Apiary Diary: Encouraging Bees into the New Super

Diary Entry:

29 July, 4pm, 19.4C, a bit overcast, rain forecast but 2 hours later it's still dry.

Inspection:

Smoker fired up first time using egg-box pyramid technique.

Entrance smoked, lid popped and given a puff.

Lid lifted, bees calm and occupied. 

Set up of hive at time of inspection

Super 4 has been in for a couple of weeks but has seen no action at all. It is still just 10 frames of foundation.

Super 3 is approaching completion. F10 is empty and not yet drawn but F9 has construction on the inner side.

The photos below show F6 from super 3. It is a mix of capped and uncapped honey.

Frame 6, Super 3

Frame 6, Super 3 (detail)

Supers 4 & 3 are removed and placed carefully aside. Super 3 is heavy.

Super 2 is a deep and is extremely heavy with honey and bees. I decided to leave it in place as all indications imply that below it, all is well.

Action:

I'd quite like the bees to start drawing out comb on super 4. I'm not particularly impatient; I'm just a bit excited about wanting to see it happen.

There are several schools of thought about whether to and how to encourage bees into a new super.

I suspect that the best course of action is to let the bees decide to move up when they're good and ready, forcing them up by various methods may just mean that you get a pyramidal laying down of honey with the outer frames not being used.

However, because I've never tried this before, I thought I'd do it and see what happens.

So...

I took F4 & F7 from the well-under-way super 3 and placed them in their same positions in super 4.

The equivalent blank foundation frames  F4 & F7 from super 4 I placed into the now free spaces in super 3. It's sorta like checkerboarding.

So super 3 now has 2 new frames of untouched foundation at positions F4 & F7 and the previously untouched super 4 now has frames F4 & F7 fully drawn out and replete with honey.

Switching Frames between Supers

In this way the bees might start drawing out the blanks F4 & F7 in S3.

Similarly, with a viable F4 & F7 now in S4, this may encourage them to expand that work to the neighbouring blank frames in S4. 

That's the theory anyway. 

We'll see if it's worked when next we inspect.

The amended supers 3 & 4 and the lid are replaced and secured with the hive strap.

I've also re-inserted a varroa tray. I took it out to help with air circulation when it was really hot a few weeks ago, and as there weren't any issues in the hive, I've been a bit slack in getting re-inserted.

Varroa Tray Re-inserted

Wasp Observations: Harvesting Wood Pulp and Hive Incursions

It's a little early in the year to be talking about wasps.
However in the last few days I've had a couple of reminders that during the summer the wasp colonies are already with us and are growing steadily.


Introduction
In the spring hibernating queen wasps wake from their winter slumbers and set about building tiny wasp starter homes out of sculpted wood pulp with a few cells to lay their eggs in.
These do look quite cute but, actually, they are not cute at all.

Tiny wasp starter homes built in the spring by the queen wasp

Once this initial build has grown to a reasonable size she stops foraging and constructing and leaves those menial tasks to her workers so that she can concentrate on the egg laying.
To build the nests the wasps have to gather wood, pulp it down and stick it together into those familiar papery ball-shaped nests which hang menacingly from trees or appear in your attic seemingly from nowhere.


Wasp Observation #1
Last week, whilst holidaying in the Baltic (oh yes indeed!), we were presented with an excellent example of wasps harvesting wood pulp to use to build their nests.
I spotted three wooden benches on the seafront which had a lot of wasp activity around them even though there was no obvious prey, no sugary drinks and no ice creams anywhere nearby.
I decided to sit down and observe what the wasps were up to. Sure enough, they were landing on the benches, chewing off a thin layer from the surface of the wood and flying off with it.
The pattern of the chewing seemed to be always the same: a straight line about an inch long furrowed into the surface of the wood.

