melminydon

Lovely looking queen still very busy. Lots of pollen coming into the hive during this mild spell in the weather. Treatment and feeding start next week ready for winter shutdown.

Back after a break. Have been busy harvesting honey and am now settling into getting the bees ready for winter. This is a photo of from our holiday to Norway. Not a bad view for this beekeeper.

Raising the next gen of ethical beekeeper. Out of all the supers we only took 10 frames off one leaving the rest for the bees to eat.

Two years ago I took part in the National Honey Monitoring Scheme and today I got the DNA results back from last years sample. In 2020 my honey sample contained 47 measurable species whilst last years sample only 23. 2020 was also a mix of 40% bramble, 35% Clover and 5% Oxalidales where in ‘21 it was 97% bramble and very little clover.

Has anyone else seen such a decrease in species identified?

I wonder what is causing it? Maybe the lack of pesticides being freavailable and therefor not sprayed everywhere in 2019/20 meant that more species were allowed to thrive, but once lockdowns lived people were able to buy roundup again and go about killing wild flowers?

Any thoughts

Surely this doesn’t just affect honey bees but any creature that depends on the variety of plants in order to live.

Checked on the other hives yesterday. All doing really well. Dad learnt the hard way that bees like climbing up your leg while inspecting.

Opened up the swarm trap today. Full of brood and some honey. They’re extremely calm bees too, will be a joy to work with down the line.

What remains of over 2kg of pure beeswax and a very guilty looking lurcher.

A quick scout around the garden and we have a lot of ladybirds in all states of life. The tadpoles have also started developing their legs. Great to see all our hard work last year paying off.

It will be interesting to carry out another bio blitz this summer.

Family outing to help sort out our associations apiary.

Went to check the swarm trap with my new gadget. Looks pretty good. Also checked out our local wild colony.

Our mini meadow is starting to bloom. Lots of different species of native plants which are attracting some critters.

Interesting bee rescue at 7am this morning from the roof of an old turkey farm. Originally this was a swarm trap, made from 2 drawers and an old frame in there. 2 and a bit years later there’s a feral colony in there.

Next step is to open it up and frame up the comb to go into a proper hive.

Lovely to see a hive successfully rearing a new queen too. And she’s stunning too.

And with the honey harvest comes our annual contribution to the National Honey Monitoring Scheme.

Looking good so far.

The dogs also enjoyed licking the honey that dribbled out onto the barrow.

Dad had lessons in beekeeping when he was at school. Today he harvested his first super of honey from their own garden bees. He’s a very happy chippy today.

Queen spotting time! She’s been on her mating flights now, and has grown significantly. Now the wait is on to when she’ll start laying.

Looks like our local wild bees have found the bait hive.

And another virgin queen. Totally different colouration to the other one.

A closer look at her. Hasn’t been on her mating flights yet, hopefully we’ll have some nice weather for the next couple of days.

Spot the new queen time. This one is a very dark Welsh Black Bee. Looking forward to seeing her offspring.

Second super on top of the other hive and the brood box looks like this. Another week and I think we’ll split this one.

Back to check on the swarm I caught last week and they’re busy drawing out comb and laying in every empty cell.

Always amazes me the different coloured pollen the bees collect. Dandelions, hawthorn, bramble, yew and horse chestnut on show here.

Spot the queen - a brand new one hiding among these bees. She hasn’t been out flying yet so I think she must have emerged this morning or yesterday at the earliest.

These are the real destroyers of beehives. Varroa Destructor.

Varroa mites (Varroa destructor and V. jacobsoni) are tiny red-brown external parasites of honey bees. Although Varroa mites can feed and live on adult honey bees, they mainly feed and reproduce on larvae and pupae in the developing brood, causing malformation and weakening of honey bees as well as transmitting numerous viruses.

@ Old Colwyn