All okay!

After the rain cleared it was a lovely day, albeit windy! I checked all my colonies today and they are all okay and queen right: I am really pleased. I can now finalise my plans for the year ahead.

I encountered another queen wasp in a roof and unfortunately she was still 3 dimensional after I took a swipe at her, though she did crash land and disappear in long grass. I also found a huge wax moth larvae in one hive which was evicted. Another hive had a cluster of dead bees on one side of the hive but a thriving queen and colony on the other side. Another pleasing sight were the swans nesting again. So it's full steam ahead!

VESPA VULGARIS !

It has been a lovely day and the bees have been busy collecting pollen - I could have spent the whole day just watching the hive entrances with the comings and goings. I checked the fondant on the hives and was surprised as I lifted one roof; there was a queen wasp, a huge thing,but it soon became a two dimensional object!
Later in the day in my garden I was sorting spare hives and equipment. Again as I lifted a roof on an empty hive there was a queen wasp. This one escaped me (drat!) and later on in our verandah a queen wasp dared to come prying, looking for a suitable nest site ( I hope it was the same one and not another). My swipes and swats were hopeless and it escaped through the open door - need to sharpen up my reactions.

What To Make Of It All...

I hear that at last nights' County AGM the main officers posts could not be filled... what does this say of the County, of bee keeping in Warwickshire, indeed of the BBKA? We have to ask questions of ourselves and I have done that for some time now but I still come to the same conclusion: I am unhappy with the whole set up of the bee keeping fraternity from top to bottom and wonder if the cracks are starting to appear. A few years ago I would have relished the opportunity but not now!

Humming Bush

The sun emerged about 10 o' clock so I dashed out hoping to catch my bees flying: I wasn't disappointed. All my hives, at every site, were flying in the warm Spring sunshine. As I pulled up at one site the bush nearby was "humming" with bees busy collecting pollen. It was so nice I could have opened up and inspected the colonies, but had to remind myself to wait a just a few more weeks.

Heavy Bomber !

My bees at home were out this afternoon in the sunshine, bringing back loads of pollen. The buzz in the apiary was wonderful to hear. As I (eventually) walked back up the garden I heard a distinctive "drone" and soon picked out a bumble bee searching the hedgerow ( a queen looking for a suitable site to build her nest): Spring must be well on the way! To me the honey bees are the fighter squadrons and the bumble bee the Heavy Bomber whose wings "pitch" to give a louder and more distinctive tone.

U.N. Alarmed at Honey Bee Decline

The UN has expressed alarm at the decline of the honey bee. It has identified a list of possible causes to the problem in the Industrialised Northern Hemisphere. Did it miss one? Bee keeping methods??

A Buzzy Day

Been buzzy today treating new hives and building hive stands; it was a windy but mild day with sunny spells and brief spots of rain! Spring?! I had to pop out and couldn't resist stopping at one of my apairy sites to get my "fix". I wasn't disappointed as all the hives were busy with comings and goings and lots of yellow pollen arriving - great to see. I could have spent all day just watching (how sad is that?) but wrenched myself back to my duties.

Join The Revolution !?

A very imposing advert, indicates that the Co-operative is good for everyone and the page I saw advertised a bee keeper who has trained dozens of urban bee keepers to help protect the honey bees' future. That is great news providing the training is good- not doubting the work of Brian McCallum but what has been taught - I am still searching for detail; can you help me? How do I get involved?? Protecting the future of the honey bee....

Getting impatient/ Curse myself

I checked all my apiaries today. It was really cold and the bees were all tucked up; a few needed more fondant and one entrance was clogged up with dead bees (though the girls inside seemed okay). I am anxious to get started but the weather makes me feel it will be a good few weeks yet before I get to do any "real bee keeping"; for now it's surveillance only, I have to be patient.
I sadly have another loss - my feelings on this are mixed:
It still hurts (as I've said before)! The last two Autumns I have drawn up a type of prediction table of my colonies , sort of "odds" of surviving the winter. Last Autumn I marked 5 colonies "at risk" - by coincidence they were all in nucleus hives (but not all my nucleus hives were marked at risk - you follow?). The 2 I have lost to date were both from this category, so I am not too upset as I didn't hold that much confidence. This is where detailed records are invaluable. The disappointment here has to be that this was the colony used for my observation hive, and this is the second year running that the colony used for the observation hive has consequently died out in winter. For this I curse myself as I have perhaps abused it by using it for such purpose late into the season. A lesson learnt me thinks.
Looking at the records reveals a mind of information: this was a swarm that came into my garden last June and settled in some empty supers (about to be put out for filling!). The queen was unmarked and began laying straight away but never really built up that well (an old failing queen maybe). The records also show that it was a part of my random microscopy checks and nosema was present, so there is another maybe. But maybe I abused it a little too much and the queen may have got damaged late in the season being hoofed around and yanked in and out of the frame for the public to view- I curse myself.