Bee Lore

I was rung by the local police yesterday to say that a seven foot long swarm had settled in someone’s apple tree – and could I collect it!  I was out at the time – and asked that the woman who had rung me get in touch.

In the end I had to ring the police back to get the details and decided to go and catch the swarm with onlly an hour of daylight left.

When I arrived, the swarm was normal size – but 15 ft up in the tree – and the owner only had a 9 foot ladder.  So I had to ask for a soft brush and swept the swarm onto a sheet on the ground.

It was so dark by the time I left, I am not sure whether or not I got the queen.  Anyway, it just shows how information can be mis-translated!  Anyone who has actually seen a seven foot long swarm please let me know!

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What a week! We have caught three swarms in four days and yesterday I turned 50! I even caught one of the swarms on my 50th birthday and got home tonight to find that a close neighbor had a friend with another one! It must have been the warm April that has made the bees proper. Here is one that was caught in a hedge next to the local Cricket pitch!  Funny how improvising you can be when swarm catching!

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Last Friday I was visited by the local Government Bee Inspector.  I had met him the previous weekend at a local beekeeping gathering where we saw him covering bees in icing sugar to reduce varroa.  After the demonstration he said he wanted to visit me and we arranged a time.

I was not really sure what to expect, so having given him a cup of tea we drove to the apiary.

He was amuzed by my names for the hives.  Apparently most beekeepers call their hives simple things like one, two, three etc.  He thought it would give a few people a laugh “back at the office”.  His boss had heard of this site when he was browsing the internet at Christmas.

We worked through the hives systematically.  He inspected each one for small hive beetle because we are near some fruit distribution plant.  He got very excited at one stage and said he saw lots fall out of one of the supers – but as it turned out he was pulling my leg (to use an old expression my father used to use).

Of the five hives remaining, two have swarmed – with Faith having thrown at least one or two extra casts.  I am still learning about effective swarm control – but this was not a beekeeping lesson.  He said he had a method, but could not explain it whilst inspecting the hives.  It seems as though many old beekeepers have good methods of swarm control – but that it is very difficult to both extract the information from them, learn it and then reproduce the method.  Particularly as there are so many methods and each beekeeper has his or her own way of doing things.  “Nowt so strange as beekeepers”, I said.  The Government Bee Inspector thought a bit and agreed with me.

Varroa conrol on Joy and Harmony was the main issue – and he left me with some useful material on this never-ending puzzle on how to keep the varroa down.

So it is effective control of varroa and swarming that are the two big challenges I would like to master next.  Any different approaches welcome.

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I looked at my six hives a few weeks ago, relieved that they had all made it through the winter.  However, Patience was not laying.

When I looked again a few days ago, Patience had vanished!

This colony collapse thing is hard to understand.

Still, we have five remaining – three of which should produce honey, providing we get through the swarm season without losing a swarm from each.

All the joys of beekeeping!

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