Skip to content

Category: crystalizing honey

Published on

Winter just seemed to go on and on. Feb 21st saw the first change when we had the first day of the year without a strong north wind. This meant that we had temperatures in double figures for the first time. Also we had a day without rain (until tea time!)

The bad news was 3 more colonies dead. The cause was difficult to ascertain but could be either,deformed wing virus, chronic bee paralysis virus, or simply adverse weather. This means I only have 4 colonies left and one of these is only a nuc. Tragedy of tragedies is that one of the lost colonies was the only definite varroa resistant family.

By Feb 23rd the bullace was in full flower in a glorious pink-white. This was a spectacle we hadn’t seen before in such glory. Standing beneath looking up I could see bees all over it. Not only was it a spectacle for the eyes but also the ears. The air was just full of the buzzing.

The wild plum followed two days later but was only worked solidly for two days as the sallow (pussy willow) over the road came on flower.

Now for the good news. A farming neighbour approached me and asked if I could remove some bees from two sites on his farm. These were out-apiaries which had been a selection of home-made commercial hives but due to the beekeeper’s ill health had been neglected for at least ten years. One was a rotten nucleus hive on its roof in Pinkney's Meadow and the others were old plywood home-made hives on Hill Field

Old nucleus hive on its roof
Old Commercial hives on Hill Field

A cut-out is the term used to remove a self-hived swarm which has started or spent a long time laying down wax comb such that it has to be cut way from the structure. Although these were not strictly cut-outs, as in removal from a building, they were definitely cut-outs from structures.

The nucleus hive, which was found upside down and burst open after a winter storm had survived but whether it was the first colony in the nuc or the n’th was debatable. Old black comb was running in every direction and a lot was unsavable. Frames were cut out using a carving knife to slice between them and then the hive tool as a lever. The frames were put into a fresh nuc which was taken to the out-apiary at Cutlers Green. Had I taken this hive to my home-apiary just over the hedge and across the field, the flying bees would have simply returned to whence they came.

Rehoused nucleus colony ready to go to Cutlers Green

Hill Field had a line of plywood commercial hives which had really seen the best of their lives. It looked as if two of them might be populated or being robbed out; difficult to tell at first inspection.

The crown boards were well and truly stuck down and everywhere was a dense mass of wax-moth cocoons. Again, comb had been made running in every direction but mainly at right-angles to the frames. Carving knife and hive-tool were again used to lever out solid slabs of crystalized honey along with broken frames. Bits of comb and as many bees as possible were scooped into a swarm box and brought to the home apiary. An empty nuc was left on the hive stand to collect any stragglers which could be collected at a later date.

Because Hill field is only one mile from the home apiary, precautions had to be taken to deter the bees from flying back again. With the swarm box placed in the apiary, a heap of leafy branches was placed around the hive entrance. When the hive entrance was opened, the bees couldn’t just come hurtling out as usual but had to negotiate through the thicket making them realise that they were now in new surroundings and needed to reorientate.

Things didn’t go exactly to plan however as since the move, two of the three colonies are queenless and the third has immediately started supersedure. Watch this space.

Published on

An encouraging harvest was obtained from the oil-seed-rape even though it was about a mile away. Some was so ripe that it registered less than 16% moisture in the refractometer; the lowest I’ve ever known it. Only about three supers-worth of frames were crystallised but I managed to wash them out over a period of a few days.

The solar wax extractor was rebuilt during the last winter and it was not a day too soon. During the winter, a solitary mouse got into a stack of supers full of drawn frames and nibbled his way from top to bottom. All the frames had to be melted down and all the boxes sterilized. This has just been completed, with much relief. This does mean however that the ladies now have the major task of drawing out new foundation in scores of frames.

Early this morning two hives were closed up and taken over to Mill Hill field at Cutlers Green in order to be closer to the borage.

Loaded and ready
Mill Hill Site

Those hives remaining in the home apiary appear to be trying to emulate last year’s catastrophe. Last year it was Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus which almost wiped out the apiary and this year it seems to be regicide.

Ignoring the six virgin queens failing to return from their mating flights three other hives, in succession, have got rid of their queen. No queen cells and swarming: no emergency queen cells on a test frame: no sign of any disease: just a disappearance of queen and brood and a consequential gradual decline until the colony no longer seemed viable. (See Autumn in The Apiary)

Published on

We had some rape honey this year albeit only a small amount but rape honey never-the-less. With judicious blending and seeding this could give a year’s supply of creamed honey.

