggs, larvae and brood - they had not had time to rear a queen, so the inevitable conclusion I came to was that there must already have been some sort of queen in this colony! This colony did have a drone laying queen in earlier in the year, which I killed, and since then the colony never contained any eggs, so it is a bit of a mystery how there could be a queen in residence. Maybe in the absence of a queen and brood for the last eight weeks or so some of the workers were developing into laying workers, and starting to produce pheromones making the colony believe they had a queen.
Since hive number 3 and hive number four were side by side I decided to move hive number three over to where hive number four had originally been (about 7 or 8 metres away), and I placed hive number four exactly where hive number three had been. I then removed all the frames from hive number three one by one and shook all the bees off in front of the hive. In theory any bees that had been flying within the last couple of weeks, finding themselves out of the hive, should orient themselves and return to where their hive had just been moved from (i.e. the location now occupied by hive number four). All other bees (including the mysterious queen or laying workers) should hopefully be completely disoriented and simply head into the closest hive (i.e. hive number three). I gave hive number four a couple of frames of stores from hive number three and took the opportunity to take a few soiled and damaged frames out of service.I also gave hive number four the frame containing the larvae and sealed brood which had previously been in hive number three.
Hopefully by doing this hive number four now contains a good number of adult bees and drones, and also some emerging young bees, but no queen or laying workers. I will introduce the new queen to this colony when I receive her, and the young bees should be able to look after the new queen and any new brood she produces.
Sunday 20 May 2012
Sunday 13 May 2012
The May gap?
Yesterday was quite a pleasant day, between the showers. I took the chance to take a brood frame from my hive number two and give it to the queenless colony in hive number three. Just after I opened up hive number two the rain came on so my choice of frame and it's removal were a lot more hasty than I would have liked, but I did manage to select a frame with eggs, larvae of all ages and even some sealed and emerging brood. I just hope that in my haste I the queen in hive number two did not come to any harm...
Anyway the bees in hive number three now have a chance to rear a new queen. They have been hopelessly queenless for about 6 weeks, ever since I killed the drone laying queen that was in the colony. I hope they manage to rear a queen and get her mated, but really their chances of success depend much upon the weather, which brings me on to the main subject of this post - forage.
It has been yet another unusual start to the year. We seem to no longer have clearly defined seasons thanks I'm sure at least in part to global warming and climate instability. There were a few very warm days at the end of March, but since then the weather has been very mixed, and now in mid May is more like March again!
Beekeepers talk about the "June Gap" - the natural period after the Spring nectar flow but before the main Summer flow when nectar can be in very short supply and bees may need feeding. This year, because of the strange weather, I think we may be in danger of having a "May gap" because the normal Spring flow just has not got going yet! Therefore I decided to have a wander around farm to see what forage was available close to my apiary. In no particular order, here is what I found...
Current bushes in the garden, just finished flowering. There was still the odd bee buzzing around these bushes but as far as I could see they had finished flowering.
Hawthorne (also known as "May Blossom") just about to start flowering. I have loads of this around the farm, but to be of much value as a source of nectar it needs to be warm, and it is very prone to being "washed out" by rain.
Bluebells in full flower in the garden and under the trees. A few bees were showing an interest in them but I really don't have enough Bluebells for them to be a significant source of forage.
Anyway the bees in hive number three now have a chance to rear a new queen. They have been hopelessly queenless for about 6 weeks, ever since I killed the drone laying queen that was in the colony. I hope they manage to rear a queen and get her mated, but really their chances of success depend much upon the weather, which brings me on to the main subject of this post - forage.
It has been yet another unusual start to the year. We seem to no longer have clearly defined seasons thanks I'm sure at least in part to global warming and climate instability. There were a few very warm days at the end of March, but since then the weather has been very mixed, and now in mid May is more like March again!
Beekeepers talk about the "June Gap" - the natural period after the Spring nectar flow but before the main Summer flow when nectar can be in very short supply and bees may need feeding. This year, because of the strange weather, I think we may be in danger of having a "May gap" because the normal Spring flow just has not got going yet! Therefore I decided to have a wander around farm to see what forage was available close to my apiary. In no particular order, here is what I found...
Current bushes in the garden, just finished flowering. There was still the odd bee buzzing around these bushes but as far as I could see they had finished flowering.
Hawthorne (also known as "May Blossom") just about to start flowering. I have loads of this around the farm, but to be of much value as a source of nectar it needs to be warm, and it is very prone to being "washed out" by rain.
Bluebells in full flower in the garden and under the trees. A few bees were showing an interest in them but I really don't have enough Bluebells for them to be a significant source of forage.
Soft fruit bushes (mainly Apple and Plum) nearly finished flowering in and around the garden.
Sycamore trees flowering and just starting to come into leaf.
Ash trees in flower, but leaf buds still unopened.
I also saw a few butterflies including this Small Tortoiseshell...
and this Speckled Wood.
And I saw a large Bumblebee feeding on some Forget-me-not flowers.
So there is some forage around for the bees, but unless the weather warms up a bit the bees are unlikely to be able to take much advantage of it. The weather forecast for the week ahead is not good - still cool and showery, so I've given all my colonies some light syrup to keep them going.
Hopefully we'll get some more seasonal weather soon!
Friday 11 May 2012
Moving and uniting colonies
All beekeepers have been taught that "colonies may be moved under 3 feet or over 3 miles". If colonies are moved any distance in between the bees will become lost and not be able to find their way home to their hive. In my last post I said that I wanted to unite two of my colonies (number three and number four) before letting them try and raise a new queen. At present the two colonies are about twenty feet apart, with a Willow bush in between them. Before the two colonies are united they need to be moved next to each other. But how?
