On the 11th of April Aimie and Sophie came for their first ‘in the apiary’ training session. Continued cold weather precluded opening any of the hives so it had to be a dry run
By the latter half of the month, all hives had been spring cleaned; clean floor, brood-box and crown board. None of the 2022 queens had been clipped as I am loathe to do this at the end of the season. Better to wait until the spring. A smaller colony means that she is easier to find and she is less likely to be rejected when they need all the fresh brood they can get.
20th April. Madeleine, apprentice of the year 2022, telephoned to say that her hive had swarmed. I’ve never known it to happen so early. Instant action was taken and all hives given a 1st super to relieve any pressure whether they had been spring cleaned or not. Three of the hives were supered too late as a later inspection revealed swarm queen cells.
Having watched a very informative zoom talk by Wally Shaw of the Welsh Beekeepers Association I downloaded his brochure from the WBKA web site and decided to follow his Snelgrove II method of artificial swarming. No extra equipment needed other than a spare hive and not even any need to hunt for a queen. (There is always the added advantage that you can requeen with queen cell raised from a more suitable colony.) One colony has undergone tis process successfully and a second will be completed next week.
Nectar and pollen is being foraged enthusiastically from both the oil seed rape and the sycamore. The loud humming coming from the sycamore trees is a sound to be heard.