Seeding? You warm and clear a tub of honey and then when it’s cool you add 10% of a creamed honey which has a nice smooth consistency. Provided the cleared honey would have eventually crystalised this will now do so at a much faster rate and with the same consistency as the seeding material.

All bar two of my 2018 queened colonies needed artificial swarming due probably to the weather. These were successfully completed but it did mean several under-strength colonies and a lot of hives. Combine this with the swarms I’d had to take and I was approaching my hive-insurance limit.

At least four virgin queens failed to return from mating flights. I don’t know why I should be so prone to this problem. Any ideas? Inserting test frames and allowing them to develop emergency queens did allow a temporary solution. Not the best, admittedly, but a later supersedure would then correct the problem.

The June gap was much more noticeable this year and spanned the entire month. I can measure it by the amount of bee activity at the pond. In the absence of nectar to evaporate down, the colonies need water as a substitute liquid for their air conditioning.

It is now the end of the month and the swarm colonies are being united down to a sensible number before an end of season unite with my selected queen colonies. Two of them had somehow rendered themselves queenless so a quick test frame and they were united with the colony alongside. This was done with the newspaper method to mask the colony odour as they nibbled through.

Uniting two colonies using the newspaper method

Hive number 6 is without doubt the best producing this year. No artificial swarm was needed the the queen continued with copious laying. As I write, I have already extracted 5½ supers and there is still much to come

Hive 6 with six supers

Published on

Apple weekend at Audley End House was once again a terrific two days. Unfortunately the Sunday weather was appalling and by lunchtime the footfall had reached the staggering total of 150; Saturday’s total was 1500. We had an excellent team of helpers on both days and as usual the observation hive proved a great attraction.

Sally explains foundation and drawing of comb to an enthralled audience

Back in the apiary the number of hives has been united down to the usual over-wintering eight. The last three were each 5-frame nucs, one of which was the observation hived used at Audley End.

Amongst the 15 frames were several with yellow spacers, indicating old frames to be rendered, so these were removed. All the others with bees were given a spray unite. This was probably not necessary as I was uniting three colonies but I thought it best to be cautious. Colony smell must be smothered to unite two colonies but with three colonies they can’t sort out who the intruders are and peacefully accept their new foster sisters.  The spray was a very dilute sugar solution and a drop of oil of lavendre.

One barren queen was removed and the other two left to fight it out as I couldn’t choose which was the better. They are all now in hive 6 and the feeder is fitted.

  1. All hives now have an Ashforth feeder and all the feed is ready. Most of it this winter is recycled honey with just a small amount of sugar solution to help prevent crystallising.Inspections have been reduced in the last part of the season as little could be done. All I needed to do was monitor the varroa drops. This has stayed sufficiently low for treatment to wait until the mid-winter oxalic acid.

Published on

This month sees the start of foraging in earnest and also the start of swarming.

Although the oil seed rape was only just down the road the bees only worked it for pollen. The bees foraging for nectar went in the opposite direction. I am now beginning to wonder if modern varieties of rape have significantly reduced amounts of nectar.

Whatever it was they preferred, half the hives worked it vigorously. One hive got up to four supers and the others to two or three.

The colonies which only just made it through the winter have struggled to reach supering size but as two of these have 2016 queens and will be requeened this season.

The first swarm I was called to remove was a poor little bedraggled specimen hanging from a tree near Thaxted Fire Station. It had been there several days and was trying to set up home out in the open.

Thaxted swarm

It was nearly dark when I arrived so it had to wait until the next morning; a night of torrential rain and it was still raining next day. Half of them had been washed down in the night and were comatose mixed in with the recent lawn mowings. It was a ladder job to reach the little swarm and I then swept up as many as I could from the ground hoping that once they were returned to the bosom of their family they would become resuscitated. This did in fact work and most of them recovered. They were a pathetic little bunch when they were eventually hived; just over one frame of 14 x12 in a nucleus hive.

The rape finished flowering two weeks ago and any resulting honey would normally have started crystallizing by now. It’s all still clear which again leads me to conclude that the nectar came from elsewhere. The eventual analysis will be interesting.

I’ve had to perform three Pagden artificial swarms so far with another one to do this week. At the same time as creating the artificial swarm I also take a two-frame nucleus with a queen cell so I have a second string to my bow in the event of a loss on mating flight. The apiary is getting rather crowded now with sixteen hives.

..