If you're at a loose end next Saturday we need you on the Apiary! We've got a lot of work to get done before Colin and I leave for Nepal on 28th Sept and we'll be gone a month. We've treated all our colonies for Varroa and almost completed our winter feeding programme but I digress, back to the list of jobs for Saturday. 1/ Tidying up- not just a little light sweeping or litter picking- no, the sheds are in chaos and the various "lay down" areas are very untidy. 2/ A final inspection of the Bees to make sure they've got the stores they need to carry them through the winter and are as free as possible of Varroa. 3/ There are numerous perenials to plant out and Colin is threatening to bring a load of foxgloves to site. 4/ We have to dress a few Kenyan Hive top bars with wax starter strips and fit them to the Top Bar Hive on site. 5/ If there's any time left there's a couple of tons of soil to dig out of the new Pond.
As an incentive there will be free tea and some snacks including my famous honey fruit cake for the workers.
Barry
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Sunday 18th Aug. on the Apiary. Winter feeding and Varroa treatment.
Colin and I will be doing our routine Apiary work on Sunday and not as is customary on Saturday. We'll be carrying out Varroa treatment and winter feeding. We've treated all our hives including the Top Bar Hive with Api Life Var. The method of deploying the strips in a conventional hive is to place a piece in the four corners of the hive on top of the brood frames but this method would not work in the top bar because the frames are closed up with no spaces between them so we inserted the thymol impregnated strip into a net envelope and pinned this high up on the mid-hive divider board and as far away from the brood as possible. At the second application in our National hives we noticed that some of the "biscuits" had disappeared. The instructions on the packet say that you should remove the exhausted pieces when applying new strips. This begs the question "how important is it to find the old bits"?
Colin and I are going to Nepal for a month at the end of September. If I can I'll make some Blog postings from there but before I can do that I'll have to find out how to do it "on the hoof" so to speak!
Barry
Colin and I are going to Nepal for a month at the end of September. If I can I'll make some Blog postings from there but before I can do that I'll have to find out how to do it "on the hoof" so to speak!
Barry
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Today and next Wednesday on the Apiary
Today, Saturday, we treated hives 1 to 6 with "Api Var Life" Varroa treatment. This the first time that either Colin or I have used it. We found that the "biscuits of the compound were very brittle and care in handling was required. A pocket of fine nylon net, or similar, to contain the Varroicide and fixed to the top of the frames with a drawing pin might help. I think I'll try this next Wednesday on the hives yet to be treated. Another problem we found was that wearing gloves, as many Beekeepers do, you can easily crumble the biscuit or drop it between the frames. The technique we've developed that gives most control is to pick it up with the end of your hive tool then carefully slide it onto the top bar of the frame. We fitted a super with no frames above the brood chamber, an unventilated crown board on top of that, the existing super free of bees atop that and then the roof. The idea is to prevent the fumes from the varroicide tainting the honey, nectar and combs in the super which will be returned to the bees when the treatment is over.
Winter feeding is due during September, I'll make up some 2:1 sugar syrup and we've already purchased some proprietary syrup, (Ambrosia"), both of which will be fed through Miller feeders. We'll compare the home-made with the purchased syrup to see if it's worth the money. The theory is - there's loads of sealed brood ready to hatch, and in some of the hives plenty of empty comb so all the colonies should find somewhere to store the feed and this will slow the queen down and get the colony as well prepared as possible for winter, stores -wise.
Visitors to the Apiary whose last visit was more than a couple of weeks ago will find a few surprises. We've started work on our woodland garden - expect bluebells, daffodils, primroses etc. but the major project now underway is the pond, we're talking 6m x 4m folks! To fit it in we've had to divert the path slightly, adjacent to hives 5 & 6, but the diversion takes the path through a tunnel of foliage, very romantic, to emerge at the end of the pond where there'll be a bog area. If you have any expertise in this area of gardening, in fact even if you don't, share your ideas with us on aquatic plantings and on the construction of what I am confident will be a major attraction in the garden.
Next Saturday Nicki Gammans of the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust will be delivering a talk. I'm not sure what else is planned but there'll be the usual tea and cakes and the usual beekeeping gossip.
Barry
Winter feeding is due during September, I'll make up some 2:1 sugar syrup and we've already purchased some proprietary syrup, (Ambrosia"), both of which will be fed through Miller feeders. We'll compare the home-made with the purchased syrup to see if it's worth the money. The theory is - there's loads of sealed brood ready to hatch, and in some of the hives plenty of empty comb so all the colonies should find somewhere to store the feed and this will slow the queen down and get the colony as well prepared as possible for winter, stores -wise.
Visitors to the Apiary whose last visit was more than a couple of weeks ago will find a few surprises. We've started work on our woodland garden - expect bluebells, daffodils, primroses etc. but the major project now underway is the pond, we're talking 6m x 4m folks! To fit it in we've had to divert the path slightly, adjacent to hives 5 & 6, but the diversion takes the path through a tunnel of foliage, very romantic, to emerge at the end of the pond where there'll be a bog area. If you have any expertise in this area of gardening, in fact even if you don't, share your ideas with us on aquatic plantings and on the construction of what I am confident will be a major attraction in the garden.
Next Saturday Nicki Gammans of the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust will be delivering a talk. I'm not sure what else is planned but there'll be the usual tea and cakes and the usual beekeeping gossip.
Barry
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