Well, it was a bit boring really.
The limitations of wifi temperature gauges became apparent.
If you read my last blog you will know how pleased I was that I could see activity in the hives without opening them up during the Beast from the East and Beast from the East Two storms. When the weather was eventually clement enough for the first inspection, the limitations of wifi temperature gauges became apparent. While the G Bees were building up as expected, the newest colony had no queen. I had observed that there was a difference between the two colonies from the behaviour of the bees on the landing board. Clearly something must have happened to her in the Spring and that's one thing you can't put down to bad beekeeping because I hadn't opened the hive. Normally, the bees would just create a new queen but there was no guarantee there had been any eggs for them to create a queen from, no signs of queen cells and worse, evidence of laying workers.
When worker bees lay, the brood is not in a neat, circular pattern but more like ribbons. This was a completely new experience for me and I consulted all the usual sources, eventually deciding to follow the Ted Hooper advice and dismantle the colony leaving the bees to find new homes (most likely with the G Bees). When I started to carry out the process, P spotted a Queen. (He's very good at that; much better than I am still.) Where I think I may have made a mistake is that I carried on with the dismantling plan and perhaps I should have taken time to reconsider. Anyway, I started the season with one colony in the home apiary. The colony in the out apiary appeared to have absconded.
I took off honey at the end of May just as the oil seed rape flowers were fading......but it seems the bees weren't working oil seed rape! There were beans flowering, there's a hint of hawthorn in the flavour and it has set like rock. As usual, the bees won't say where they had been.
Dad inspected the hive in the out apiary, confirming there were no residents and got it ready to take a nucleus or split if one became available.
It was so hot that experienced beekeepers were wondering whether the wax inside the hive would melt.
From the middle of May until now, in October, we've had an exceptionally warm season. For most of the summer, it was also windy. The warm wind stopped the heat feeling oppressive but the bees don't like to be disturbed when it's windy and I left them to it simply giving them more space regularly. Eventually the hive was taller than I am. In early August it was so hot that experienced beekeepers were wondering whether the wax inside the hive would melt. The thought had crossed my mind but I reasoned that bees are kept in much hotter places than here so I tried not to worry.
A swarm took up residence in the out apiary and built up nicely over the season.
I had to wait for a not quite so windy day and for a cricket game to be cancelled so P could help my lift the supers off the G Bee hive because they were so heavy.
At the local honey show, Lot 9 from last year, now set and nicely marbled, came second in the set honey class. The Long Hot Summer of 2018 in a jar, Lot 11, didn't win a prize although lots of people kindly pointed out it was indistinguishable from Sally's clear honey that won second prize in that class. My honey fruit cake came third :)
The 29th September was one of the loveliest days this year. The temperature was 23C, there was absolutely no wind, it was sunny but not scorching and that's the day I sorted the G Bees out for the Winter. As usual, they have a new floor, new brood box, a full super of honey and the frames in the 14 x 12 brood chamber are wall to wall honey. I turned over the entrance blocks to the Winter setting. There are nine narrow holes which are too narrow for a mouse to pass through. This stops any mice from setting up home in the warm hive on a cold night. The G Bees were not happy about that. They were clearly still foraging in large numbers and they couldn't get in an out fast enough. They've got used to the entrance now and I've set up the wifi temperature gauge again.
It is challenging to get the timing right for setting the hive up for Winter. It seems too early judging by the plants that are flowering but any day now we could see temperatures returning to their normal range for this time of year.