Let me introduce the "Move-a-Hive-a-Matic" (patent pending)
It is basically a pallet strapped to a wheel barrow with a piece of plywood screwed to the top to provide a flat solid support for a beehive. I've screwed small pieces of plywood to the edges of the pallet to keep it from sliding off the side of the wheel barrow.
Let me introduce the "Move-a-Hive-a-Matic" (patent pending)
It is basically a pallet strapped to a wheel barrow with a piece of plywood screwed to the top to provide a flat solid support for a beehive. I've screwed small pieces of plywood to the edges of the pallet to keep it from sliding off the side of the wheel barrow.
I took my new invention out to the apiary. I want to move hive number four next to hive number three and then unite them. First of all I checked that the "Move-a-Hive-a-Matic" would fit comfortably next to hive number three.
Then I took the "Move-a-Hive-a-Matic" over to hive number four and moved the hive on to it - a distance of just less than three feet. The photo below below shows hive number four after moving, and hive number three (the final destination) can be seen in the top right of the photo.
All I have to do now is move hive number four a couple of feet every day until I have it where I want it - next to hive number three. Pure genius if I say so myself!
Another Queenless colony!
It has been a while since my last post. A combination of poor weather and personal commitments has kept me away from my bees and my blog respectively. However, a week ago the weather turned fine for a day and I had the opportunity to go and have a look at my bees. I was eager to see how my two good colonies were building up. It was a very pleasant sunny day. The temperature was 18.5 deg C - far too hot really to get all suited up, but the perfect opportunity to make my second thorough inspection of the year.
As I opened up hive number one, I expected to see at least two or three frames of brood, but I found only half a frame of sealed brood - no eggs and just a handful of large larvae. I also found three sealed queen cells. Had I lost a swarm already? On closer inspection the queen cells looked like emergency cells - they were extended worker cells and did not look as if they had been started from queen cups. With the age of the brood in the colony I concluded that the queen had failed or died around the 25th of April - a month after my first inspection, so at least this time I was not to blame!
I removed the smallest of the queen cells and opened it of find a well formed white queen, so the queen cells had been sealed for at least a few days. There was very little stores in the hive so I decided to give the colony a rapid feeder full of light syrup to keep them going. Hopefully a new queen would hatch and mate successfully, although the quality of such a queen would be at best doubtful because the colony were forced into raising an emergency queen under far from ideal conditions.
Hive number two contained four good frames of brood and four frames of stores. The queen was not seen directly, but there were plenty of eggs and larvae of all ages. I was concerned that the queen was running out of space to lay so I removed two of the frames of stores and inserted two super frames of drawn comb into the brood chamber. This will provide room for the queen to lay, and the bees will build wild drone comb at the bottoms of the frames which can be removed as a varroa control measure (drone brood is capped for a couple more days than worker brood and varroa mites prefer it to worker brood for this reason) or the drones can be left to emerge and assist in the mating of virgin queens. The two frames of stores that were removed from hive number two were bruised (to encourage the bees to use them) and were inserted into hive number one, further boosting their stores. I also took the opportunity put a super on hive number two, just in case there is a sudden large flow of nectar...
Hive number three contained plenty of bees (including drones), but no eggs, larvae or brood, so I am fairly confident that I did indeed manage to kill the drone laying queen during my previous inspection. This colony is therefore hopelessly queenless and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
My nuc still contained a fair few bees, but again there was no sign of any eggs, larvae or brood. The inside of the nuc box was mouldy so I decided to transfer the frames and bees to a clean new hive. Some of the frames contained a few mouldy cells containing pollen and these were cut out as the frames were transferred into the new brood chamber.
So there you have it. I have one "good" colony out of four! It is now exactly one year since I obtained my first bees, and although I have gained a year's experience, I can't really say that it has been easy! I have asked around regarding the availability of queens and even nucs, but have not come up with anything because it is still very early in the season and we have not have had any decent spells of weather so far this year. I have spent a few days thinking about the best way forward and have been reading up on queen rearing by various methods including Miller, Cloake Board, Swarm Box and the Ben Harden method.
My current plan of action is:
1. Leave hive number one to requeen themselves. The virgin queen(s) should have hatched by now. Hopefully the weather will improve and the virgin queen will mate successfully.
2. Leave hive number two rear some drones and then use it to rear some queens using the Ben Harden method. This method has minimal impact on the foraging ability of the queen cell raising colony, however it will involve grafting which is totally new to me. Should be interesting! Any good quality queens produced could be used to requeen hive number one and three if necessary, as well as replace the queen in hive number two who is now in her third year.
3. Unite hive number four (previously the nuc) with hive number three and then give them a frame of eggs and larvae from hive number two and let them try and raise a new queen.
Keeping bees is certainly a challenge, but that's why it is such an enjoyable and satisfying hobby.
As I opened up hive number one, I expected to see at least two or three frames of brood, but I found only half a frame of sealed brood - no eggs and just a handful of large larvae. I also found three sealed queen cells. Had I lost a swarm already? On closer inspection the queen cells looked like emergency cells - they were extended worker cells and did not look as if they had been started from queen cups. With the age of the brood in the colony I concluded that the queen had failed or died around the 25th of April - a month after my first inspection, so at least this time I was not to blame!
I removed the smallest of the queen cells and opened it of find a well formed white queen, so the queen cells had been sealed for at least a few days. There was very little stores in the hive so I decided to give the colony a rapid feeder full of light syrup to keep them going. Hopefully a new queen would hatch and mate successfully, although the quality of such a queen would be at best doubtful because the colony were forced into raising an emergency queen under far from ideal conditions.
