Monday 23 July 2012

Get Thee Behind Me, Jet Stream


Somewhere the sun is shining, 
So, honey, don't you cry,
We'll find a silver lining,
The clouds will soon roll by. 

So sang Elsie Carlisle, vocalist for the rather excellent Ambrose and his Orchestra in 1935.

And now, seventy seven years later, the clouds are indeed about to roll by. 
And the place where the sun is about to shine is right above the BeesofSpike Apiary.


Yes indeed, the English summer is, eventually, almost here.
This is due to the Jet Stream finally shuffling back up into its customary, more northerly, position after having lingered too far south for far too long.

And happily, it's taking its appalling weather with it.
No more of this for a while

It has rained every day at the BeesofSpike Apiary since the bees arrived.
The Apiary's newly laid grass has more or less disappeared, and the yet-to-be-named Hive Number One stands glumly in a depressing sea of mud.

But all is about to change.



Today, Friday 20 July, apart from being Mrs LandofSpike's birthday (Many happy returns, of course) marks the end of the interminable Jet Stream-induced rainy season.

And about time too

Tomorrow, it will be sunny all day. 
And the forecast is set fair for as far into the future as LandofSpike's weather-predicting seaweeds can tell.
The BeesofSpike will like this.
It's at last a chance to get a concerted spell of foraging under their belts before they have to hunker down for their first winter at the Apiary.

A BeesofSpike forager finally out and about, collecting pollen from the privet hedge two gardens down



Friday 13 July 2012

The Empire Strikes Back... Apiguard vs Varroa



The previous episode of BeesofSpike ended with a pretty sorry colony of bees blighted by a rather nasty infestation of the varroa destructor parasite.

A new BeesofSpike worker afflicted with varroa

Varroa can very quickly destroy a colony so LandofSpike needed to start medicating his bees straight away.
The batch of Apiguard that he had ordered online was not due to arrive till the next week, which would be too late.
However, one emergency trip to the not-so-local Bee Supplies Shop across town later, and this was no longer a problem. 

So before he set to work dosing the hive with his newly purchased bee medicine, there was just time to find out about Apiguard.
What is it and what does it do?

Varroa Destructor does not like this

Apiguard is a shallow tray of thymol in a slow-release gel which is placed in the hive.
It's the thymol which is the active ingredient. 
It kills the varroa mites.
A treatment period runs for 6 weeks and uses 2 trays of the stuff.
The first tray is left in for 2 weeks. 
It is then replaced with a second tray which is left in for a further 2-4 weeks.

The bees themselves distribute the thymol around the hive. They see it as something which should be removed and whilst the house cleaning workers are busying themselves cleaning it away their activities distribute it to every part of the hive, and therefore to every varroa mite.

The distribution happens more efficiently in warmer temperatures as the thymol sublimes more quickly and is easier for the workers to detect.
The varroa particularly dislike the thymol vapour.

Housekeeper bee cleaning away thymol. Vapour can be seen disabling varroa

Varroa, at the moment, has no resistance to thymol.
Some strains of varroa have already developed resistance to some pyrethroid varroa treatments but the non-specific effects of thymol on the varroa mean that it's likely to continue to be an effective deterrent for the foreseeable.

Currently, Thymol is LandofSpike's favourite chemical


Before the treatment, LandofSpike removed, cleaned, oiled and replaced the varroa board.
the varroa count was 67 individual mites across the whole board which amounts to 33.5 per day over the two day period.
This is way too many.

Waaaaay too many varroa


Inserting the Apiguard was pretty simple.
LandofSpike and BKJ1 suited up, fired up the smoker (not particularly brilliantly this time, must work on our technique) and smoked the entrance.
The roof and top feeder were removed and the brood box smoked.

BKJ1 tests his smoker

There was time for a quick inspection to reveal that, although still small and beleaguered by rain and varroa, the colony was making new honey and pollen stores. Also, the queen, although not spotted this time, was laying new brood.




The Apiguard pack was opened so that all but one corner of the foil was removed and the lid was folded back. The open tray was then laid on top of frames 4, 5 & 6, above the most active part of colony.

Opened Apiguard tray laid on top of broodbox frames


A super was placed on top of the brood box with the corresponding super frames removed to make space for the Apiguard tray.


The queen excluder was left out out for the time being.
The reasons for this were:
a) to give the bees clear access to the Apiguard tray, the QE may have acted as a barrier.
b) to give the bees unchecked access to the top feeder if they needed to use it.
c) it was decided that there would be little risk of the queen starting to lay in the super frames as there was as yet no comb on them, just foundation.


The entrance reducer was fitted partly to stop too much of the thymol vapour escaping that way and also simply because our small colony didn't really need that big a front door in this grim weather.

I'm sure this door used to be bigger...

The base of the hive should really be shut during treatment to trap the thymol vapour inside but that isn't an easy option with the EPS hive so, with the varroa mesh screwed in place, the varroa board approximates a partial seal.

