Humming Bee Honey

What a season it has been so far!  My team – The BeesKnees – are doing very well.

School Photo !

At the rear are our lovely Drones Ian and Geoff – both gentlemen in the true sense of the word – ever willing and warm!

Next our lovely worker bees – B (left (yes, that’s her name)) is  enthusiastic and along with Clare (middle) very confident, Patty (right) caring and coming along very well.

And, of course, Queen Bee – Me (although Geoff likes to call me TC)

During our last training session all found the nerve to handle drones bare handed and quickly realised the drone was more terrified than they!

Here are a sequence of photo’s showing John Hamer and Michael repopluating the observation Hive:

JH begining the op!

 John, after opening the room of the hive, begins to lift out the top bars.

John supporting the swarm box in prep for Michael appearing below...

The swarm boxes were left in the hive to support the particularly strong swarm.

Biggest Drone in the World!

Michael has entered the hive from below to remove the other swarm box. 

Final Removal

I just know he was sweating ……!

Replacing the top bars

Job Done!

 The girls are now checking out the facilities, within 4 weeks we can expect to see beautiful drawn comb

Newbies (students) are always up for a quick look in the Observation hive when they come for their training. Unfortunately the climate is not good to the girls and over wintering them is a problem but that’s for later.

GH Swarm My girls in GH1 decided they wanted to move elsewhere. Frantical callfrom home had me rushing away from work. The girls had settled three gardens up and were happily ensconced under a little metal table.The neighbours were not quite so happy apparently but they soon settled down when the girls did!Out came my homemade skep to gather them up.Then it was back to a nice new hive in the garden.Going Home!

I couln’t resist the white sheet march method and I wanted to see which Queen was leaving home.

Ultimately it was GH1’s original – left a brood frame in her hive when doing the split which had eggs and uncapped brood! Duh! wont do that again!

Running Out of Room!

What’s a couple of splits and a swarm and a queen rearing lesson all got in common?

Well………….. a serious amount of money spent on equipment……….masses of stress……….an understanding Boss……..and a desire to live in another desres area!

Populating New Hive Enclosure

I am beginning to think I didn’t make the enclosure big enough!

This artificial swarming business…. thank goodness the flow is on and the girls have something else to occupy their time!

The far hive was created from RH1 which came through the winter roaring and determined to cause many hours of stress.

The middle  tiny hive was created using a swarm collected from a plush hotel in High Holborn. I received a call, grabbed my superhero swarm kit and enticed the swarm to Camden (not a lot of choice for the girls really! Nuc’s are costing a fortune with the upturn in interest!).

The hive in the forground was created from a swarm which was hanging aroung the aircons on the roof. Not a lot of evidence that they were from RH1 as she still has the Queen from last year – possibly from the split from RH2 – or maybe they wanted to join in the desres environment of Camden.

RH1 - and growing

RH1 in all her current glory. For a Queen in her second year she is performing remarkably well – original dam was a Buckfast Queen.

Exit to London Forage

Here is a view of the exit from the small room enclosure enjoyed by RH1 to one of the greenest Capital cities in the world. We have Regents Park, Hampstead Common  and myriads of gardens ground based and those with loftier pretensions all pumping out Nectar and Pollen for my girls.

Pretty soon the Lime trees planted everywhere along the street are going to come into bloom and then there will be honey by the gallon loads – the labelling will be Halpern Honey which has a nicer ring to it than HC Bee Project Honey.

Our fabulous design team is working on it as I type!

Well now………. Spring has arrived in Camden and with it a new enclosure for the HC Bee Project on the roof.

My girls in RH1 have been out and about  – my mad panic to keep them alive and healthy over the winter has paid off by the thousands. Today was warm and not too blowy  so in I went. The eke I forgot to take off last year was filled with capped brood and larva and has effectively meant I’ve had 3 brood boxes on there.

Stores are plentiful and the pollen is going in by the thighload. I have added a fourth brood box to give them some room. All this population explosion is going to be the foundation of the HC Bee Project  Apiary. Some of my girls seem to forget they live on the 3rd floor and have been spotted by passersby at ground level.

I have spent the balance of last year and the winter studying like mad and undergoing training at Blackhorse Apiary with John Hamer and Alastair Welch to widen the educational sphere they are so passionate about. I am about to get one of their covetted mentor sweatshirts!

We now have an enlarged Apiary enclosure to house the forth coming increase - RH1 will be joined in goodly time by RH2,3 and 4. My colleagues have been watching and listening with varying degrees of patience and lo! Six have answered the call!

School begins tomorrow!  and we are all set to go.

I’m very happy there is going to be a sale on at the Spring Convention – protection for my Bee Students is not going to be a problem. Certainly I can be more excited about this kind of shopping than the offerings in Oxford Street!

