AUGUST 2024
Well at last the weather is kind of behaving and some of my colonies are beginning to fill up supers. A few of them remain ok but unlikely to have any excess for me – what a year.
I normally find August a joy. Swarming season is over (probably……) and I take a more relaxed approach to my bees. However this year is a bit different – the season got started so late that I think the bees don’t know if they are coming or going. So I am continuing my weekly inspections when the weather allows – i.e. there is no rain and it isn’t too hot. I have found that planning this is tricky as the forecast seems to be very often just wrong – forecasts of a cooler day has turned into 25 degrees or above. I know that if I check them when it is too hot, they are just irritable, and who can blame them – there I am exposing the hive to that heat when they are trying to keep the hive temperature as it should be! So I am paying close attention to my health and safety equipment so that I can keep myself sting free if I have to open them up on a hot day.
I have three concerns that are keeping my weekly inspections going; firstly have they got enough room, secondly are they preparing to swarm – late in the season as it is, I wonder if their timetable has shifted along and they could still try to swarm if they feel the urge, the odd swarm call is still coming through. Thirdly there is talk of EFB around and that is the last thing I want, so every brood comb is coming out for a thorough inspection. If your colonies are not registered on Beebase, then register them now – in that way you will get alerts if EFB is near to your apiary. Signs to look out for are:
- EFB infected larvae no longer sit in their cells in a healthy ‘C’ shape and lose their plump segmented appearance. Some become twisted in their cells and others have the appearance of looking melted down.
- After dying, the larval remains will turn yellow, then brown. As dead larvae decompose further, they dry out and turn into a brown scale, which has a rubbery consistency, and can be easily removed from the cell
- Sometimes infected larvae die after they are sealed. When this happens, there may be perforated cell cappings, where the nurse bees have detected the disease and investigate.
- When there is a heavy infection with EFB, the brood pattern will become patchy and erratic as dead brood is removed by the nurse bees.
So be watchful of your colonies!
I will be watchful around my colonies during the month and keep an eye out for wasps (as well as Asian Hornet of course). None seen at all so far but I have the doors at the ready if it looks like the colonies are having a tough time protecting themselves. In the meantime, such is the traffic with ghost bees from the Himalayan Balsam that I will leave the doors wide open for the moment.
What is going on in the hive?
The queen will be laying still but these bees will take the colony through the winter. Winter bees have well developed fat bodies, enabling them to live much longer than the summer bees. It is important at this time of year to make sure that the hive is set up to succeed – disease free, low varroa mite, plenty of stores, large enough in numbers to keep the colony going. So when you are next checking your hives, ask yourself whether they tick the boxes to make sure they are in the best possible place to go into winter. I have a very small colony that I am keeping my eye on in particular, and I will make a decision over the coming weeks whether I think it is a viable overwintering colony or whether I should merge it with another.
Check the larder
My garden is full of colour, lots of oregano, nasturtium, Californian poppy, Agapanthus, and Rudbeckia, plus beyond the garden is Himalayan Balsam, and heather. So plenty of forage around; the heather on Crooksbury Common in particular is getting more spectacular by the day. I also have ragwort in my garden which seems to get a bad press – I was hoping for some cinnabar moth – none seen so far, but I have seen a huge variety of insects enjoying the flowers…. Including my bees, so I hope my honey tastes ok!
Enjoy your bees!