Wooden bench with evidence of wasps harvesting pulp for nest building

The nest grows as the colony grows until by the end of the summer it's a full blown papery nest full of critters and the stripy villains then start to become a problem for picnickers and beekeepers alike.
So, I guess, in about a month's time there's going to be a pretty big wasps' nest in the vicinity of Travemunde seafront.
Incidentally, a few years ago, I observed wasps harvesting pulp from a length of 12mm balsa in my garden and the crunching sound that they made was significantly loud. By the end of the summer they'd managed to bite right the way through it.


The wasps don't usually become a major problem for the hives until the end of the summer when their colony has reached maximum size, the honeydew-secreting larvae have all grown into adults and the flyers need an alternative sugar fix.
If your hives are in the vicinity of bins full of food waste, areas with lots of wood chip or orchards with rotting fruit the wasps will already be attracted to that area.
They will persistently search for weak points to gain access to the hive.
However, if your colonies are weak, you can have problems with wasp incursions much earlier in the season...


Wasp Observation #2
Today we were working on the hives in Apiary Central in the park opposite Spike Acres.
There are two colonies there at the moment: one is strong, the second is weak.
I observed the comings and goings at the entrances for a while and noticed that wasps were trying to gain entry to both hives.
They were constantly repelled from the strong hive but gained access several times to the weaker hive.

Wasp incursion into a weak colony: Apiary Central in the local park

On opening the second hive there was evidence of honey robbing.
It's a free feed for persistent wasps with the weaker colony unable to resist them.
There is a frame feeder in this hive which also is a major attraction for wasps.
We have just re-queened this hive and tomorrow we will be reducing the entrance to 3 holes to give the bees a greater chance of making a defence against further incursions, much like Horatius on the bridge across the Tiber...
We will also set some wasp traps.

It might be a long war of attrition against the wasps for this hive this summer.


If this leaves you thirsting for more wasp information, rest assured, the LandofBees blog will be revisiting the subject of wasps in the near future.

Up on the roof: Nighttime Visits to the BeesofSpike Apiary

I've been in the habit recently of popping down to the Apiary to check on what the bees are getting up to after dark.

There's usually a bit of a congregation on the landing board, especially when it's hot. 

And if you put your ear to the side of the hive there's a lovely deep resonant sound of 1000s of pairs of wings all abuzz.

The days are not quite as long as they were this time last month but it was still not particularly dark at just after 9pm when I ambled down to the hives to read the bees their bedtime story.

The apiary thermometer was showing 19.9C and it was drizzling with summer rain; it was, in fact, a lovely evening.

All was as expected: the familiar bee party on the landing board was in full swing and there was a sparse but steady stream of late flyers returning back home.

But in addition to that, there was Bella, the cat from next door, perched on top of hive 2, doing a passable impersonation of stout Cortez... silent upon a peak in Darien.

like stout Cortez...

She initially looked a bit surprised to see me but pretended, as cats do, that there was nothing out of the ordinary in being perched on top of a pile of boxes containing 40,000 bees and decided that she was quite happy to stay exactly where she was.

Unfortunately, the only camera I had on me was the one on my mobile phone and, as you can see, it struggles a bit in low light. So this lamentably poor photo is the best I could manage.

But at least, albeit incompetently, the moment is preserved on the internet, which, as we all know, is the only thing that counts nowadays.

On reflection though, perhaps Bella's crepuscular hive-sitting behaviour isn't that odd after all.

I considered why she might choose to be up there:

a)

It's nice and high; cats like that.

b) 

From the top of that hive (which is currently 2 deeps, 3 shallows, a base, a roof and a hive stand tall) she can see over the apiary's perimeter fence and monitor the activity in her very own 1st floor flat, right next door to Spike Towers.

This allows her to accurately gauge just how distressed her owners are getting when she ignores their attempts to call her in for the night. Cats love doing this.

c) 

Hive 2 is situated under a lime tree so that spot is nicely protected from the rain.

d) 

40,000 bees in a box will generate some heat; it might be warm up there on the lid, which is something else cats really like.
e)

If she's quiet and respectful on top of that box she won't be seen as a threat. At this time of night the bees are preoccupied with their standard bedtime routine and were probably totally unaware of their crepuscular visitor anyway. So on top of a friendly beebox would be a safe place for a cat to be, the threat of bees deterring any potential enemies.

