Hive Inspection

This weekend we needed to do a full inspection of the hives to see how they were performing in relation to being queen right (hive with a laying queen) and were we were up to with the honey situation.

Our concerns were with firstly the queens!!

As my daughter was down for the weekend to celebrate her Dad's birthday and was keen to see inside a hive. She decided to suit up and join me, we decided it was best to inspect just two of the hives and leave the rest to the following day.

I explained when inspecting a hive, that you must stand behind the  hive and not in front so the foraging bees can continue working without obstruction.  Next I proudly showed her how to use the smoker, giving the entrance of the hive a few puffs of smoke to let the bees know we were coming. Then you can take of the hive roof, placing it upside down on the floor near to you but without being in your way, then take off the crown board.

You need a hive tool for the next bit to help take of the honey supers as these are nearly always glued down by the bees with propolis, at this stage the bees were flying all around her and she stayed perfectly calm and in control. I was very impressed!

I pointed out the honey combs not yet capped to her and the lovely frames that were ready to harvest, she felt the weight of the frames with and without honey on them, giving her an idea of how much honey was on a frame (2-3lb).

As we got down to the brood box (were the queen lays her eggs) we had to be very careful at this point in case the queen was on any of the frames. A few puffs of smoke help send the bees down into the box. Using the hive tool again, prize the nearest frame out carefully, this is the trickiest bit! as there isn't much room to move things.

By loosening the first one gently on one side of the frame and then the other, lift it gently from the hive this frame usually just contains stores (honey), put this to one side. Now, I explained you have a little more room to gently free the next frame by sliding it towards you. and when you have inspected the frame, place it back in the hive where you took the first frame out. Inspect each frame in turn replacing it as close the previous one, this working gap moves along with you as you inspect the hive. A few puffs of smoke now and again if you need to quieten the bees down but avoid overuse of smoke.

Last time we inspected these hives they had virgin queens in them and by now they should have been out on a mating flight and started to lay eggs. I checked to see if I could see any eggs but I am afraid all I saw was pollen and honey, bad, bad news! this was the same scenario in both hives. There was nothing more to do other than replace the supers and put the hive back together and go break the news to Mel. He was of course concerned at the news but also delighted that Cathryn had assisted in her first inspection and enjoyed the experience, relaying how calm she had been and how fascinating it all was.

Hive Inspection
Apart from checking for eggs as we had done on this occasion, when inspecting hives you must also note many other things and keep accurate records of what you have seen.

• Is the queen present and is she laying
• Is there brood at all stages
• What is the behaviour of the bees like
• Is the colony developing as well as expected
• Does the queen have enough space to lay more eggs
• Is there sufficient space for the honey to be stored
• Do they have enough stored food to last until the next inspection
• Are there any queen cells
• Are there any signs of disease

 I will let you know what happened next in my next update.................

Learning on the Go!

As with all hobbies, there is so much to learn and with beekeeping I am learning all the time.This weekend I have been reading  the Beekeepers Bible by Collins.

There is everything in it that a novice beekeeper could possibly need, from the history of the bee to basic skills and honey recipes.

Well worth the cost!

Saturday afternoon, time once again to inspect the hives, we were only going to check numbers 1-5 today as we were a little worried about the activity in numbers 2 and 4 and of course we needed to know what was happening in number 1.

We opened hive #1 first,  I am so glad to say it is now queen right, laying queen, brood found at all stages, this has now been saved and looking good.

Hive # 2 we had our doubts last week when we opened this, if there was a queen or not. This hive is working extremely well, bringing in the honey, but there was no new eggs or brood seen.

 Gary checked it over and explained that the behaviour of the bees, led him to believe it was queen less. As they have no eggs, they cannot produce a queen cell, so we had to take evasive action.

We removed a frame of brood from # 5 and placed this in this hive. Now we have to check this in 2-3 days, there will be either queen cells produced on this frame proving there is no queen or if there are no cells it will be queen right and we will just have to wait for her to lay.

Hive # 3 we checked this to see if it needed another super for honey, plenty coming in so it will do in a few days time, Mel better get making some more frames quickly!

Hive # 4 this was another concern, as we thought this was were  # 12  swarm had come from and again we weren't sure if it was queen less or not. We followed the same procedure as above, taking a frame of brood this time from hive #3 . We will need to check again in 2-3 days to see what has happened. Again this activity has not effected the honey flow so we are hoping for some lovely nectar soon.

Hive #5 is queen right with a bought queen from the Buckfast strain and she is laying very well. This hive is getting stronger by the day, but we have had to take a frame of brood out to save hive #2. We are sure they will recover from this loss very quickly. We are not expecting any honey from this hive this year, we just need it to build up strong enough to get through the winter.

The weather today is atrocious not even a bee would go out in this!! bring back the Sun