34.9*C in the shade

It was the hottest day of the year yesterday.
By quite a distance.
On my first visit to the apiary at 9am the temperature had already climbed to 26.5*C and the beelines had been supporting heavy traffic for hours.
The privet that they were returning with has been out for a few days now and the hive is starting to smell of it.
There's an inspection due for tomorrow so we can see whether they've started stashing it in that top box yet.

As the morning wore on it very quickly became Abroad Hot.
So after a quick look at the varroa tray, which looked very healthy (zero varroa and zero evidence of wax moth), I decided to leave the tray out for a while to help the flow of air in the hive.
Also, I realised that I still had a half entrance reducer in place covering the RHS of their entrance.
Quickly I suited up, removed the tape holding the reducer in place, prised it out of the grooves and away from the hive.
It looked like there must have been a pretty sizeable proportion of bees leaning against it because a big bloom of the little fellers hoofed out through the now empty space and got interested in me for a while before quickly realising that, actually, having a bigger front doorway was, in this heat, a vast improvement and got straight back to business.

Apart from the heat, for the colony it was pretty much business as usual all day.
At 8pm it was still 32*C and there were still flyers returning. There was also quite a gathering out on the landing board; it was a bit like a bee beach party.

8pm, still 32*C, out on the deck

By 10.30pm the temperature had dropped only to 28.8*C and it was dark. The foragers had stopped flying but the hive was still active. A large group of bees were still out on the landing board and the noise of 1000s of tiny wings beating inside the hive to try and bring the temperature down was significantly loud.

All Night Party

Hopefully it won't be quite so hot tomorrow and perhaps they'll find the newly filled water source at the back of Spike Acres soon. If they do, that should help them keep the temperature down.

The BeesofSpike Apiary is Snowbound

The winter freeze has finally arrived at the BeesofSpike Apiary.

After an extremely mild holiday period, which saw workers foraging on winter blossoms, the weather has taken on a more seasonal feel.

Initially, on the 17th of January, as the temperature dropped, there was the traditional 'light dusting' of snow.

The next day the light dusting became a slightly heavier dusting. 
There was more snow overnight and more the next morning. 
It was now just deep enough for LandofSpike to take the kids sledging. Just deep enough for him to mangle himself on the slopes and end up in A&E.

Then, on the 21st of January, as the snow kept falling and the temperatures continued to drop, it became, at least by London standards, proper snow.

Spike Acres looking a bit wintry. The hive is just visible through the screen

LandofSpike knew that, despite the freezing temperatures, his bees would more than likely be quite cosy, all clustered together, safe indoors.

But as the snow got deeper, he realised that a 7-10 cm covering of snow sitting on the bees' landing board would block the tiny winter entrance to the hive and they'd all be trapped inside.

Even a 2 cm covering of snow would have covered the entrance. It was obviously time for a bit of beekeeper intervention.

The Apiary. The Landing Board is covered in snow

However when LandofSpike got to the Apiary, intent on clearing their front path, he realised that his snow-shoveling skills were not needed.

The landing board, like everything else, was indeed covered in a thick layer of snow but the area around the entrance was completely snow-free and open for business.
This wasn't the work of the bees clearing the snow away with tiny shovels but was a result of the warmth of the hive radiating from the doorway and melting the snow in the immediate area.

The warmth from the hive keeps the entrance clear

As a first year beekeeper LandofSpike was initially amazed by this but, of course, he realised that it's actually just very logical primary level physics.

That aside, it is however a brilliant example of the natural world coming up with a simple and elegant solution to a possibly disastrous problem.

Again the beekeeper needs to do nothing apart from observe and learn. Honeybees have, of course, been dealing with snow just a tiny bit longer than LandofSpike has been dealing with being a beekeeper.

As the snowy days continued LandofSpike noticed that the numbers of dead bees in the space immediately outside the entrance gradually increased.

It wasn't enormous numbers but there was a definite build up of bodies.

Initially he thought that it might be fearless or foolhardy flyers unable to deal with the freezing conditions but it seems more likely that this was the work of mortuary bees clearing out dead bodies but being unable to get them any further than the front step because of the weather.

Just bung 'em on the front step guys, we'll get rid of 'em once it warms up

There are always casualties though.

Venturing out in these temperatures is a guarantee of more or less certain doom.

It's just too cold for a honeybee to function.

LandofSpike found this apian equivalent of Captain Oates lying perfectly frozen in the grounds of Spike Acres, alone in a pristine field of snow. It was only a metre from the hive.

"I am just going outside and may be some time."

Apart from these few winter observations there has been no sign of the bees.

Sensibly, they have been staying inside keeping toasty.

But the snow won't last forever.

And on the very next warm, dry day LandofSpike's next beekeepery task will be to get some fondant into the hive to supplement the bees' winter stores.

It's also an opportunity to take a quick look inside the box while the lid's off.

We'll also find out if that newly fashioned custom eke is any good.

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...