SEPTEMBER 2024
I had a fun day out with Greg in August collecting a colony of bees from a shed near Frensham Little Pond. Luckily the shed was going to be demolished soon so we could hack our way into the shed roof without worrying about damage to the structure. Greg used his Bee Vac to suck up the bees which were then transferred into a poly nuc and left in situ on the shed roof to collect the flyers. I then returned to remove the poly nuc and relocate to their new home. I am pleased to say that they are coping ok – I am feeding them so hopefully they will build up sufficiently to be able to survive the winter – they are remarkably calm bees, so I really hope they survive!
It was good to have a few days of good weather in August, and I have just taken some honey off my hives, leaving the bees at least a full super for their own use, with extraction this week. It looks like I have had an average crop this year – better than I feared after the very cold wet spring we had!
Heather honey is lovely in itself, but extracting it is something else if you don’t want to destroy the comb, and it looks like at least some of my honey is heather so it will be a difficult week! I usually give up trying to extract the last drops of heather honey from the frame and give most of it back to the bees!
So now we are at the tail end of the beekeeping season. A couple of weeks back I put doors on my hives because wasps were about and the odd European Hornet. The first tray of Apiguard will go on my hives, in the next week once the extracted supers have been cleaned up by the bees and removed, and queen excluders will come off. Then the less exciting beekeeping work begins – cleaning up equipment, freezing drawn comb and storing it away, rendering wax etc.
But it is not yet over – how about preparing some entries for the National Honey show and the Farnham Show…
What is going on in the hive?
The queen will be laying still but these bees will take the colony through the winter. Her laying rate will slow down though. The bees will be using the outside frames to pack with stores to use over the winter and will be ensuring the hive is well insulated. Defence remains an important role with wasps around and Hornets. Don’t forget to spend a few minutes watching your colonies and looking out for Asian Hornet – they appear to be edging closer to us.
Check the larder
Forage is beginning to dwindle in my neck of the woods – the heather is almost over. However the Himalayan balsam continues, with Rudbeckia, Nasturtium and Michaelmas Daisy soldiering on. I see signs of the ivy getting ready to flower – always attracting a wide range of insects.
Enjoy your bees!
