My bees have been busy for the last few weeks as spring has finally sprung. The rain and winds of winter that seemed to last forever gave way to glorious sunshine just as the Coronavirus restrictions came into place. Working in horticulture I rarely get much time in my own garden during the summer months but with all our team furloughed since 24th March I’ve enjoyed a rare opportunity to catch up with some of my own jobs. Whilst I’ve been busy with hedge cutting, rotovating, sowing, planting and fencing I’ve kept glancing towards the apiary each time I pass as I walk up and down the field. It’s been obvious without opening the hives that the colony was expanding and the bees were busy foraging. Time to get in there and see what was going on.
What I was looking for today was:
- Is the queen present and laying. Is there evidence of the expected quantities of eggs and sealed brood.
- Does the colony have room to expand.
- Is there sufficient stores to prevent starvation until next inspection.
- Any evidence of disease or abnormalities.
- Is there any queen cells indicating the colony may be planning to swarm.
Happily today all was well. I mark my queens making them easy to spot. The early start to spring meant there was plenty of sealed brood and eggs present indicating healthy laying queens. I could see no sign of disease.There was certainly no shortage of stores and the bees have actually refilled the supers that I left on over winter prompting me to add further supers today. There was evidence of dummy or practice queen cells but none with larvae nor sealed. Those queen cells though along with the rapid expansion of the colonies does mean that I will now be carrying out weekly inspections to ensure that I don’t suffer losses from an early swarm.
With swarm control in mind I spent the afternoon sorting out all my spare beekeeping equipment, ensuring I have spare hives available in case I need to artificially swarm a colony at short notice. Everything was spread out in the sunshine, checked over and cleaned. Two spare hives were assembled including supers. Anything I was short of was listed for ordering.
I also took the opportunity to set up a spare six frame nuc box as a swarm lure. Although not as good as a purpose built swarm box it is all I have available so my thinking is it’s better than nothing. The box has been set up with four drawn frames and a two frame space inside the box. A little lemongrass oil was added to act as an attractant. The box was then placed in my apple tree, facing south and strapped in place. I’ve never set out to catch a swarm before. Reading a few books I think I’m pretty much on the right tracks and with nothing to loose but a bit of time I thought it was worth a try.
This evening I’m sat ordering supplies from National Bee Supplies. Another first for me as I usually use Thornes but I have a voucher code from BBKA for 5% off at National so I’ll give them a chance. A queen excluder, a couple of crown boards and foundation is on my list. All for the spare hives.
There’s something really satisfying about having a good sort out and clean up of all your equipment. I’ve had a great day out in the spring sunshine.