Hive number two contained four good frames of brood and four frames of stores. The queen was not seen directly, but there were plenty of eggs and larvae of all ages. I was concerned that the queen was running out of space to lay so I removed two of the frames of stores and inserted two super frames of drawn comb into the brood chamber. This will provide room for the queen to lay, and the bees will build wild drone comb at the bottoms of the frames which can be removed as a varroa control measure (drone brood is capped for a couple more days than worker brood and varroa mites prefer it to worker brood for this reason) or the drones can be left to emerge and assist in the mating of virgin queens. The two frames of stores that were removed from hive number two were bruised (to encourage the bees to use them) and were inserted into hive number one, further boosting their stores. I also took the opportunity put a super on hive number two, just in case there is a sudden large flow of nectar...
Hive number three contained plenty of bees (including drones), but no eggs, larvae or brood, so I am fairly confident that I did indeed manage to kill the drone laying queen during my previous inspection. This colony is therefore hopelessly queenless and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
My nuc still contained a fair few bees, but again there was no sign of any eggs, larvae or brood. The inside of the nuc box was mouldy so I decided to transfer the frames and bees to a clean new hive. Some of the frames contained a few mouldy cells containing pollen and these were cut out as the frames were transferred into the new brood chamber.
So there you have it. I have one "good" colony out of four! It is now exactly one year since I obtained my first bees, and although I have gained a year's experience, I can't really say that it has been easy! I have asked around regarding the availability of queens and even nucs, but have not come up with anything because it is still very early in the season and we have not have had any decent spells of weather so far this year. I have spent a few days thinking about the best way forward and have been reading up on queen rearing by various methods including Miller, Cloake Board, Swarm Box and the Ben Harden method.
My current plan of action is:
1. Leave hive number one to requeen themselves. The virgin queen(s) should have hatched by now. Hopefully the weather will improve and the virgin queen will mate successfully.
2. Leave hive number two rear some drones and then use it to rear some queens using the Ben Harden method. This method has minimal impact on the foraging ability of the queen cell raising colony, however it will involve grafting which is totally new to me. Should be interesting! Any good quality queens produced could be used to requeen hive number one and three if necessary, as well as replace the queen in hive number two who is now in her third year.
3. Unite hive number four (previously the nuc) with hive number three and then give them a frame of eggs and larvae from hive number two and let them try and raise a new queen.
Keeping bees is certainly a challenge, but that's why it is such an enjoyable and satisfying hobby.
Sunday 25 March 2012
First inspection of the year
My patience has paid off and the weather has suddenly become more like summer than spring! The last couple of days have been really warm and I decided to have a look at my bees yesterday, just after midday, when the temperature was about 17 deg C.
I got suited up and went out to the hives. First of all I watched for activity at the hive entrances and was pleased to see quite a few flying bees bringing in pollen. I managed to photograph a bee coming in laden with bright yellow pollen, which was possibly Willow.
I also saw bees bringing in bright orange coloured pollen, which could have been Dandelion. Armed with my smoker in one hand and hive tool I approached my first hive.On lifting the roof off the hive I was confronted with a mass of bees on the top bars of the frames.
I opened up the hives, took out the dummy board at the back of the brood chamber and quickly went through the frames, prising them apart and peering down between them to see what was going on. I had given this hive some fondant over the winter because I thought that they really had not taken down enough syrup in the autumn. The fondant was all gone and looking through the frames there really was not very much left in the way of stores. I considered giving this colony some light syrup, but decided against it because the weather forecast is good for the next week or so and the bees should be able to find sufficient forage. The bees were very calm and well behaved and I barely needed to use any smoke. I did notice quite a few dead bees lying on the mesh floor of the hive, but I assumed that the undertaker bees would dispose of them in due course.
Working my way through the brood chamber I found the brood nest. I lifted a couple of frames out one by one to have a quick look. To my delight I saw eggs, larvae and sealed worker brood, and I saw the marked queen! I carefully put the frames back and put everything back in place and closed the hive up.
On to hive number two - this is the one I was a little worried about and it is also my "best" colony from last year. Sure enough, on removing the roof there were very few bees on the top bars of the frames. I proceeded with the inspection and to my great relief found that there were plenty of bees in the hive - they were all hiding lower down on the frames. I worked my way through the hive and again I found eggs, larvae, sealed worker brood and I even saw the very elusive unmarked queen! Again the bees were very quiet and a joy to work with, and I was glad to see that this hive still had plenty of stores left in the form of sealed Happy days - two out of two so far!
And so on to hive number three. There were certainly plenty of bees in hive number three, but as soon as I opened up the hive I noticed the presence of drones (male bees). How odd! I worked my way through the brood chamber and found the brood nest. I saw eggs, big fat larvae, and sealed drone brood (easily identified by the highly domed cappings)There was no sign of any worker brood anywhere!
I clearly have a drone laying queen. I went through the frames carefully and found what I believed to be the offending queen and squashed her. I closed the hive up. These bees were much more aggressive than the first two hives. I was glad that I had (hopefully) found and killed the drone laying queen and decided to requeen this colony with the reserve queen I had in my nuc....or so I thought!
To my horror, when I opened the nuc up I found no eggs, no larvae, no brood and no queen! There wasn't very many bees in the nuc. The queen had obviously died or disappeared over the winter. This was going to make saving hive number three much more difficult!
The most obvious thing to do is to unite hive three with one of my good hives, but having thought about it (and slept on it) I'm very reluctant to do this. I tried to requeen hive three twice last year, and it would appear that they killed both new queens because they had a poorly mated queen of their own in residence, who had now turned into a drone laying queen. I think I found and killed her, but I cant be 100% sure and I do not want to risk uniting this colony with one of my good colonies in case they kill another good queen!
Requeening really isn't an option at this time of year simply because there aren't any mated queens available, and there won't be until May at the earliest. As I see it the only chance I have of saving this colony is to give them a frame from one of my good colonies containing some eggs and young larvae, and let them have a go at rearing a new queen. However this is pretty much a last resort and only has a slim chance of succeeding, and it has the disadvantage that I'm going to weaken one of my good colonies by doing so.
