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 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...

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.

Season of Mists and Mellow Forgetfulness. Part 1: Ghastly Beasties

Last Autumn's Teachings now seem like they took place a geological age ago. So ahead of this Saturday's Actual Bee Encounter, LandofSpike has been retracing his steps back into the mists of time... well, as far back as last October at least.

LandofSpike has divided this account of Apiary Central's Autumn module into two separate Posts, theory and practical. 

Theory first, so stand by for LandofSpike's flimsy and lightweight rememberings of BeeGuru1's introduction to Parasites, Predators and their Treatments.

BeeGuru1 waded straight in with tales so grisly that if bees had ears to hear, and could understand the Queen's English, then their blood, or more precisely their haemolymph, would have frozen instantly in their little veins, if they had veins, rendering them stone cold dead from terror in the time it takes to say "Chalkbrood Mummies".

Poor old Mister Honey Bee, there are things that'll eat yer from the outside inwards and things that'll eat yer from the inside outwards. Dismemberment, Infestation and a Ghastly Death lurk round every dark, hexagonal corner.

The current most popular unpopular menace is the Varroa Destructor Mite, a nasty little spod which puts itself about a bit. The clue is in the name, the Destructor bit. It'll destroy your colony if you aren't on the ball with your beekeepery skills and potions.

The Varroa Destructor Mite is a nasty little spod

Among the other dangers, Wax Moth and Chalkbrood look pretty horrible, European Foul Brood isn't as bad as the American variety and Braula Coeca looks like it'll be under control if you get your Varroa treatment right. 

The ever-lovable Wasp will raid the hive for honey and will also dismember and drag off live bees to feed their own brood.

A dishonourable mention goes out to the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder, and Mice aren't above a bit of hive destruction when they fancy a free feed or a warm and dry larder in which to spend the winter.

Also beware the hungry Woodpecker who can make a devilish mess of a hive in short order.

The ever-lovable Wasp prepares to raid the hive of the unsuspecting Honey Bee

Not all threats to the bee are deadly though and thankfully BeeGuru1 also detailed the many and varied treatments which the beekeeper can use to keep his hive happy and healthy.

However, the treatment for the horror that is American Foul Brood is pretty brutal in itself... Dig a big pit, chuck in yer bees, hive and bee gear, pour on the petrol and lob in a lighted match. You can stop short of burying the remains at a deserted crossroads and driving a stake through it but you get the picture. AFB is pretty nasty. 

Well, that's it for an extremely sketchy précis of last Autumn's introduction to Bee Botherers.

LandofSpike will be covering individual Predators, Parasites and How to Treat Them in greater detail and in glorious technicolour later on in the year when he gets some hands-on experience, and a bit more knowledge, of the little blighters.

The unhappy Apis mellifera mellifera infested with Varroa Mite

Didn't even mention pesticides... or destruction of habitats either.

Plenty of time for that later though.

Part 2 of last Autumn's Teachings, which will be along shortly, will cover what LandofSpike can remember about preparing the Bees for their winter break.