Merioneth Beekeepers' Association

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Well we asked for warmer weather and we got it! On Saturday 10 April the temperature reached 16ºC which allowed us to check the hive. First of all we found that the super we'd left on over winter (without a queen excluder underneath) was about 1/3 full of honey and didn't have any brood it. We had a quick look in the brood box and again there was honey in the outer frames and plenty of pollen, eggs and larvae further in. We put a queen excluder between the brood box and the super before closing the hive.

On 18 April we had another inspection. The super was now more than ½ full of honey; the bees were very active and loads of pollen was being brought in. On advice we've put another super on the hive (foundation only) so that the bees can draw the frames out - we'll see how they're getting on this weekend!

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Since the last update the temperature has remained cool - max 10°C. We've continued to feed candy as a supplement. The bees seem healthy looking in from the top of the frames. They are collecting lots of orange and yellow pollen when they can.

Photograph

We've acquired two additional hives (secondhand) from a known source and have spent time carefully repairing them and torching the insides to ensure they are sterile; we've also replaced all the foundation. We have made a simple bait hive from a design on the internet as well. In May/June we will attempt to capture any passing swarms into the bait hive, and a hive being used as a bait hive, using pheromone lures - we'll see if we get any results. We are also geared up to 'make increase' from our existing bees by the artificial swarm method.

But before we can do anything we need some warm weather!