However, if Bella wants to visit at a time of day when the bees are more active, I suspect that she may want to tread carefully. I know she's taken at least one sting on the mouth in the last couple of weeks.

Generally though at Spike Acres, the cats and bees seem to be cohabiting quite nicely.

It looks as if the cats are pretty respectful and the bees, unless seriously provoked, just get on with their beestuff.

The LandofSpike cats, Biscuit and Freddie, will both occasionally come into the apiary when I'm there but will sensibly keep out of the way of flightpaths and hive entrances.

Bizarrely, WVF (the previous LandofSpike cat) used to enjoy catching and eating bees, which sometimes made her froth at the mouth in rather an alarming fashion.

This frothing didn't deter her in the slightest and she continued to catch, chomp and froth quite regularly.

That concludes the cat anecdotes for the time being; it's 1am and time for bed.

I hope Next Door have managed to persuade Bella to come in by now...

Pupa Overboard

During yesterday's midday check of the Apiary I noticed a couple of bees on the ground just off to the side of Hive 2. They were struggling with something which looked unusually white.
On closer inspection it turned out to be a honeybee pupa.

The Mysterious Ejected Pupa

It was the only one that I could see and it just seemed a bit odd.
I was a bit perplexed.
The only way the pupa could have got there is by being physically dragged out of its cell by the workers and ejected off the edge of the landing board.
I'm not sure why though.

I had a quick trawl through the internet forums and the strongest suggestion seems to be that the colony is exhibiting 'hygienic qualities' which, apparently, is a good quality for them to exhibit.
It means that they are monitoring the brood for signs of things being not quite right, chewing open any dodgy cells and discarding the imperfect incumbents.
So the discarded pupa may imply that they've detected mites or it may imply that there's wax worm present in the hive.
However, on my regular checks there's been no sign of varroa whatsoever and there doesn't seem to be evidence of waxmoth either.
In fact, the colony seems exceedingly healthy and robust.

In addition, the pupa was quite big which implies that it was possibly a drone pupa. The ejection could be part of a general drone ejection due to a summer dearth of nectar flow. It's possible, but I must admit, I've not noticed much of a dearth recently, quite the opposite, in fact.

It's been 3 days since my last inspection so I suppose it could have been a pupa that I perhaps had inadvertently damaged. This is also a possibility but not, by any means, a certainty.

Consequently, I'm still not particularly sure what's going on.
It may be nothing serious but it'd be nice to know all the same.

It looks like it's time for some detective work down at the Apiary.

Privet Hedges in Bloom

This week the privet hedges which border the eastern frontier of Spike Acres have been in bloom. The hedges continue in front of Number 3, resume across the road at Number 5 and persevere intermittently along the road on both sides. There's a lot of it. And just about all of it is currently untrimmed leaving a feast of blossom for our bees.

A very short journey to the privet hedge at Number 5

The BeesofSpike flyers are doing a steadfast job on it at the moment.
It is certainly one of the shortest journeys of their foraging year and the lovely smell of privet is now emanating from a very busy Hive Number 2.

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.

New Lodgers at the BeesofSpike Apiary

After a bit of a hiatus, it looks like the LandofBees is back in business.

There are lodgers in the BeesofSpike Apiary.

Hive Number 2, which was still in place on its stand and hadn't been sealed, seems to have been deemed fit for purpose by a passing local swarm and colonised.


I've not got into the hive yet as I've only just found them, but at first glance it's looking pretty good. 
The guys look focussed and very busy. And there's a constant coming and going of foragers.
The guards are active and, judging from the debris which has been chucked off the front of the landing board, they've already had a fair old go at cleaning up their new home.
It smells right too.

The bees are back

I'll fire up the smoker and pop the top off their box tomorrow morning, give them the once over and draw up a tenancy agreement.
It looks like, despite my protestations that I'm too busy for bees this year, a local swarm has decided otherwise, and that I'm now a beekeeper again!