If anyone reading this has any other suggestions as to how I can save this colony then please let me know!
I got suited up and went out to the hives. First of all I watched for activity at the hive entrances and was pleased to see quite a few flying bees bringing in pollen. I managed to photograph a bee coming in laden with bright yellow pollen, which was possibly Willow.
I also saw bees bringing in bright orange coloured pollen, which could have been Dandelion. Armed with my smoker in one hand and hive tool I approached my first hive.On lifting the roof off the hive I was confronted with a mass of bees on the top bars of the frames.
I opened up the hives, took out the dummy board at the back of the brood chamber and quickly went through the frames, prising them apart and peering down between them to see what was going on. I had given this hive some fondant over the winter because I thought that they really had not taken down enough syrup in the autumn. The fondant was all gone and looking through the frames there really was not very much left in the way of stores. I considered giving this colony some light syrup, but decided against it because the weather forecast is good for the next week or so and the bees should be able to find sufficient forage. The bees were very calm and well behaved and I barely needed to use any smoke. I did notice quite a few dead bees lying on the mesh floor of the hive, but I assumed that the undertaker bees would dispose of them in due course.
Working my way through the brood chamber I found the brood nest. I lifted a couple of frames out one by one to have a quick look. To my delight I saw eggs, larvae and sealed worker brood, and I saw the marked queen! I carefully put the frames back and put everything back in place and closed the hive up.
On to hive number two - this is the one I was a little worried about and it is also my "best" colony from last year. Sure enough, on removing the roof there were very few bees on the top bars of the frames. I proceeded with the inspection and to my great relief found that there were plenty of bees in the hive - they were all hiding lower down on the frames. I worked my way through the hive and again I found eggs, larvae, sealed worker brood and I even saw the very elusive unmarked queen! Again the bees were very quiet and a joy to work with, and I was glad to see that this hive still had plenty of stores left in the form of sealed Happy days - two out of two so far!
And so on to hive number three. There were certainly plenty of bees in hive number three, but as soon as I opened up the hive I noticed the presence of drones (male bees). How odd! I worked my way through the brood chamber and found the brood nest. I saw eggs, big fat larvae, and sealed drone brood (easily identified by the highly domed cappings)There was no sign of any worker brood anywhere!
I clearly have a drone laying queen. I went through the frames carefully and found what I believed to be the offending queen and squashed her. I closed the hive up. These bees were much more aggressive than the first two hives. I was glad that I had (hopefully) found and killed the drone laying queen and decided to requeen this colony with the reserve queen I had in my nuc....or so I thought!
To my horror, when I opened the nuc up I found no eggs, no larvae, no brood and no queen! There wasn't very many bees in the nuc. The queen had obviously died or disappeared over the winter. This was going to make saving hive number three much more difficult!
The most obvious thing to do is to unite hive three with one of my good hives, but having thought about it (and slept on it) I'm very reluctant to do this. I tried to requeen hive three twice last year, and it would appear that they killed both new queens because they had a poorly mated queen of their own in residence, who had now turned into a drone laying queen. I think I found and killed her, but I cant be 100% sure and I do not want to risk uniting this colony with one of my good colonies in case they kill another good queen!
Requeening really isn't an option at this time of year simply because there aren't any mated queens available, and there won't be until May at the earliest. As I see it the only chance I have of saving this colony is to give them a frame from one of my good colonies containing some eggs and young larvae, and let them have a go at rearing a new queen. However this is pretty much a last resort and only has a slim chance of succeeding, and it has the disadvantage that I'm going to weaken one of my good colonies by doing so.
If anyone reading this has any other suggestions as to how I can save this colony then please let me know!
Monday 12 March 2012
More signs of Spring
I'm still waiting for a day when it is warm enough to inspect my bees properly. However the signs are that Spring is on its way. The Primroses are in full flower...
...and the Black Alder trees are loaded with pollen. The following photo clearly shows the male and female catkins on the end of a twig.
Hopefully one day soon the temperature will creep up into the mid to high teens and I'll be able to have a look inside the hives and see if my colonies are building up as they should be at this time of year.
...and the Black Alder trees are loaded with pollen. The following photo clearly shows the male and female catkins on the end of a twig.
Hopefully one day soon the temperature will creep up into the mid to high teens and I'll be able to have a look inside the hives and see if my colonies are building up as they should be at this time of year.
Sunday 11 March 2012
Crown board and clearer board
Time to get back to hive construction! First of all, cut a square of thin plywood 460mm by 460mm. I've used 6mm thick ply, but you could use 9mm if you want a more sturdy board. Then cut 8 pieces of 25mm by 6mm strip wood all 435mm long. Nail the pieces of strip wood around the edges of the plywood on both side using small 12mm long nails. The following photo shows the crown board with half of the strips attached. It's a good idea to stagger the joins in the wooden strips on either side of the plywood.
Nail the rest of the strips in place as shown in the following photo. That's the basic structure of the crown board finished.
You could use the crown board like this, but it is usually convenient to have a feed hole in the crown board. Check what size of hole you require - a 35mm diameter hole is what is needed for the rapid feeders that I use. Cut the feed hole in the centre of the crown board. I find that it is a good idea to place the empty feeder on the crown board making sure that it is lined up properly with the hole and then carefully mark a line with a pen or pencil around the outside of the feeder. When feeding this makes it easy to ensure that the feeder full of syrup is in the right place!
When using the crown board without a feeder, simply close off the hole by placing a piece of plywood (or any other flat solid object) over the hole. If you want to leave the hole open for ventilation you can place a small piece of wire mesh (the varroa floor mesh is ideal) over the hole and secure it in place with drawing pins if you wish.
