We'll Bee Back

10/25/2016 11:07:00 am 0 Comments

Paul visited the Honeydale hives this week to check that the bees were busy preparing for the cold winter months. Due to the sunny weather they were still flying and making use of the remaining flowers on the farm Both of our WBC (traditional white) hives have strong colonies, they are are a little sluggish now due to the colder weather, which is to be expected, because of the temperature change. The good news is that both hives also have plenty of stores. Brood box stores are good in both the hives, and hive 2 also has almost a full super of honey to last the winter. Hive 1 has slightly less honey but we can always feed them fondant over the winter if necessary.

During the visit Paul also took the opportunity to fit slider mouse-guards to both hives to help prevent the risk of small mammals helping themselves to the bee's hard-earned honey as the weather gets cooler and they become more desperate for food.


Chris Wells’s 5 hives also seem to be doing well considering they were installed only a few months ago - it'll be next year before we expect to see a honey harvest from them.

Things don’t always go to plan though, and unfortunately we have a bit of bad news. The swarm box containing the small colony of bees we rescued from the apiary earlier in the season has collapsed and Paul was faced with a box of dead bees which was very sad to see and such a shame, especially considering we had previously discovered a laying queen in the box. This just goes to show how vulnerable small colonies can be and the importance of a good run-up to the winter to achieve a healthy population and good stores.

We’ll be checking in on all the surviving colonies in couple of weeks before the winter really sets in, to make sure they have everything they need.


Anonymous

Graphic Designer at Cotswold Seeds Google

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