So, having worked a 60 hour week last week, I hope you can understand why we skipped a post. We did inspect the bees but I just didn't have time to write it up so here follows a fortnightly update. Double bumble!(?)
First, we inspected the Nuc and it soon became very apparent that it was dead, from other bees and wasps robbing all their stores. Although we were expecting it and had resigned ourselves, it did still come as a shock just how quickly it happened and what it looked like...
There were some bees barely alive moving about very slowly but the floor was littered with their dead ... We shook out all the frames nearby and emptied the nuc onto the floor. Any bees that were alive may have bribed their way into another hive and we hope they'll be accepted. RIP FeeBee.
Next, Greg inspected Kate while I took notes ... (Inspection 12.09.20)
Kate
Moderate strength
Calm temperament
1 brood box - 11 frames
7 frames of bees
4 frames of brood (all stages)
3 frames of stores
4 foundation frames
Actions Taken: It's great that the stores are increasing but she does desperately needs more food. Greg popped back later in the week to do this after we had made some sugar syrup*.
Laura
Strong strength
Calm temperament
1.5 brood box - 11 + 11 frames
10 frames of bees (only inspected the brood box as at this time of year as long as there are eggs we can see she's doing well)
6 frames of brood (all stages)
3 frames of stores
2 foundation frames
Actions Taken: Again, quite a significant increase in stores but Greg felt that she needed feeding. That being said, they were taking the fondant down quite well so we decided to leave them a week to see how they got on without.
When Greg popped back to feed Kate though, he also checked on the fondant consumption and he managed to see Laura so that felt really good. Her mark has started to wear off: We're not sure if our bee pen isn't very good or if we're still not leaving their majestys to dry for long enough before returning them to their colonies ...
In other news, what we thought was dysentery in Laura two weeks ago was actually wet pollen as it had been raining the day before our last inspection. A fully laden bee must have got very damp on her way in, poor girl!
Here's a video of a bee having been dunked in syrup (Ooops!) being cleaned by her sisters.
This week things were different again. Of course, we only have Kate and Laura to inspect now but Greg wanted to do a thorough inspection of Laura's super this time as it's been a couple of weeks since we last did so. (Inspection 19.09.20)
Kate
Moderate strength
Agitated temperament
1 brood box - 11 frames
8 frames of bees
4 frames of brood (all stages)
4 frames of stores
3 foundation frames
Actions Taken: Topped up sugar syrup by 4 litres and added a super on top of the brood to give more space for stores over the winter. As yet the super has yet to be drawn out but we're still hoping that they have time to fill it with stores before winter sets in.
The Apiguard has now finished so we smeared the remainder onto a piece of cardboard and left it on top of the frames.
We also removed the eeks and smeared Vaseline (not spon) on all of the edges of the boxes, to prevent water from getting in the cracks, freezing and causing damage.
We also saw Kate whose mark has completely worn off again but she disappeared too quickly to remark. At least she's in there and looking well.
(See below left)
Laura (See above right)
Strong strength
Agitated temperament
1.5 brood box - 11 + 11 frames
10+11 frames of bees
5 frames of brood (all stages)
5 frames of stores
12 foundation frames
Actions Taken: We Vaselined and did the Apiguard as in Kate. We also removed the inspection tray from both Kate and Laura which was full of Varroa so hopefully, they'll be all mite-free for the winter. Greg is going to look into doing another treatment over the winter months as the tray should really have been near empty at this point of the four week treatment period.
One more thing, we have been a little puzzled as to why the bees seem to be more agitated than they were in the late summer. We think that it's because when we inspect them they think that we're trying to steal their precious winter stores. Fortunately still no stings (touch wood!) but we'd rather they remained very calm and well behaved. We'll monitor this into the new year to see what happens.
* * *
* Overwintering: How to make Sugar Syrup
We have had some questions on how to overwinter bees from our readers and the biggest part of this, and our biggest concern right now, is ensuring that they have enough stores for the winter. This involves making a '2:1 syrup' out of normal, everyday granulated sugar and water. The reason it's 2:1 is that you want it to be as thick as possible because it's harder for the bees to evaporate the water from the syrup at this time of year. The bees evaporate the water from the sugar syrup by beating their wings - the temperature of the hive is 32°C so by beating their wings it increases airflow over the warm syrup and hence the water evaporates. This helps them to make a sort of honey from it, meaning that it won't freeze over winter and will be enough to keep them fed.
'2:1 Syrup' is literally 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. We use 2kg of sugar, dissolved slowly in 1 litre of warm water. This year we've also used a product called 'Hive Alive' (not spon). It's a small amount of liquid that you add into the sugar syrup which contains vitamins and minerals that are good for the bee's digestion. It also has essential oils that prevent the sugar syrup from fermenting or going off, which could cause dysentery. Not what you want when you're planning on hibernating for 5 or so months! (See, all our research on bee dysentery wasn't wasted after all!)
Watch this space for more overwintering tips!
Until next week.
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