Too much fiddling can be disastrous for your bees

I have just been to visit a couple of our members in Crowborough. They are a couple who have not done our beginners course and despite keeping bees for three years they still do not have a sense of what a strong colony should look like.

Those who do our beginners course should by the end of the summer have a sense of what a strong colony looks like. They should understand how many bees a 14×12 brood box can contain. They hopefully gain an understanding that the bees need to expand over nearly all the frames in the brood box before a super is added. If you put a draughty super above a queen excluder on a small box of bees there is no way that they are ever going to use it! Please, please remember that everybody.

The scenario that I saw yesterday is similar but different. For a start the colony was on a brood and a half. The beekeepers in question had in their enthusiasm taken out drawn frames from the brood box into which the Queen might have been able to expand and replaced them with foundation.  Wax is an insulator and the result of removing the drawn comb was to create an even colder unit for this poor colony. Now the litany of poor decisions doesn't stop there. They had also added a super to allow the Queen to expand. Please don't add supers if the bees have not drawn out almost all the frames in your brood box. Experienced beekeepers know that a queen always moves upwards so it is important not to add a super until most of the frames in the bottom box have been drawn out.  They had furthermore added a queen excluder and another super on top of that for good measure. Then to compound the difficulty for that poor colony, they had taken a frame of foundation and placed it in the middle of the brood nest. We have been having really cold nights,even if the daytime temperatures have been quite unseasonably mild, and in consequence brood in that colony was chilled and had died. The bees had just been unable to cluster over the brood. The owners of the colony thought there must be a problem with disease. I'm afraid the only problem was the poor decisions that they had made. They are the ones who are responsible for that brood being chilled and dying.

The Queen looked lovely but there were very few eggs because the bees were struggling to keep the cluster warm. You may think from what I have listed above that not much else could be going wrong. Well, you are wrong. Because the bees are on a brood and a half, the beekeepers in question had unfortunately rearranged the brood frames in the super so that they were no longer above the frames with brood in the bottom box. They had not grasped the fundamental idea that the brood nest is rugby ball shaped and the bees only expand the brood nest when there are enough of them to keep the young larvae warm. I know I have talked about splitting the brood nest with a frame of foundation in one of my emails. Perhaps I was unwise to do so. The only time that you can commit this sin is when you have got an extremely large and prosperous colony and you want to delay them from swarming. Please note that the act of adding a frame of foundation is a "sin". Only sin if you are absolutely sure that the bees can cope with it! In other words be really really sure that the colony is big enough. If in doubt, don't do it!

It is so hard for beginners when they do not have the experience of handling different boxes of bees. It is a privilege for them if they manage to get a nucleus from one of our members and beginners really do not realise how difficult it is to get them bees. In their enthusiasm they can fiddle and over fiddle and this is not always good for their charges. A colony expands gradually and reaches, at some stage, a tipping point. Once you get to the tipping point it's very tough to hold them back. And a colony that is rapidly expanding needs a huge amount of space. But the inverse is true. A small, struggling colony needs to be left alone so that they can get on with what they do best which is build up on a nectar flow. You can try feeding but if a colony is really small even that will stress them out, particularly if the temperatures are really cold. Sorry to have a rant. If the cap fits, wear it and do something differently in the future. Needless to say I shall be checking that colony and their owners every week from now on. The bees deserve better.!!!

Malcolm Wilkie May 11th 2017

Swarming is now going to happen in urban areas

Those of us who have hives in the countryside where rape seed is still in full flower will have had to cope with swarming. Those of you who are organised will probably have split strong colonies before they make a queen cells themselves.

Now it is the turn of those beekeepers in towns to have to cope with swarming. i.e. Crowborough, Heathfield and Uckfield. Beginners and even those of you who are very experienced often make a classic mistake when doing an artificial swarm. Those of you who came to our session on swarming will know that the easy bit of splitting a colony by doing an artificial swarm is by putting the old queen in a new box on the old site. I won't insult you by going through that part of the artificial swarm again.

However it is the second part of doing an artificial swarm that leads to so many people ending up with a small box of bees and potentially a runt Queen. Study the development of a virgin queen below.