Now, if you are making a clearer board (or escape board) you follow exactly the same procedure, except now the type and size of hole you require depends on what type of bee escape device you will use. If you are using Porter bee escapes you will need to cut oval holes (not easy!) and they will need to be a good fit. I recently bought some large circular escapes that I'm going to try (see photo).
The advantage of this type of escape is that the size and shape of the hole is not critical. I think I'll be able to use the same size holes as for the rapid feeders which means that all I have to do to turn the crown board into a clearer board if attach the circular escape using drawing pins. Incidentally the photo above shows the underside of the clearer board - the bees would come down through the hole in the centre of the board and then out along the spoke-like channels.
Nail the rest of the strips in place as shown in the following photo. That's the basic structure of the crown board finished.
You could use the crown board like this, but it is usually convenient to have a feed hole in the crown board. Check what size of hole you require - a 35mm diameter hole is what is needed for the rapid feeders that I use. Cut the feed hole in the centre of the crown board. I find that it is a good idea to place the empty feeder on the crown board making sure that it is lined up properly with the hole and then carefully mark a line with a pen or pencil around the outside of the feeder. When feeding this makes it easy to ensure that the feeder full of syrup is in the right place!
When using the crown board without a feeder, simply close off the hole by placing a piece of plywood (or any other flat solid object) over the hole. If you want to leave the hole open for ventilation you can place a small piece of wire mesh (the varroa floor mesh is ideal) over the hole and secure it in place with drawing pins if you wish.
Now, if you are making a clearer board (or escape board) you follow exactly the same procedure, except now the type and size of hole you require depends on what type of bee escape device you will use. If you are using Porter bee escapes you will need to cut oval holes (not easy!) and they will need to be a good fit. I recently bought some large circular escapes that I'm going to try (see photo).
The advantage of this type of escape is that the size and shape of the hole is not critical. I think I'll be able to use the same size holes as for the rapid feeders which means that all I have to do to turn the crown board into a clearer board if attach the circular escape using drawing pins. Incidentally the photo above shows the underside of the clearer board - the bees would come down through the hole in the centre of the board and then out along the spoke-like channels.
Sunday 4 March 2012
Spring into action!
Today was very bright and sunny, and although it was quite a bit colder than earlier in the week, I went down to the beehives in the hope of seeing some more bees bringing in pollen. However the bees were staying in the hives today - it was just not warm enough for them to be out and about.
Ever since I saw the bees bringing in pollen earlier in the week I've been wondering what they could be foraging on. When I was out today I saw a few Primroses in flower, as well as Crocuses (see photo), Daffodils, Daises and Dandelions, and the very last of the Snowdrops.
There are quite a few Goat Willow bushes growing around where I have my hives and I was pleased to see that the buds on them were just starting to open (see photo).
Willow is an important forage plant for the bees in the early spring and provides a good source of pollen which the bees need for the spring build up. I only hope that the weather in the coming weeks is mild and fair so that the bees can get off to a good start to the year.
Ever since I saw the bees bringing in pollen earlier in the week I've been wondering what they could be foraging on. When I was out today I saw a few Primroses in flower, as well as Crocuses (see photo), Daffodils, Daises and Dandelions, and the very last of the Snowdrops.
There are quite a few Goat Willow bushes growing around where I have my hives and I was pleased to see that the buds on them were just starting to open (see photo).
Willow is an important forage plant for the bees in the early spring and provides a good source of pollen which the bees need for the spring build up. I only hope that the weather in the coming weeks is mild and fair so that the bees can get off to a good start to the year.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Bees bringing in pollen
It was a very mild day today (about 12.5 deg C) and the weather was dry and fairly bright so I took the opportunity to have a quick look at my bees. I'm pleased to say that I saw bees flying from all my hives and saw some bees bringing in pollen, which is a good sign that all is well with a colony. On each hive I lifted the roof off and had a quick look through the clear plastic crown boards.
The photo above shows hive number one. There's still some fondant left on the top bars of the hive and there seems to be a good many bees on the tops of the frames. I had to requeen this hive in July last year after the queen had mysteriously disappeared and the new queen the bees raised turned out to be a drone layer. This colony did not take the syrup down as well as I would have liked last autumn, which is why I gave it some fondant in October and again in December.
The photo above shows hive number two. I'm very worried about this one! There seems to be very few bees although the bees from this hive were flying well today and bringing in pollen. This colony was my best last year and yielded 30 lbs of lovely honey.
Looking back at my records I see that the queen in this colony is now entering her third season, but she was possibly superceded last August. I had found queen cells in this colony which were later sealed, but when I inspected the colony just before the new queens were due to emerge there was no sign of the queen cells and I found eggs in the colony. I don't think they swarmed, so either they superceded (or tried to anyway), or they were going to swarm and changed their minds! Unfortunately there's no way to know for certain because the original queen was not marked.
This colony remained very strong into the autumn last year, but after the suspected supercedure I never saw the queen, and there were not very many eggs in the colony towards the end of the season. There really should be more bees in this colony now and I suspect that either the original queen is still in residence and is not laying well, or that the new queen has a problem. I definitely need to have a closer look at this colony as soon as I can, but the weather is just not warm enough yet for a full inspection. I "hefted" the hive and it is still very heavy, so there's plenty of stores, but the cluster of bees has moved into the front right corner of the hive so may have become separated from the stores.
The photo above shows hive number three. Last August I damaged the original queen whilst marking her and the bees failed to rear a new queen. My first attempt at requeening in September failed and I tried again in October to introduce a new queen. However after introducing the new queen I was not able to verify that she had been accepted and I never observed any eggs or larvae in this colony because it was so late in the season and it was too cold to do a full inspection. Therefore I can't be certain that this colony went into the winter in a queenright state, although the fact that the colony is still alive and reasonably strong would suggest that there must be a queen in residence. I need to have a closer look at this colony as soon as I can when the weather improves.
