October 14th. The hives are full of stores and the weather remains beautiful. I popped round to remove an empty box and tidy things up a bit, when I discovered a sizable cluster of bees hanging in a clump under their hive. It is so lovely and warm that all three colonies were flying, so I left them to their own devices hoping they would put themselves away in the evening. I checked on them as the evening chill set in and was puzzled to find the cluster was still hanging around outside. A few puffs of smoke dispersed them, so I imagined they would crawl back indoors.
October 15th. They are there again so Nick smoked them away and blocked off the underneath of the hive with a board. However they found a way round it and several handfuls of bees were still there. This is very curious and I haven’t a clue what’s going on, so I did a Google search which wasn’t really helpful.
October 17th. The weather is still gorgeous, so I opened up that hive. I couldn’t understand what I found. There is a whole comb of unhatched drone brood and no new worker brood. Has the queen become a drone layer, which can happen when they run out of fertile eggs? I didn’t see the queen. Has she gone under the hive for some reason and some workers gone with her? There wasn’t any space for her to lay eggs, so I put an empty frame into the middle of the brood area for her to use. I scooped up the bees from under the hive in a mug and threw them back into the top of the hive, checking that there wasn’t a queen left clinging to the underside of the floor.
Then I emailed the Stroud beekeepers, hoping for enlightenment. The reply was curt and suggested bad beekeeping on my behalf, but I’m pleased to say that the next day I received an apology. The
October 15th. They are there again so Nick smoked them away and blocked off the underneath of the hive with a board. However they found a way round it and several handfuls of bees were still there. This is very curious and I haven’t a clue what’s going on, so I did a Google search which wasn’t really helpful.
October 17th. The weather is still gorgeous, so I opened up that hive. I couldn’t understand what I found. There is a whole comb of unhatched drone brood and no new worker brood. Has the queen become a drone layer, which can happen when they run out of fertile eggs? I didn’t see the queen. Has she gone under the hive for some reason and some workers gone with her? There wasn’t any space for her to lay eggs, so I put an empty frame into the middle of the brood area for her to use. I scooped up the bees from under the hive in a mug and threw them back into the top of the hive, checking that there wasn’t a queen left clinging to the underside of the floor.
Then I emailed the Stroud beekeepers, hoping for enlightenment. The reply was curt and suggested bad beekeeping on my behalf, but I’m pleased to say that the next day I received an apology. The
apiary manager had looked into one of his hives and found a similar situation there. We concluded it must be something to do with the freakily hot autumn weather, coupled with the amazing honey flow from the ivy and late garden flowers. Perhaps the bees have been seduced into thinking it is spring and are making drones in preparation to swarm again.
After I scooped up all the bees and returned them to the hive, the temperature dropped considerably for the night and bees haven’t overflowed under the hive again. I don’t know what has happened to all those drones that were developing. I gave one more varroa treatment to each colony, as drone brood creates a good environment for the mites to breed in. Now the bees are all shut up again and will just have to take their chances through the winter.
If you are thinking of planting a bee garden for next year, here are a few suggestions for common garden plants which are popular with bees:
cotoneaster, buddlea, mahonia , pussy willow, lavender, rosemary , sage, hebes, cosmos daisies, michaelmas daisies, sedum (ice plant), snowdrops, catmint, campanula, cranesbill geranium, dandelions.
If you are a keen gardener you can go to Google where you will find an excellent list of plants listed by season. You need to type in ‘gardening for bees uk’. Then go to the British Bee Keepers Association article where you will find several pages of plants amongst which are some exciting suggestions.
Val Hicken
After I scooped up all the bees and returned them to the hive, the temperature dropped considerably for the night and bees haven’t overflowed under the hive again. I don’t know what has happened to all those drones that were developing. I gave one more varroa treatment to each colony, as drone brood creates a good environment for the mites to breed in. Now the bees are all shut up again and will just have to take their chances through the winter.
If you are thinking of planting a bee garden for next year, here are a few suggestions for common garden plants which are popular with bees:
cotoneaster, buddlea, mahonia , pussy willow, lavender, rosemary , sage, hebes, cosmos daisies, michaelmas daisies, sedum (ice plant), snowdrops, catmint, campanula, cranesbill geranium, dandelions.
If you are a keen gardener you can go to Google where you will find an excellent list of plants listed by season. You need to type in ‘gardening for bees uk’. Then go to the British Bee Keepers Association article where you will find several pages of plants amongst which are some exciting suggestions.
Val Hicken