Day 1 egg

        2 egg

        3 egg

        4 larva

        5 larva

        6 larva

        7 larva

        8 larva Queen cell sealed

        9 larva still feeds off royal jelly

        10 larva turns round and detaches from royal jelly and spins cocoon

        11 prepupa

        12 prepupa

        13 pupa

        14 pupa turns darker colour

        15 pupa : tip of queen cell turns a darker brown

        16 virgin  queen emerges

Now this is where we all go wrong. When doing an artificial swarm the brood and young bees are moved away from the original site. It is this box that poses the real problem in this manipulation. You need to go into this box twice in order for there to be only one queen cell for this colony. If you don't do so it is likely that they will cast, perhaps several times! And you then end up with a useless box of bees, perhaps without a queen.

In an urban setting you are probably best, when the colony has really built up well, to split the bees before they make queen cells. By doing this you force them to make emergency queen cells. They usually start the process by taking larvae that are two days old and converting them into Queens. This is okay because ordinary workers and queen larvae are fed in the same way for the first two days. However there is  a danger that they will be panicked into choosing a three day old larva. A three day old larva would make a runt Queen as she won't be fed royal jelly for long enough and this is one of the things that you need to avoid.

So the initial problem you have is one of timing. Once you have split the bees you need to go back three days later and cut out all sealed queen cells. This will get rid of any of the three day old larva that you panicked them into choosing.

At this stage you should mark with a drawing pin on the frames two open queen cells. I would try and choose queen cells that were on frames with other queen cells. Think about where the cell is positioned so that it is as protected as possible by any of your manipulations. At this initial stage I would not destroy other open queen cells. They may have to be your fallback position.

Now for the tricky bit. Look carefully at the life-cycle that I have listed above. The bees can continue to make queen cells for a considerable number of days. You removed the Queen to force them to make emergency cells but on the day of removal there are still eggs in the hive. Those eggs could take three days to hatch and there are a further two or three days when they can still be converted into a queen. So six or seven days after the split you must, and I repeat you must, go in and cut out any unwanted Queen cells. Now the bees are very clever and they cluster around the Queen cells. On the frame with your chosen queen cell carefully touch the bees to check that there is no other queen cell other than the one that you have chosen. Hopefully this is the same cell as the one you marked three days after the split. If not it will have to be one of the other cells on the frame. If there are no other cells on that frame, then you will have to go and search for another good looking queen cell somewhere else in the box. The frame with the chosen queen cell must not be shaken but must be examined carefully so that you do not leave two or three queen cells on it. That would be a disaster as the bees would cast.

Now for the bit that you all don't do. All other frames must be shaken free of bees. The bees are very good at hiding queen cells as they cluster around them. You really must be brave and shake all the bees off the frames that do not contain your chosen Queen cell. Destroy all queen cells except the one on the frame you have chosen, hopefully the one you originally marked. 

Good luck Urban beekeepers.

Malcolm Wilkie 4th May 2017

The swarming season is upon us

I have just checked some of my colonies at the slab castle apiary. This was during a session with the beginners. Of the six colonies that belong to me, two of them had queen cells. A good proportion of these were already sealed ( and yes I did check the box last Saturday with Helen and didn't pick up that they were making preparations to go). One box had swarmed, the other had been unable to do so as I had clipped the Queen and she is now lost.

If you have a large colony (for instance seven frames of brood in a 14 x 12 brood box) you might consider pre-empting the bees and splitting the colony before they make queen cells. I am assuming that you are already prepared with a spare hive and frames made up with fresh foundation. However this would be a disaster for a small unit, so only do this if your colony is strong.

The bees in the box of brood will make Queen cells. Go back after 3 days and choose a good open queen cell. Mark the frame this is on with a drawing pin. Go back in another three days and destroy all queen cells except the chosen one.

On the original site you will have the Queen on one frame of brood. This box  needs a rapid feeder on as they require a lot of sugar syrup to draw out the new brood nest.