The photo above shows a nuc that I overwintered. After my various manipulations towards the end of last year I ended up with three or four frames of bees that I could not find a home for, so I put them in this nuc and introduced a queen. That was last September and before winter closed in I was able to verify that the queen had been accepted and I observed eggs and larvae. My reasoning was that if I could successfully bring this nuc through the winter then I would have a "spare" colony which I could unite with one of my other colonies if necessary or build up into a full colony in the spring. I'm pleased that this nuc has made it this far, but I will know more when I do a proper inspection.
The photo above shows hive number one. There's still some fondant left on the top bars of the hive and there seems to be a good many bees on the tops of the frames. I had to requeen this hive in July last year after the queen had mysteriously disappeared and the new queen the bees raised turned out to be a drone layer. This colony did not take the syrup down as well as I would have liked last autumn, which is why I gave it some fondant in October and again in December.
The photo above shows hive number two. I'm very worried about this one! There seems to be very few bees although the bees from this hive were flying well today and bringing in pollen. This colony was my best last year and yielded 30 lbs of lovely honey.
Looking back at my records I see that the queen in this colony is now entering her third season, but she was possibly superceded last August. I had found queen cells in this colony which were later sealed, but when I inspected the colony just before the new queens were due to emerge there was no sign of the queen cells and I found eggs in the colony. I don't think they swarmed, so either they superceded (or tried to anyway), or they were going to swarm and changed their minds! Unfortunately there's no way to know for certain because the original queen was not marked.
This colony remained very strong into the autumn last year, but after the suspected supercedure I never saw the queen, and there were not very many eggs in the colony towards the end of the season. There really should be more bees in this colony now and I suspect that either the original queen is still in residence and is not laying well, or that the new queen has a problem. I definitely need to have a closer look at this colony as soon as I can, but the weather is just not warm enough yet for a full inspection. I "hefted" the hive and it is still very heavy, so there's plenty of stores, but the cluster of bees has moved into the front right corner of the hive so may have become separated from the stores.
The photo above shows hive number three. Last August I damaged the original queen whilst marking her and the bees failed to rear a new queen. My first attempt at requeening in September failed and I tried again in October to introduce a new queen. However after introducing the new queen I was not able to verify that she had been accepted and I never observed any eggs or larvae in this colony because it was so late in the season and it was too cold to do a full inspection. Therefore I can't be certain that this colony went into the winter in a queenright state, although the fact that the colony is still alive and reasonably strong would suggest that there must be a queen in residence. I need to have a closer look at this colony as soon as I can when the weather improves.
The photo above shows a nuc that I overwintered. After my various manipulations towards the end of last year I ended up with three or four frames of bees that I could not find a home for, so I put them in this nuc and introduced a queen. That was last September and before winter closed in I was able to verify that the queen had been accepted and I observed eggs and larvae. My reasoning was that if I could successfully bring this nuc through the winter then I would have a "spare" colony which I could unite with one of my other colonies if necessary or build up into a full colony in the spring. I'm pleased that this nuc has made it this far, but I will know more when I do a proper inspection.
Sunday 26 February 2012
Roof
Start by cutting a piece of 11mm thick OSB measuring 505mm by 505mm. You can use plywood if you want - I have used OSB because it is cheaper and lighter. Our cat "Lucky" likes to help me when I'm making hives!
Next cut some strips of 18mm thick plywood 150mm wide. From these strips cut two pieces 505mm long, and two pieces 469mm long. These will form the sides of the roof. The following photo shows one piece of each length.
Mark a line 18mm in from the ends of the 505mm long pieces and then mark and drill the holes for the screws.
Glue and screw the 469mm long pieces to one of the 505mm long pieces as shown in the following photo.
Then glue and screw the other 505mm long piece to complete the sides of the roof (see photo below). Check that the structure is square and true before the glue dries.
Now run a bead of glue along the top edges and nail the 505mm x 505mm piece of OSB in place using 5 or 6 nails along each edge.
Turn the roof over and fit some insulation under the OSB. I've used 50mm thick rigid high density foam insulation that I had left over from insulating a roof, but you could use ordinary white expanded polystyrene insulation. You can glue the insulation in place if you wish but I found that if you cut it to the correct size you can squeeze it in so that it stays in place without glue. The insulation I used was in two separate pieces so I put some gaffer tape along the join to seal it.
Before fitting the final roof covering it's a good idea to give the plywood sides of the roof (including the bottom edges) a coat of wood preservative, but make sure it's bee friendly! I use boiled linseed oil because it is safe for the bees and I like the honey coloured finish it gives to the wood.
Now you must decide what type of roof covering to use. Perhaps the most economical is roofing felt. I've used thin felt as sold for use on garden shed roofs. First of all cut a square of felt about 700mm by 700mm and place the hive roof upside down in the centre of the piece of felt.
Keeping the felt as tight as possible, fold it up over the sides of the roof and nail it in place using large headed felt nails. Do this on one side and then on the opposite side. Then fold the felt as shown on the following photo and secure the remaining two sides.
That's it! The basic structure of the hive is finished. The following photo shows the floor, brood chamber, super and roof assembled, but please note that all the external surfaces of the floor, brood chamber and super still need to be treated with wood preservative (in my case boiled linseed oil) to complete the job.
In future posts I'll go through how to make a simple crown board and clearer board, as well as how to assemble the frames and wax foundation that you'll put in the hive. I would recommend that you buy "flat pack" frames from one of the many suppliers - I don't think it's worth trying to make your own from scratch.
Next cut some strips of 18mm thick plywood 150mm wide. From these strips cut two pieces 505mm long, and two pieces 469mm long. These will form the sides of the roof. The following photo shows one piece of each length.
Mark a line 18mm in from the ends of the 505mm long pieces and then mark and drill the holes for the screws.
