Bees Diary

18th August 2010
Super removed from hive 2, 2 frames honey capped, 2 frames uncapped left above cover board. Stores in hive 1 are good. Varroa counts OK and wasp activity low.

8th August 2010
Hive 1 has stopped expanding, 7 frames drawn. Stores OK, back to 3 frames of brood − a small colony to get through winter.

27th July 2010
Hive 1 on 5 frames of brood, stores light, varroa OK. Less wasp activity. Hive 2, some honey in the super, 1 frame being capped.

15th July 2010
Hive 1 brood on four frames. Number of bees and stores still light. Hive 2 drawing 10th frame – but very slowly. Drawn frames are added in a super, to hopefully assist in generating a small surplus of honey. Wasps seen snooping around both hives. The entrances have been reduced, so that the bees may more easily defend their home and stores. The wasps are after the honey.

7th July 2010
Eggs in hive 1 !!! Success. The main nectar flow has started, so with luck, the bees can build sufficient stores and numbers to survive winter. Hive 2 as before. Varroa OK, stores building.

29th June 2010
Hive 2 still not drawing further frames. Varroa count appears acceptable, stores still a little light. Bees seem to know what they’re doing.

22nd June 2010
A mated queen is introduced into hive 1, using a matchbox. Hive 2 on 9 frames.

16th June 2010
A quick check on the queen cells in hive 1, they are capped, but look very poor. A locally bred queen will need to be introduced.

10th June 2010
As suspected the queen in hive 1 is a drone layer. The bees have started 2 queen cells and there is no sign of the original queen. Hive 2 doing well, 8 frames drawn, stores are a little light, due to the drought.

1st June 2010
The queen in hive 1 has started laying, but is laying a lot of drones. Perhaps she has not mated well? Hive 2 is progressing well and has now drawn 6 of 11 frames of wax.

25th May 2010
A very brief inspection suggests that one of the colonies already has a new laying queen, judging by the quantity of pollen entering the hive.

16th May 2010
The roof timbers of the old porch at the farmhouse were removed to expose the wild comb and bees. Half of the bees, along with their queen, had apparantly swarmed a few days before. Several queen cells, along with the rest of the wild comb, were removed (very carefully!) and placed in split frames, which could then be hived. The bees have a nice nature and are dark in colour. The bees were split into 3 colonies, each with several queen cells. Two of the colonies have been housed at Boscrowan and the hope is that both will rear a new queen and flourish, along with the surrounding fruit trees, vegetables, flowers and shrubs.

June 2009
At a farmhouse near Land’s End, bees arrived and made an old porch their new home. As their numbers increased, they started to become a problem to the owner, a local farmer.