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.

A Long Overdue Update from the BeesofSpike Apiary

The BeesofSpike are back online.

LandofSpike would like to offer his sincere apologies for his absence from the blogosphere over the last few weeks and for the lack of news from the BeesofSpike. 

This isn't due to a lack of action in the Apiary nor is it due to any Bee-related disasters. In fact, the BeesofSpike are now in the best of health, the colony has expanded excellently and the bees are currently storing up plenty of provisions in readiness for the winter.

LandofSpike's work in the Apiary has continued unabated but he has unfortunately been unable to devote any time to the blog due mainly to the demands of the BeeKeeperJuniors' summer holidays and a sizeable workload in the pesky WorldofReality.

Fortunately he has taken meticulous BeeNotes and will, in time, be able to transcribe all the action to the Land of Bees blog. 

He has also, whenever possible, photographed the important elements of his inspections, his day-to-day observations and any other bee-related activity. 

It was good to see new comb appearing on the new frames

In addition, he and the ever present BKJ1, have recorded every inspection with the trusty CamcorderofSpike.

BKJ1, inspecting

So, with the excuses out of the way, LandofSpike can now reveal that, since our last post, the bees have been doing just fine.

There she is... the important looking one in the middle

Once the good weather kicked in on July 20th and once the mite situation was under control the colony started to thrive. 

The bees eventually moved into top gear for the end of the summer.

The new comb and stores of honey have been appearing at an ever increasing pace and the new Super has filled extremely quickly.

LandofSpike has decided to leave his Bees with the Super in place for the winter. The focus for this year is to get the colony through the winter and leaving them with a big box of full and heavy frames of capped honey seems to be an obvious choice.

Honey production up and running

They are currently harvesting the final pollen of the year.

Close to the Apiary, the grounds of Spike Towers are home to large swathes of ivy so the workers are stocking up while they can.

I counted them all out and I counted them all back

The BeesofSpike have developed a seasonal taste for syrup and they are consequently taking down industrial amounts of 2:1 sugar solution from the top feeder.

Their concerted effort at draining it dry started in the first week of September and they've been at it ever since.

BeesofSpike workers taking syrup from the feeder

LandofSpike has today returned from the local supermarket with his sixth 5 kilo pack of cane sugar of the Autumn. 
He has made up yet another batch of syrup and is just waiting for it to cool before refilling the feeder in the morning.
Details of their syrup consumption will be dealt with in a separate post and will also include the methodology for preparing the feed.

A familiar sight in the LandofSpike kitchens over the past month

The varroa count is down to about 1 per day, which means that the Apiguard has done its job perfectly. The All Clear has been sounded and the colony should be able to overwinter without fear of mite attack.

There is consequently now no sign of DWV (deformed wing virus) which, whilst the varroa had hold, had afflicted some BeesofSpike workers.

A week's worth of Varroa in mid September. All hail Apiguard

The Drones have all now been booted out. 
This took place around the end of August and the start of September.

Watching workers escorting drones to the edge of the landing board then encouraging them, nightclub bouncer style, to take off into the blue, was fascinating. 

You could almost see the workers dusting off their hands as they swaggered back to the hive, job done.

No way back for the Drones

LandofSpike's smoker technique has also improved.

From a shaky, hit and miss start, he has developed a sure fire, works-every-time method. There will shortly be a smoker-dedicated post revealing his methods to a waiting world.

Foolproof smoker lighting technique soon to be revealed!

Right, that's all for now.
It's been a rather sketchy, and not particularly cohesive, précis of the recent activity in the Apiary but hopefully it gets us up to speed on the current situation.

There is an awful lot more BeesofSpike info to upload in the near future so LandofSpike is going to try and sort it into bite-size chunks.

The next post will be along very shortly.