Glue and screw the 469mm long pieces to one of the 505mm long pieces as shown in the following photo.
Then glue and screw the other 505mm long piece to complete the sides of the roof (see photo below). Check that the structure is square and true before the glue dries.
Now run a bead of glue along the top edges and nail the 505mm x 505mm piece of OSB in place using 5 or 6 nails along each edge.
Turn the roof over and fit some insulation under the OSB. I've used 50mm thick rigid high density foam insulation that I had left over from insulating a roof, but you could use ordinary white expanded polystyrene insulation. You can glue the insulation in place if you wish but I found that if you cut it to the correct size you can squeeze it in so that it stays in place without glue. The insulation I used was in two separate pieces so I put some gaffer tape along the join to seal it.
Before fitting the final roof covering it's a good idea to give the plywood sides of the roof (including the bottom edges) a coat of wood preservative, but make sure it's bee friendly! I use boiled linseed oil because it is safe for the bees and I like the honey coloured finish it gives to the wood.
Now you must decide what type of roof covering to use. Perhaps the most economical is roofing felt. I've used thin felt as sold for use on garden shed roofs. First of all cut a square of felt about 700mm by 700mm and place the hive roof upside down in the centre of the piece of felt.
Keeping the felt as tight as possible, fold it up over the sides of the roof and nail it in place using large headed felt nails. Do this on one side and then on the opposite side. Then fold the felt as shown on the following photo and secure the remaining two sides.
That's it! The basic structure of the hive is finished. The following photo shows the floor, brood chamber, super and roof assembled, but please note that all the external surfaces of the floor, brood chamber and super still need to be treated with wood preservative (in my case boiled linseed oil) to complete the job.
In future posts I'll go through how to make a simple crown board and clearer board, as well as how to assemble the frames and wax foundation that you'll put in the hive. I would recommend that you buy "flat pack" frames from one of the many suppliers - I don't think it's worth trying to make your own from scratch.
Sunday 19 February 2012
Super
The design and construction of the super is very similar to the brood chamber. The only difference is that the super is not as deep as the brood chamber (hence they are sometimes referred to as "deeps" and "shallows").
Start off by cutting a strip of 18mm thick plywood 150mm wide. Then, from this strip cut two pieces 460mm long. These will form the front and back walls of the super.
For the sides of the super, cut a strip of plywood 94mm wide, and from this strip cut two pieces 424mm long. You'll also need some other softwood sections to complete the sides. There are:
Make up the top and bottom side rails and attach them to the plywood side pieces using the same method as described for the brood chamber. The completed super sides are shown in the following photo.
Again, using the same method as described for the brood chamber, make up the basic structure of the super from the previously completed sides and the plywood front and back walls. Check that the super is square and true before the glue dries.
It just remains to add runners or castellated spacers. For supers, I use castellated spacers that take 10 frames. To fit these, first of all turn the super upside down on a flat surface. Then lay the castellated spacers against the inside faces of the sides of the super as shown in the following photo.
Nail the castellated spacer in place and then do the same for the other side of the super. The following photo shows the completed super (turned back up the right way) with a super frame in place. The top of the frame should be flush with the top edges of the super and there should be a bee space between the sides of the frame and the walls of the super, and also a bee space under the bottom of the frame.
Now if everything has gone according to plan, the super should be a perfect fit on top of the brood chamber you have already made.
You should make at least two supers for every hive, but extra supers always come in handy and may be required if you have a bumper honey harvest.
Start off by cutting a strip of 18mm thick plywood 150mm wide. Then, from this strip cut two pieces 460mm long. These will form the front and back walls of the super.
For the sides of the super, cut a strip of plywood 94mm wide, and from this strip cut two pieces 424mm long. You'll also need some other softwood sections to complete the sides. There are:
- 32mm x 18mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
- 32mm x 12mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
- 44mm x 18mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
- 12mm x 6mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
Make up the top and bottom side rails and attach them to the plywood side pieces using the same method as described for the brood chamber. The completed super sides are shown in the following photo.
Again, using the same method as described for the brood chamber, make up the basic structure of the super from the previously completed sides and the plywood front and back walls. Check that the super is square and true before the glue dries.
It just remains to add runners or castellated spacers. For supers, I use castellated spacers that take 10 frames. To fit these, first of all turn the super upside down on a flat surface. Then lay the castellated spacers against the inside faces of the sides of the super as shown in the following photo.
Nail the castellated spacer in place and then do the same for the other side of the super. The following photo shows the completed super (turned back up the right way) with a super frame in place. The top of the frame should be flush with the top edges of the super and there should be a bee space between the sides of the frame and the walls of the super, and also a bee space under the bottom of the frame.
Now if everything has gone according to plan, the super should be a perfect fit on top of the brood chamber you have already made.
You should make at least two supers for every hive, but extra supers always come in handy and may be required if you have a bumper honey harvest.
Sunday 12 February 2012
Brood Chamber
Back to hive construction. In this post I'll go through how to make a brood chamber. I'll be making it to standard National dimensions with bottom bee space, but it would be fairly easy to adapt the design to another standard.
Start off by cutting a strip of 18mm thick plywood 225mm wide. Then, from this strip cut two pieces 460mm long. These will form the front and back walls of the brood chamber.
Now, for the sides of the brood chamber, cut a strip of plywood 169mm wide, and from this strip cut two pieces 424mm long. You'll also need some other softwood sections to complete the sides. There are:
Take the 44mm x 18mm section and glue the 12 x 6mm section to it as shown in the following photo. Then nail through the 12 x 6mm section to the 44mm x 18mm section at 3 or 4 locations along its length.
This will form the bottom side rail of the brood chamber. You'll need 2 of these, one for each side.
Now take the 32mm x 12 mm and the 32mm x 18mm sections and lay them together as shown in the following photo (the 32mm x 18mm section is lying flat and the 32mm x 12mm section is standing on its edge).