With the thymol installed, the roof and top feeder were replaced on top of the new super and the hive secured with its strap.
Mission accomplished.






As a little schoolroom addendum to our in-the-field account, here's a little extra theory.

Instead of using a super to make space for the Apiguard, LandofSpike could have used an eke.
An eke is simply a shallow, and hollow, 4 sided box, the same dimensions as the hive, which fits above the brood box and acts as a spacer so that the tray of Apiguard can sit on top of the frames in the newly formed space between the frame tops and the queen excluder or the super.
Without an eke to make the space, well, there's just no space.

An eke is so-called because with it you can 'eke out' extra space

LandofSpike now knows that one of the drawbacks of the EPS beebox is that it doesn't have a designed-in option of fitting ekes into its system.
Which is a bit pants.
However, this becomes an opportunity for LandofSpike to put his legendary carpentry skills into practise and supplement his EPS hive with a custom built, homemade wooden eke.
It'll be ready for winter when we'll again need that space above the brood box to house a big lump (that's a technical term) of fondant.





So with everyone now up to speed on ekes, even though we haven't got one yet, and a big blob of thymol sublimating nicely on top of the frames we can rest assured that the housekeeper bees are just starting to distribute the stuff around the hive. 
Best of all the varroa are just starting to get a nice big dose.


You can run but you can't hide, my pretties...








Sunday 8 July 2012

The Honeymoon's Over


LandofSpike's first seven days of beekeepery have not been the best of times for his lovely new Buckfast bees.

This post was meant to recount the transfer of his colony from the travel nuc to the main BeesofSpike hive.
The transfer was totally successful but unforeseen events mean that the report must wait a bit longer.

I find myself instead documenting a week of problems for the BeesofSpike. 




Problem Number 1: Appalling Weather for Bees


The weather has been atrocious over the last week.
Yesterday was the worst of the lot, it chucked it down all day. 
Just like today. 
It's still raining now, as I type.
In fact, it has tipped it down every day for the whole week. 
It was even raining when the BBC Weather Report was claiming that it was sunny.
And the forecast for next week looks just as bad.



And all the while that it's raining my workers are unable to forage.
This is bad news for a small colony of bees that are already into July and have got limited time to get themselves strong enough to survive the winter.
The bees need every bit of good weather they can get.
Although even in the rain we can see them trying their best.







In the meantime I've been leaving the varroa board in place.
The varroa board is the sliding removable tray at the very bottom of the hive that catches everything that would otherwise fall to the ground.
In this way I can monitor what's going on inside the hive by analysing what drops out of the hive.

And after a particularly heavy rainstorm i found... 




Problem Number 2: Rain Incursion


There was water on the varroa board.
That shouldn't be there.

Drat
Surely the hive wasn't leaking from above. 
It wasn't.
Therefore it could only be one of two things.
Or both of them.
a) the hive entrance is quite open at the front and it's possible rain could get in that way.
b) the tray protrudes from the back of the hive by approximately 3cm so rain can fall directly onto the rear of it.

So, to protect the back, I put a length of 2x1 across the width of the hive stand, just above the tray, to act as a little roof.
For the front, I put a couple of tiles under the back feet of the stand to tilt the hive forwards a bit. 
I now realise that setting it up meticulously spirit-level horizontal was a bit of a mistake.
Hopefully the slope will encourage sitting water to not drain into the hive.

On further advice from Beeguru1 I'm going to tilt it forward a bit more tomorrow. 
As much as 15* is fine so the bees will have to get used to being on a bit of a slope, although hopefully a slope is better than a puddle.



On further inspection of their varroa board, i noticed that along with some encouraging pollen and wax debris, a couple of legs, two wings, an antenna and other assorted detritus, that there seemed to be more varroa activity than i was expecting.





Problem Number 3: Varroa Mites


When varroa mites drop to the bottom of the hive they fall through the cunning wire mesh screen and get trapped on the oily surface of the varroa board.

Not nice
Yesterday, across the whole board, I counted approximately 15 mites.
I cleaned and reinserted the board and today, 24 hrs later, there were about 17 new ones.

And magnified, using the LandofSpike makeshift optical device. Really not nice


In addition, this morning, I found a bee on the landing board, struggling to walk and staggering in circles.
It had stunted wings and a varroa mite onboard its back. 

A BeesofSpike worker, fatally damaged, varroa mite on wing

Two ominous mite counts and that poor sad bee infested with that grisly little beast pointed to only one conclusion.
I consulted Beeguru1 and he confirmed that it looked like the colony had a varroa infestation and that we needed to get it treated double-quick.

It's therefore time to get some Apiguard into the hive.
I've got some on order but I need it now. That means a trip across town to the local(ish) Bee Supplies Shop on Monday morning so the fightback against varroa can start as soon as possible.