The LandofSpike has been very much a lesser place without its Bee-Loud Glade at the bottom of the garden so, once we know that the guys are healthy and strong, it'll be time for a little celebration.

A Bit of Beekeepery at Our School Garden Open Day

Saturday the 11th of May


It was Garden Open Day today at LandofSpike's kids' Primary School just along the road from Spike Towers.

This annual event showcases the work of the School Garden Team, a small and dedicated group of parents and staff who work with the children throughout the gardening year to help them understand how things grow and where our food comes from.

Presumably, it also helps the kids understand the very best ways to get totally covered in dirt.

The day was a bit windy and not particularly warm, but at least it wasn't raining. 
So, unperturbed and with a few heavy things on top of the light things to stop them from blowing away, it was time to open the gates to the public and let everyone have a look at what the gardeners had been up to.

As ever, there was plenty of brilliant stuff to see and do.
The day was subtly bee-themed, with a make-a-bee craft stall and a bee-themed colouring-in table. 
Kids could also plant some seeds, paint their own plant pot or decorate a pebble.

You could make one of these at the craft stall

Hungry visitors could sample a variety of tasty homemade breads, rosemary scones, apple cake and fantastic soups made from produce grown in the garden.
Intrepid visitors could take a tour round the site to view the results of all the great work carried out by the children and adult helpers.



In addition to all this excellence, LandofSpike had been enlisted to spread the beekeepery word and was delighted to set up shop under the apple blossom tree on the garden's northern borders, right next to the face painting stall.
.
His aim was to try and help demystify the arcane world of the beekeeper.
He couldn't really bring a big bag of bees along with him, so he brought a big bag of beekeeper kit along instead. 
And talked a lot.


In a hugely enjoyable couple of hours (for him at least) we discussed frames, foundation, Langstroth, beespace, brood boxes, supers, queen excluders, hive tools, smokers, colony collapse disorder, neonicotinoids, fondant, syrup and the value of autumn feeding.
That's the autumn feeding without which the beesofspike would not have survived the winter.
. 


A varroa tray with 4 days worth of debris provided a sample of mites to look at under a microscope. 

Horrible

And once identified, people could return to sift through the tray to find the little blighters in situ, along with plenty of wax flakes, some dropped pollen, a few wings, legs, a sting and, happily, no evidence of wax moth.

Varroa tray detectives could identify, wax flakes, pollen & mites

There was lots of wild comb on display and very quickly people found they could identify brood cells and larvae, capped brood, drone cells, pollen cells and uncapped and capped honey. There were even a few new workers emerging from their cells to marvel at.

A BeesofSpike worker emerging from its cell

Despite all this learning and worthiness, LandofSpike suspects that by far the most popular bee-related exhibit on his stall was the large chunk of honey-filled burr comb that he sliced off the side of a particularly heavy frame of capped honey.

Yes, we know the varroa are really interesting but when can we have a taste of this?

Garden Guru Anita whisked it away to the produce stall where it was very swiftly consumed, along with the delicious homemade breads, by an enthusiastic public. 

It's heartening to know that the bees that made that honey had, more than likely, visited this very garden and the gardens of most of those attending the Open Day, to collect nectar and pollen.
It was indeed the most local of local honey. 

And so with people still picking beeswax from between their teeth, a very successful Open Day came to a close.



It would seem that anything that can help make beekeeping more accessible is a step in the right direction.
What goes on underneath that veil, behind that screen of smoke and inside those enigmatic buzzing boxes shouldn't be seen as mysterious at all.
Hopefully today, and days like it, help to lift the veil just a tiny bit.


LandofSpike's only regrets were that he didn't get to demonstrate his smoker lighting technique, which was judged a Health & Safety hazard by Mrs LandofSpike, and that there wasn't time for Stevie to model her extremely cute beekeeper suit.

The First Inspection of Spring

Tuesday the 5th of March, Early Afternoon.

The Apiary thermometer was reading 16.5C. 
It was time to have a quick look around inside the hive.