Mark a pencil line along the inside of the corner where the two sections meet. Separate the sections and then on the 32mm x 12mm section mark and drill three locations along the length of the piece to take the screws.
Glue and screw the sections together as shown in the following photo. These will form the top side rails of the brood chamber.
Now take one of the 169mm wide plywood sides and lay one top rail and one bottom rail along the edges as shown in the following photo.
Mark a pencil line along the inside of the corner where the top and bottom side rails meet the plywood side. Separate the sections and then on each side rail (top and bottom) mark and drill three locations along the length of the side rails to take the screws (you can just about see the screw holes in the following photo).
Now glue and screw the top and bottom side rails to the plywood side. Repeat the process to make the other side of the brood chamber. The completed sides are shown in the following photo.
Lay the 460mm x 225mm flat plywood front (or back) of the brood chamber on the bench and stand the sides on their ends as shown in the following photo.
Take a pencil and mark where the sides meet the front of the brood chamber. Remove the sides and mark and drill four locations where the front of the brood chamber will be screwed to the sides (I've gone over the pencil lines with a red marker so you can see them clearly in the following photo).
Glue and screw the sides to the front of the brood chamber as shown in the following photo.
Now do the same thing for the back of the brood chamber. The following photo shows the partly completed brood chamber just before the back is screwed on to the sides.
The following photo shows the completed brood chamber. You should check the brood chamber is square and true before the glue dries.
It just remains now to nail frame runners on to the sides of the brood chamber. I would recommend using metal runners instead of plastic ones - they are only marginally more expensive and you don't have to remove them if you want to sterilise the brood chamber by scorching the wood using a blowtorch.
The following photo shows the completed brood chamber with a standard BS frame in place. The top of the frame should be flush with the top edges of the brood chamber, and there should be a bee space between the sides of the frame and the brood chamber walls, and also a bee space under the bottom of the frame.
Now, if everything has gone according to plan, the brood chamber should be a perfect fit on top of the open mesh floor which you have already made.
Personally, I like to attach the brood chamber to the floor using strips of metal pre-drilled to take screws. I find that attaching the brood chamber to the floor makes moving the hive much easier, and it is a simple enough job to remove the screws and lift the brood chamber off the floor if required. The following photo shows the strips of metal fitted to the hive I built last year.
Next time I'll build a super for the hive. The super is very similar to the brood chamber, but shallower. Happy hive building!
Start off by cutting a strip of 18mm thick plywood 225mm wide. Then, from this strip cut two pieces 460mm long. These will form the front and back walls of the brood chamber.
Now, for the sides of the brood chamber, cut a strip of plywood 169mm wide, and from this strip cut two pieces 424mm long. You'll also need some other softwood sections to complete the sides. There are:
- 32mm x 18mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
- 32mm x 12mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
- 44mm x 18mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
- 12mm x 6mm x 424mm long (2 pieces required)
Take the 44mm x 18mm section and glue the 12 x 6mm section to it as shown in the following photo. Then nail through the 12 x 6mm section to the 44mm x 18mm section at 3 or 4 locations along its length.
This will form the bottom side rail of the brood chamber. You'll need 2 of these, one for each side.
Now take the 32mm x 12 mm and the 32mm x 18mm sections and lay them together as shown in the following photo (the 32mm x 18mm section is lying flat and the 32mm x 12mm section is standing on its edge).
Mark a pencil line along the inside of the corner where the two sections meet. Separate the sections and then on the 32mm x 12mm section mark and drill three locations along the length of the piece to take the screws.
Glue and screw the sections together as shown in the following photo. These will form the top side rails of the brood chamber.
Now take one of the 169mm wide plywood sides and lay one top rail and one bottom rail along the edges as shown in the following photo.
Mark a pencil line along the inside of the corner where the top and bottom side rails meet the plywood side. Separate the sections and then on each side rail (top and bottom) mark and drill three locations along the length of the side rails to take the screws (you can just about see the screw holes in the following photo).
Now glue and screw the top and bottom side rails to the plywood side. Repeat the process to make the other side of the brood chamber. The completed sides are shown in the following photo.
Lay the 460mm x 225mm flat plywood front (or back) of the brood chamber on the bench and stand the sides on their ends as shown in the following photo.
Take a pencil and mark where the sides meet the front of the brood chamber. Remove the sides and mark and drill four locations where the front of the brood chamber will be screwed to the sides (I've gone over the pencil lines with a red marker so you can see them clearly in the following photo).
Glue and screw the sides to the front of the brood chamber as shown in the following photo.
Now do the same thing for the back of the brood chamber. The following photo shows the partly completed brood chamber just before the back is screwed on to the sides.
The following photo shows the completed brood chamber. You should check the brood chamber is square and true before the glue dries.
It just remains now to nail frame runners on to the sides of the brood chamber. I would recommend using metal runners instead of plastic ones - they are only marginally more expensive and you don't have to remove them if you want to sterilise the brood chamber by scorching the wood using a blowtorch.
The following photo shows the completed brood chamber with a standard BS frame in place. The top of the frame should be flush with the top edges of the brood chamber, and there should be a bee space between the sides of the frame and the brood chamber walls, and also a bee space under the bottom of the frame.
Now, if everything has gone according to plan, the brood chamber should be a perfect fit on top of the open mesh floor which you have already made.
Personally, I like to attach the brood chamber to the floor using strips of metal pre-drilled to take screws. I find that attaching the brood chamber to the floor makes moving the hive much easier, and it is a simple enough job to remove the screws and lift the brood chamber off the floor if required. The following photo shows the strips of metal fitted to the hive I built last year.
Next time I'll build a super for the hive. The super is very similar to the brood chamber, but shallower. Happy hive building!
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