Your honey crop is placed above the brood nest where your bees are making Queen cells. As long as you only leave one Queen cell (remember you have to go back twice) your honey crop won't fly off over the hedge. This box should be ok to handle because the bees are younger, the foragers returning to the old queen on the original site. This box should continue gathering honey as for a month there will be no brood and they will have nothing else to do but collect honey for you.

I hope this email arrives in time for you to be able to take pre-emptive action if it is required.

Malcolm Wilkie 16th April 2017

 

Are you denying your honeybees their human rights?

Of course I am being somewhat facetious in suggesting that honeybees have human rights. Perhaps I should have said animal rights or even better insect rights. In fact perhaps I should rephrase my question and say instead, are you denying your honeybees their insect rights? Let's hope that by posing such a silly question you will dismiss this article and read no further. Perhaps if enough beekeepers ignore my advice then there will be some good swarms that the beginners might be able to get hold of to start beekeeping. That's what I am hoping for anyway. So please don't  read any further than here, and thereby you will be letting your colony swarm and Peter will have some good swarms to collect.

During this current nectar flow young bees have an absolute need to make wax. Your colonies are expanding at an exponential rate. Your queens are laying eggs on almost every frame. Congestion is taking place in your hives. Those of you who have heeded my warning about loving your bees too much have already done something to avoid congestion in the hive, and you have taken out a frame of stores and added a frame of foundation next to the brood nest. If you still find that a big colony needs more space you can, in extremis, commit the ultimate sin. You can (it has to be a strong colony) split the brood nest by placing a frame of foundation in the middle of the brood. I now expect salvos to be launched at me by the more experienced among you, but I know this is what some bee farmers do.

But how about our honeybees insect rights? Imposing congestion on your bees is a far worse sin than the manipulation mentioned above. When you impose a small space onto a large colony, they then set about swarming. Supering and supering at the correct moment allows your bees to expand and decongest the brood nest. In the past I have sometimes found the bees putting nectar on top of eggs they had so little room. How terrible is that?

You are the sort of beekeeper, of course, who takes the trouble to provide fresh wax for your bees to work on during a nectar flow. Old wax is refreshed with a hair dryer, Kemble wax is given to the bees because you know it is better. You check your supers regularly and you become aware when the bees have completely filled the super with nectar and are crying out for more space and room. You are the sort of person who would then put on a second super. You place this directly above the brood nest so that if there is foundation in the super then the bees can draw it out as quickly as possible. The warm spot above the brood nest is the place where the bees will find it easiest to draw out the wax.

By proceeding in the fashion suggested above you are allowing your hive to breath. A lot of space is needed for nectar to be stored before it is turned into honey and there needs to be space in the brood nest for the Queen to continue laying, otherwise the bees vote for Brexit. And once the bees have decided on Brexit, there is no going back. Your job as the beekeeper is to keep your charges busy working for you and making honey. Don't even let them think that Brexit is a possibility!

It may be a good idea to alternate in your second super frames of nectar, with frames of foundation. By doing so the bees will instinctively draw out your foundation for you, particularly if the foundation is just above the brood nest. Distract them, by forcing them to work. Margaret Ginman says that you should think of your bees in the same way as you would think of a group of adolescent boys. If you don't give them something to do, they will misbehave. And in this context misbehaving means swarming or put another way, Brexit.

So are you respecting your bees fundamental needs to make wax? Are you checking that the Queen has room to lay? Are you giving the bees adequate space by supering at the right moment? Are you alternating frames of nectar with foundation to force your honeybees to work to their maximum potential? What do Syrians do when they are treated as they are treated by Assad? They leave! What will your honeybees do if you treat them badly by forcing them to live in a box that is just too small for them? They will leave! And you can't really blame them either! They would have loved to make you honey if only you had managed them better! So they will seek refuge elsewhere. Perhaps they will find a better beekeeper than you. And he may be a Trump-like figure, who bangs the box and is rough handling them, but if he gives them space that is what they really want.

Listen to what your bees want. Pop off the roof and look how many of them are milling around above the crown board. If there are more than a few doing so, they need space!!! Give your bees their insect rights, give them space and by doing so you will get honey. However if your unit is only a small unit, hang back and let them build up naturally without adding draughty supers that they will ignore anyway.