Apiary Diary: Inspection

Smoker ignited at first attempt. Patent LandofSpike eggbox method (to be detailed in upcoming post) works a treat.
Entrance smoked, lid popped off, top feeder removed.
The top feeder had been left on for the winter but had seen no significant attention from the bees since the autumn.

Transparent inner cover removed and more gentle smoke used.
Bees retreated down into comb.
As usual, these Buckfasts are placid and calm.

Eke and slab of fondant removed.
Not much of the fondant had been consumed but it had been integrated into the top of the frames and attached to the top of the burr comb structure.

Fondant integrated into the burr comb structure

(The reason for the presence of burr comb of such epic proportions will be documented in a subsequent post. Link to follow...)

Super frames 1, 2, 3, 7 & the inside of 8 were seen to contain a good supply of capped honey. 

Frame removed showing capped honey                     Capped honey on frames & burr comb in situ

The burr comb, occupied the space vacated by missing super frames 4,5 & 6. 
It was, although not particularly Langstroth-friendly, stunningly beautiful. 
Its smooth architectural curves were delightful and there were deep, mysterious-looking bee-sized tunnels swooping into and out of its intricately twisted shape, allowing apian access to each and every cell.

Anarchic, not in the handbook, but intricately beautiful. And, seemingly, full of honey

Crucially though, it also looked as if it was completely full of capped honey.
And if it was full of capped honey, that meant it contained no new brood.
Which meant that it was less likely to be harbouring the Queen.

Which means that now it has served its purpose of helping sustain the colony through the winter, it can now be considered for imminent removal.

The presence of the burr comb meant it was impossible to remove the super to check the brood box for new brood.
However, super frames 1, 8, 9 & 10 were removed and honey stores were spied in the box below. Every sign indicates that all is well down there.


A second super was added just in case the bees felt the need to make some new comb.


Inspection over, the inner cover and the roof were replaced, and the restraining strap secured.


Finally, the varroa board, having been absent for the winter, was re-inserted.
Monitoring this for a short while will give an indication of hive activity and post-winter varroa levels.



Post inspection:

The eke has been cleaned and stored.

The top feeder has been cleaned and is due a lick of gloss paint on the inner reservoir surface to reseal some scuffed patches. 
The feeder should really have been removed from the hive much earlier. In winter, syrup is best replaced with a solid feed.

The remaining fondant has been re-sealed and stored in the freezer.



Conclusion & Projected Action:

Now that it looks likely that the burr comb is just one big honey store, it has been decided that it should be removed at the next inspection.
This is scheduled for Sunday 10 March.
If all goes well, it should restore, after a winter of freestyle comb, regular Hoffman frame order to the hive.

This will also be an opportunity to check on new activity and asses whether the top feeder (primed with 2:1 syrup) needs to be in place, as a precaution, until the weather stabilises.



The removal of the burr comb is also, of course, the equivalent of an early season honey harvest.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Spring at the BeesofSpike Apiary

Sunday the 3rd of March 

Today was the first truly spring-like day of the year. 

It was still too cold to open the hive, but the sudden change in the seasons meant that there was now plenty of action outside the box.


Apiary Diary: Observations

11.30am: Bright sun and feeling warmer than it had for ages. 
The Apiary thermometer was only reading 6.1C but there were already lots of flyers, a few returning with pollen.

Morning: still a bit chilly

12 noon:  A little warmer and significant numbers of bees now flying.

A larger proportion of bees were returning with pollen and there was constant activity.

The flight patterns seemed less focussed than summer foraging flights. 
Much of the activity around the front of the hive was less direct, more chaotic, very probably orientation flights.

Soon after this the activity died away to nothing, perhaps coinciding with it clouding over a bit.

2pm: The sun had emerged from behind the clouds and the temperature had risen to 10.7C. The bees were back flying again. 
The flights built up from a small start to large numbers of bees which caused a bit of a traffic jam and the odd ruck at the small winter entrance with lots of pushing and shoving to get in and out.

Winter entrance already looking a bit on the small side

This time there were significantly more bees returning with pollen.