I’m thinking the girls like it so much in Camden that they may well consider looking for new desres’s – going to nip that idea in the bud! Artifical swarming and nuc building coming up next!

Wasn’t yesterday a mixed up mishmash of weather? I think it may have had something to to with the earthquake in Chile.
 
I was in my shed (outdoor living space:-)) for most of the morning. I came out at lunch time and was headbutted by bees – silly me being in their flight path. I took a look under the roof and saw they had begun taking down the sugar patty which they haven’t touched all winter.
   
Crocus and snow drops are out up here. My girls have slightly grey white  and pale yellow pollen on their legs,  The girls are ramping up their activities and now is the time to be seriously hefting hives for weightloss.  The danger now is they starve to death in the midst of plenty. They may be flying and bringing in pollen but if we get another series of cold snaps they won’t break cluster to get to new frames of stores.
 
A couple of bees had landed on the roof and were starting to curl up with cold. Last Thursday at Blackhorse John was showing the newbies around and picked up a bee curling in the same way. He said by letting the rest on his hand they could warm up enough to be able to fly back into the hive. So I did and they did. Marvellous. Obviously I’m not going to spend all day being a bee warmer but so uplifting to help a few life forms live alittle longer.
 
I have made up four new hives for the coming artificial swarming proceedures and bait boxes and will be making up a few more brood boxes so I can give my girls new des res’s for the season.
 
I find that in November spring seemed so far away and now it is galloping towards us with barely anytime to breathe.

Which Year Reared Great Britain

This being the year of our lord 2009 the colour coding used in the hives is green.  Since the advent of Varroa this important part of the Integrated Pest Management system has become vital for the health of the colony. By using a colour coding system the bee keeper can know at a glance the age of the frames in the hive and the age of a queen. The caption I used for this photo is taken directly from Beekeeping Study Notes (Modules 1,2,3&4) by J.D & B.D. Yates – the preferred BBKA manual.

White for years ending 1 or 6, Yellow for years 2 or 7, Red for years 3 or 8, Green for years 4 or 9 and Blue for years 5 or 0.

Due to pesticides and other contaminates it is advisable to replace wax in frames regularly, although the wax discarded, rendered into blocks, are often sold to the large beekeeping suppliers to turn into new foundation. How much contamination remains in the new foundation sheets is any one’s guess!

Marking the Queen

Hive Inspection

On first opening a hive in early April the first thing I noticed was the warmth emanating from the hole in the head board. During the winter months the bees maintain a steady 60 degree F  – this is the reason for their need for so much in the way of winter stores. To maintain such a temperature while the outside chill can be as low – 10 (in the U.K. currently in my location) requires the girls to turn stored honey into heat energy. Later in the winter months in preparation for the spring they have to increase this temperature to 95 degrees F – astounding – in order to bring the queen into lay.

This is the time to be biting your finger nails that all your hard work began in August preparing the girls for winter pays off. Have I killed off enough of the Varroa, was their hive well insulated against condensation, did they have enough stores, did ………. Worse than giving birth I can tell you. I jump ahead of myself.

Cracking the head board and lifting out the frames - wonderful!

In this picture you can clearly see all the components required by the bees in a healthy hive  (except queen cells). Around the outer edges at the top are stores of capped honey. In the center and slightly to the right is a ring of capped worker brood cells surrounding a number of cells with larva, to the bottom right are a few capped drone brood cells. Between the capped honey and capped brood cells there are plenty of pollen cells interspersed with unripe uncapped honey cells. The bees going about their business are workers.

Take a good look at the pollen cells – are the colours a surprise?

Capped brood a la shortbread biscuit style

This frame encapsulates all that is desireable to a bee keeper. Beautiful compact brood cells capped with a lovely shortbread coloured seal of wax. Plenty of attendant house worker bees. Note the hi-tech gloves

All this brood is the product of the winter bee, those hardy little souls who have endured the winter, brought the queen into lay and then tended the larva, capped the brood and survived long enough to see the new generation take up their duties.

Time now for the Totally Terrific Tutors at Blackhorse. Second only to John Hamer,  Alastair Welch commands the respect of all newbies – yes, he’s the dashing chap on the right. Using charm and humour Alastair leads us into the intricate world of the honey bee with a deep understanding for not only the subject but the needs of the students too. Alastair runs a commercial apriary with his partner that totals more than 300 hives. This exposure provides him with a greater understanding of the bee and it’s husbandry than many of us will ever experience.

The gracious lady beside him was Sue Harris. I say was because this very sweet and lovely lady passed away quite recently and will be missed by all who knew her. Her love of bees and her ability to convey that love was demonstrated to me over the spring and into the summer. I regret her passing.