A note of warning. Currently a lot of the nectar is coming from oilseed rape and this will not stay in flower for ever. Once you see the fields of oilseed rape going over, you need to extract the honey ASAP. Oilseed rape honey sets rockhard in the frames and is useless to the beekeeper and it is useless to the bees. If you are in the Groombridge area you need to keep a very careful eye. If you are in the Eridge area, ditto. Will you be able to get hold of an extractor when you need to extract? Could you combine with another local beekeeper and both of you extract on the same day using the same extractor? Ask yourself these questions now, otherwise you will be in a mess.

Malcolm Wilkie April 8th 2017

SOS - super now

We are very early in the season because we are still in the month of March, however there is a nectar flow on at the moment. Believe it or not rape seed is now coming into flower and we are still in March!! The fields around Lamberhurst are yellow today. At Mount Camphill on Friday the large ornamental cherry tree was abuzz with honeybees. At the slab castle apiary the blackthorn (sloe) is in full flower. In Hastings there are trees after trees awash with spring flowers and the presence of these spring flowers coupled with high temperatures are enabling our bees to bring back nectar to the hive.

Experienced beekeepers have been aware for a number of weeks now of the unusual high temperatures and activity in the hives has been strong. Those of you who do not work have been able to choose a nice day to go through your hive or hives quickly. You have realised that with a very strong hive there is a lot of brood and as Keith taught you, you have put on a super to allow the bees room to expand. Those supers are currently filling with nectar! If, like me, you have ignored the warning signs of high activity in a strong colony and not yet supered, you will find yourself with comb built above the crown board and stuck to the roof. When you remove the crown board there are bees everywhere.

So what do you do? You will have to go in and smoke the bees down, scrape all the honey off the top of the frames and then put on a queen excluder and give your charges a super. It may be wise with a strong colony like this to examine them on Thursday (March 30th) when temperatures could get up to 20 degrees, to check that they are not building queen cells. Sid Hook tells me he has drones in his hives at this very moment. Temperatures are not so high on Sunday but if you work and have no other option, you will have to do it then. The season is kicking off with a vengeance!

The majority of you will not be in this situation but sit up and take note. You need to put a super on your hive. This can be drawn comb or a mixture of drawn comb and foundation. If the foundation is old it must be warmed up by using a hair dryer. Don't think you can dispense with the hairdryer because the bees just do not like drawing out old wax and in the long run you will make work for yourself by not freshening up the wax. Some foundation in your super box is a good idea so that the young bees can make wax; young bees without the possibility to make wax will trigger swarming in your hive. Keep your bees busy and it will take their minds off swarming for the time being and, of course, give you a spring crop. Be warned  supering and choosing the right moment to put a super on is part of swarm control. If bees don't have room to expand, they swarm!

With a small to middling sized colony they sometimes ignore the super completely.  Box clever, put your super on without a queen excluder. Go back three or four days later and if they are working the super pop your queen excluder in at that stage. If you are a Newbee and only have foundation, this is the way to proceed to tempt your charges to draw out the foundation for you. Remember foundation is more likely to be drawn out if it is placed above the brood nest.

In colonies with lots of young bees now is the moment when you can replace a couple of old brood frames with new foundation. All those young bees are desperate to draw out the wax for you. If you were organised last autumn you put the dirtiest combs on the edge of the box and it is these that you are now renewing.

Beginners should also take note of this email. The season is early and if they wish to obtain bees it is crucial that they have a hive ready. This hive should be in position and the frames of foundation should be made up so that  they can be placed in the hive at a moment's notice.

Keith and I are holding a session on keeping control of swarming on Thursday the 6th of April at Cross in Hand at 7.30pm. Given the early nature of the season it won't be a moment too soon for us to hold this session. Swarming is never easy and cannot be controlled 100%, but having a strategy in your head and a hive ready or a nucleus box ready, will help. Remember to let Rosemarie know if you are coming.

28th March 2017 - Malcolm Wilkie