There was also a variety of colours, implying that there are already a variety of sources out there somewhere.



Meanwhile, away from the Apiary, the back doors and windows of Spike Towers were open to let in as much fresh air as possible.
Judging from the shouts coming from inside, LandofSpike (who was at the far western borders of Spike Acres carrying out some maintenance on the Apiary structure) was soon aware that the fresh air was not all that was being let in.

There were quite a few bees inside too.

LandofSpike had to employ his trusty queen clip to gently capture, then liberate, all the bees trapped in the house.

Every home should have one

This quite unexpected incursion of bees into the house is interesting because the only other time it has happened was on the bees' very first day in the Apiary, when there was, for one day only, a constant stream of the fellers getting trapped in the conservatory.

LandofSpike presumes these were bees scouting the new territory for sources of nectar and pollen. 
Having returned to the hive with the news that there was none to be had in the house, no more bees bothered to come visit all season long.

So, bees in the house on the first proper forage day of spring, isn't such a surprise after all. 
It was simply scouts re-mapping the territory.

This first day scouting may also account for the increasing returns of pollen as this first day progressed.
In the morning areas rich in pollen had been discovered, and the locations had been relayed to the colony, so that, in the afternoon, foragers knew exactly where to go.

Next up, a bit of Apiary maintenance and then, the first inspection of the new season.

Winter Feeding for the BeesofSpike: Getting Fondant into the Hive

Tuesday 29th January.

After 3 weeks of wintry weather including sub-zero temperatures and a liberal helping of snow, the weather changed for the better and, for one day only, the temperature in the Apiary rose to a daytime high of 13.4C.

It was mild enough for the bees to be out stretching their wings and finding forage.

This was the window of opportunity.
Having failed to get fondant into the hive during the mild spell over Christmas and the New Year, this was the chance to make amends.

Adding fondant to your bees' stores of honey helps to decrease the likelihood of the colony starving to death during the long winter months.
It's not good to expose the inside of the hive to the cold so inserting the fondant would have to be done swiftly. The plan was to keep the roof off for the minimum amount of time possible.


It was also the time to see if the new homemade wooden eke would fit onto the polystyrene hive.
The fit had been tested on a spare hive but this was going to be its first use on a live box full of bees.

Dry fitting the unpainted eke on a spare brood box

An eke increases the available vertical space between the top of the frames and the base of the roof or top feeder. 

Without an eke in place there would be no room for the block of fondant.

It would also be the first chance to have a peek inside the hive since the last inspection of autumn. 

And the only chance to look inside before the arrival of the nice spring weather.

The operation went incredibly smoothly.

After smoking the entrance, LandofSpike and Neighbour Jane popped the top off the hive and gave them another small puff of smoke. 
The bees were, as usual, extremely placid and accommodating.

A quick inspection revealed that there was still plenty of capped honey left in the super and in the, ahem, large chunk of burr comb also nestling in the same super.

All seemed well.

The fondant packaging was slit open across the underside to expose the sugar and then placed on top of the uppermost frames so the bees could access it directly from below.

2.5kg of fondant in place, eke in place and, erm, prodigious amounts of burr comb in place.
However, you can see plenty of capped honey on frames 2 & 3 and on the burr comb.

Adding the homemade eke was extremely satisfying.

It was a snug and perfect fit.

Like a glove...

Perhaps the EPS hive makers could consider stocking EPS ekes for their beebox system as it is a pretty essential bit of kit and seems like a bit of an omission from their catalogue.

However, it's so relatively simple making your own that the lack of a store-bought eke is no great hardship.

So with the roof safely strapped back down, the BeesofSpike have their supplementary winter feed sitting nicely on top of their own stores. 

Their hive is now shut to humans until the spring.

Although the winter closedown is in place, LandofSpike will still be observing the little fellers on a daily basis, observing any activity and recording temperatures in the Apiary. 

He also needs to construct some new frames, paint some supers and brood boxes and build a new hive stand. 

And he really needs to get reading and bone up on what to do in the springtime.

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.