Autumn Watch

Cooler nights now - 3C last night. 14C today. Stopped feeding now - I did wonder if I was over feeding them and not leaving enough room for the queen to lay but today there were plenty of eggs, larvae and eggs on the central frames and in a good pattern. Saw the queen and added a bit more green paint to her thorax as my last effort had left only a feint green tinge!
Went to a NFBKA meeting on Friday with Steve - Clive De Bruyn (pronounced - Brain). He has so much experience from all over the world; he was fascinating. Easy to remember life cycle - it goes in 3's: Egg - 3 days, larva  - 6 days (2x3), sealed - 12 days (6x2). 3 + 6 + 12 = 21 days to hatch. After 3 years beekeeping you think you are an expert - in reality you never stop learning because no one year is the same in terms of weather, pests, colony characteristics etc. 1 hive for 100 years = 100 years experience OR 100 hives for 1 year = 100 years experience

3rd Hive Inspection

Emailed and spoke to my mentor Paul whilst on holiday last week - he is great - so much experience and so willing to offer advice and encouragement to complete beginners like me. He was initially concerned that it is a bit late in the season to start but after I had explained that it is a full colony with bees covering 7-8 frames he felt it should be fine: His concern was getting them through the winter if I was starting with low numbers. I asked about a super but he said it would do no goos on top but may help on the bottom. He said they will need 40 lbs of stores to get them through the winter and a full frame weighs about 7 lbs (Hooper says 5 lbs). Currently I reckon they have 2.5 frames of stores. Paul said I should feed them with 1x1 syrup until mid September and then 2x1 until mid October.
Hive inspection revealed PLENTY of sealed brood and larvae and eggs. The super was empty and they have now drawn the comb on the shallow frame that I put in with some natural comb below, They are now putting honey into the shallow. I tried moving the super to the bottom but it looked like the returning workers were confused - they were going in and then coming straight out again and so I took it out. They were a bit upset by this and lots came out buzzing round but I did not get stung! I added my smaller feeder with 1.5l of syrup. I'll take a look in a couple of days to see how much they are taking.
Must join the BDBKA.