Seasons

I think that I am finding myself being more aware of the changing seasons now that I am a beekeeper. The bees are governed totally by the season that is current and particularly by the season that is coming - they started preparing for winter months ago! We, in our modern, western world function largely unchanged through the seasons - we might choose our leisure activity by the weather and the outside temperature but much else remains unaltered. God gave us seasons for a reason: we should take the time to appreciate them and go with the flow of our seasonal calendar. What an amazing God we have.

Varroa!

So, I decided that I should see how much of a Varroa problem I have. I placed a oiled A4 sheet beneath the Genesis hive for 24 hours and then counted the number of mites on the sheet. I counted 5 and figure that my A4 sheet represents about 50% of the floor area. That gives me a count of 10 mites in 24 hours which according to various Internet sources is a low infestation rate. I chose to use an organic treatment called Api Life Var that contains Thymol, Eucalyptus and menthol oils. I placed a quarter of the pad in each corner on top of the frame bars and left it for a week. The instructions say repeat again but I didn't. They also say it works better in warm weather so I probably should have done it earlier but temp has been 16-17C this week.
I have wrapped some small mesh chicken wire around the hive to keep the woodpeckers off.
Paul, my mentor, says I should have stopped inspecting a few weeks ago and that beginners like me should start with 2 hives - 1 to play with and 1 to do properly!
Just had surgery on my shoulder so good timing there as I should not need to check inside the hive again until March.

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

Cooler weather

This weekend was decidedly cooler (my good lady insisted on having the central heating on this evening!) but the sunshine meant the bees were out foraging. I did notice that the propolis was harder and everything cracked as I moved frames around rather than the usual sticky sound. Saw workers bringing on propolis too. Now feeding with 2x1 syrup.

More guests

My good friend Kevin came with me to do a hive inspection this weekend. Although he was initially nervous, he did really well and even held a frame! He took some video with his camera but thought he was taking photos so it wobbles around a bit but here it is:

We saw the queen and Genesis is looking pretty good - plenty of eggs and brood and stores building up. Gave them the first feed of 2x1 syrup today. Will continue with this until mid October - depending on the weather. All frames are now either being drawn or filling with honey.

Inspection 6 - Queen spotted!

My daughter's boyfriend's dad came with me today. He has no experience of bees but was very calm around the hive and enjoyed his visit.
Saw the queen today and managed to get a spot of green marking paint nicely on her thorax - sounds easy doesn't it? It wasn't! I got her in the queen clip OK and then put her on a frame of foundation. I don't have a press in cage but got some paint on her (and also on a few workers!). Anyway, job done and that should make her easier to see in the future. She looks a bit like this:

Plenty of brood and eggs today. They are now drawing comb on the final frame of foundation now.
Girls were very quiet and calm today but got quite agitated when I was dealing with the queen so I shut things up and left them to it.
Gave them the large feeder full of 1x1 syrup today - 5 litres.

Inspection 5

Today, I brought along my good friend Steve to watch. I think he enjoyed himself and may be inspired to take up beekeeping himself - I know he has been thinking about it for a while.
Genesis is building up stores nicely now. The shallow frame is almost full and they have completed the natural comb underneath it - this is now filling with worker brood - I think it is too late in the season for them to build drone comb (I was advised by someone to keep a shallow frame in all year round as part of IPM) but it is and will be additional stores for the winter. Fed them another 2 litres of 1x1 syrup.