The 2017 Honey Lots
This weekend we had the local beekeepers' branch Annual General Meeting so it's time to report on that and to note what is flowering in the garden now for comparison with previous years.
Regular readers will know that the main reason for belonging to the local beekeepers' branch is the outstanding quality of refreshments at any gathering of members. This year's AGM and dinner were no different, literally. The menu was exactly the same as last year but nobody complained. It's an inspired idea to hold the dinner immediately after the AGM to maximise the number of members who attend the AGM. The branch is doing well and no new catering equipment had to be purchased.
Prizes were awarded for winning entries in the local honey show back in August. No cup for me this year. My entries were limited to a jar of clear honey and a jar of set honey because we had to deliver our entries a week in advance due to travel plans. Lot number 6, the first honey extracted in 2017 won 2nd prize in the set honey class. Lot number 7 was unplaced in the clear honey class. In terms of taste this year, Lot number 8 is my favourite. It's just beginning to crystallise; the texture is creamy and the flavour is full and rounded but we didn't extract lots 8 and 9 until after the show. It's the first year we've had such dark honey. We don't know where the bees were foraging. They won't say, however, we have sent a sample off to the National Botanic Gardens in Wales and they have promised us an insight in due course based on their DNA Barcoding.
I am the only person who had a Thermpro TP60 Digital Wireless remote Thermo-hugrometer for Christmas.
As always, the dinner is an opportunity to pick the brains of experienced beekeepers and to compare notes. Honey yields were average; experience with wasps varied. I am the only person who had a Thermpro TP60 Digital Wireless remote Thermo-hygrometer for Christmas. With this I can monitor the temperature and humidity of the two hives in the garden apiary from inside the house. I have placed the sensors on the crown board above the brood chamber so they are inside the outer casing of the hive.
Initially, I thought the sensors were just reading the ambient temperature. The sensors show a temperature approximately 2 deg Celsius above the ambient temperature and one hive is consistently about 0.2 deg celsius warmer than the other. However, in the last week we've had some warmer temperatures and then there is sometimes a greater differential between the hive sensor readings and the ambient temperature. The temperatures in the hive also seem to stay warmer for a while after the ambient temperature starts to drop down in the evening. The reading will be affected by heat generated by bee activity but also by the location of the cluster within the hive but nobody can tell me what temperature I should expect to see - as for humidity.....!
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| G Bees Varroa tray after 1 week January 2017 |
Originally, I hoped to be able to tell whether the colonies are alive by using the sensors. I know they are alive anyway because I can see chewed wax cappings on the varroa trays where they are using their stores. Now I think I may be able to observe when the Queens start laying more and activity levels increase towards the end of next month and in to March without opening the hives.
This picture shows the G Bees Varroa tray. The pale debris is wax cappings from honey stores; the darker debris is wax from the brood chamber. A week earlier, the pale wax debris was at the right front of the hive. Now it's very central so they are moving around. The bees do have fondant too just in case they run our of their own stores.
Flowers on bloom
This Winter we've had a few days of snow and some milder weather. It's been quite wet and very windy. The following flowers were on bloom this weekend: aconites (well there were buds), the first snowdrops, winter flowering honeysuckle, cyclamen coum, winter box (sarcocca) and the daphne odora is just coming out.