And so the honeymoon period's over rather sooner than I expected.
My poor bees most certainly arrived at the BeesofSpike Apiary with varroa already on board.
But hopefully, this is where their luck starts to change.
Seeing just that one horribly damaged and distressed bee really underlined for me the consequences of getting it wrong. I've now got a chance to put it right.


Every crisis can become an opportunity, a crisitunity, as Homer Simpson once said.
The more things that go wrong, the more I learn and the better and more capable a beekeeper I become.
Which would imply that after a first week of appalling weather, water incursion and a varroa infestation, if it continues at this rate, I'll soon be the most experienced and battle-hardened beekeeper in the country.











Tuesday 3 July 2012

New Arrivals at Spike Towers

Saturday 30 June, 7:33 a.m.

The doorbell at Spike Towers rings loud and long.

BKJ2, having been up and about for quite a while, and being much faster than her old Dad, gets to the door first and throws it open.
On the step is The Royal Mail Special Delivery Guy clutching a reasonably sized and well sealed parcel. 
The parcel has dark, meshed-over holes on three sides and a large (and grammatically ambiguous) "FRAGILE BEES KEEP COOL" label covering its fourth side.

BKJ2 turns and launches herself into a Paul Revere-style charge through the house, announcing joyously, and at high volume that, "The Bees Have Arrived!" 
It's an alarm call that propels an instantly awake BKJ1 to the front door faster than the proverbial speeding bullet. 

The Postman, fair play to him, seems totally unfazed by the whole experience. 
He gets BKJ2 to make her mark on his electronic signing device and he listens politely as she excitedly tells him just what's in the box.
LandofSpike suspects that he may well already know.
Job done, Mr Postman breezes off.


So with the front door now firmly closed, LandofSpike, BKJ1 and BKJ2 are left standing in the entrance hall of Spike Towers looking at, and listening to, their New Box.
It's buzzing.
Or, to be more precise, whatever's inside the box is buzzing, and it's doing it rather loudly.

Buzzing

The box, as BKJ2 has already told us, contains the prospective new residents of the BeesofSpike Apiary.
A Five Frame Nucleus of Buckfast Honeybees.
It is, of course, these little fellers that are making all the noise.
They've had a long overnight journey from the Welsh Borders so they're entitled to be a little grumpy.

But their journey is almost over.


Mrs LandofSpike now appears and firmly but calmly, informs LandofSpike that it would be best if he, and his box, were to relocate themselves into the garden at the earliest possible opportunity, preferably a long way from the house.

Calming down... nowhere near the house

Again, fair play, because the loud buzzing noise does seem like a rather angry loud buzzing noise.
So off to the newly christened BeesofSpike Apiary they go.
LandofSpike lashes the box to the hive stand with his Hive Securing Strap, just in case it decides to topple off sideways.
Best to be on the safe side...


Nicely strapped down

That done, LandofSpike left the bees to settle in their traveling box for a few hours, and having missed breakfast in all the excitement, took the opportunity to grab himself a cup of tea and a large, nutritious snack. 

LandofSpike was now alone with his bees.
He read his instructions so he could plan what to do next.
Then he read them again. 
And then he read them again.

Several further rereads later, he suited up and decided it was about time he opened the box.
He had no idea what to expect but his task eventually proved to be extremely simple.
Y'see, LandofSpike might have been a tad apprehensive, but those bees, well, they knew what to do.

The door's under that label

The Nuc was still strapped to the hive stand, with its currently sealed and hidden entrance positioned as close as possible to where the entrance of the hive proper would be situated.
On the front of the Nuc, the big sticker which said "open using flap below" told LandofSpike where the door was concealed. It was possible to feel the edges under the exterior packaging.
The packaging was removed and the small entrance was revealed.

There it is

LandofSpike looked at the door for a long time and then, with the point of a craft knife, he gently and carefully flicked it open...


And the bees came out.


LandofSpike stood and watched.


And out they come

Still coming out

They seemed pleased that their confinement was over and set about immediately checking out the area, flying around the Apiary and crawling all over their box.
They were busy but not angry in the slightest.
However closely they were watched by the bloke in the white spacesuit, however many close up photos of them he took, they totally ignored him, so keen were they to get on with their Beestuff.

Are we still in Wales?

After a short while LandofSpike noticed that something special was happening.
A group of bees were standing by the door, their heads down, their abdomens pointing upwards and they were beating their wings.
They were fanning the Queen's pheromones from the hive into the air to announce to the colony that this was now their new home.

Later on that day bees started returning with pollen on their legs and it was obvious that they were now also already happily foraging.




With a seemingly happy flight of bees now bedding in, LandofSpike decided to leave them to settle overnight. 
Tomorrow, it would be time to transfer them, on their 5 frames, into their new permanent home.

Their momentous move will be documented in the next exciting instalment of the BeesofSpike, coming soon to this very blog.