Beekeepers diary 7

February 10th.

 I am always delighted when I see bees in the garden for the first time each year. There are a few gathering pollen from the crocuses and snowdrops in our garden today. I have long known that they use snowdrops, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it, probably because it is exceptionally mild for the time of year. These very early flowers seem to be species that produce pollen rather than nectar. This is a good arrangement for bees because pollen stimulates the queen to come back into lay.

 I was astonished to read that during the foraging season a colony of bees will visit one and a quarter million flowers in search of pollen, bringing 20 to 30 kilograms of it back to base.  I have always known that pollen is the primary food source for the larvae, but I had no idea they used so much of it. You never see vast amounts of pollen in the hives.

February 26th.

Today Nick and I decided to install new pallets for the hives to stand on. By the time we arrived at the apiary there were good numbers of bees flying, so there was no question of shutting them in for the operation. I secured the hives with straps, so we could lift them without danger of them coming apart. I say ‘we’ but Nick lifted them on his own. The job was soon done and although the bees were a bit disorientated they sorted themselves out very quickly.  They all look well, with plenty of activity around the hives and lovely full pollen baskets on their legs.  I did receive an offer of help from two readers to lay new pallets. It was very brave, thank you.

March 7th.

Today was perfect, sunny all day and beautifully warm in sheltered places. It enabled me to open the hives very briefly and drip the varroa mite treatment into them. The drops are oils which provoke the bees to groom themselves and clean the mites off. I have chosen this method rather that nicotine or chemical mite killers as it is organic and probably more bee friendly. Some very knowledgeable beekeepers think it is not efficient enough, but as long as our bees seem to be healthy I shall continue with it. The preparations that actually kill the mites are losing their effectiveness. The mites have already developed a resistance to the chemicals just like head lice did to the early lotions.  

The hive, which I started up from a very small nucleus, still needs to make up numbers this season, but I didn’t see anything to worry about. I was very happy with the bee numbers in the other two hives and the amount of stores they all have. Unless we get a freakily cold or wet spring, they should have enough honey stores to last till the nectar flow begins.

14TH March

The variety of flowers in the gardens is increasing almost daily so there are a greater variety of pollens coming in. The weather has become much more wintery again so this will slow things down, but I am very pleased with what I have seen. Things can take care of themselves now apart from the need repeat the varroa drops soon.  

I have noticed that the last batch of honey we extracted has now set in the jars and become fairly dark in colour. Clover would cause it to set in time. It still tastes gorgeous especially melted into hot toast and butter.

Val Hicken